Writing English Language Tests - The Role of Testing in the Teaching and Leaning Process

Writing English Language Tests - The Role of Testing in the Teaching and Leaning Process PDF Author: Joachim Von Meien
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638761509
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English - Pedagogy, Didactics, Literature Studies, grade: 2 (B), Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 11 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Writing English language tests is a topic very many students and of course also their teachers have to deal with. Often testing does not have a very good reputation, especially when regarding the students. Most of them are probably happy when a test is over and enjoy the time without them. But testing has much more functions than a superficial look at it will provide. Chapter 3.1 of this paper deals with the numerous purposes and is also supposed to show the important role that testing plays in the teaching process. This paper will concentrate on the writing skill and the evaluation of it. The other three skills reading, listening and speaking are not the centre of research. But it is not possible to exclude them because they are all interrelated to the writing skill as this paper wants to show. What is it that makes especially the writing skill and also the testing of it so sophisticating and complex? Writing at an advanced level is usually compositional writing or essay writing. Chapter 2.3 concentrates on that kind of writing and points out its often difficult prerequisites, even for writers in the native language. What are the necessary features of tests in general? It is supposed to become clear that certain conditions such as validity, reliability and practicality are extremely important for written assessment and for every other assessment too. Many people, even if they never actively scored a test, are able to imagine the difficulties of a fair and objective judgement. Especially when dealing with compositional writing, that assumption is true. But nevertheless there are ways to improve the objectivity of evaluation even if a rest of subjectivity can not be avoided. Chapter 3.5 focuses on ways to judge tests adequately. Writing English language te

Writing English Language Tests - The Role of Testing in the Teaching and Leaning Process

Writing English Language Tests - The Role of Testing in the Teaching and Leaning Process PDF Author: Joachim Von Meien
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638761509
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 42

Get Book Here

Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English - Pedagogy, Didactics, Literature Studies, grade: 2 (B), Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 11 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Writing English language tests is a topic very many students and of course also their teachers have to deal with. Often testing does not have a very good reputation, especially when regarding the students. Most of them are probably happy when a test is over and enjoy the time without them. But testing has much more functions than a superficial look at it will provide. Chapter 3.1 of this paper deals with the numerous purposes and is also supposed to show the important role that testing plays in the teaching process. This paper will concentrate on the writing skill and the evaluation of it. The other three skills reading, listening and speaking are not the centre of research. But it is not possible to exclude them because they are all interrelated to the writing skill as this paper wants to show. What is it that makes especially the writing skill and also the testing of it so sophisticating and complex? Writing at an advanced level is usually compositional writing or essay writing. Chapter 2.3 concentrates on that kind of writing and points out its often difficult prerequisites, even for writers in the native language. What are the necessary features of tests in general? It is supposed to become clear that certain conditions such as validity, reliability and practicality are extremely important for written assessment and for every other assessment too. Many people, even if they never actively scored a test, are able to imagine the difficulties of a fair and objective judgement. Especially when dealing with compositional writing, that assumption is true. But nevertheless there are ways to improve the objectivity of evaluation even if a rest of subjectivity can not be avoided. Chapter 3.5 focuses on ways to judge tests adequately. Writing English language te

Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing

Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing PDF Author: IRA/NCTE Joint Task Force on Assessment
Publisher: International Reading Assoc.
ISBN: 0872077764
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
With this updated document, IRA and NCTE reaffirm their position that the primary purpose of assessment must be to improve teaching and learning for all students. Eleven core standards are presented and explained, and a helpful glossary makes this document suitable not only for educators but for parents, policymakers, school board members, and other stakeholders. Case studies of large-scale national tests and smaller scale classroom assessments (particularly in the context of RTI, or Response to Intervention) are used to highlight how assessments in use today do or do not meet the standards.

Writing English Language Tests

Writing English Language Tests PDF Author: John Brian Heaton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780582018778
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description


Classroom Testing

Classroom Testing PDF Author: John Brian Heaton
Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
The Longman Keys to Language Teaching series is intended especially for ordinary teachers. The books in the "Keys" series offer realistic, practical, down-to-earth advice on useful techniques and approaches in the modern ELT classroom. Most of the activities suggested in these books can be adapted and used for almost any class, by any teacher. One of the subjects of most concern to all teachers is classroom testing. For what reasons should we do it? How should we do it? How often should we do it? How should we organise it? Can it be harmful? What is the relationship between teaching and testing? These are just some of the questions that Brian Heaton addresses in this book. With a minimum of jargon, a number of fundamental concepts are treated in an accessible manner. As well as a discussion of these important issues, the author includes a great many examples of tests that teachers can adapt and use in their own classrooms. In addition, he gives advice on the role of continuous assessment, in which there has been an increasing amount of interest in recent years. The book also contains some suggestions on oral testing - including how to cope with this in large classes.

Testcraft

Testcraft PDF Author: Fred Davidson
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300133812
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
DIVThe creation of language tests is—and should be—a craft that is accessible and doable not only by a few language test experts, but also by many others who are involved in second/foreign language education, say the authors of this clear and timely book. Fred Davidson and Brian Lynch offer language educators a how-to guide for creating tests that reliably measure exactly what they are intended to measure. Classroom teachers, language administrators, and professors of language testing courses will find in this book an easy and flexible approach to language testing as well as the tools they need to develop tests appropriate to their individual needs. Davidson and Lynch explain criterion-related language test development, a process that focuses on the early stages of test development when the criterion to be tested is defined, specifications are established, and items and tasks are written. This process helps clarify the description of what is being measured by a test and enables teachers to give input on test design in any instructional setting. Informed by extensive research in criterion-referenced measurement, this book invites all language educators to participate in the craft of test development and shows them how to go about it./div

Language Testing and Evaluation

Language Testing and Evaluation PDF Author: Desmond Allison
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9789971692261
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
This book brings together two related fields - language testing and language programme evaluation - in a way that no single introductory text has done, and seeks to encourage closer relations between the two in both academic curricula and professional practice. It introduces readers not just to basic concepts, but to some of the major social, educational and research concerns and activities that characterise language testing and evaluation. The book can serve either as a basic text for a taught course, or for self-study. All chapters include suggestions for further reading, and discussions frequently point towards possible explorations in classroom research and practice. A glossary of key concepts and a select annotated bibliography are provided. The book addresses the language teaching profession generally as well as students of applied linguistics and English language teaching.

Language Testing

Language Testing PDF Author: Tim McNamara
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405155434
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Winner of the SAGE/ILTA Award for Best Book on Language Testing 2009 This volume focuses on the social aspects of language testing, including assessment of socially situated language use and societal consequences of language tests. The authors argue that traditional approaches to ensuring social fairness in tests go some way to addressing social concerns, but a broader perspective is necessary to examine the functions of tests on a societal scale. Considers these issues in relation to language assessment in oral proficiency interviews, and to the assessment of second language pragmatics. Argues that traditional approaches to ensuring social fairness in tests go some way to addressing social concerns, but a broader perspective is necessary if we are to fully understand the social dimension of language assessment.

Practical Language Testing

Practical Language Testing PDF Author: Glenn Fulcher
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1444174096
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
Practical Language Testing equips you with the skills, knowledge and principles necessary to understand and construct language tests. This intensely practical book gives guidelines on the design of assessments within the classroom, and provides the necessary tools to analyse and improve assessments, as well as deal with alignment to externally imposed standards. Testing is situated both within the classroom and within the larger social context, and readers are provided the knowledge necessary to make realistic and fair decisions about the use and implementation of tests. The book explains the normative role of large scale testing and provides alternatives that the reader can adapt to their own context. This fulfils the dual purpose of providing the reader with the knowledge they need to prepare learners for tests, and the practical skills for using assessment for learning. Practical Language Testing is the ideal introduction for students of applied linguistics, TESOL and modern foreign language teaching as well as practicing teachers required to design or implement language testing programmes. The book is supported by frequently updated online resources at http://languagetesting.info/ including sets of scenarios providing resources to study aviation English assessment, call centre assessment, military language assessment, and medical language assessment. The materials can be used to structure debates and seminars, with pre-reading and video activities. Practical Language Testing was commended as a 2012 runner-up of the prestigious SAGE/ILTA Award for Best Book on Language Testing.

The Power of Tests

The Power of Tests PDF Author: Elana Shohamy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317875486
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Language in Social Life is a major series which highlights the importance of language to an understanding of issues of social and professional concern. It will be of practical relevance to all those wanting to understand how the ways we communicate both influence and are influenced by the structures and forces of contemporary social institutions. In all modern societies individuals are subject to tests, whether to enter educational programs, to pass from one level to the next or to grant certificates to practice. Yet, tests are powerful tools which are often introduced in undemocratic and unethical ways as disciplinary tools for carrying out various policy agendas. Tests can be detrimental to people's lives as they are capable of affecting and defining the knowledge and behaviour of those who are being tested. The Power of Tests applies a critical perspective of language tests by examining their uses and consequences in education and society and by viewing tests not as isolated events but rather as embedded in social, educational and political contexts. The book is divided into four parts: the first part establishes the power of tests through echoing the voices of test takers, describing the features of the power of tests, and the temptations that tests offer to bureaucrats who use them for power and control. The second part reports on studies that provide empirical evidence about intentions and effects of a number of large scale language tests. The third part interprets the results by examining their consequences on education and society, arriving at a model of tests' use. The final section of the book offers strategies for controlling and minimising the misuses of tests by introducing the notion of Critical Language Testing which calls for the examination of the consequences and misuses of tests, monitoring of power and pointing to their unethical uses. It also provides a comprehensive discussion of the responsibilities of language testers, including a new Code of Ethics, as well as strategies for guarding and protecting the rights of test takers.

Challenges in Language Testing Around the World

Challenges in Language Testing Around the World PDF Author: Betty Lanteigne
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9813342323
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 553

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Book Description
This book combines insights from language assessment literacy and critical language testing through critical analyses and research about challenges in language assessment around the world. It investigates problematic practices in language testing which are relevant to language test users such as language program directors, testing centers, and language teachers, as well as teachers-in-training in Graduate Diploma and Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics programs. These issues involve aspects of language testing such as test development, test administration, scoring, and interpretation/use of test results. Chapters in this volume discuss insights about language testing policy, testing world languages, developing program-level language tests and tests of specific language skills, and language assessment literacy. In addition, this book identifies two needs in language testing for further examination: the need for collaboration between language test developers, language test users, and language users, and the need to base language tests on real-world language use.