Testing listening

Testing Listening

Sophie Ioannou-Georgiousophiecy@yahoo.com

What skills do we use every day?

Normal every day communication

Writing 9% Reading 16% Speaking 30% Listening 45%

And yet ….

The assessment of listening abilities isone of the least understood, leastdeveloped and yet one of the mostimportant areas of language testing andassessment. (Alderson & Bachman,2001)

“the poor cousin of the language skills” (Nunan)

Similarities between listening and reading

Some similarities: Active and complex skills Involve a range of subskills (scanning,

skimming, intensive, extensive) Involve the use of a range of strategies

(inferencing meaning, predicting, etc.)

What aspects of listening are you assessing?1. Listening comprehension of meaning in texts (surface

meaning explicitly stated in texts)2. Decoding of words/intonation patterns/ etc.3. Comprehension of structural organisation of texts (e.g.

connecting words, etc.)4. Listening as scanning5. Listening as skimming6. Listening for main idea7. Listening for details.8. Listening extensively9. Interpreting message 10. Inferencing meaning11. Listening to a variety of input (formal, informal, transactional,

interactional, variety of accents, speech rates, etc.)12. Listening strategies 13. Attitudes to listening14. ....

How do we assess listening? (1)

Where suitable use instructional activities with a focus on assessment (coursebooks, normal classroom activities, internet, Video/DVD)

Authentic assessment, e.g. Different kinds of spoken discourse (Formal / informal) Listener expectation and purpose Looking as well as listening (often) Ongoing, purposeful listener response

Design of task Use format familiar to the students Don’t involve other aspects (focus on listening) Give context of situation in the rubrics Allow students time to read questions beforehand focus on info in the test and not issues which might be

known due to background knowledge

How do we assess listening? (3)

Assessment Types for Listening

Cloze-tests Multiple choice tests True / False Short answers Information transfer (e.g. form filling- diagram completion,

labelling, listen and draw, listen and colour) Ordering Listening logs Portfolio Self-assessment Peer-assessment Retellings Matching Observation (checklist /anecdotal records) Selecting / identifying specific information Note-taking

Would you use this for assessment?

Would you use this for assessment?

Would you use this for assessment?

Would you use this for assessment?

Maria

QUESTIONS?