Features:
- Solid foundation in the basics of validity and reliability, as well as all of the different forms of assessment
- Concise, comprehensive treatment of all four skills includes classification of assessment techniques.
- Thorough examination of standards-based assessment and standardized testing.
- Practical examples illustrate principles.
- End-of-chapter exercises and suggested additional readings provide opportunities for further exploration.
Table of Contents:
Preface
1 Testing, Assessing, and Teaching
What Is a Test?
Assessment and Teaching
Informal and Formal Assessment
Formative and Summative Assessment
Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Test
Approaches to Language Testing: A Brief History
Discrete-point and Integrative Testing
Communicative Language Testing
Performance-Based Assessment
Current Issues in Classroom Testing
New Views on Intelligence
Traditional and “Alternative” Assessment
Computer-Based Testing
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
2 Principles of Language Assessment
Practicality
Reliability
Student-Related Reliability
Rater Reliability
Test Administration Reliability
Test Reliability
Validity
Content-Related Evidence
Criterion-Related Evidence
Construct-Related Evidence
Consequential Validity
Face Validity
Authenticity
Washback
Applying Principles to the Evaluation of Classroom Tests
1. Are the test procedures practical?
2. Is the test reliable?
3. Does the procedure demonstrate content validity?
4. Is the procedure face valid and “biased for best”?
5. Are the test tasks as authentic as possible?
6. Does the test offer beneficial washback to the learner?
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
3 Designing Classroom Language Tests
Test Types
Language Aptitude Tests
Proficiency Tests
Placement Test
Diagnostic Tests
Achievement Tests
Some Practical Steps to Test Construction
Assessing Clear, Unambiguous Objectives
Drawing Up Test Specifications
Devising Test Tasks
Designing Multiple-Choice Test Items
1. Design each item to measure a specific objective
2. State Both stem and options as simply and directly as possible
3. Make certain that the intended answer is clearly the only correct one
4. Use item indices to accept, discard, or revise items
Scoring, Grading, and Giving Feedback
Scoring
Grading
Giving Feedback
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
4 Standardized Testing
What Is Standardization?
Advantages and Disadvantages of Standardized Tests
Developing a Standardized Test
1. Determine the purpose and objectives of the test
2. Design test specifications
3. Design, select, and arrange test tasks/items
4. Make appropriate evaluations of different kinds of items
5. Specify scoring procedures and reporting formats
6. Perform ongoing construct validation studies
Standardized Language Proficiency Testing
Four Standardized Language Proficiency Tests
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL®)
Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB)
International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC®)
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
Appendix to Chapter 4:
Commercial Proficiency Tests: Sample Items and Tasks
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL®)
Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB)
International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC®)
5 Standards-Based Assessment
ELD Standards
ELD Assessment
CASAS and SCANS
Teacher Standards
The Consequences of Standards-Based and Standardized Testing
Test Bias
Test-Driven Learning and Teaching
Ethical Issues: Critical Language Testing
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
6 Assessing Listening
Observing the Performance of the Four Skills
The Importance of Listening
Basic Types of Listening
Micro- and Macroskills of Listening
Designing Assessment Tasks: Intensive Listening
Recognizing Phonological and Morphological Elements
Paraphrase Recognition
Designing Assessment Tasks: Responsive Listening
Designing Assessment Tasks: Selective Listening
Listening Cloze
Information Transfer
Sentence Repetition
Designing Assessment Tasks: Extensive Listening
Dictation
Communicative Stimulus-Response Tasks
Authentic Listening Tasks
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
7 Assessing Speaking
Basic Types of Speaking
Micro- and Macroskills of Speaking
Designing Assessment Tasks: Imitative Speaking
PhonePass Test
Designing Assessment Tasks: Intensive Speaking
Directed Response Tasks
Read-Aloud Tasks
Sentence/Dialogue Completion Tasks and Oral Questionnaires
Picture-Cued Tasks
Translation (of Limited Stretches of Discourse)
Designing Assessment Tasks: Responsive Speaking
Question and Answer
Giving Instructions and Directions
Paraphrasing
Test of Spoken English (TSE)
Designing Assessment Tasks: Interactive Speaking
Interview
Role Play
Discussions and Conversations
Games
Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)
Designing Assessment: Extensive Speaking
Oral Presentations
Picture-Cued Story-Telling
Retelling a Story, News Event
Translation (of Extended Prose)
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
8 Assessing Reading
Types (Genres) of Reading
Microskills, Macroskills, and Strategies for Reading
Types of Reading
Designing Assessment Tasks: Perceptive Reading
Reading Aloud
Written Response
Multiple-Choice
Picture-Cued Items
Designing Assessment Tasks: Selective Reading
Multiple-Choice (for Form-Focused Criteria)
Matching Tasks
Editing Tasks
Picture-Cued Tasks
Gap-Filling Tasks
Designing Assessment Tasks: Interactive Reading
Cloze Tasks
Impromptu Reading Plus Comprehension Questions
Short-Answer Tasks
Editing (Longer Texts)
Scanning
Ordering Tasks
Information Transfer: Reading Charts, Maps, Graphs, Diagrams
Designing Assessment Tasks: Extensive Reading
Skimming Tasks
Summarizing and Responding
Note-Taking and Outlining
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
9 Assessing Writing
Genres of Written Language
Types of Writing performance
Micro- and Macroskills of Writing
Designing Assessment Tasks: Imitative Writing
Tasks in [Hand] Writing Letters, Words, and Punctuation
Spelling Tasks and Detecting Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences
Designing Assessment Tasks: Intensive (Controlled) Writing
Dictation and Dicto-Comp
Grammatical Transformation Tasks
Picture-Cued Tasks
Vocabulary Assessment Tasks
Ordering Tasks
Short-Answer and Sentence Completion Tasks
Issues in Assessing Responsive and Extensive Writing
Designing Assessment Tasks: Responsive and Extensive Writing
Paraphrasing
Guided Question and Answer
Paragraph Construction Tasks
Strategic Options
Test of Written English (TWE®)
Scoring Methods for Responsive and Extensive Writing
Holistic Scoring
Primary Trait Scoring
Analytic Scoring
Beyond Scoring Responding to Extensive Writing
Assessing Initial Stages of the Process of Composing
Assessing Later Stages of the Process of Composing
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
10 Beyond Tests: Alternatives in Assessment
The Dilemma of Maximizing Both Practicality and Washback
Performance-Based Assessment
Portfolios
Journals
Conferences and Interviews
Observations
Self- and Peer-Assessments
Types of Self- and Peer-Assessment
Guidelines for Self- and Peer- Assessment
A Taxonomy of Self- and Peer-Assessment Tasks
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
11 Grading and Student Evaluation
Philosophy of Grading: What Should Grades Reflect?
Guidelines for Selecting Grading Criteria
Calculating Grades: Absolute and Relative Grading
Teachers’ Perceptions of Appropriate Grade Distributions
Institutional Expectations and Constraints
Cross-Cultural Factors and the Question of Difficulty
What Do Letter Grades “Mean”?
Alternatives to Letter Grading
Some Principles and Guidelines for Grading and Evaluation
Exercises
For Your Further Reading
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index
Review :
Click here to download a review, written by Julie Vorholt of San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. (The review is in PDF format.)
