Approaches to Language Assessment

Approaches to Language Assessment
1. 1. LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of the Module, students should be able Identify and differentiate the different approaches to language?to: Discuss the various? Explain their strengths and weaknesses.?testing. Realizes the usefulness of the lessons in?language test techniques. testing students.
2. 2. Essay-Translation Approach Structural Approach Integrative Approach Communicative Approach
3. 3. CHARACTERISTICS ANDTYPES OF TESTS IN ESSAY-TRANSLATION APPROACH This is commonly referred to as the pre- scientific stage of language testing. No special skill or expertise in testing is required. Tests usually consist of essay writing, translation and grammatical analysis.
4. 4. CHARACTERISTICS ANDTYPES OF TESTS IN ESSAY-TRANSLATION APPROACH Tests have a heavy literary and cultural bias. Public examinations resulting from the tests using this approach sometimes have an oral component at the upper intermediate and advance levels.
5. 5. This approach is easy to follow?Strengths of Essay- Translation Approach The?because teachers will simply use their subjective judgment. essay-translation approach may be used for testing any level of The model of tester can easily be modified based on the?examinees. essentials of the tests.
6. 6. Subjective judgment of?Weaknesses of Essay- Translation Approach As mentioned, the tests have a heavy?teachers tends to be biased. literary and cultural bias.
7. 7. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN STRUCTURALIST APPROACH This approach views that language learning is chiefly concerned with systematic acquisition of a set of habits. The structural approach involves structural linguistics which stresses the importance of constructive analysis and the need to identify and measure the learners’ mastery of the separateelements of the target language such as phonology, vocabulary and grammar.
8. 8. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN STRUCTURALIST APPROACH Testing the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing is separate from another as much as possible. The psychometric approach to measurement with its emphasis on reliability and objectivity forms an integral part of structural testing.
9. 9. In testing students’ capability,?Strengths of Structural Approach Many forms?this approach may objectively and surely be used by testers. Using this?of tests can be covered in the test in a short time. approach in testing will help students find their strengths and weaknesses in every skill they study.
10. 10. It tends to be a complicated job?Weaknesses of Structural Approach ?for teachers to prepare questionnaires using this approach. This approach considers measuring non- integrated skills more than integrated skills.
11. 11. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH This approach involves the testing of language in context and is thus concerned primarily with meaning and the total communicative effect of discourse. Integrative tests are concerned with a global view of proficiency.
12. 12. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH Integrative testing involves functional language but not the use of functional language. The use of cloze test, dictation, oral interview, translation and essay writing are included in many integrative tests.
13. 13. The approach to meaning and the total?Strengths of Integrative Approach communicative effect of discourse will be very useful for students in This approach can view students’ proficiency with a global?testing. view.
14. 14. A model cloze test used in this?Strengths of Integrative Approach approach measures the reader’s ability to decode ‘interrupted’ and ‘mutilated’ messages by making the most acceptable substitutions from Dictation, another type using this?all the contextual clues available. approach, was regarded solely as a means of measuring students’ skills of listening comprehension.
15. 15. Even if many think that measuring?Weakness of Integrative Approach integrated skills is better, sometimes there is a need to consider the importance of measuring skills based on students’ need, such as writing only, speaking only, etc.
16. 16. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH Communicative tests are concerned primarily with how language is used in communication. Language use is often emphasized to the exclusion of language usage .The attempt to measure different language skills incommunicative tests is based on a view of language referred to as divisibility hypothesis.
17. 17. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS INCOMMUNICATIVE APPROACH The test content should totally be relevant for a particular group of examinees and the tasks set should relate to real-life situation. Communicative testing introduces the concept of qualitative modes of assessment in preference to quantitative modes of assessment.
18. 18. Communicative tests are able to?Strengths of Communicative Approach The tests using this?measure all integrated skills of students. approach face students in real life so it will be very useful for them.
19. 19. Because a communicative test can?Strengths of Communicative Approach measure all language skills, it can help students in getting the score. Consider students who have a poor ability in using spoken language but Detailed statements of each?may score quite highly on tests of reading. performance level serve to increase the reliability of the scoring by enabling the examiner to make decisions according to carefully drawn-up and well- established criteria.
20. 20. Unlike the structural approach,?Weaknesses of Communicative Approach this approach does not emphasize learning structural grammar, yet it may be difficult to achieve communicative competence without a considerable It is possible for cultural bias?mastery of the grammar of a language. to affect the reliability of the tests being administered.
21. 21. Direct vs. Indirect Testing Discrete Point vs. Integrative Testing Norm-referenced vs. Criterion-Referenced Testing Objective vs. Subjective Testing
22. 22. Attempts to candidate to measure the perform precisely? Requires the ? abilities that the skill that the underlie the skills test wishes to in which the test is measure. interested.
23. 23. Attempts to when it is intended measure the to? Easier to carry out ? measure abilities that speaking and underlie the skills writing skills. in which the test is interested.
24. 24. Attempts to attractions: measure the • Relatively? Has a number of ? abilities that straightforward underlie the skills to create in which the test is conditions. interested. • Assessment and interpretation are also quite straightforward.
25. 25. Attempts to attractions: measure the • There is? Has a number of ? likely to abilities that be a helpful underlie the skills backwash effect. in which the test is interested.
26. 26. Underlined items writing to know which the student? Composition ? students’ writing needs to identify as skills erroneous in formal standard English
27. 27. Lado’s (1961) writing to know proposed method of? Composition ? students’ writing testing skills pronunciation ability Some tests are referred to as semi-direct.
28. 28. Requires the testing of one candidate to element at a? Refers to the ? time, combine many item by item. language elements in the completion of a task. Discrete point tests will always be indirect while integrative tests will tend to be direct.
29. 29. Comprehension of items testing a words and the? Form of a series of ? Free?particular ability to use them grammatical correctly structure Cloze test grammar? Diagnostic tests of ?composition
30. 30. Interpretation of interpreted scores is absolute relative? Scores are ? to each and may be other in a normal representational distribution Measures students’ spread the? The idea is to ?scheme (bell curve). ability against the students out on a predetermined continuum of standard knowledge
31. 31. If judgment is required on the called for part of a? If no judgment is ? If the scorer is not sense that there is? Objective in the ?scorer looking for any one only one answer right answer