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TESTING READING

TESTING READING. Operations: 1. Expenditious reading operations Skimming Obtain main ideas and discourse topic quickly and efficiently Establish quickly the structure of a text Decide the relevance of a text to their needs Search reading

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TESTING READING

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  1. TESTING READING

  2. Operations: 1. Expenditious reading operations • Skimming • Obtain main ideas and discourse topic quickly and efficiently • Establish quickly the structure of a text • Decide the relevance of a text to their needs • Search reading The candidate can quickly find information on a predetermined topic. Specifying what the candidates should be able to do

  3. Scanning The candidate can quickly find : • Specific words or phrases • Figures, percentages • Specific items in an index • Specific names in a bibliography or a set of references Continued...

  4. 2. Careful reading operations • Identify pronominal reference • Identify discourse markers • Interpret complex sentences • Outline logical organisation of a text • Outline the development of an argument • Distinguish general statements from examples • Identify explicitly stated main ideas • Identify implicitly stated main ideas • Recognise writer’s intention • Recognise the attitudes and emotions of the writer • Identify addressee or audience for a text • Identify what kind of text is involved ( e.g.editorial,diary,etc) • Distinguish fact from opinion • Distinguish fact from rumour or hearsay. Continued....

  5. Make inferences: • Infer the meaning of an unknown word from context. • Make proposional informational inferences, answering question beginning with who, when, what. • Make proposional explanatory inferences concerned with motivation, cause, consequence and enablement, answering questions beginning with why, how. • Make pragmatic inferences. • http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1675 • http://search.sweetim.com/search.asp?q=making+inference+in+reading+skill&ln=en&src=10 • http://www.suite101.com/content/making-inferences-a89667 continued

  6. Text that candidates are supposed to be able to deal with can be specified along a number of parameters : • Text types • Text forms • Graphic features • Topics • Styles : • Intended readership • Lenght • Readability • Range of vocabulary • Range of grammar TEXT

  7. Reading speed may be expressed in words per minute. Different speeds will be expected for careful and expenditious reading. In the case of the latter, the candidate is, of course, not expected to read all of the words. The expected speed of reading will combine with the number and difficulty of items to determine the amount of time needed for test, or part of it. SPEED

  8. Norm-referenced testing Criterio-referenced approach This book encourages a broadly criterion-refenced approach to language testing Criterial level of performance

  9. SELECTING TEXTS: All the points below are often overlooked. Keep specifications constantly in mind and try to select as representative a sample as possible. Choose texts of appropriate lenght. Content validity and acceptable reliability of the tasks. Passages which contain plenty of discrete pieces of information. Find texts which have the specified elements. The text has a clearly recognizable structure. Choose texts that will interest candidates but which will not disturb them. Avoid texts made up of information that may be part of candidates’general knowledge. Do not choose texts that are too culturally laden. Do not use texts that students have already read. SETTING THE TASKS

  10. WRITING ITEMS • The items that will measure the ability in which the testers are interested • The items that will elicit reliable behaviour from the testers • The items that will permit highly realiable scoring. • POSSIBLE TECHNIQUES • Multiple choice • Short answer • Gap filling • Information transfer continued

  11. The wording of reading test items is not meant to cause candidates of comprehension • The items should always be well within candidates’capabilities • The items should be Less demanding than the text itself. • The respons should make minimal demands on writing ability. WHICH LANGUAGE FOR ITEMS AND RESPONS

  12. PROCEDURES FOR WRITING ITEMS

  13. PRESENT ITEMS IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THE ANSWERS CAN BE FOUND IN THE TEXT. DO NOT WRITE THE ITEMS FOR WHICH THE CORRECT RESPONS CAN BE FOUND WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT. DO NOT INCLUDE ITEMS THAT SOME CANDIDATES ARE LIKELY TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER FROM GENERAL KNOWLEDGE MAKE THE ITEMS INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER BE PREPARED TO MAKE MINOR CHANGE TO THE TEXT TO IMPROVE IN ITEMS. PRACTICAL ADVICE ON ITEM WRITING

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