DELVIANA ANGGRA MUSTIKAH SEMINAR ON ELT1105111571

Test Techniques and Testing Overall Ability

Technique is the way of doing something. So, in doing test teachers need to consider

some technique. What we need, as a teacher, are techniques which:

1. Will elicit behavior which is a reliable and valid indicator of the ability in which we are

interested;

2. Will elicit behavior which can be reliably scored;

3. Are as economical of time and effort as possible;

4. Will have a beneficial backwash effect;

There are so many test types that teachers can used in classroom, such as:

Multiple choice

Multiple choice items take many forms. The basic structure is consist of a question and

choices answer a,b,c,d. This type of test has some advantages. First, scoring can be perfectly

reliable and also be rapid and economical. Second, it is possible to include more items than

would otherwise be possible in a given period of time. Type of test not only has some advantages

but also has some difficulties, such as:

The technique tests only recognition knowledge

Guessing may have a considerable but unknowable effect on test scores

In multiple choices, the chance to guess the answer is very big. So, we can never

know whether the right answer is through guessing or not. In multiple choice, I think

it is depends on students’ luck.

The technique severely restricts what can be tested

Multiple choice items require distractotrs, that is the three incorrect answer. With the

distracters the students will think hardly which answer is true. But, it is not hard to

make one obvious distractor but there is a danger if this distractor will distract many

students.

It is very difficult to write successful items

Backwash may be harmful

Because sometimes students get the answer through guessing, so multiple choice is

not the best way for improve student’s command of a language.

DELVIANA ANGGRA MUSTIKAH SEMINAR ON ELT1105111571

Cheating may be facilitated

Because the answer of multiple choice is a or b or c or d, so it is easy for student to

communicate in the classroom to share their answer with gestures or facial

expression.

Cloze, C-Test, and Dictation: measuring overall ability

All of the types seem too often economical ways of measuring overall ability in a

language. The cloze technique has in addition been recommended as a means of measuring

reading ability. As we know that not all learners show the equal mastery of all aspects of

performance in that language. Each learner has different understanding and ability from the

others.

Varieties of Cloze Procedure

The cloze procedure involves deleting a number of words in a passage, leaving blanks,

and requiring the person taking the test to attempt to replace the original words. The gaps are put

into a text at regular interval. It is usually about every seventh word which is deleted.

Students will easy to fill the blank with confidence. But sometimes they will have some

difficult. The cloze procedure needs student’s basic language performance. The cloze procedure

seemed very attractive. Cloze tests were easy to construct, administer and score. The result of

this type would be a reliable and valid. There is need for careful selection of texts. The fact that

deletion every nth word almost always produces problematical items. Sometimes, the nth

deletion words are not easy to guess.

Cloze procedure cannot tell anything about the oral component of overall proficiency.

Some research has explored the possibility of using cloze passage based on tape recording of oral

interaction to predict oral ability. The possibility of using such a passage as a part of placement

test battery of cloze tests, where a direct measure of oral ability is not feasible.

Dictation

Dictation tests give results similar to those obtained from cloze tests. In predicting overall

ability they have the advantage of involving listening ability. Like cloze, dictation may prove a

useful technique were estimates of overall ability are needed. The passage has to be broken down

into stretches that will be spoken without a break.