FORMAL ASSESSMENT. TEST TYPE ACCORDING TO PURPOSE.

FORMAL ASSESSMENT. TEST TYPE ACCORDING TO PURPOSE.

1. LANGUAGE APTITUDE TESTS

   • Based on the factors which are thought to determine an individual's ability to acquire a second or foreign language.
     • CHARACTERISTICS
       • Are usually large scale tests
       • Testing different facet of language
       • Are forward-looking tests
       • Future language learning not with previous learning
     • FACTORS WHICH ARE TESTED
       • Rote memorization
       • Phonetic Coding
       • Recognition of grammatical analogies
       • Age, travel, latent learning,
       • Personality, social setting
       • Educational level, job aspirations,
       • EXAMPLES
         • The Modern Language Testing Aptitute Test
         • Language Aptitude Battery

2. PLACEMENT TESTS

   • There are tests used to make decisions regarding placement into appropriate groups.
     • CHARACTERISTICS
       • Based either on the learning objectives of the syllabus to be taken
       • They are quick to admister and to mark for ease of institutional use
       • Homogenous group
       • Put into language use needs
       • Professional specialization
       • They are often not particularly reliable
       • Students can be moved between levels
       • EXAMPLE
         • The Oxford Placement Test

3. DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

   • Are used to determine student's areas of strengh and weakness in order to determine appropriate types and levels of teaching and learning activities
   • It can be based on a syllabus

4. PROGRESS TESTS

   • Feedback on the effectiveness of student learning can be gathred through progress tests
     • Are usually written and administered by a teacher
     • They are very informal

5. ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

   • They come at the end of a relatively long time period learning and whose content derives from the syllabus that has been taught over that period of time
     • CHARACTERISTICS
       • Can be internal
       • Set by a school or external
       • Set by examining body
       • They are usually large scale tests
       • Cover a wide range of language and skills
       • Used for promotion to a more advanced course
       • Certification or entry calification to a job
       • EXAMPLES
         • KET
         • PET
         • FCE
         • CAE
         • CPE

6. PROFICIENCY TESTS

   • Are based on a theory of language proficiency and the specific language abilities postulated to constitude language proficiency
     • CHARACTERISTICS
       • Does not look back to learning
       • It looks forward to a future language using situation
       • They are often related to specific academic or professional situations
       • Testing techniques used are expected to cover all the relevant language skills
       • Are usually large-scale tests
       • EXAMPLE
         • IELTS

7. BACHMAN'S FRAMEWORK

   • He gives two main roles for tests
     • Firstly
       • The role that test plays in making educational decisions withing the context of an educational programme
         • INCLUDES
           • Decisions about the students selection, placement, diagnosis, progress, grading
           • Decisions about teachers assesing language competence
           • About programme formative or sumative evaluation with a view to making the programme better
     • Secondly
       • He points to the role of tests as indicators of abilities or attibutes that are of interest in research on language, language acquisition and language teaching
         • Classify almost any language test
           • The decision to be made from the test
           • The content of the test theory-based or syllabus -based
           • The analysis of results
           • Scoring procedure
           • Testing method
   • FIST GENERATION TESTS
     • These are tests broadly associated with the grammar/translation approach to language learning
       • EXAMPLE
         • Write about a holiday
   • SECOND GENERATION TESTS
     • Questions in second generation testing normally measure one item of language, known as a discrete point since each questions tests one tiny aspect of language tests are often very long consisting of many questions
   • THIRD GENERATION
     • The testing of integrative language with the use of both objective and subjective testing formats, has come together in third generation
       • EXAMPLE
         • Authentic Reading
       • All third generation techniques are contextualized by their very nature as authentic
   • REFERENCES
     • Carroll and Hall’s (1985)
     • Caroll and Sapon (1959)
     • Bachman, L. (1990): “Uses of Language Tests” in Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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