Testing and Evaluation – Classroom

Notes
Tests are considered a way of judging people’s abilities, however in the teaching and
learning world, they are not taken seriously. Therefore, teachers should be trained on how
to design, grade and score tests and their answers.
Why do we give students tests?

 To check their learning

 To enable teachers to assess students language abilities
 To add variety to students learning; tests are forms of learning activities.
 To identify weakness and correct them
 Tests enable both students and teachers to identify which areas of the material are not understood.
This allows students to seek help and teachers to deal with these areas that may need more
attention. Thus enabling students to do better.
 Obtain feedback on teaching and have an idea on the learner’s progress.
 To motivate students to study and verify their ability.
 Modals restrict the scope of reflection of students ( individualism)

Constructing a test:
1. Plan the test:
a. what are the topics/ materials to be tested?
b. What of questions to be conducted? ( matching, gap filling, etc.)
c. What test items and formats should be used (essay test, MCQ, true/ false…)
d. Test grading: when designing a test, the following point should be considered: testing time, a lot of tasks
( giving chance to students) and a lot of questions and formats.
2. Writing Test items:
a. Test items should be clearly formulated .
b. Start with easy tasks before moving to difficult ones.
c. Brief instructions and avoid adding complications.
d. Reviewing the items ( proofreading)
3. Factors influencing the choice of test formats:
a. What is to be measured.
b. The size of the class (scoring will take a long time)
c. Time available to prepare and score the test.
4. Objective vs. Subjective text items.
a. Objective: selecting the correct answer from many alternatives, supplying a word or a short phrase to
complete and a statement. ( large groups with reliable scoring method)
b. Subjective: enable students to provide an original answer like: short-answer essays and extended
response essays. ( smaller groups/ encourage the students writing skill)
5. Classroom test problems: measures may not be accurate because:
a. Tests may only include measuring knowledge of facts
b. Little feedback is provided
c. Questions are ambiguous and tricky
d. Tests are too short ( does not cover all the course aspects)
Types of test items
TEST ADVANTAGES
 Measuring different
levels of cognitive
abilities.
 It covers different
MQT
aspects
 Reliable scores
 Answered and scored
quickly
 Covering different
aspects
 Scoring is efficient and
accurate
TRUE / FALSE
 It does not require time
to answer
MATCHING
 Covering more content
TESTS
 Objective scoring
 It provides a wide
sampling of content
 It enables the teacher
to cover different
COMPLETIO
aspects of content
N
 Can measure lover level
TEST cognitive abilities
 Can minimize guessing
 Easy and less time
consuming to construct
 Testing students
abilities to compose an
ESSAY TEST
answer in a logical
manner
 Measures higher order
cognitive objectives
DRAWBACKS
 Not easy to construct
 Favoring recall of facts
 There is a certain % of
guessing
 Encourage guessing and
memorization
 Writing ambiguous
statements
 Favoring testing trivial
things
 Memorizing info
 Lower-order thinking
 avoid process of elimination
 Has difficulty measuring
learning objectives
requiring more than
simple information
 Time consuming
 Difficult to score
 It does not assess higher
levels of learning
 Focusing on
memorization of facts
 It does not cover
different aspect of the
content
 Requires time to grade
 Subjective scoring
WRITING THIS TEST
 Omit irrelevant information from the
stem
 Make sure that there is one correct
response to the item
 Avoid tricky options
 Base true/ false items on things that are
absolutely true or false
 Statements should be clearly expressed
a single idea in one statement).
 Avoid unfamiliar vocabulary
 Make sure the statement deals with the
non trivial info
 Keep them short and unambiguous
 Clear instructions
 Include more responses than stimuli to
 Use short or single words
 Omit significant words from the
statement
 Do not omit so many words
 Limit the required response to one word
or a phrase.
 State the question clearly
 It is better to administer to give many
short answer items rather than
extended
The washback (backwash)
The influence of tests on the classroom practices which can be either beneficial (+) or harmful (-)

 To what extant exams influence what they do in the classroom?

 Teachers emphasize what they will have in the exams.
 What learners learn and how they learn?
 Teachers cannot teach what is beyond the content of the exam
The effects of examination on the process of teaching and learning

 High pass rates indicates teacher’s success

 How tests influence language teachers and learners to do things they would not otherwise do.
 Teachers practices and learners behaviors

Positive washback:
 A good test should be a servant of teachers
 The test needs to be a leader.
 Teaching the syllabus becomes the same as teaching to a test.
 Preparing students for exams promotes and facilitates learning.

Negative Washback:
 It occurs when there is mismatch between the goals of education and the focus of exams
 It may lead to the abondement of the goals of education in favor of test preparation
 Teachers tend to ignore subjects and activities which do not serve passing the exam.