DESIGNING CLASROOM LANGUAGE TESTS
After all the readings we’ve done and all the information
we’ve got about tests, formal and informal tests, formative and summative tests;
and having put tests where they belong in the larger domain of assessment. Now
we are called to start a process of designing them properly.
To start that process we need to have some
concepts clear like: practicability, authenticity, reliability, validity and washback in order to apply them
and measure the effectiveness of a classroom test. In addition to that, we also
have to ask some critical questions:
·
What
is the purpose of the test? Here we have to set the reason why we are creating
a test, what are the things we want to measure and evaluate with it. Having the
purpose clear we can determine its objectives.
·
What
are the objectives of the test? We need to know what are the language skills that
we want to assess and what information we want to find out with the test.
·
How
will the test specifications reflect both, the purpose and the objectives?
·
How
will the test tasks be selected and the separate items arranged? The tasks should have the principles of
practicality and validity in the way of reaching the other principles when
providing results by the teacher evaluation.
·
What
kind of scoring, grading or feedback is expected? Results are different for every
test, they depends on the purpose.
Having clear all those questions and establishing
the purpose and the objectives in the right way, we are giving the first steps
we have to follow to start the whole design test process. As Brown says:
‘‘The five questions should form the basis of
your approach to designing for your classroom’’ Have them in mind and take them to
the practice.
This information is taken from :
Brown,
D. (2004) Language Assessment Principles and Practices. New
York. Pearson Longman
Chapter 3, Designing Classroom Language Tests.
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