深圳大学学科英语file_1401.pdfVIP

ELTMethodology

Issuesinlanguagetesting

Introduction–needfortesting

Whytestingpeopleonlanguage?Infoonpeople’slanguageability–oftenuseful,sometimesnecessary.Universities,

organisations,workplaces-cannottakepeoplewithouttestingtheirabilities.Inschools,teachinginstitutions-

peopleneedfeedbackonhowtheyhaveprogressed,whattheyhaveachieved,plusinfoonachievementoflearner

groupsalsoneededinorderforright,rationaleducationaldecisionstobemade.

Testing→→necessary,however,alotofbad,poortestingpracticeexists,causingalotofscepticismaboutit

Testing–difficult,asnoperfectteachingmethod,noperfecttestingmethodeither,still,canbeimproved,weneed

tostriveforit.

Basicconcepts

Backwasheffect:

effectoftestingonteachingandlearning.Ifatestisregardedimportant,preparationforitmaydominatemuch

teachingandlearningactivities.Canbeharmfulorbeneficial.Anumberofconditionsneedtobemetbyteststo

achievebeneficialbackwash.

Validity:

Relatedtotestpurpose:Whatisthetestgoingtobeusedfor?Atest:validifitprecisely,accuratelymeasureswhatitaimsto

measure.

Reliability:

Technicalterm,relatedtothequalityoftestscores:Aretheactualscoresanapproximateestimationofthetestees

trueabilities.Areliabletestmeasuresconsistently,onareliabletestapersonwillgetmoreorlessthesamescore,no

matterwhatdaytheytakeit.Onanunreliabletest,scoremaybeconsiderablydifferent,dependingonwhenSSsit

forit.

Sourcesofunreliability:featuresoftestitself,wayitisscored.

Featuresoftest:unclearinstructions,ambiguousquestions,itemsresultinginguessingonbehalfoftesttaker.

Difficult,butpossibletoeliminatemostofthesefeatures.