Assignment - ATC

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
ASSESSMENT AND TESTING IN THE CLASSROOM

Name and surname(s):

Magaly Conde Lara
Fabián Vergel García
Oscar Orlando Martinez Sandoval
Julián Alexander Sánchez Suspe

Logins:
PEFPMTFL200446
COFPMTFL158537
COFPMTFL1101962
COFPMTFL1531668

Group:
fp_tefl_2014-02

Date:
27th September, 2015

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 Assignment - ATC

INDEX

Introduction……………………………………………………………………….……... 3
Rationale
1. Context………………………………………………………………………… 4
2. Learning language objectives………………………………………………. 4
2.1. Reading………………………………………………………………... 4
2.2. Listening and speaking ……………………………………………... 4
2.3. Writing…………………………………………………………………. 5
3. Type of test…………………………………………………………………….. 5
4. Principles…………………………………………………………………….. 6- 8
5. Marking criteria………………………………………………………………… 8
5.1. Marking reading………………………………………………………. 8
5.2. Marking vocabulary………………………………………………….. 8
5.3. Marking grammar…………………………………………………... 8- 9
5.4. Marking writing………………………………………………………... 9
5.5. Marking Listening and speaking …………………………………… 10
6. Justification……………………………………………………………………. 11
7. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………. 12
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………. 13
Appendices…………………………………………………………………………. 14- 17

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 Assignment - ATC

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this assignment is to define the part that assessment and testing takes
in helping the progress of effective and trustworthy practices in assessment in different
English as a second language situations. Clerc (2010) affirms that the evaluation
permits to lead the learning process efficiently. In this way, the different data-gathering
strategies applied in the ESL classrooms are analyzed and used to determine whether
or not intended outcomes are being achieved (Gagne, Bridges & Wagne, 1998).

This task defines a test that is designed for and directed to beginner students. It is
justified in relation to its theoretic base. First, it will broach the type of test according to
its purposes. Then, it will explain if the test can be considered second or third
generation, and finally it will pinpoint the main principles of language testing in relation
to the test.

The main purpose of the achievement test that we will show is to assess learners and
help teachers to measure, design and scale the progress of some specific contents of a
course syllabus with New Cutting Edge Elementary as its guide text; with the intention
of checking how much the students have learnt about grammar and vocabulary, and
how much they have improved their productive and receptive skills. Another important
aim is to provide important data and facts in order to know if the course syllabus needs
to be upgraded or needs to be totally modified with the objective of making further
learning more effective and operative.

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 Assignment - ATC

RATIONALE

“AN ACHIEVEMENT TEST ASSESSMENT”

1. CONTEXT
A private language school has been chosen for the current assessment process, which
offers English courses to general audience who are interested in improving their
English skills. Furthermore, it has been agreed to apply these Materials and Resources
assignment with an elementary level as we have had previous experience with these
groups. They are composed of 18 students whose ages range from 13 to 17 years;
with a total number of 8 hours of English a week.

2. LEARNING LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES

2.1 READING
● Students will be able to understand general interest texts written in simple
language.
● Students will be able to extract general and specific information from a short
and simple language text.
● Students will be able to convey meaning according to the reading context.

For this reading our intention is to show real material which our students can face at
any time for any occasion. The most important is to bring to our and their (student)
minds a remembrance of a situation they have already lived and in this way to identify
the most important items or facts from it.

2.2 LISTENING AND SPEAKING

● Students will be able to understand oral questions and expressions referring to
themselves, their friends or their environment.
● Students will be able to understand short and simple messages related to their
environment and personal interests.
● Students will be able to answer simple questions on topics which are familiar to
them extracting relevant and specific information.
● Students will be able to formulate simple questions on familiar topics.
● Students will be able to start, maintain and close a simple conversation on a
familiar topic.
2.3 WRITING

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● Students will be able to describe people or situations with a real purpose

● Students will be able to write short texts about them, their family, their friends,
their environment or events that are linked to them.
● Students will be able to use appropriate vocabulary to give coherence to their
writings.

3. TYPE OF TEST
In education, the term evaluation is frequently related to the process of reviewing and
assigning value to a written examination, oral presentation, portfolio, dissertation, and
so on (Clerc, 2010). These evaluations are appropriated to measure the language
proficiency, which according to Canagarajah (2006), is the ability to use the language
effectively for specific purposes, functions and discourses inside specific communities.
In the same manner, the evaluations have different purposes: (i) to regulate the
learning process fixing goals and controlling progressions, (ii) to categorize the
students, (iii) to change the teaching methodologies, (iiii) to guide the academic
processes and, so on (Clerc, 2010). The purpose of the test we have designed for
elementary level students is a type of “achievement” designed in order to assess the
effectiveness of the students’ learning carried out in a short period of time ( 4 weeks)
regarding the first two units from the book New Cutting Edge Elementary (Cunningham
& Moore, 2005).

Generally, tests do not represent just one generation of testing since the different
techniques can be mixed and matched. In the same way, this test can combine
learner's strengths to overtake their weaknesses. It also presents a mixture of second
and third generation testing. A second generation test characteristic involves the
objective testing principle of the discrete language items. It lest non-experts to mark the
test without changing the result. Third generation tests place the language into real
contexts. They are integrative and use objective and subjective testing formats. It
means they asses the knowledge about the language and the capacity of implementing
that knowledge in real life communication situations.

4. PRINCIPLES

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 Assignment - ATC

According to West (1990), tests can be categorized according to a set of principles

which are strictly opposed.

Competence vs. Performance

This achievement test structure involves both competence and performance language
principles. Competence refers to the knowledge of the rules that regulate the language
and performance referring to the real language used in concrete situations (Chomsky,
1965). The reading, vocabulary and grammar parts of the test assess the abstract
knowledge about the language they are learning (morphology, syntax and semantics).
The writing and listening-speaking parts assess the concrete use of the language to
solve communicative situations (writing an email to an e-pal or interacting at a party).

Usage vs. Use

On the one hand, the usage of the language refers mainly to the grammatical rules that
control language sentence structures. On the second hand, the use refers to the
language communicative purposes (Widdowson,1978). In fact, the current achievement
test involves both language principles since it tests students’ language proficiency at
the end of an elementary course. In other words, it tests syntax, morphology and the
use of language in real communicative situations as mentioned before.

Direct / Indirect Assessment

The current test involves both direct and indirect testing. Direct testing assesses the
language competence, whereas indirect testing assesses performance (West, 1990). In
this manner, writing and listening-speaking activities are considered as direct testing
since they take into account students’ language production (communicative
competence) required to perform the final outcome (writing an email to an e-pal or
interacting at a party). While, reading, grammar and vocabulary can be regarded as
indirect as they test the needed skills that underlie performance (English grammar rules
and elemental vocabulary).

Discrete point vs. Integrative Assessment

The activities that incorporate this achievement test may be divided into integrative
assessment and discrete point tests. The integrative assessment combines multiple
linguistic elements at the same time to complete the test requirements (Oller, 1979). In
this case, the internet posting and the party engagement review syntax, morphology

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and semantics at the same time. The discrete point tests focus on one linguistic
element at a time. The grammar and vocabulary sections are discrete point tests since
they review morphology and syntax separately.

Objective vs. Subjective Assessment

Objective tests do not require judgment from the scorer which means that the answers
can be clearly marked as correct or wrong. The reading activity as well as the grammar
and vocabulary sections (multiple-choice, fill-in-blanks) may be regarded as objective.
In contrast, subjective tests requires judgment from the assessor since they may have
more than one way to express the correct answer, for instance the writing and
listening-speaking activities can be described as subjective test since they require real
life language use.

Receptive vs. Productive Skills

This integrative achievement test involves both receptive (reading and listening) and
productive (writing and speaking) skills assessment. West (1990) states that the
receptive skills assessment permits more objective marking while the productive ones
require alternative rubrics to obtain the final test results. As mentioned before, this
achievement test involves the language skills including grammar and vocabulary as
independent items.

Contextualized vs. Disembodied Language

Some activities in this test have little or no context. They just asked the learner to
choose the correct answers from different options, to fill in blank spaces or to answer
precise questions (grammar and vocabulary testing). However, the writing and
speaking questions present a real communicative purpose with specific context
information.

Criterion referenced and Norm-referenced Assessment

The criterion-referenced assessment principle measures the achievement of the
learning language objectives proposed in this work (See Section 2, LEARNING
LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES). It reviews whether the learners are able to complete
different communicative purposes or not (West, 1990). Norm-referenced assessment is
not included since the test purpose is not to rank each student with respect to the
achievement of others based on the different tested skills.

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Reliability vs. Validity

This test includes both receptive and productive skills revision. In this way, the activities
increase the test validity since they are reviewed objectively and the subjective
judgment is based on standardization scales. The objective testing increases reliability
since the test can be administered or reviewed repeatedly obtaining the same score. It
means that the reading, vocabulary (fill-in–blanks) and grammar (multiple-choice, fill-
in–blanks) answers are unique. The subjective testing is controlled using the
standardization scales which help to increase reliability as well.

5. MARKING CRITERIA
5.1. MARKING READING
Regarding reading, we will give an objective assessment in order to test learners’
performance in two fields:
a. Reading comprehension: Expressed in terms of understanding and use.
b. Reading for information: Understood in terms of deduction, scanning and
skimming.
The reading activity will carry out a mark out of ten points. What is more, an authentic
text “A birthday invitation” has been used to contextualize the language applied in
which an answering questions technique will serve as means to fulfill a communicative
goal.

5.2 MARKING VOCABULARY

In terms of vocabulary, there will also be an objective assessment to test student’s use
and usage of the language. Besides, the main focus is on production, and a pair of
completion exercises has been designed aiming at evaluating students’ ability to apply
concepts and information to a new situation. Whereas, the activities are discrete units,
they are not considered as communicative. Furthermore, a score out of five has been
given to measure such area.

5.3 MARKING GRAMMAR

Regarding grammar, we will follow an objective assessment in which three criteria have
been taken into account when creating the questions:
a .Language: It is expressed in terms of identification, and use in any context.
b. Use: How applicable the grammatical competence is in context.

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 Assignment - ATC

c. Understanding: Apply grammar in context.

Additionally, the exercises included are based on recognition (multiple choice) and
production (filling the gaps) carrying out a score out of 15 points.

5.4 MARKING WRITING

Regarding writing, two criteria will be taken into account when marking, these are:
a. Content: The content must be relevant and complete, and the target reader
ought to be full informed.
b. Language: There must be a correct use of grammar and vocabulary. Also, the
register should be appropriate and mistakes must not impede communication.
Moreover, a band scale will be applied to give assessment a more objective approach.

BAND CONTENT LANGUAGE

Covers all points in the task. Very good use of grammar and
10 All points are relevant. vocabulary structures.
Target reader is fully informed. Very few mistakes which do not
impede communication.

Covers most points in the task. Use and range of grammar and
8 Most points are relevant. vocabulary structures are
In general, the target reader is appropriate.
informed. Some mistakes might be present but
do not impede communication.

6 Performance shares features of bands 2 and 4

Some points in the task have not Grammar and vocabulary that is
4 been covered. below the level.
Irrelevances are present. Several mistakes that impede
Target reader is not well-informed. communication.

Several important points have not Narrow range of grammar and

2-1 been covered. vocabulary structures.
Several irrelevances. Mistakes impede communication.
Target reader is minimally
informed.

Irrelevant content points. Performance below band 1

0 Target reader is not informed

5.5 MARKING LISTENING AND SPEAKING

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 Assignment - ATC

To mark students’ listening and speaking performance, examiners are going to

consider four criteria: 1) Interactive communication, 2) Discourse and fluency, 3)
Pronunciation 4) Grammar and vocabulary
Each criterion is given a mark out of 5 to add up 20 points. This mark is divided by 2, to
obtain the final result, which is out of 10. Moreover, in order to give validity and
reliability to our assessment process we will be guided by an assessment scale as
follows.

BAND STATE FEATURES

Interacts very well. Conversations are effective. Very good

pronunciation. Good listening performance. Some prompting
10 Outstanding is needed, but not often. Range of grammar and vocabulary
according to the level. Few mistakes.

9 Performance shares features of bands 10 and 8

Interacts well. Conversations are proper. Generally fluent with

8 Above some hesitation. Good pronunciation. Average listening
average performance. At times, prompting is needed. Appropriate
range of grammar and vocabulary. Some mistakes.

7 Average performance shares features of bands 8 and 6

Does not interact very well. Conversations are barely

developed. Fluency problems and some irrelevant
6 Below contributions with a lot of hesitation. Some pronunciation
average problems. Below average listening performance. Prompting is
needed most of the time. Several mistakes

5 Performance shares features of band 6 and 4

Does not interact well. Conversations are not developed

properly. Not fluent, irrelevant contributions with a lot of
4 Weak hesitation. Many pronunciation problems. Listening
performance is not good. A lot of prompting is needed.
Problems with grammar and vocabulary. Mistakes obscure
communication.

3 Performance shares features of bands 4 and 3

Does not interact. Conversations are not developed. Serious

fluency problems, irrelevant contributions with intrusive
2-1 Poor hesitation. Serious pronunciation problems. Too much
prompting is needed. Very poor listening performance.
Serious problems with grammar and vocabulary. Too many
mistakes obscure communication.
6. JUSTIFICATION

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 Assignment - ATC

For every skill tested we have chosen a different scoring technique. All tests are
designed subjectively by the test designer, who decides which skills to test, how to test
those particular areas, and what type of items to use for this purpose. Consequently, it
is only the scoring of a test that can be described as objective. This means that a
student will score the same, or very similar grade no matter who marks the test.
Since objective tests (as in grammar and vocabulary section in our test) usually have
only one correct answer (or, at least, a limited number of correct answers), they can be
marked mechanically by the teacher. This constitutes an important reason for the
popularity of this kind of tests among teachers responsible to design test because it
evidently saves time and it is easy to grade.
Clearly, the writing skill can only be satisfactorily tested by a subjective test requiring
the students to perform a writing task similar to that required in real life. On the other
hand, reliability will not be difficult to get in the marking of the corresponding rubric.
On the whole objective tests require far more careful preparation than subjective ones.
We as testers, tend to spend a relatively short time on setting the questions but
considerable time on marking. In objective test an examiner spends a great deal of
time constructing each test item as carefully as possible, attempting to anticipate the
various reactions of the test takers at each exercise. The effort is usually rewarded,
however, in the case of the marking.
So why to choose a subjective testing exercise rather than an objective one? The
distinction here lies on the methods of scoring. If no judgment is required by the
examiner, then the scoring is objective. A multiple-choice test (as in grammar section in
our test), with the correct responses unambiguously identified, would be a case in
point. If examiner judgment is called for, the grading is assumed to be subjective.
There are several degrees of subjectivity in testing. The generalized scoring of writing
may be considered more subjective than the scoring of short answers in response to
questions on a reading passage.
Objectivity in grading is desired by many institutions, not for itself, but for the
trustworthiness it carries. In general, the less subjective the grading, the greater
equivalence there will be between two different students (and between the grades of
the same student scoring the same test paper on different time). However, there are
ways of obtaining reliable subjective scoring, even of writing and speaking test, such as
band scales we have presented in the present paper.

7. CONCLUSIONS

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 Assignment - ATC

To sum up, both subjective and objective assessment methods have positive and
negative aspects. Nevertheless, we as teachers can make a good use of these types of
assessment through the combination of both approaches. It is also important to take
into account that authentic text and realistic tests make of assessing a more significant
and valuable experience for learners. The principles for assessing receptive and
productive skills must be clear when using third generation tests. Validity and Reliability
can be integrated every time a teacher wants to assess students in all areas, similarly
as we do in the test we have devised for this assignment.
Testing in educational situations is supportive to learning and memory, as a self-study
strategy for students or as a classroom tactic. The benefits can be indirect—students
study more and attend more fully if they expect a test – or direct which are the ones we
aim when designing a test like the one we assess in this work; retrieval practice from
testing provides a potent enhancement to future apprehension. Besides this latter,
there are several benefits we can imply from this type of tests:
● Identifying gaps in knowledge.
● Causing students to learn more from the next lesson.
● Producing better organization of knowledge.
● Improving transfer of knowledge to new and meaningful contexts.
● Facilitating retrieval of information that was not tested.
● Improving meta-cognitive monitoring.
● Preventing interference from previous pieces of knowledge when learning new
ones.
● Providing feedback to teachers.
● Encouraging students to revise.
● And its traditional function: Permitting teachers to assign grades to students.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Canagarajah, S. (2006). Changing Communicative Needs, Revised Assessment

Objectives: Testing English as an International Language. Retrieved on September 21,
2015, from http://www.personal.psu.edu/asc16/pdf/LAQ.pdf

Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Clerc, F. (2010). Bien débouter dans l’enseignement. Pratiques et repères

professionnels pour les jeunes enseignants. Paris, France. Hachette Education.

Gagne, R. Bridges, L. and Wagne, W. (1998). Principles of Instructional Design.

Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

Cunningham, S & Moore, P. (2005). New Cutting Edge: Elementary: Students’ Book.
Harlow: Longman.

Oller, J. (1979). Language tests at school: a pragmatic approach. London: Longman.

Widdowson, H.G. (1978). Teaching Language as Communication. London: Oxford

University Press.

APPENDICES

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 Assignment - ATC

ACHIEVEMENT TEST
LEVEL: ELEMENTARY LEVEL
COURSE: BASIC 1

I. READING

A. Read the party invitation and answer the questions.

1. How old is Madison? ..............................................
2. Where is the party? .................................................
3. When is it? ............................................................
4. What time does it start? ..............................................
5. Do you have to respond to the invitation? …………………………

……./10
II. VOCABULARY

A. Write the nationality.

e.g. I’m from Spain, so I’m _______Spanish________

1 I’m from Australia, so I’m ________________________________

2 I’m from Japan, so I’m ________________________________
3 I’m from France so I’m ________________________________
4 I’m from The USA so I’m ________________________________

……../2

B. Write the missing letters to form a word for jobs.

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 Assignment - ATC

1b_s_n_s_m_n
2f__tb_l_er
3w__t_r
4p_l_c_ _ff_c_r
5m_s_c__n
6a_tr_s_
...….../3
III. GRAMMAR

A. Choose the correct answer.

1. What's his name? 2. How are you?
a) I'm Susan. a) I'm 23.
b) Her name's Susan. b) Fine thank you.
c) John Gray. c) And you?

3 Are you from China? 4 Where's London?

a) Yes, we are. a) It's British.
b) No, I'm Chinese. b) It's in Britain.
c) Yes, they are. c) It's from Britain.

5. What's your job? 6 Is George married?

a) I'm a doctor. a) Yes, he's single.
b) Teacher. b) Yes, she's married.
c) I'm a tourist. c) No, he isn't.

….../6

B. Circle the correct options from the underlined words.

Liz: (1) This/These are (2) our/your holiday photos.

Jo: Oh really! Is (3) this/these (4) you/your husband here?
Liz: No, it's my cousin. (5) He's/His name's Tom. And (6) this/these are (7)
Tom/Tom's children. (8) They're/Their names are Keri and Steve and (9)
they're/their six and eight.
Jo: And where is this?
Liz: It's Disneyland, Paris. (10) It/This is fantastic for children.
Jo: It looks great!
……./5

C. Complete the blanks with the correct form of 'have got'.

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 Assignment - ATC

A: . (1) __________________________ your camera with you?

B: Sorry, I (2) _______________________ my camera here but I (3)
_______________________ my mobile phone. It (4) ___________________________
a camera.

….../4

IV. WRITING

Write a posting on a new social networking site called “Cyberfriends”; tell about
your personal information (name, nationality, age, etc.), interests, hobbies and
requests.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Content:.......…./ 5 Language: ……..../ 5

V. SPEAKING

Note: this section is not included in the paper test. It should be handed to
students or carried out by teacher according to each situation.

SPEAKING / LISTENING PAPER:

I. Introduction or ice breaker

People involved: Examiner and students
1. What’s your name?
2. How old are you?
3. What’s your job?
4. How are you today?
5. Where are you from?
6. Are you married?

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II. Performing a communicative task:

People involved: Two students
Situation: At a party
You are new students at Cambridge College, and your study centre has organized a
welcome party. You have to introduce yourself and develop a conversation.

Useful phrases:
Hi, I’m………………….
What’s ………………….?
Nice to meet you ,.............?
Are you…………………?

III. Follow up questions:

People involved: Examiner and two students

1. Have you got a best friend?

2. Do you like going to parties?
3. Where do you live?
4. Have you got any brothers or sisters?
5. What’s your favourite type of music?
6. What’s your favourite thing?

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