1.1 testing and teaching
what are tests primarily constructed as?
devices to reinforce learning and to motivate the student
a means of assessing the students's performance in the language
1.2 why test
what is difference between the aims of classroom test and the external examintation?
the external examination- evaluation for the purpose of selection
the classroom test- evaluation for the purpose of increasing teachers' effectiveness by making adjustment to enable students to benefit more
what will a good classroom test help to do
form the perspective of student
to locate the precise areas of difficulty encourtered by the class or by the individual students
form the perspective of teacher
to ascertain which parts of the language programme have been found difficult by the class
how can a good test be used as a valiable teaching device
communicative and sutiable
1.3 what should be tested and to what standard
lingustics are examing the whole complex system of language skills and patterns of lingustic behavior
examinations in the written language in the past have set artificial standard and unrealistic expectations of the performances of foreign learners---scientific and realistic
1.4 testing the language skills
how to test language/what may the forms of tests of four major skills take
listeninf speaking reading,writing should be integrated
the drawbacks of traditional tests in testing skills
it may tell us relatively little about the student's general fluency
and ability to handle the target language
1.5 testing language areas
sections
vocabulary ( word meanings, word formation and collocations )
phonology ( phonemes, stress and intonation )
1.6 language skills and language elements
to what extent should we concentrate on testing students' ability to handle these elements of the language/to what extent should we concentrate on tasting the integrated skills
depend on both the level and the purpose of the test
the best test of mastery of a language
successful communication in situations which simulate real life
1.7 recongnition and production
recognition-type item
to recognize the correct form
production-type item
to produce and use the correct from in real life situations
1.8 problems of sampling
the principle of sampling in the test
to cover an adequate and representative section of those areas and skills it is desired to test
for the testees who have same mother-tongue-identify the similar problem and include a cross a cross-section of them
for those who do not share the same first language-- the test must be universal in nature and sample a fair cross-section of the language
1.9 avoiding traps for the students
all tests should be constructed primarily with the intention of finding out what students know-not of trapping them
