Тульский государственный педагогический университет им. Л.Н. Толстого
Контроль и оценка иноязычных знаний, умений и навыков учащихся основной школы
Тула
2015
Tuning In r ead the statements below and define them as true (t) or false (f)
In Russian we have «оценка» which has two English equivalents – assessment and evaluation.
If we speak about checking students’ language knowledge and skills we should use the term ‘assessment’.
‘Evaluation’ is used when we deal with more advanced students.
‘Testing’ and ‘assessment’ are synonyms and may easily substitute each other.
Only listening and reading skills can be tested as they are receptive.
Productive skills of speaking and writing cannot be tested, but they may be assessed.
Testing and elt
Introduction Two basic principles for test design and evaluation
Every test should be reliable. In other words, a test should measure precisely whatever it is supposed to measure. If a group of students were to take the same test on two occasions, their result should be roughly the same – provided that nothing has happened in the interval (such as one student receiving private tuition or several students specially preparing for the test when it is set for the second time). Thus if the students’ results are very different the test cannot be described as reliable.
Every test should also be valid. A test should measure whatever it is supposed to measure and nothing else. A composition which requires students to write about modern methods of transport may not be valid since it will measure not only ability to write in English but also interest in, or a knowledge of, modern transport.
NOTE
reliability – надежность теста
validity – валидность теста
Part I. Reasons for testing and test types
Finding out about progress
The type of test we give will depend very much on our purpose in testing. There are many reasons for giving a test and perhaps the most important one is to find out how well the students have mastered the language areas and skills they have been taught. These tests look back at what students have achieved and are called progress tests.
Unlike most other kinds of tests, progress tests often produce a cluster of high marks.
Although any teacher should try to give progress tests regularly, over-testing should be avoided. Too many progress tests can have as harmful an effect on students’ attitudes to learning as none at all. Moreover, progress tests should be given as informally as possible. The best progress test is one which students do not recognise as a test but see as simply as enjoyable and meaningful activity.
Finding out about learning difficulties
In our teaching, we may sometimes be tempted to concentrate on following the syllabus and ignore the needs of students. However, if we do this, a lot of our students may fail however thoroughly we have covered the syllabus. Just as it is necessary for doctors to diagnose and illness in order to cure their patients, so teachers must diagnose problems in order to teach effectively.
A good diagnostic test helps us to check our students’ progress for specific weaknesses and problems they may have encountered. When we mark a diagnostic test, we should try to identify and group together a student’s marks on particular areas of language. The following shows the performance of one student on a grammar test.
NOTE that only ten questions are given as samples.
In order to diagnose problems reliably we need to set at least forty or fifty questions.
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Grammar test
1. I’ll see you tomorrow ____at_____ ten o’clock.
2. Sue and Dave ___live___ here for over a year.
3. The happiness is more important than money.
4. Can you guess who I ___saw___ yesterday?
5. That’s the person __who__ called yesterday.
6. Is there a chemist’s shop __beside_ the bank?
7. Mr Law gave ten dollars to the fund for __a poor__.
8. I scored 9 __out of__ 10 on the test.
9. Mr and Mrs Dobson _have left_ an hour ago.
10. Is that the girl of whom_ pen you borrowed?
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Correct answers
1. at
6. beside
2. have lived
7. the poor
3. Happiness
8. out of
4. saw
9. left
5. who
10. whose
Marks (grouped together)
Score
Prepositions (Q1, 6, 8)
3/3
Tenses (Q2, 4, 9)
1/3
Articles (Q3, 7)
0/2
Relative pronouns (Q5, 10)
1/2
Diagnostic tests of all kinds are essential if we wish to evaluate our teaching. We can also evaluate the syllabus, the coursebook and materials we are using. Problems and difficulties may arise because a particular area of language or a certain sub-skill has been glossed over in the coursebook or because we have not provided enough practice. Whatever the reason, a classroom test can enable us to locate difficulties and to plan appropriate remedial teaching.