Is it difficult to make a listening test?

BETA, 25.04.2010, V.Turnovo 1

Is it difficult to Is it difficult to make a listening make a listening

test?test?Svetla TashevskaSvetla Tashevska

New Bulgarian University, SofiaNew Bulgarian University, Sofia


Your PracticeYour Practice• How often do you use published tests?• Do you use tests of your own design? How

often?• Do you include tasks for listening

comprehension in your classroom tests?• If yes, what kind of tasks do learners do in

the listening part of your tests?• If not, why not?


Designing own testsDesigning own testsA lot of teachers find that:• recorded material - not easily

available• difficult to select appropriate

passages• difficult to design test tasks• …


Designing own testsDesigning own testshas the advantage that teachers :• can cater for their particular

students’ needs (and not for an impersonal, international student’s needs)

• can use their own and their students’ creativity in making/ doing the test

• …


The nature of listeningThe nature of listening• When people listen - nothing to

observe/ to judge by that comprehension is taking/ has taken place.

• Problems for the listener - transient nature of the spoken word (cannot go backwards and forwards over what is being heard like in a written text)


So,So,the job of the test designer -to set such listening tasks which will

reliably demonstrate that students have successfully understood.

Is that so difficult?


Is that so difficult?Is that so difficult?

To look for the answer -• consider some techniques for testing

listening comprehension• experience some of them• analyze them• and decide if this is so.


Some techniques & what Some techniques & what they testthey test

• True/ False

A pictureSpoken statements(e.g. - Heaton, J.B.)




• Multiple Choice

A set of three or four picturesA spoken statement(e.g. - Heaton, J.B., Madsen, H.)





• Information transfer(drawing a route on a sketch/map, labelling

diagrams/pictures, completing a form/a table)

->“Picture dictation”An incomplete pictureora blank page

(not important how well/ badly the Ss can draw; minimal demands on the other language skills)


Picture DictationPicture Dictation• An incomplete picture (a simple line

drawing)(e.g. - Heaton, J.B.)

• A blank page, laid lengthwise(e.g. - Rinvolucri, M.)





Extended communicationExtended communication • using a social/ business context• not based on visuals(e.g. – Madsen)

• Typical test items:(1) What time of day is it?A. Morning B. Afternoon C. Evening(2) What is the customer doing?A. Buying an airplane ticket. B. Checking on

someone’s flight C. Checking in at an airline terminal


Some practical adviceSome practical advice When designing multiple choice

items:• use as much visual material as possible to

avoid interference of other language skills;• keep the stem/ the question short ;• use three (instead of four) options;• keep the language of the options simple;• …


Some practical adviceSome practical adviceWhen writing items for

extended listening (e.g. to a talk):

• focus on the most important points from the content – the general meaning and intention of the message;

• avoid testing memorization of unimportant or irrelevant points;• space out the items throughout the passage (keep the items well

apart from each other): we should not punish the students for not being able to answer a subsequent item because it ‘comes’ too soon after the previous one;

• pay attention to signposting (signaling that certain information is about to be heard in the passage, e.g. After considering these two factors, …; My last point is …): it is only fair that students should be warned by key words (in the test item and the passage) about that;


Extended listening Extended listening (continued)(continued)

• give sufficient time to students to look through the items before they listen to the relevant excerpts: familiarization with the items will compensate to some extent for the lack of extra-linguistic features which help comprehension in real life situations

• (some experts) do not exclude allowing/ accepting responses in the students’ mother tongue in some circumstances (understandable when there is someone who does not speak English but is part of a project team, for instance, and needs to understand certain information, which we interpret for him/her)


ConclusionConclusion • The best listening tests for your

students can only be designed by you!


ReferencesReferences• Heaton, J. B. (1988), Writing English

Language Tests, 2nd edition, Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers, London & New York: Longman

• Hughes, A. (1989), Testing for Language Teachers, Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

• Madsen, H. (1983), Techniques in Testing, Teaching Techniques in English as a second Language, Oxford American English, Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press

• Rinvolucri, M. & Davies, Dictation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press


Thank you!Thank you!

See you again! See you again!

Svetlana Svetlana TashevskaTashevska

[email protected]

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Is it difficult to make a listening test?