Achieving beneficial backwashAna Julia Egas21/03/2017

outline Introduction Basic Practical Advice:

Test the abilities whose development you want to encourage

Sample widely and unpredictably Use direct testing Make testing criterion-referenced Base achievement tests on objectives Ensure the test is known and understood by students

and teachers Where necessary, provide assistance to teachers Counting the cost

Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) Sources

Introduction

Backwash is the effect that tests have on learning and teaching.

Backwash is now seen as a part of the impact a test may have on learners and teachers, on educational systems in general, and on society.

There are some practical advice for promoting beneficial backwash.

Test the abilities whose development you want to encourage

There is a tendency to test what is easiest to test rather than what is most important.

Certain abilities should be tested and given sufficient ways in relation to others.

Have you ever been given a test that had something that were not prepared for?

Sample widely and unpredictably

It is important that a sample taken should represent as far as possible the full scope of what is specified.

Whenever the content of a test becomes highly predictable, teaching and learning are likely to concentrate on what can be predicted.

Have you ever seen a test that is not representative nor predictable?

Use direct testing Direct testing implies the testing of the

performance skills, with texts and tasks as authentic as possible.

If we test directly the skills that we are interested in fostering, then practice for the test represents practice in those skills.

When we begin to test indirectly, we are removing an incentive for students to practice they way that we want them to.

Have you ever been tested on something that you didn’t pracitice for during class?

Make testing criterion-referenced

If tests specifications make clear just what candidates have to be able to do, an with what degree of success, then students will have a clear picture of what they have to achieve.

The possibility exists of having a series of criterion-references tests, each representing a different level of achievement or proficiency.

Criterion-based tests are useful for indicating how a group of learners are progressing as they compare candidates against a standard, rather than each other.

Which criterion-referenced tests do you know?

Base achievement tests on objectives If achievement tests are based on

objectives, rather than on detailed teaching and textbook content, they will provide a truer picture of what has actually been achieved.

What achievement tests have you taken? Were they based on objectives?

Ensure the test is known and understood by students and teachers The positive effect will not be fully

realized if students and those responsible for teaching do not know and understand what the test demands of them (rationale of the test, its specifications and sample items).

This is necessary When a new test is being

introduced (novel testing methods) To increase test reliability

Have you ever been given a test that you didn’t understand? Do you know of a test like

this?

Where necessary, provide assistance to teachers A lack of knowledge may cause chaos

and disaffection. Where new tests are meant to help

change teaching, support has to be given to help effect the change.

What kind of teacher assistance programs have you heard of?

Counting the cost Aside from reliability and validity we should

consider practicality. It is good that a test should be easy and cheap

to construct, administer, score and interpret. Validity and reliability should not be sacrificed

for the sake of practicality. Instead of lowering standards, concerned

authorities should pre-plan about reasonable construction and administration of a valid and reliable test.

What do you think about this issue? What do you know about it?

Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) General information

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/proficiency/ Exam Format

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/proficiency/exam-format/

Exam Preparation http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/proficiency/prepa

ration/

Sample of Exam Results http://

www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/183470-cambridge-english-proficiency-sample-statement-of-results.pdf

Sources Images:

Slide 1: www.123rf.com, photo.accuweather.com Slide 2: www.outlineproductions.co.uk Slide 3: www.bcre.org.za Slide 4: www.unitedcollegelondon.co.uk,tressays.wordpress.com Slide 5: www.teachingchannel.org Slide 6: wheaton.com Slide 7: tophdimgs.com Slide 8: languagetesting.info Slide 9: www.linkedin.com Slide 10: www.123rf.com Slide 11: awakenedlearning.com Slide 12: www.slideshare.net Slide 13: tecnologia.hola.com Slide 14: www.testinteligencia.net Slide 15: es.ccm.net Slide 16: www.suny.edu Slide 17: www.opencolleges.edu.au Slide 18 thetowne.net, www.wix.com Slide 19: blog.banesco.com Slide 20:: idiomas.pucp.edu.pe Slide 21: stevekrivda.com

Information: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/proficiency/ https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/criterion-referenced-test https://www.ccaurora.edu/getting-started/testing/direct-indirect http://ebooks.cambridge.org/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9780511732980&cid=CBO9780511732980A012 http://sunnyenglishliterature.blogspot.com/2012/09/achieving-beneficial-backwash.html

Extra information: Full Play To The Positive Backwash Effect English Language Essay http://

www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/full-play-to-the-positive-backwash-ef fect-english-language-essay.php#ixzz43VG7Dnkl

Manual for Language Test Development and Examining http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/ManualLanguageTest-Alte2011_EN.pdf