Assessment is a measure of what students are learning. Its purpose is to improve student learning. It can be thought of as a review of students work. Assessment measures are based on how well students are meeting learning objectives and curricular goals. .

Which is the "best type of assessment in your view? Please define.

Formative Assessment

Summative AssessmentAssessment should reflect the coverage of skills, functions , language and topics that students experience in their materials.

Making Your Assessment a Good AssessmentTo make your test is a good one, do the following:Do formative assessment throughout the year and adjust your lessons when necessary: Remember, youre teaching the students, not the lesson. ( portfolio is a good helping tool )Make sure your test is both valid and reliable. In other words, make sure you are actually testing what you wish to test, and not something else ( Match with objectives). Also, make sure your test results will be as consistent as possible, especially among different teachers marking the exam.

Final Exam Marks Division

Level ItemLevel 1Level 2Level 3Levels 4,5Reading11141112Writing11111412Grammar7666Vocabulary7556Translation4444

3. For summative evaluations, use a variety of test-item types: Use direct and indirect, discrete-point and integrative, multiple-choice and open-ended, and so on.

ListeningWhat should be assessed?

StrategiesListening

SpeakingVocabulary Expressions (Function) structureSpeaking What should be assessed?

Talking about possible plans / making quick decision:- What / When are you going to ..? - I think Ill . - I guess Ill Making Suggestion and Responding:- Why dont . -Thats a good idea.- How / What about . - Sounds great.- Lets . - Id love to but . - Im sorry I cant because

Making requests:Would you mind.?Could you / I ..?Would you.?Refusing:Sorry, I cant.Im sorry but- Id like to do butAccepting:- Sure.- Of course.- No problem.- definitely.

Making Complaints:Im sorry to bother you but.. I hate to have to tell you this but .Excuse me, but Im afraid, Apologising:Im awfully sorry.Im sorry I didnt realizeSorry. Im sorry to hear that

CATEGORY4321SGrammarGrammar covered in class was used to communicate effectively. A few minor difficulties arose from not using the grammar studied in class. Grammatical errors led to many minor difficulties or one major breakdown in communication.Grammatical errors severely hindered communication.Vocabulary Vocabulary studied in class was used to express ideas eloquently. A few minor difficulties arose from not using appropriate vocabulary.Some difficulties arose due to limited vocabulary and/or bad diction.Communication was severely hampered due to lack of vocabulary.FluencyStudent acted as a facilitator, helping the conversation flow and develop.Some minor difficulties maintaining the conversation were evident.Some effort was required to maintain the conversation. There may have been a few long pauses.Much effort was required to maintain the conversation. There may have been many long pauses.ListeningStudent responded to questions with appropriate answers, acknowledged all statements, and incorporated them into the discussion.Student responded to most questions, acknowledged most statements, and incorporated many of these into the conversation. Student failed to answer some questions appropriately OR failed to acknowledge some statements and incorporate these into the conversation. Student didn't understand or ignored most questions and statements. Student may have been using notes.Voice and non-verbal communicationPronunciation was clear and inflection and expressions were used to enhance communication. No serious problems arose, but better pronunciation, inflection, and/or non-verbal communication could have made communication more efficient.Some communication problems arose due to unclear pronunciation and/or lack of inflection and/or expression. Student may have been difficult to hear.Pronunciation, inflection, and/or expression confused communication. Student may have been very difficult to hear.

FormFunctionStrategiesReading SpeakingWriting ListeningVocabularyExpressionsstructureStrategies Structures & techniques for different typesStrategies

Compare

Step One : know the language content you are going to assess.( Book Map )Step Two: Know the language skills you are going to cover in the exam and how many marks are you going to give them. ( Book Map + TM (objectives) + Marks division)Step Three: Know how many items to have in your test so that one part of the test does not become more important than another.Step Four: Know the kind of tasks you are going to use. ( Rubric for activity types)

Steps for Writing a Good Test

Rubric for activity Types

Task TypeCan be used withCircle the odd word out and explain why it doesnt fitCheck the statements true or false(correct the wrong ones)Write sentences about your family using so( that )/ to / because/ soCircle the correct verb,Match the topics below with the facts on the right.Write the past participle of these verbsComplete the table with words from the boxComplete the conversationComplete the conversation with may/might,,,,Circle the odd word out

Step Five : Have a set of principles which guide assessment:Students of all levels of ability can demonstrate their knowledge of English.Reflect the coverage of skills, functions , language and topics that students experience in their material.Employ tasks and exercise types that students are familiar with.Discourage ( avoid) rote learning and memorization by using the same vocabulary, themes and structures but not in identical form.

Step Six: know how to correct your test.Set rules for correcting open ended questions and questions which encourage productivity.

Rubrics are recommended when correcting:Writing. Translation.

Step Seven: Check the language, rubrics, spelling ,layout of the test.

Time for applicationEvaluate the questions using the following check list

Items test recognition, memorization.Items test one skill only (discrete).Tasks Encourage production and variation.Tasks test strategy - what?Instructions are similar to the ones in the bookQuestions are open ended / subjectiveQuestions are Objective / only one answer is correctSome questions lead to the answers of other questionsReading text exceeds the number of words students are used to Some items are given more importance than others

A Reminder MCQ in Assessing vocabulary. - Question should be clear from the stem- Provide sufficient context in the stem- Standardize the number of response options (4 is considered best!)- Distracters should come from the same frequency level as the word being tested- Make sure all response options are the same part of speech of the answer.- Make sure all response options are approximately the same length and level of difficulty - Place the correct answer equally in the A, B, C and D positions- Avoid providing grammatical clues in the stem or using absurd distracters.

Final Points on a Good TestWhen making a test remember to do the following:

Follow the Ministry of Education guidelines for test preparation and marking, including how to score and weight each item. (NOTE: The Ministry requires tests to be both valid and reliable).Test students only on what youve actually taught and what you feel confident that theyve reasonably understood.Give students reasonable practice with exam-type questions (not with exam questions!) before the test.Finally, always remember that the purpose of making an exam is to see what students have gained from your lessonsnot to make something easy to mark. Nevertheless, do make your exams as marker-friendly as possible.

1. It is a common assumption that well known testing tools are useful for our purposes, because we believe that they are technically sound and ongoing research is being carried out. However2. What is the best test to use?3. Given that we use the results of language proficiency tests to determine, in large part, the academic future of our students, we must ask what relevant information the test provides that would justify this use.4.5.These are questions that I will begin to address in todays presentation and we will return to them at the end.