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    Assesing Student'S Grammatical Ability What Aspects of Grammar Should We Assess?

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    Oi Chuu
    The document discusses assessing students' grammatical ability. It emphasizes distinguishing between grammatical knowledge stored in memory and grammatical ability to use language. To properly assess ability, tests must elicit accurate performance samples through well-designed tasks. Test method affects cognitive processing, so careful choice is important. Assessment should define constructs, examine forms and meanings, and use various task types from selected-response to limited- and extended-production.

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    Assesing Student'S Grammatical Ability What Aspects of Grammar Should We Assess?

    Uploaded by

    Oi Chuu
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    The document discusses assessing students' grammatical ability. It emphasizes distinguishing between grammatical knowledge stored in memory and grammatical ability to use language. To properly assess ability, tests must elicit accurate performance samples through well-designed tasks. Test method affects cognitive processing, so careful choice is important. Assessment should define constructs, examine forms and meanings, and use various task types from selected-response to limited- and extended-production.

    Original Title

    CHAPTER 28

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    The document discusses assessing students' grammatical ability. It emphasizes distinguishing between grammatical knowledge stored in memory and grammatical ability to use language. To properly assess ability, tests must elicit accurate performance samples through well-designed tasks. Test method affects cognitive processing, so careful choice is important. Assessment should define constructs, examine forms and meanings, and use various task types from selected-response to limited- and extended-production.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    44 views1 page

    Assesing Student'S Grammatical Ability What Aspects of Grammar Should We Assess?

    Uploaded by

    Oi Chuu
    The document discusses assessing students' grammatical ability. It emphasizes distinguishing between grammatical knowledge stored in memory and grammatical ability to use language. To properly assess ability, tests must elicit accurate performance samples through well-designed tasks. Test method affects cognitive processing, so careful choice is important. Assessment should define constructs, examine forms and meanings, and use various task types from selected-response to limited- and extended-production.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 1

    CHAPTER 28

    ASSESING STUDENT’S GRAMMATICAL ABILITY


    What aspects of grammar should we assess?
    An important distinction needs to be made between knowledge and ability. A person’s
    grammatical knowledge is represented by the structures that he/she has accumulated over a
    period of time and are stored in the person’s long-term memory. Grammatical ability refers to
    “an individual's capacity to utilize mental representations of language knowledge built up
    through practice in order to convey meaning.
    How should we assess grammatical ability?
    The design of appropriate test task or test methods to elicit samples of performance that
    represent student’s grammatical knowledge cannot be over-emphasized. In term of test
    method effect, Weir (2005) also points out that “the choice you make about format will
    critically affect the cognitive processing that the task will illicit”.
    Practical Application
    A number of grammar-related issues: construct definition, grammatical form, grammatical
    meaning, test method effect.
    Modern commercial books usually adopt a multi-layered approach to syllabus design focusing
    on grammatical and lexical components.
    Construct definition is tantamount to the course syllabus or outcome. It enable teachers to
    directly assess student’s mastery of a clearly defined set of grammatical structures.
    The choice of appropriate test methods or test task is paramount due to the potential negative
    effects they might have on test performance.
    A helpful way to categorize test tasks is according to the types of responses they require from
    students:
    Selected-response task types
    Students are presented with an item and are required to select one appropriate response. These
    task types only assess student’ ability to recognize correct or incorrect grammatical structures
    in their written form.
    Types of task:
    - Test the knowledge of grammatical form and meaning
    - Match each question with the appropriate response
    - Select the underlined word or phrase that is incorrect or inappropriate
    Limited-production tasks
    This kind of task requires test takers to produce grammatical forms in different ways within a
    highly controlled manner
    Types of task:
    - Make a sentence out of these words
    - Fill in the gaps in the following sentences
    - Complete the sentences
    - Rewrite these sentences
    Extended-production tasks
    These tasks measure an examinee’s ability to use grammatical forms and structures to convey
    meaning at discourse level through writing and speaking

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