KINDS OF TESTSKhansa AL-Qudaimi

WHAT ARE TESTS?

Tests are …

tools

used to check students’ knowledge or comprehension

the main instrument used to evaluate learning by most educational institutions

should suit the purpose

WHAT ARE LANGUAGE TESTS?

Language skills

listening

speaking

Reading

writing

Continuum of linguistic units

Phonology

& orthography

Word Sentencediscourse

• overall conversational fluency• pronunciation of a particular subset of

phonology

Oral production tests

• concentrate on a particular feature of language

• overall listening for general meaning

Listening-comprehension

tests

• cover the range of language units • test comprehension of long or short

passages, sentences, phrases & wordsReading tests

• open-ended form with free composition • spelling• discourse-level competence

Writing tests

Kinds of tests

purpose

aptitude

placement

proficiency

diagnostic

achievement

characteristics

approach

directness

scoring methods

presentation

reference

provider

Kinds of tests depending on the purpose

• It is designed to measure a person's capacity or general ability to learn a FL.

• They are independent of a par ticular foreign language.

• Tasks: learning numbers, listening, detecting spelling clues and grammatical patterns, and memorizing

Aptitude test

Kinds of tests depending on the purpose

• It is designed to place a student in a particular level or section of a language curriculum or school.

E.g. language schools

• Content: material to be covered in the curriculum

Placement test

Kinds of tests depending on the purpose

• It is designed to test the learner’s level in relation to the general standards.

E.g. TOEFL, IELTS & TOEIC

• Content: not to be limited to any one course, curriculum, or single skill in the language

• Tasks: standardized MCQ on grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, aural comprehension, and sometimes of a sample of writing

Proficiency test

Kinds of tests depending on the purpose

• It is designed to diagnose a particular aspect of a particular language.

E.g. Prator's (1972) Diagnostic Passage

• Proficiency tests and diagnostic tests

• Achievement tests and diagnostic tests

Diagnostic test

Kinds of tests depending on the purpose

• It is designed to measure the students’ improvement in relation to their syllabusE.g. midterm exam & the final exam

• Content: limited to particular material covered in a curriculum

Achievement/ Progress test

Kinds of tests depending on the purpose

Types

Short-term progress test

Long-term progress test

Achievement/ Progress test

Kinds of tests depending on the purpose

form

Team

Quizzes

Achievement/ Progress test

Kinds of tests depending on the purpose

•Achievement test and multiple intelligences

•Achievement test and differing learning styles

Achievement/ Progress test

Kinds of tests

purpose

aptitude

placement

proficiency

diagnostic

achievement

characteristics

approach

directness

scoring methods

presentation

reference

provider

Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics

Discrete-point testing

• Language can be broken down into its component parts and those parts can be tested successfully.

Proficiency test

Integrative testing

• Language competence is a unified set of interacting abilities that cannot be tested separately.

E.g. dictation

Approaches to language testing

Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics

Direct testing

• The student performs precisely the skill needed to be measured.

E.g. writing an essay to measure writing

Indirect testing

• It measures the sub-skill which underlies the skill.

E.g. writing an essay to measure conjunctions

Directness

Kinds of tests depending on the characteristicsScoring methods

Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics

Types

objective Subjective combination

Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics

Paper and pencil tests

Computer adaptive

tests

Presentation of the test

Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics

Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics

Norm-referenced/

Standardized tests

• score is interpreted in relation to a mean, median, standard deviation, and/or percentile rank in order to place students along a mathematical continuum in rank order.

• Scores are usually reported in the form of a numerical score.

E.g. TOEFL

Criterion-referenced tests

• A student's performance is measured against a standard.

• They are designed to give students feedback in the form of grades, on specific course or lesson objectives.

E.g. course tests

Reference

Provider

internal

Tests are given by the institution where the learner

is taking the course.

external

Tests are given by an outside body.

E.g. TOEFL, IELTS

Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics

References

Thanks for listening

Bengoa, M. (2008, February 18) Approaches to testing: Direct and indirect testing [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://miguelbengoa.com/elt/?p=696

Cardozo, R. & Magdalena. J. (2009) Testing and test construction [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from www.slideshare.com

Doyon, P. (2012) Testing for language teachers [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from www.slideshare.com

Education Oasis (2011) Types of tests [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/assessment/typestests.htm

Ince, T. (2013) Language testing and assessment [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from www.slideshare.com

Ludescher, F. (2012) Testing and assessing [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://www2.vobs.at/ludescher/testing/

Munday, J. (n.d) Kinds of tests [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://www.hishelpinschool.com/testing/test2.html

Ritzenthaler, G.(2007) Assessment [PDF document]. Retrieved from (http://plaza.ufl.edu/gritz/projects/6930/assessment_cheatsheet1.pdf

Subagyo, H. (2011) Understanding language testing [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from www.slideshare.com