Uses of Language Test
Uses of Language Test
Uses of Language Test
Education: Assumptions
The use of tests as a source of evaluation information requires 3 assumptions. 1. Information regarding educational outcomes is essential to effective formal education: accountability and feedback are essential mechanisms for the continued effectiveness of any educational program. 2. It is possible to improve learning and teaching through appropriate changes in the program. 3. The educational outcomes of the given program are measurable.
Education: Considerations
The amount and type of testing: depends on the decisions to be made and the type of information for the correct decisions. The quality of the information: reliable and valid, cost effectiveness
Types of Decisions
Selection: tests and other measurement devices may be used to help decide who will be accepted or rejected by an institution. Placement: tests are used to identify a particular performance level of the student and to place him or her at an appropriate level of instruction. The test content may be based on either a theory of language proficiency or on the learning objectives of the syllabus to be taken.
Types of Decisions
Diagnosis: to determine a person's strengths and weaknesses in order to improve performance. Diagnosis test is either theory or syllabus based.
Types of Decisions
Progress and grading: provide information about the effectiveness of programs of instruction. The aptitude test :the aptitude test is conceived as a prognostic measure that indicates whether a student is likely to learn a second language readily. It is generally given before the student begins language study, and may be used to select students for a language course or to place students in sections appropriate to their ability.
Types of Tests
Objective vs Subjective Tests Direct vs Indirect Tests Discrete-Point vs. Integrative Tests
Illustrative Example
Illustrative Example
Problems 1.appropriateness of the program: too advanced or too elementary 2.no feedback about the learning
Illustrative Example
Illustrative Example
Solve the second problem
Create a new problem: Where can failures go? Fig. 3.3 Solve the first problem The problem for failures still exits. Fig. 3.4 Ideal model
Illustrative Example
Illustrative Example
Solve the first problem The problem for failures exits.
still
Illustrative Example
Ideal model
Language processing
Identify processing errors, elicit information about language processing.
Language acquisition
Research on the nature of language acquisition: indicators or variables of different components of communicative language ability.
Content
The content of language tests are either theory based or syllabus based.
Frame of Reference
The result of language tests can be interpreted in two different ways, depending on the frame of reference. Norm-referenced test: test scores are interpreted in relation to the performance of a particular group of individuals. Criterion-referenced test: with respect to a specific level of domain of ability.
Norm-referenced Test
Frequently used norms: mean x-, standard deviation s Standardized test: based on a fixed or standard content, standard procedures for administering and scoring the test, and has been thoroughly tried out. NR tests are designed and developed to maximize distinctions among individual test takers. Items of such tests are selected according to how well they discriminate individuals.
Norm-referenced Test
Criterion-referenced Test
The necessary condition: the specification of a level of ability or domain of content. CR tests are designed to be representative of specified levels of ability or domains of content, and the items are selected according to how adequately they represent these ability levels.