Language Testing

Language Testing

Language Testing is the subject in English department where you are thought to make a good test and analyzed for a final score.

Teaching is the process of transferring information, science, knowledge, skill which is done systematically and consciously.

Testing is the process of measuring how well the students have master the teaching material.

Between teaching and testing is closely interrelated, we can see the progress and result of teaching through testing.

A test is:

-          Instrument

-          Set of techniques

-          Procedure

-          Set of items (list of question)

Brown (2004) states that test is a method of measuring persons ability, knowledge, performance, in a given domain.

Why test? There are 5 reasons:

1.       To know how well the students have mastered the teaching materials

2.       To motivate the students in learning.

3.       To see how effective the teaching learning process is.

4.       To locate or identified which part of the lesson is difficult for the students.

5.       To ascertain which part of the language pogram the students find difficult.

What should be tested ?

1.       Knowledge

2.       Ability

3.       Performance

Language Testing, which is tested:

1.       Skills, are: Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Reading

2.       Components/Aspects/Elements, are: Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation.

To what standard?

1.       Criterion Preferenced Test (A+, A, A-, ....... , D, E)

Means how well or poor the students do the task.

2.       Norm Referenced Test

Means the measurement based on the norm of value which is better or worse.

Example: Rudy got the highest mark in the class, 85. So 85 means A+.

Test is prepared administrative procedures that occurs at identifiable time in a curriculum.

Assesment is an ongoing process that encompassed much wider domain than test.

There are 4 types of assesment

1.       Informal Assesment, consist of: responces, Interview.

2.       Formal Assesment, consist of: Task, Exercise, Homework.

3.       Formative Assesment means evaluates the students in the process of forming their competences and skill with the goal of helping them to continue the growth.

Example: Quiz, based on the previous material.

4.       Sumative Assesment is to measure what the students has grasped and typically occur at the end of the course. Example: final examination.

Approaches in LT

1.       Discrete point testing (one test at one time/one element being tested.)

2.       Integrative Testing (measure some elements skill at one time)

Example: dictation (listening, grammar, vocabulary)

Purpose & Methods in Language Testing

There are 2 kinds of test:

1.       Teacher made test (example: Language test, Quiz)

-          Inside the class

-          Informal

-          Prepared by teacher

-          Administered by teacher

-          Scored by teacher

2.       Standardized test (example: TOEFL)

-          Inside & outside the class

-          Formal

-          Prepared by testing service/agency

-          Administered by agency

-          Scored by agency

The principles educational uses of language test

1.       To know about readines

-          To see whether you are ready/not to study

2.       To placement test

-          place the students appropiate with their ability.

3.       To diagnose

-          To see the students’ strengths and weakness

4.       Aptitude test

-          To see someone’s future success

5.       Achievement

-          To see how far the students’ achievements

6.       Instruction effectiveness

-          The focus on the success of the programme.

Testing Technique

There are 6 Testing Techniques:

1.       Translation

2.       Dictation (writing, listening, vocabulary)

3.       Composition (essay)

4.       Scored Interview

5.       Multiple Choice Items

6.       Short Answer Items

Disadvantages of 6 testing techniques

1.       Translation

-          Difficult to evaluate/score

-          Subjective evaluation

-          Uneconomical (time, paper)

2.       Dictation

-          Inaccurate

-          Uneconomical

3.       Composition

-          Subjective

-          Uneconomical

-          Difficult to elicit language items to be tested.

4.       Scored interview

-          Subjective

-          Spend too much time

-          Free response

5.       Multiple Choice Items

-          Guessing it’s dominant

-          Take a long time to construct

6.       Short Answer Items

-          More than one are possible answer

-          Take long time to score

Kind of Test and Testing

Kind of Test

1.       Proficiency Test

-          Measure people’s ability regardless of any training.

-          What the person is capable to do

2.       Achievement Test

-          Indicates the students mastery after formal learning

-          Achievement test consist of:

a.       Final Achievement (Summative Achievement), e.g. Final Test

b.      Progress Achievement (Formative Achievement), e.g. Quiz

3.       Diagnostic Test

-          To know The students’ weakness or strength.

4.       Placement Test

-          To place the students based on their abilities or put the students in appropiate level.

5.       Aptitude Test

-          To know the students’ potential.

Kind of Testing

1.       Direct versus Indirect Testing

-          Direct Testing is the test in which measure the ability that cause the skill that we will measure

-          Indirect Testing is the test in which the candidate should perform the skill that is going to be measured

2.       Discrete Point versus Integrative Testing

-          Discrete point testing refers to the testing of one element at a time, item by item.

-          Integrative testing requires the candidate to combine many language elements in the completion of a task.

3.       Norm Referenced versus Criterion-Referenced Testing

-          Norm Referenced is designed to the kind of information. We are not told directly what the students is capable in language

-          Criterion-referenced is designed to provide the kind of information directly. The purpose is to classify people according to whether or not they are able to perform set of tasks satisfactorily.

4.       Subjective versus Objective Testing

-          In Subjective Testing, personal judgement is needed in scoring

-          In objective testing, the judgement is similar.  

Characteristics of a Good Test

Validity

Validity is the degree to which a test measure what it should measure (suppose)

a.       Content Validity

-          Content of a test represent the context of the syllabus/teaching material

b.      Empirical Validity

-          Test scores correlate with another independent criterion

1.       Concurrent Validity

Test which correlate another criterion that exist at about the same time.

2.       Predictive Validity

Test that can predict what will happen at the end of semester.

c.       Face Validity

-          How the test look to the examinee/administrator

Reliability

Reliability is the stability of test score from one scorer to another scorer

a.       Test-Retest

-          Administered to one group of students twice

Correlation Coeficient

Pearson Product Moment Formula

N = Number of Students

X = First Score

Y = Second Score

a.       Parallel Form (1 time)

-          Administer 2 versionsof the test to one group of students.

b.      Two scorer/Raters (1 time)

-          For example:

	X	Y
Rater A	10	9
Rater B	8	7

Using Pearson Product Moment Formula.

c.       Split Half Procedure

-          Administer the test once the students divide the items into two.

1.       .....

2.       ....

3.       ....            1^st Half

4.       .....

5.       .....

6.       ....

7.       ....

8.       .....           2^nd Half

9.       ....

10.   .....

-          Using Pearson Product Moment Formula

-          Spearman Brown Formula