1 / 8

Language Testing-The Problem of Validity

Language Testing-The Problem of Validity. By Bernard Spolsky. Tests used to control instruction Achievement- Tests concerned with what has been taught (at the end of a unit, quizzes, final exams) 2 . Diagnostic-

ojal
Download Presentation

Language Testing-The Problem of Validity

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Language Testing-The Problem of Validity By Bernard Spolsky

  2. Tests used to control instruction Achievement- Tests concerned with what has been taught (at the end of a unit, quizzes, final exams) 2. Diagnostic- Tests concerned with what is going to be taught (used in planning a curriculum, often given on first day of class with no preparation) Tests used to control a person’s career Achievement- What can the student do now? 2. Predictive- What should the student be able to do in the future? Two Types of Testing:

  3. Ways to pose the questions (vocab.): Give a word, get a response (“I know/don’t know it”) Multiple Choice tests-students circle the correct definition Students are given a picture and label it with the definition The Good and the Bad #1-easy to check, but results are not conclusive #2, #3- Do students know the words in the definitions? Is the picture ambiguous? Drawback of Type 1 test: Is it a valid representation of the skills we want to test? Type 1 test:

  4. Type 2 test: • The results of this test serve to make judgements such as: • How well will he/she do at learning this language? • Will he/she need extra instruction that the employer needs to pay for? • Can he/she use the language in certain contexts? • Can he/she read books in the language in their field of study? But what does it mean to know the language???

  5. Break a language up into different “skills”: These could include the ability to distinguish phonemes from each other, using vocabulary, etc. The level of mastery could be the sum of all of these skills. Objections: This approach assumes that knowledge of a language is finite. It is possible to make a list of all the items that make up a language. Discrete-Point Approach (1961)

  6. Absolute Language Proficeiency Ratings • Set by the U.S. State department to determine a functional definition of proficiency levels These levels include: • Elementary • Working • Professional • Native or Bilingual

  7. How can we keep the tests standard? Part One: Have the students be judged by professionals and be tested in real situations (like the TEACH test) Part Two: Test on information that is at the discretion of the teacher/tester

  8. Central Problem of Language Testing is VALIDITY!

More Related