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IN HONOUR OF ANA MARÍA
ARMENDÁRIZ
Third Generation Tests
Cristina [email protected]
Marisa [email protected]
What is a test?
A test is a sample of an individual’s behavior/ performance , i.e., a series of tasks (e.g., items) used to obtain systematic observations presumed to represent attributes or characteristics.
A language test refers to ….
Any kind of measurement, examination or technique which intends to describe the testee’s foreign language proficiency
WHEN DO YOU TEST?
BEFORE A COURSE STARTS?
DURING THE COURSE?
WHEN THE COURSE FINISHES?
WHY DO YOU TEST?
TO CHECK THE LEARNERS ARE STUDYING?
TO CHECK HOW EFFECTIVE THE TEACHING HAS BEEN?
AS BACKWARD OR FORWARD TOOL?
BACKWARDAND FORWARD
PURPOSES
To gain an overview of what students bring to new instruction and thus plan and identify potential difficulties to be faced
BACKWARD AND FORWARD PURPOSES
to diagnose what individual learners know
to determine the pace of classroom instruction
BACKWARD AND FORWARD PURPOSES
to take better decisions about grouping students in the class
BACKWARD AND FORWARD PURPOSES
to share information with boards of education, parents, and the general public through the media
BACKWARD AND FORWARD PURPOSES
to measure the effectiveness of instruction and learning
to help make promotion and retention decisions
PRINCIPLES OF MEASUREMENT EVIDENCE AND EVALUATION
measurement evidence:
differentiating degrees of a trait by
description or by assigning scores
Evaluation: interpretation of the
description or scores
“The systematic analysis of evidence”
( Shepard, 2000)
Teachers and administrators need to have analysis skills to effectively interpret evidence and make value judgments about the meaning of the results.
DIFFERENT WAYS OF MEASURING
EVALUATIONASSESSMENT
TESTING
EVALUATION
looking at all the factors that influence the learning process, ex: syllabus objectives, course design, materials, methodology, teacher performance and assessment
ASSESSMENT
It involves measuring the performance of students and the progress that they are making. It helps us to be able to diagnose the problems they have and to provide them with useful feedback.
ASSESSMENT
1) Informal assessment
2) Formal assessment (testing)
3) Self assessment
INFORMAL ASSESSMENT
observation of everyday performance
collecting data about our students’ performance
in normal classroom conditions
intuitive assessment in all activities performed in the classroom
FORMAL ASSESSMENT
At the end of the course
Or
Along the course
FORMAL ASSESSMENT
commonly administered in class by the teacher, in order to assess learning.
not so formal limited to the context for purposes internal to the class assess a narrow range of language assess either objectively or subjectively to assist teaching often backward looking.
FORMAL ASSESSMENT
synonymous of “testing”
1) external examinations (KET, PET, FCE, etc)
2) administered to many students
3) under standardized conditions
4) assess a broad range of language
5) marked objectively or under standardized subjective marking schemes
6) administered at the end of a course.
FORMAL ASSESSMENT
Formative to evaluate the effectiveness of learning at a time during the course forward looking, concerned with future language learning
Summative on several contents marked as ‘pass’ or ‘fail’
Scriven (1967:43)
SELF ASSESSMENT
the students themselves assess their own progress.a) as a complement to self instructionb) to build autonomous learnersc) to give learners an opportunity to reflect on their learning.
Dickinson (1997)
What we test is related to our purpose in testing
Before course Aptitude test
During course
Placement test
Diagnostic test
Progress test
Achievement test
After Course Proficiency test
APTITUDE TESTS
to determine an individual’s ability to acquire a second or foreign language.
large scale tests taking a long time to administer
different facet of language
also forward-looking tests,
PLACEMENT TESTS
to decide the students’ placement into appropriate groups
quick to administer and to mark
administered at the start of a new phase or language course
DIAGNOSTIC TESTS
usually syllabus based
to determine the students’ areas of strength and weaknesses in relation to
the contents to be covered in the course.
PROGRESS TEST
forms part of the formative evaluation of the courses
provides continuous feedback to both the teacher and the learner
are usually written and administered by a class teacher
look back over recent work
ACHIEVEMENT TESTS
at the end of a relatively long period of learning
the content derives from the syllabus that has been taught over the period of time
large scale tests, covering a wide range of language and skills
PROFICIENCY TESTS
based on a theory of language proficiency and the specific language abilities to constitute language proficiencyoften related to specific academic or professional situations where English is needed. (TOEFL, KET, PET, FCE, CAE, IELTS, etc)
DESIRABLE FEATURES IN TESTS
VALIDITY
RELIABILITY
UTILITY
DISCRIMINATION
PRACTICALITY
VALIDITY
The extent to which a test measures what it intends to measure and nothing else
RELIABILITY
To provide consistent results when administered under similar conditions.
it shows the consistency of the scoring of the test,
both between different raters, and between the same rater on different occasions
UTILITY
To provide a lot of feedback to assist in the planning of the rest of a course or future courses.
DISCRIMINATION
The ability to distinguish between stronger and weaker students.
PRACTICALITY
How efficient the test is
in physical terms.
in equipment required
in time to set, administer
in time mark
…
THE LINGUISTIC APPROACH WE TAKE ON LANGUAGE LEARNING
WILL DETERMINE THE GENERATION OF THE TEST
FIRST GENERATION TESTS
REFLECT THE
GRAMMAR TRANSLATION APPROACH
FOCUS ON ACCURACY
DEVOID OF CONTEXT
SUBJECTIVE SCORING
SECOND GENERATION TESTS
REFLECT THE
STRUCTURALIST APPROACH
FOCUS ON DISCRETE LANGUAGE
THEMATIC ORIENTED
OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT
Are these samples suitable for communicative purposes?
Do you feel any areas are missing in these examples? If so, which?
OLLER (1973)
The primary function of language is
COMMUNICATION
Thus, language should be tested in terms of communicative abilities
BACHMAN (1990)Communicative ability
Learners´competence +
capacity for implementing +
executing that competence in CONTEXTUALIZED communicative
language use.
Candlin (1985)
Creating meaning
“a coming together of organized knowledge structures with a set of procedures for adapting this knowledge to solve new problems of communication that do not have ready-made and tailored solutions.”
Bachman & Palmer (1996)
Language is multicomponential
Factors other than language should be put to test employing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in interrelated areas.
Metacognitive strategies
Grammatical knowledge
Textual knowledge
Pragmatic knowledge
Topical knowledge
Background knowledge
THIRD GENERATION TESTS
REFLECT THE
COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
Authentic materialContextualizedGlobal and discrete items
WEST (1990)Tension between principles of language testing
COMPETENCE vs. PERFORMANCE
USE vs. USAGE
INDIRECT TESTING vs. DIRECT TESTING
RECEPTIVE SKILLS vs. PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
DISEMBODIED LANGUAGE
vs. CONTEXTUALIZED LANGUAGE
WHEN CREATING
TESTING MATERIAL
BEAR IN MIND
BACKWARD LOOKING ASSESSMENT
vs.
FORWARD LOOKING ASSESSMENT
NORM REFERENCED ASSESSMENT
vs.
CRITERION REFERENCED ASSESSMENT
.
THE DEVELOPMENT AND
IMPLEMENTATION OF BENCHMARK
SYSTEMS AND FRAMEWORKS THAT TAKE
AN ASSET-BASED APPROACH TO
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT FOCUSES
MAINLY ON WHAT THE LEARNER “CAN DO”
Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB)
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
3 G TESTS COMBINE
DISCRETE POINT APPROACHES
+
INTEGRATIVE APPROACHES
AUTHENTIC DISCOURSE
+
RECEPTIVE SKILLS
SO AS TO COMPLY WITH THE SYLLABUS
INCLUDE DISCRETE POINT TENCHNIQUES
(GR + VOC) To measure the range and degree of mastery
ESTABLISH PRODUCTIVE SKILLS related to objectives and contents
HUERTA-MACIAS (1995) HMAYAN (1995)
Through techniques on a daily classroom routine basis
emulate real-life tasks which aim at evaluating what learners CAN produce
integrate rather than recall and repeat
Pappamihiel & Walser (2009)
“Traditional ways of assessing language acquisition are inadequate in today’s world”
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
IS
A COMPLEX, NONLINEAR AND COMMUNICATIVE ENDEAVOUR
NEW TRENDS
AS TEACHERS
WE NEED TO ASK OURSELVES
How do I help them grow from where they are now?”
HOW C
AN I
HELP MY
PUPILS ?
It means recognizing students’ abilities to understand, use and produce language in a variety of forms, for a variety of purposes
IT MEANS GIVING GRAMMATICAL ITEMS, VERBS AND VOCABULARY LISTS LESS IMPORTANCE THAN THEY HAVE BEEN HOLDING SO FAR.
IT MEANS BALANCING STRUCTURE AND MEANING
Non communicative learning
Pre-communication language practice
Communicative language practice
Structured communication
Authentic communication
Focus on gramma-tical accuracy
Focus on meaning
SUGGESTION OF A THIRD
GENERATION
ACHIEVEMENT TESTING
THE TEXT
published in December 2009 by the World Health Organization which is available at http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/climate_change/en/ as the triggering element
THE SUBJECTS
a group of young adults at upper intermediate course in reading.
Designed to be taken in a situation
where the learners have completed an
eighty hour course where the
following topics and grammatical
items have been covered.
TOPIC GRAMMATICAL ITEMS
GLOBALIZATION Revision of tenses and
verb forms
Narrative tenses: past
simple and continuous;
Past perfect simple and
continuous; The future in
the past.
TOPIC GRAMMATICAL ITEMS
EnviroHealth Connections: Food/Nutrition
Noun phrases. Plural expressions in compound adjectives, compound nouns; prepositional phrases, participial clauses.Modals to express probability, obligation, permission, ability and willingness. Abstract nouns and relative clauses.
TOPIC GRAMMATICAL ITEMS
Mind, body and spirit Adjectives and adverbs.
Patterns with
comparatives and
superlatives. As: as versus
like; as…as for
comparisons.Use and
non-use of passive forms.
Particles which add
meaning to verbs.
TOPIC GRAMMATICAL ITEMS21st Century lifestyles. Adjective order. The position
of adverbs. Adverbs and
expressions of opinion. Verb
patterns: reported speech.
Verb patterns. Conditional
sentences: mixed
conditionals; tense usage
for fact versus non-fact.
Hypothesizing (I wish/ if
only; as if/though; It’s
time); Present subjunctive.
Strategies to understand the gist of the passage and/or get detailed understanding such as:
predicting and anticipating, skimming and scanning, locating key words and topic sentences,
recognizing grammatical and lexical cohesive devices,
inferring meaning of unknown words from context and relating them to their morphology and their position in the sentence.
MEASURING CRITERIA for the reading section
1. Reading for comprehension and application of reading strategies
2. Use of reading strategies
3. Critical reading
MEASURING BANDS
This correction and marking criterion makes the instrument more trustworthy especially in terms of inter- and intra- rater reliability and, on the other hand, gives the task the necessary validity component to make sure we are testing what we intend to test
Band scales
Include a number of divisions, or “bands”, of possible student performance, and descriptors for each band
They assure some degree of reliability in assessments of student performance
Reading for comprehension and application of reading
strategiesBand 1
1-2 point
Can get the gist of a multipurpose authentic text
Band 2
3-4 points
Can understand main ideas, and some important details of a multipurpose authentic text.
Band 3
5-6 points
Can understand main ideas, and most important details of a multipurpose authentic text.
Band 4
7-8 points
Can understand main ideas, secondary ideas and almost all details of a multipurpose authentic text.
Band 5
9-10 points
Can understand main ideas, secondary ideas and all details of a multipurpose authentic text as well as identify the purpose of the text.
Use of reading strategies1-2 point 1-2
pointsCan do search, skimming and scanning
Band 2 3-4
points
Can use low-level inference and handle some ambiguity.
Band 3 5-6
points
Can guess the meaning of an unknown word, phrase or idiom from the context.
Band 4 7-8
points
Can use inference to locate and integrate several specific pieces of abstract information across paragraphs or sections.
Band 5 9-10
points
Can search through information and use high level inference to locate and integrate several specific pieces of abstract information (explicit and implied) from various parts of text.
CRITICAL READING
Band 1
1-2 point
Can make a general comment or give an opinion on an authentic text
Band 2
3-4 points
Can sufficiently grasp the meaning of text to paraphrase or summarize key points.
Band 3
5-6 points
Can paraphrase or summarize key points and draw conclusions.
Band 4
7-8 points
Can synthesize and critically evaluate various pieces of abstract information.
Band 5
9-10 points
Can interpret, compare and evaluate both the content and the form of written text.
MEASURING CRITERIA FOR WRITING
1. Task accomplishment and organization2. Grammar and range of structure3. Spelling, punctuation and range of vocabulary
Task accomplishment and organization
Band 1 2 point Can write full sentences related to the topic requested but does not integrate them cohesively.
Band2
4 points Can convey information related to the topic requested and link sentences to conform coherent and cohesive paragraphs but does not respect text type conventions.
Band 3 6 points Can write the text type requested accordingly responding to conventions and organization in a coherent and cohesive way
Band 4 8 points Can write an effective, stylistically complex text responding to conventions and organization in a coherent and cohesive way.
Band 5 10 points
Can write an effective, stylistically complex text responding to conventions and organization in a coherent and cohesive way and is aware of audience.
Grammar and range of structuresBand 1
2 point Can write simple sentences in which the extent of grammatical mistakes hinders comprehension and exhibits word order difficulties
Band2
4 points Can write correct though relatively simple sentences and shows difficulties regarding word order.
Band 3
6 points Can write complex sentences containing mistakes not related to earlier stages where the order is reasonable.
Band 4
8 points Can write complex sentences using the target structures appropriate to this level and to this task though not in completely accurate way
Band 5
10 points
Can write complex sentences using the target structures appropriate to this level and to this task accurately. Makes use of the appropriate tone and register.
Spelling, punctuation and range of vocabularyBand points
1 2 Can write choppy sentences very simple vocabulary which does not relate to the topic. The text presents several spelling and punctuation mistakes. Register is not appropriate.
2 4 Can write choppy sentences with simple vocabulary vaguely related to the topic. There are several spelling and punctuation mistakes.
3 6 Can write fluent sentences with vocabulary thematically related though quite simple. There are a few spelling, punctuation and register mistakes.
4 8 Can write fluent sentences with adequate and correctly used vocabulary. There are minor spelling but does not respect register. Punctuation is almost correct.
5 10 Can write fluent sentences with a fairly wide range of vocabulary appropriate to the topic, text type and register. Punctuation is correct and there are not spelling mistakes.
Description of this test
Divided into
Before reading
While reading
Global understanding
Detailed understanding
After reading
Before reading:
Have a look at the titles, the pictures and the name of the source where this text was taken from and do these exercises:
Match the pictures to the corresponding paragraph.
BEFORE READING:
State the effects global warming is having on the world. Why do you suppose the World Health Organization is worried about/involved in global warming?
WHILE READING Global understanding
State the five consequences mentionedWhere do you suppose this article was published?
What is its purpose? Is the passage complete? Yes/ No.
Why?/ Why not?
WHILE READINGDetailed understanding
Read the passage carefully
Which is the correct option? Multiple choice questions
1- The burning of fossil fuelsa) has increased in a 30%b) traps heat in the lower atmospherec) causes the temperature to increased) changes patterns of infectious diseases.
Match the meaning of these words
1. Scarcity a. Is likely to catch
2. Crop yields b. General
3. Lessen c. Economic position
4. Trapping d. Not enough
5. Overwhelming e. Organization in the house
6. Outbreaks f. Impossible to control
7. Vulnerability g. Catching
8. Livelihood h. Episode
9. Households i. Reduce
10. Overall j. Harvest collected
AFTER READINGWriting
Your school has become involved in a project to raise awareness about the dangers of global warming in health in influential business men in the city where you live. Write the speech you would give.
Bear in mind the audiencethat you would like them to react in some way that you should sound convincing
Essential elements inherent to third generation test
“The processing of realistic discourse since authenticity is of vital importance concerning the use of language in the activities proposed and in the relationship between the language which is being tested and the language of the real world” (Chalhoub-Deville,2001: 214-217 in Brown,2004: 101)
Essential elements inherent to third generation test
The performance of tasks which will enable the learners to make use of language in a context which resembles real life situations.
Essential elements inherent to third generation test
The tasks learners are expected to carry out aim at taking into account a multilayer scheme dealing with
levels of analysis related to both use
and usage of the target language:
situational,
pragmatic,
functional,
semantic levels, and
the connection with the text texture and the paratext information
Essential elements inherent to third generation test
and addressing syntax:
the range of structures, cohesive devices, lexical issues, special
vocabulary and lexical cohesion and the use of linguistic and non-
linguistic resources.
CONCLUSIONS
Which do you consider are some of the benefits to using third generation tests?
CONCLUSIONS
It allows learners
To view what they have learnt as a significant whole
To map their knowledge of the language in specific areas of syntax, lexis, pragmatics, pronunciation
To show an array of linguistic and paralinguistic features which they are expected to put to use in a concrete task.
CONCLUSIONS
Third generation tests enable learners to integrate these different aspects into a meaningful task following a problem solving scheme which resembles real life situations.
CONCLUSIONS
From the teachers’ standpoint
It allows viewing students’ performance and their learning process in a more holistic manner which is much more consistent with CLT techniques.
Testing is an ongoing process whereby not only the pupils show the assimilation of what they have been exposed to but also the teachers’ performance as well as the evaluator’s expertise is put to test.
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