1.

Purposes of testing
- To measure language proficiency regardless of any language courses that candidates may have followed
- To discover far sts have achieved the objectives of a course of study
- To diagnose sts strengths and weaknesses, to identify what they know and what they dont know
- To assist placement of sts by indentifying the stage or part of a teaching program most appropriate to
their ability
- To give learners feedback on their progress and to motivate them to study
- To certify a persons ability or determine their suitability for selection
- To demonstrate achievement to external parties such as parents, school boards or government funding
authorities
2. Different types of assessment are used at various points throughout a language program for various
purposes. There are summarized below
a). pre-course assessment: we usually want to ascertain the learners ability to use a language for particular
communicative goals, regardless of any instruction they may have had previously
- proficiency test : to test a students general ability with the language following a specific course e.g
IELTS, TOEFL, TKT,
- placement test: to sort learners into groups of similar proficiency level
+ should be as general as possible
+ should focus on wide and representative range of ability in English
+ should avoid concentrating on narrow areas or specific skills
+ often consist of blank-filling items, MC
- selection test: to select certain candidates for a job, or for a place on a course. The aim is to compare the
performances of all the candidates, and select only the best. E.g UEE
+ are set by outside specialists such as public examining bodies and ministries of education
+ should be both general and narrow contents
+ are given as formal and difficult tests
b). in-course assessment: we want to find out how much a st has learned in a particular unit of instruction.
- progress test: the most important reason is to find out how well the sts have mastered the language are
and skills which have been taught. These look back at what sts have achieved.
+ short weekly tests based on the topics, themes, or structures that have been covered during that week.
+ should be given as informally as possible
+ motivate learners by allowing them the chance to demonstrate what they have learned => For this
reason, they tend to be designed so that learners achieve high scores. And the best progress test is one which
sts dont recognize as a test but see as an enjoyable and meaningful activity
- diagnostic test: use to give sts feedback on their progress in relation to the course objectives and help
them identify any areas where they might need to do more work.
+ teachers must be systematic when they designs tests, they should know exactly what should be tested.
+ tests are usually tests of grammar and pronunciation
c). end-of-course assessment: we need to report on learners achievement to external authorities.

- final achievement test: measure course contents + objectives. This allows teachers, learners, and external
parties such as parents or school administrators to see to what extent the intended outcomes of the course
have been achieved.
+ administer at the end of a course of study
+ these usually resemble formal tests
+ cover a longer period of learning and more difficult than a progress test
+ may be constructed by external educational bodies or by teachers within an institution with special
responsibilities for assessment.
3. Basic principles of a test
a). Reliability: a test is said to be reliable if it provides consistent results no matter how many times the
sts take it. An assessment is reliable when there is little different judges.
e. g If we use a test to assess a learners ability on Monday, we would want it to yield similar results on
Tuesday. Similarly, if 2 teachers were assessing the same piece of student writing, we would hope that they
would be in fairly close agreement on the quality of the performance
b). Validity: a test is said to be valid if it measures accurately the abilities it is intended to assess and
nothing else.
e.g,

If we wanted to find out about a persons conversational ability in English, we would not ask them to
read out a list of English words, since reading aloud would not be considered by most ppl to be part of
conversational ability. Hence, using the results of an assessment of reading words aloud as an indicator
of conversational ability would be an invalid use of that test. (*)

If we wanted to find out how well learners had mastered the vocab that they had covered in clas, it
would not be appropriate to use a test containing vocab that they had not been taught
4. Why a test is not reliable and valid
a). Not reliable
- the instructions are too ambiguous for students to understand and complete in the right ways.
e.g . This is an old girls bicycle.. => unclear stence
the girl is old
the bicycle is old
- the content tested is excluded in the syllabus ( far-away or beyond the syllabus)
- the forms of tasks are not familiar to students (MC / matching)
b). Not valid
- check something out of students knowledge
e.g: students have a writing task State your point of view about how a washing machine works
- use the results of an assessment of a certain skill as an indicator of the assessment of another skill
(*)
- the forms of tasks are neither familiar to students nor have been taught before
e.g: Tom ought not to . Me your secret, but he did
A. tell
B. having told
C. be telling

D. have told

 the students have mastered MC items as the sample above, so they can do it
A.
B.
C.
D.

Tom ought not to have told anyone the secret

so ought you
Neither ought you
Neither you oughtnt
So oughtnt you
The sts may be confused about choosing the right respond above because they have not been done any
form like that before

5. Testing and Assessment

- Assessment
Is the act of collecting information and making judgments on a language learners knowledge of a
language and ability. It contains a collection of student work. For instance
+ classroom tests
+ oral performances (presentation on the topics, volunteering to handle challenging questions..)
+ attendance
+ assignments
+ attitudes toward the course
+ outside activities ( survey, interview, questionnaire.)
-

Testing:
Is one kind of assessment, one which is typically used at a certain stage of instructions to measure
student achievement. It refers to the specific procedures that teachers and examiners use to check the
language ability as an indicator

6. Types of testing for READING COMPREHENSION

- Finding a definition of a word ( in the text, reading passage)
- Multiple-choice questions
- Matching (List A and List B; column A and column B)
- True / False / Not Given ( asking about opinions, views)
- Yes / No / Not Given ( facts)
- Summary questions
- Filling the blank
- Question / Answer
7. Types of testing for GRAMMAR / STRUCTURES
- MCQ
- Error-recognition ..
- Rearrangement ..
- Completion ..
- Transformation ..
- Broken sentence ..
- Phrases / sentences matching ..
- Unscrambling sentences
- Tense forming
- Writing questions (underlined words)
8. Types of testing for VOCABULARY
- Matching ( Synonyms, antonyms, definitions)
- MCQ
- Odd one out

Rearrangement .. (LEUB..)
Unscrambling words

9. Why a test is not evaluated good