TESTING, ASSESSING AND TEACHING
PROFESSOR: MAYRA A. SILVA ORTEGA
DO YOU PLAN YOURSELF AS A TEACHER?
What kind of teacher do you
want to be?
WHAT IS A TEST?
A method
Measuring
Person’s ability, knowledge, or performance
A given domain
What are the characteristics of
a test?
ASSESSMENT
An ongoing process
Encompassing
Wider domain
1. Example: Students’ answers to questions.
2. Games
3. comments
WHAT IS TEACHING?
“The process of carrying out certain activities that experience has shown
to be effective in getting students to learn“
Setting up the opportunities for learners to listen, think, take, risks, set
goals, and process feedback from the “coach” and then recycle through
the skills that they are trying to master.
QUESTION
What is the relationship between testing, assessing and teaching?
TEST, ASSESSMENT AND TEACHING
Teaching
Assessment
Tests
ASSESSMENT
Types of Assessment
Informal and formal
Formative and summative
Norm and Criterion referenced tests
INFORMAL AND FORMAL ASSESSMENT
Informal Assessment starts with incidental, unplanned comments and
responses, along with coaching and other impromptu feedback to the
students. E.g. Nice job!, Good work!, etc.
Formal assessment are exercises or procedures specifically designed to
tap a storehouse of skills or knowledge.
QUESTION
Is formal assessment the same as test?
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Formative: Evaluating students in Summative: Aims to measure, or
the process of formning their summarize, what a student has
competencies and skills with the grasped, and typically occurs at
goal of helping them to continue the end of the course or unit
that grow process. instruction.
NORM REFERENCED AND CRITERION REFERENCED TEST.
Norm-referenced tests: each test-taker’s score is interpreted in relation to
a mean (average score), median (middle score), standard deviation (extent
of variance in scores), and/or percentile rank (Brown, 2004).
Criterion referenced tests are designed to give test-takers feedback,
usually in the form of grades, on specific course or lesson objectives
(Brown, 2004)
APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TESTING
Discrete-point Communicative Performance-
and integrative language based
testing testing assessment.
DISCRETE- POINT ASSESSMENT
Are constructed on the assumption that language can be broken down into
its component parts and those parts can be tested successfully.
INTEGRATIVE TESTS
Measure the level of mastery of the combination of two or more elements
of the language.
COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TESTING
Ability to use language appropriately, both receptively and productively,
in real situations.
PERFORMANCE- BASED ASSESSMENT
1. Performance assessment is based on the observation appraisal valuation
of the activity as in the case of learners
2. To assess the learning outcomes of the students' observations are needed
when doing so.
CURRENT ISSUES
Computed-
based
Tradictional testing
and
New views alternative
of assessment
intelligence
NEW VIEWS OF INTELLIGENCE
Gardner (1983,1999), for example, extended the traditional view of
intelligence to seven different components.
2. Sternberg (1988,1997) also charted new territory in intelligence
research in recognizing thinking and manipulative strategies as part of
intelligence.
3. Goleman (1995) concept of EQ has spurred us to underscore the
importance of the emotions I our cognitive processing.
TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENT
Assumes knowledge has universal meaning
Treats learning as a passive process
Separates process from product
Focuses on mastering discrete, isolated bits of information
Assumes the purpose of assessment is to document learning
Believes that cognitive abilities are separate from affective abilities
Views assessment as objective, value-free, and neutral
Embraces a hierarchical model of power and control
Perceives learning as an individual enterprise
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
Assumes knowledge has multiple meanings
Treats learning as an active process
Emphasizes process and product
Focuses on inquiry
Assumes the purpose of assessment is to facilitate learning
Views assessment as subjective and value-laden
Embraces a shared model of power and control
Perceives learning as a collaborative process
COMPUTER- BASED TESTING
Computer adaptive test (CAT).
1. a set of questions and
2. generally appropriate for test taker level.
QUESTION
What are the advantages and disadvantages of traditional
and alternative testing?
