ESCUELA: INGLES NOMBRES: MARIA ARIAS CORDOVA DAVID JAMES AXELSON

1. LANGUAGE TESTING SECOND BIMESTER ESCUELA: INGLES NOMBRES: MARIA ARIAS CORDOVA DAVID JAMES AXELSON FECHA: ABRIL – AGOSTO 2009

2. WHAT IS TESTING?Testing is a matter of using data to establish evidence of learning. But evidence does not occur concretely in the natural state, but is an abstract inference. It is a matter of judgment.

3. THE PURPOSE OF VALIDATION • The purpose of validadtion in Language Testing is to ensure the defensibility and fairness of interpretation based on test performance.

4. THE PURPOSE OF VALIDATION • The scrutiny of such procedure will involve both reasoning and examination of the facts. The reasoning may involve legal argumentation, and appeals to the common sense, insight, and human understanding of the jury members, as well as careful examination of the evidence.

5. THE PURPOSE OF VALIDATION Test validation similarly involves thinking about the logic of the test, particularly its design and its intentions, and also involves looking at empirical evidence –the hard facts- emerging from data from test trial or operational administrations.

6. QUALITIES 0F A GOOD TEST A good test has the following qualities: • It is valid • It is reliable • It is practical • It has negative effects on the teaching program.

7. PRACTICALITY • A good test is practical. • A good test is practical when it is within the means of financial limitations, time constraints, easy of administration, and scoring and interpretation.

8. PRACTICALITY • A test that is prohibitively expensive is not practical. • A test of language proficiency that takes a student ten hours to complete is impractical. • A test that takes a few minutes for a student to take is impractical.

9. PRACTICALITY • A test that takes several hours for an examiner to evaluate is impractical. • A test that requires individual one-to- one proctoring is impractical.

10. PRACTICALITY The extent to which a test is practical sometimes hinges on whether a test is designed to be norm-referenced or criterion-referenced. In norm –referenced tests, each test-taker’s score is interpreted in relation to a mean, median, standard deviation, and / or percentile rank. The purpose in such tests is to place test-takers along a mathematical continuum in rank order.

11. PRACTICALITY Typical or non-referenced tests are standardized tests intended to be administered to large audiences, with results quickly disseminated to test-takers. Such tests must have fixed, predetermined responses in a form that can be electronically scanned. Practicality is a primary issue. The most important quality of any test is how practical it is to administer.

12. PRACTICALITY It is the ability of a person or system to perform and maintain its functions in routine circumstances, as well as hostile or unexpected circumstances.

13. VALIDITY The most complex criterion of a good test is validity, the degree to which the test actually measures what it is intended to measure.

14. FACE VALIDITY • Face validity:face validity is when a test appears valid to examinees who take it, personnel who administer it and other untrained observers.

15. RELIABILITY A testing reliability is a set of two probabilities, the definition of which varies by field. In medicine, the sensitivity and specificity are conventionally used. In the field of , the probabilities of detection and false call are conventionally used.

16. RELIABILITY If you give the same test to the same subject or matched subjects on two dfifferent occasions, the test itself should yield similar reults; it should have test reliability

17. RELIABILITY Means: - dependability - trustworthiness - precision

18. THREATS TO TEST VALIDITY Why is face validity not enough? What can threaten the validity • The meaningfulness • Interpretability • Fairness of assessment ( scores, ratings)

19. THREATS TO TEST VALIDITY Possible problem areas: - Test content - Test method and - Test construct

20. CONTENT VALIDITY • A test has content validity if it measures knowledge of the content domain of which it was designed to measure knowledge. Another way of saying this is that content validity concerns, primarily, the adequacy with which the test items adequately and representatively sample the content area to be measured.

21. CONTENT VALIDITY For example: a comprehensive math achievement test would lack content validity if good scores depended primarily on knowledge of English, or if it only had questions about one aspect of math (e.g., algebra). Content validity is primarily an issue for educational tests, certain industrial tests, and other tests of content knowledge likethe Psychology Licensing Exam.

22. TEST METHOD A test method is a definitive procedure that produces a test result.(ASTMdefinition) The test result can be qualititive (yes/no), categorical, or quantititive (a measured value). It can be a personal observation or the output of a precisionmeasuring instrument.

23. TEST CONSTRUCT Test Construct refers to those aspects of knowledge or skill possessed by the candidate which are being measured. Test Construct involves being clear about what knowledge of language consists of, and how that knoweledge is deployed in actual performance.

24. THREATS TO TEST VALIDITY Possible problem areas: Test content: What the test contains. Test method: The way in which the candidate is asked to engage with the materials and tasks in the test, and how these responses will be scored. Test construct: The underlying ability being captured by the test.

25. ESSAY TESTS To write compositions or essay tests seems very easy. Much easier, for example, than writing multiple-choice questions. All one seems to have to do is write a topic and leave the student to compose an answer. The following prompt is very common: “ HEALTHY FOOD ” Discuss.

26. ESSAY TESTS Format: • Introduction. Introduce your topic • Background. Give historical or philosophical background data to orient the reader to the topic. • Thesis and arguments. State the main points including causes and effects, methods used, dates, places, results. • Conclusion. Include the significance of each event and finish up with a summary.

27. INTRODUCTION The business practices of the Intel Corporation, a technology company best known for the production of microprocessors for computers, illustrate the importance of brand marketing. Intel was able to achieve a more than 1,500 percent increase in sales, moving from $ 1.2 billion in sales to more than $ 33 billion, in a little more than 10 years. Although the explosion of the home-computer market certainly accounted for some of this dramatic increase, the brilliance of its branding strategy also played a significant role.

28. BACKGROUND Intel became a major producer of microprocessor chips in 1978, when its 8086 chip was selected by IBM for use in its line of home computers. The 8086 chip and its successors soon became the industry standard, even as Intel’s competitors sought to break into this potentially lucrative market. Intel’s main problem in facing its competitors was its lack of trademark protection for its series of microchips.Competitors were able to exploit this lack by introducing clone products with similar sounding names, severely inhibiting Intel’s ability to create a brand identity.

29. THESIS AND ARGUMENTS In an effort to save its market share, Intel embarked on an ambitious branding program in 1991. The corporation’s decision to invest more than $ 100 million in this program was greeted with skepticism and controversy. Many within the company argued that the money could be better spent researching and developing new products, while others argue that a company that operated within such a narrow consumer niche had little need for such an aggressive branding campaign. Despite these misgivings, Intel went ahead with its strategy, which in a short time became a resounding success.

30. CONCLUSION Ironically, the success of the Intel’s branding strategy led to a marketing dilemma for the company. In 1992, Intel was prepared to unveil its new line of microprocessors. However, the company faced a difficult decision: release the new product under the current brand logo and risk consumer apathy or give the product a new name and brand and risk undoing all the work put into the branding strategy. In the end, Intel decided to move forward with a new brand identity. It was a testament to the strength of Intel’s earlier branding efforts that the new product line was seamlessly integrated into the public consciousness.

31. TOPICS • Some people like doing work by hand. Others prefer using machines. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. • Some people think that children should begin their formal education at a very early age and should spend most of their time on school studies. Others believe that young children should spend most of their time playing. Compare these two views. Which view do you agree with? Why?

32. TOPICS • Some people think that the family is the most important influence on young adults. Other people think that friends are the most important influence on young adults. Which view do you agree with? Use examples to support your position. • Some students prefer to study alone. Others prefer to study with a group of students. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

33. KINDS OF ESSAY TESTS • ORAL INTERVIEWS • SUMMARIES • INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES

34. ORAL INTERVIEWS J. B Heaton explains that in real life the two skills of listening and speaking are fully integrated in most everyday situations involving communication. Consequently, an excellent way of testing speaking is the oral interview since listening and speaking can be assessed in a natural situation.

35. SUMMARIES Summaries are used most often to test reading or listening comprehension and writing skills. Writing summaries may closely replicate many real-life activities.

36. INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES Work out what the differences are

37. TESTING READING SKILLS VOCABULARY TESTS often provide a good guide to reading ability. It is usually necessary forstudents to demonstrate not only a knowledge of the meaning of a particular word but al so an awareness ofthe other words with which it is generally used. However, in addition to their usefulness in proficiency tests, vocabulary tests are also useful in progress tests as they lend themselves to follow ­up work in class.

38. TRUE / FALSE ITEMS 1. ___ Children learn to recognize and produce the sounds of the language by listening to its spoken form. 2. ___ One remarkable thing about first language acquisition is the low degree of similarity which we see in the early language of children all over the world. 3. ___ Many sentences such as “ Mummy juice” and “baby fall down” are known as telegraphic speech.

39. MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEMS Writing multiple-choice items is not too difficult after you have had a little practice. For most purposes three options are enough. Remember that the distracters should appear correct to any students who are not sure of the answer. Avoid writing absurd distracters which everyone can easily see are wrong. On the other hand, however, all the distracters should be written within the student’s range of proficiency and at the same level as the correct

40. MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEM Example: According to the author, one cause of mountain formation is the a. effect of the climate change on sea level b. slowing down of volcanic activity c. force of Earth`s crustal plates hitting each other d. replacement of sedimentary rock with volcanic rock Correct answer: c

41. MATCHING ITEMS • Matching items are also very useful fortesting vocabulary in context. It is necessary to instruct the students to write the correct word from the story at the side of each word listed below it.

42. MATCHING ITEM Example: Column A Column B • shy a. cheerful • happy b. thin • sad c. become scared • slim d. sorrowful

43. TESTING WRITING SKILLS • Jeremy Harmer explains that like many other aspects of English language teaching, the type of writing we get students to do will depend on their age, interests and level.

44. TESTING WRITING SKILLS • GRAMMAR AND STRUCTURE - Multiple-choice - Error recognition - Re-arrangement - Changing words - Blank -filling

45. TESTING WRITING SKILLS Controlled Writing • Transformation • Broken Sentences • Notes and Diaries • Free writing

46. TESTING WRITING SKILLS • GRAMMAR AND STRUCTURE - Multiple-choice items Multiple-choice items test an ability to recognize sentences which are grammatically correct.

47. TESTING WRITING SKILLS • ERROR RECOGNITION Students must choose the underlined word or phrase which is incorrect.

48. TESTING WRITING SKILLS • RE-ARRANGEMENT Students are required to unscramble sentences. They must write out each sentence, putting the words and phrases in their correct order. This type of item is useful for testing awareness of the order of adjectives, the position of adverbs, inversion and other areas of grammar.

49. TESTING WRITING SKILLS • CHANGING WORDS A completely different type of questions requires students to put verbs into their correct tense or voice. This question is quite easy and straightforward to construct. However, it is important to provide an interesting context.

50. TESTING WRITING SKILLS • Blank–filling Blank-filling items should consist of paragraphs providing an interesting and relevant context. It is important to choose the words to omit very carefully so that they are all grammatical words ( e.g. to, in, is, the).