The Challenges in English Language Assessment
Anyone involved in language
education today recognizes the
importance of testing and
assessment. At the same time,
however, politicians, parents,
learners, and teachers all have
different perspectives on why
tests are so important and what
they can be used for. As a
consequence, an important
part of English language
teachers’ expertise includes a
more thorough understanding
of principles of assessment.
However, in articulating those
principles, teachers and
researchers alike encounter
three thorny issues.1
1. Defining the purpose of a test
Terms such as “placement,”
“proficiency,” and
“achievement” might be used
in response to a question about
what a test is supposed to be
used for. These terms may work
for the public, but teachers
need a more systematic,
thorough, and accurate way of
considering the purpose of an
English Language assessment
because the purpose of the
assessment is critical for
choosing or developing a good
test. We think of test purpose
as consisting of three
interrelated concepts:
• One way to look at test
purpose is to consider the
inference that test users
want to make on the basis
of test scores. For example,
we designed Longman
English Assessment to allow
test users to make an
inference about examinees’
English Language reading
comprehension, listening
comprehension, and
knowledge of written
structures. Making an
inference about these three
aspects of English ability
was one way of looking at
the test purpose.
• A second way is to
consider the use of the test
results. Typically, a test is
given because a decision
has to be made about
examinees, for example,
their readiness to study at a
university, their eligibility
for a job, or the grade that
they should receive in a
course. Longman English
Assessment is not intended
for any of these relatively
high-stakes test uses;
instead, it is intended to
give learners an idea of
their level of English
ability and to offer levelappropriate
advice for
improving their English.
• The third aspect of test
purpose is any other effect
that the test is intended to
have, such as serving as a
motivating, interesting, and
informative experience for
learners.
2. Understanding what the test
measures
If we say that a test is a
measure of reading
comprehension, for example,
as in the discussion of test
inference above, two important
questions remain: What do
we mean by reading
comprehension? What does a
specific score on the reading
comprehension test indicate
about a student’s reading
comprehension?
The first question has to do
with how the test inference is
defined. Of course, from a
psycholinguist’s perspective,
many aspects of a reader’s
linguistic knowledge and
processes are called into play
during reading comprehension.
From the perspective of
language assessment, we try to
simplify this somewhat to
include the idea that linguistic
processing of morphosyntax
and the lexicon are required as
well as comprehension of
rhetorical organization and
cohesion across different test
types and functions.
The second question has to
do with how test performance
on the specific test questions
relates to what the test taker is
actually capable of when
reading, for example, an
English language course book.
Since we were interested in
what the test performance
would mean relative to English
language courses, we
developed most of Longman
English Assessment through the
use of materials from English
language textbooks. We
defined the types of questions
we would ask on the basis of a
detailed — but not too
detailed — description of what
it would take to understand the
texts at various levels.
3. Checking on validity
Everyone seems to agree that
they want valid English
language tests, but as teachers
we need to have a clear idea
about what this means. In fact,
assessment specialists see the
expression “valid test” as
misleading, because it implies
that validity is an inherent
quality of a test. A test is not in
and of itself valid or invalid;
instead, validity refers to the
use of a test. For example, a
test that we develop to assess
ability to use complex
sentences in an essay might be
valid as part of an achievement
test in an English language
writing course. In other words,
that test use would be valid.
However, if the same test were
used to place students into a
particular level of reading
comprehension, that test use
would be recognized as
invalid. The test was the same
in both cases, but the validity
depended on its use.
The idea that validity refers to
test use is critical because it
means that English language
teachers are often best able to
comment on validity relative to
their own test programs and
classes. However, to do so, it is
important that they understand
the characteristics of tests that
help to increase the validity of
their use — characteristics
such as reliability and
authenticity. In developing
Longman English Assessment,
we were concerned about
these test characteristics, but
the final analysis of the validity
of its use needs to be based on
the teacher’s own understanding
of these characteristics in view
of its use.
These three testing
challenges, as well as other
questions about what and why
we teach the way we do, are
magnified when instruction
and assessment take place
through technology. Because
of the commitment of time
and resources involved in
constructing a computer-based
assessment, developers take
great care to define the test
purpose, interpret the score
meaning, and consider
evidence concerning the
validity of the test. As a
consequence, the use of
carefully designed computerbased
materials should help
teachers to reflect on these
three issues in all of the
assessments they use.
المادة المعروضة اعلاه هي مدخل الى المحاضرة المرفوعة بواسطة استاذ(ة) المادة . وقد تبدو لك غير متكاملة . حيث يضع استاذ المادة في بعض الاحيان فقط الجزء الاول من المحاضرة من اجل الاطلاع على ما ستقوم بتحميله لاحقا . في نظام التعليم الالكتروني نوفر هذه الخدمة لكي نبقيك على اطلاع حول محتوى الملف الذي ستقوم بتحميله .
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