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Language Testing: Approaches and Techniques: Prepared by Aries A. Sunga

This document discusses different approaches to language testing including translation, structuralist, integrative, and communicative approaches. It also discusses test techniques such as direct and indirect testing, multiple choice questions, cloze items, paraphrasing, integrative testing, and the difference between objective and subjective testing. The strengths and weaknesses of each approach and technique are provided.

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Ris Asibron
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125 views

Language Testing: Approaches and Techniques: Prepared by Aries A. Sunga

This document discusses different approaches to language testing including translation, structuralist, integrative, and communicative approaches. It also discusses test techniques such as direct and indirect testing, multiple choice questions, cloze items, paraphrasing, integrative testing, and the difference between objective and subjective testing. The strengths and weaknesses of each approach and technique are provided.

Uploaded by

Ris Asibron
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LANGUAGE

TESTING:
APPROACHES AND
TECHNIQUES
Prepared by Aries A. Sunga
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the Module, students should be able to:

 Identify and differentiate the different approaches to language


testing.

 Explain their strengths and weaknesses.

 Discuss the various language test techniques.

 Realizes the usefulness of the lessons in testing students.


CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN ESSAY

-TRANSLATION APPROACH

•This is commonly referred to as the pre- scientific stage of


language testing. No special skill or expertise in testing is required.
Tests usually consist of essay writing, translation and grammatical
analysis.
Strengths of Essay-

This approach is easy to follow because teachers will simply use


their subjective judgement
Weaknesses of Essay-

Translation Approach

 Subjective judgement of teachers tends to be biased.


- Asmentioned, the tests have a heavy literary and cultural bias.
CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH 

 This approach views that language learning is chiefly concerned


with systematic acquisition of a set of habits. The structuralist
approach involves structural linguistics which stresses the
importance of constructive analysis and the need to identify and
measure the learners’ mastery of the separate elements of the
target language such as phonology, vocabulary and grammar.
Strengths of Structuralist Approach

 Using this approach in testing will help students find their strengths and
weaknesses in every skill they study.
Weaknesses of Structuralist Approach

 It tends to be a complicated job for teachers to prepare


questionnaires using this approach.
CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

This approach involves the testing of language in context and is thus


concerned primarily with meaning and the total communicative effect
of discourse. Integrative tests are concerned with a global view of
proficiency.
Strengths of Integrative Approach

 Thisapproach can view students’ proficiency with a global view.


Weakness of Integrative Approach

 Even if many think that measuring integrated skills is better, sometimes


there is a need to consider the importance of measuring skills based on
students’ need, such as writing only, speaking only, etc.
CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF TESTS IN COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

>Language is created by the individual, often through trial and error


Learners interact with each other in pairs or groups, to encourage a flow
of language and maximize the percentage of talking time, rather than just
teacher to student .
•Information Gap

•Role play

•Learning by Teaching

•Games

•Surveys

•Interviews
Strengths of Communicative Approach

 Communicative tests are able to measure all integrated skills of


students.

 The tests using this approach face students in real life so it will be very
useful for them.
Weaknesses of Communicative Approach

 Unlike the structuralist approach, this approach does not emphasize


learning structural grammar, yet it may be difficult to achieve
communicative competence without a considerable mastery of the
grammar of a language.
TEST
TECHNIQUES
• KINDS OF TESTS AND TESTING
Direct Test Items

Direct test items used authentic assessment approaches. Examples in


TESOL would include the following…

For speaking: Interviews and presentations

For writing: Essay questions

For reading: Using real reading material and having the student respond to
question verbally and or in writing

For listening: Following oral directions to complete a task


The primary goal of direct test items is to be as much
like real-life as possible. Often, direct testing items are
integrative, which means that the student has to apply
several skills at once. For example, presentations involve
more than just speaking but also the writing of the speech,
the reading or memorizing of the speech as well as the
critical thinking skills to develop the speech
Indirect Test Items

Indirect test items assess knowledge without authentic application.


Below are some common examples of indirect test

items.

Multiple choice questions

Cloze items

Paraphrasing
• Indirect Testing

-attempts to measure the abilities that underlie the skills in which the
test is interested.

-Example: Grammatical knowledge contributes to writing ability, then


a grammar test may be used as an indirect test of writing.
Multiple Choice

Multiple choice questions involve the use of a question followed by


several potential answers. It is the job of the student to determine
what is the most appropriate answer. Some challenges with writing
multiple choice are the difficulty of writing incorrect choices. For
every correct answer, you need several wrong ones. Another problem
is that with training, students can learn how to improve their success
on multiple choice test without having a stronger knowledge of the
subject matter.
Cloze Items

Cloze items involve giving the student a paragraph or sentence


with one or more blanks in it that the student has to complete.
One problem with Cloze items is that more than one answer
may be acceptable for a blank. This can lead to a great deal of
confusion when marking the test.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is strictly for TESOL and involves having
the student rewrite a sentence in a slightly different way
as the example below.
“

I’m sorry I did not go to the assembly”


I wish________________________________
 Integrative Testing

-requires the candidate to combine many language elements in the


completion of a task.
-Examples:
-• writing a composition
-• making notes while listening to a lecture
-• taking a dictation
 Objective vs. Subjective Testing

• Objective Test – there is only one right answer .

• Subjective Test - the scorer is not looking for only one right
answer, but rather for a series of factors.

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