ASSESSING THE

FOUR SKILLS
ASSESSING LISTENING
OUTLINE
Introduction
I. Observing the performance of the four skills,
II. The importance of listening,
III. Basic types of listening,
IV. Micro- and macro skills of listening,
V. Designing assessment tasks: Intensive listening
Responsive listening
Selective listening
Extensive listening
INTRODUCTION
 Now we shift from the standardized testing to the level at
which teachers will usually work: the day to day classroom
assessment of listening, speaking, writing, and reading.
 But the four language skills are discussed independently;
this does not predispose that they should be assessed in
isolation. They are identified separately here in order to
identify: principles, test types, tasks, and issues
associated with each one.
 The treatment of a form-focused assessment is not dealt
with separately; in this work the various linguistic forms
(phonology, morphology, lexicon, grammar…etc) are
treated within the context of skill areas (since they can’t
be disassociated from a mode of performance).
 I. OBSERVING THE PERFORMANCE
OF THE FOUR SKILLS
All language users rely on their underlying competence in order to
accomplish their performances ( L, S, W, R); and when we propose to
assess the person’s competence we observe the person’s
performance, but sometimes the performance does not indicate true
competence.
 One important principle for assessing the competence is to admit
multiple measures that will always give a more reliable and valid
assessment than a single measure i.e. assessment could take the form
of one or more of the following designs( triangulation):
• several tests that are combined to form an assessment

• A single test with multiple tasks to account for learning styles and

performance variables
• In-class and extra-class graded work

• Alternative forms of assessment (e.g., journal, portfolio,

conference, observation, self assessment, peer assessment).

 Teachers rely as much as possible on observable performa-
nce in their assessment, but in the case of receptive skills
we can neither observe the process of performing nor the
product.
 The process of listening invisible, inaudible
 We can observe learners only while they are listening or
reading i.e.: assessment of reading and listening must be
made on the basis of observing the test taker’s speaking or
writing (or non verbal response).
 So, all assessment of receptive performance must be made
by inference.
 THE IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING
 Listening has often played second fiddle to its counterpart,
speaking; it is rare to find just a listening test where a number of
separate oral production tests are available (see next chapter)
 One reason is that listening is seen as a component of speaking.
But: how can one speak without also listening? In addition; the
overtly observable nature of speaking renders it more empirically
measurable than listening.
 A deeper cause lies in universal biases towards speaking; so a good
speaker is more highly valued than a good listener; people often
ask: “do you speak Spanish ?” they rarely ask: “ do you understand
and speak Spanish ?”.
 every teacher knows that one's oral production ability is only as
good as one’s listening comprehension ability. Arguments are: 1)
the importance of input for a successful language acquisition. And
2) it is argued that in a typical day, we do measurably more
listening than speaking.
 BASIC TYPES OF LISTENING
With all affective tests; designing appropriate assessment tasks in
listening begins with the specification of objectives or criteria ; those
objectives may be classified in terms of several types of listening
performance.
 What do we do when we listen?...in nanoseconds, the following
processes flash through our brains: (and each of these stages represents
a potential assessment objective).
I. We recognize speech sounds and hold a temporary “imprint” of them
in short-term memory obj comprehending of surface structure
elements.
II. We simultaneously determine the type of speech event (mono,
dialogue) that is being processed and attend to its context and the
content of the message obj understanding of pragmatic context.
III. We use(bottom-up) linguistic decoding skills and/or (top-down)
background schemata to bring a plausible interpretation to the
message and assign a literal and intended meaning obj
Determining meaning of auditory input.
4) in most stages (except for repetition tasks, which involve
short term memory only), we delete the exact linguistic
form in which the message was originally received in
favor of conceptually retaining important or relevant
information in long term-memory obj developing
the gist, a global comprehensive understanding .

 From these stages we can derive four commonly

identified types of listening performance; each
comprises a category within which to consider
assessment tasks and procedures.
1/ intensive: listening for perception of the components
(phonemes, words, intonation…etc) of a larger stretch of
language.
2/ responsive: listening to a relatively short stretch of
language (a greeting question, command…etc) in order
to make an equally short response.
3/ selective: processing stretches of discourse such as short
monologues for several minutes in order to “scan” for
certain information; the purpose of such performance is to
be able to comprehend designated information in a
context of longer stretches of spoken language.
4/ extensive: listening to develop a top-down, global
understanding of spoken language
 MICRO- AND MACRO-SKILLS OF
LISTENING
 Micro skills: attending to the smaller bits and shunks of
language in mode of bottom-up process.
 Macro skills: focusing on the larger elements involved in a
top-down approach to a listening task.
 The micro- and macro skills provide 17 different objectives
to assess in listening (adapted from Richards, 1983).

 Related to the micro- and macro skills of listening, we can

consider the following list of what makes listening difficult
(adapted from Richards, 1983;Ur,1984; Dunkel, 1991) :
clustering; redundancy; reduced forms; performance
variables; colloquial language; rate of delivery; stress,
rhythm and intonation; and interaction.
 DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASKS:
INTENSIVE LISTENING
 Recognizing Phonological and Morphological Elements :
a classic test task gives a spoken stimulus and asks test-
takers to identify the stimulus from two or more choices.
 Samples of tasks: phonemic pair, consonants
Test-takers hear: He’s from California
Test-takers read: He’s from California
She’s from California

 Phonemic pair, vowels

Test-takers hear: Is he living?

Test-takers read: Is he living?
Is he leaving?
 Morphological pair, -ed ending
 Test-takers hear: I missed you very much
Test-takers read: I missed you very mush
I miss you very much

 Stress pattern in can’t

Test-takers hear: My girl friend can’t go to the party

Test-takers read: My girl friend can’t go to the
My girl friend can go to the party
 PARAPHRASE RECOGNITION
The next step up on the scale of listening comprehension micro skills
is words, phrases, and sentences, which are frequently assessed by
providing a stimulus sentence and asking the test-taker to choose the
correct paraphrase from a number of choices.

 Sentence paraphrase:

Test-takers hear: Hello, my name’s Keiko. I come from Japan

Test-takers read: keiko is Japenese

Keiko wants to come to Japan
Keiko likes Japan

 Dialogue paraphrase:
DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASKS:
RESPONSIVE LISTENING
 A question and answer format can provide some
interactivity in these listening tasks. The test-taker’s
response is the appropriate answer to a question.
 Appropriate response to a question

Test-takers hear: How much time did you take to your home?

Test-takers read: About an hour

About $10
Yes, I did

 Open ended response to a question

Test-takers hear: How much time did you take to your home?

Test-takers write or speak: ………………………………………

 DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASKS:
SELECTIVE LISTENING
In this type the test-taker listens to a limited quantity of aural
input and must recognize within it some specific information.

 Listening cloze
Listening cloze tasks (sometimes called cloze dictations or
partial dictations) require the test taker to listen to a story,
monologue, or conversation and simultaneously read the
written text in which selected words or phrases have been
deleted.
One potential weakness of listening cloze techniques is that they
may simply become reading comprehension tasks (because of
predictions)
In the example bellow (adapted from Bailey, 1998, p.16), such a
shortcoming was avoided:
 Listening cloze
Test-takers hear: a person giving some connecting gate information
for people making connections to other flights out of San Fran
Flight seven oh six to Portland will depart from gate seventy-three at
nine thirty p.m Flight ten-forty five to Reno will depart at …

 Listening cloze tasks should normally use an exact word of

scoring, in which you accept as a correct response only the
actual word or phrase that was spoken and consider other
appropriate words as incorrect.
 Information transfer
Here the aurally processed information must be transferred to a
visual representation, such as labeling a diagram, identifying
an element in a picture, completing a form, or showing routes
on a map.
 Multiple-picture-cued selection
 Single-picture-cued verbal multiple choice
 Chart filling

 Sentence repetition
The test-taker must retain a stretch of language longue enough to
reproduce it, and then must respond with an oral repetition of
that stimulus. A miscue in the repetition is scored as a miscue
in listening.
 DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASKS:
EXTENSIVE LISTENING
 Dictation
In a dictation, test-takers hear a passage, typically of 50 to 100
words, recited three times: first, at normal speed; then with
normal pauses between phrases, during which time learners
write what they heard; and finally, at normal speed once more
so they can check their work.
The difficulty of a dictation task could be easily manipulated by the
length of the word groups, the length of the pauses, the speed of
reading…etc.
Scoring here depends on the context and purpose, teacher needs
to decide on scoring criteria for several possible kinds of errors;
e.g., spelling errors, grammatical errors, additional words,
replacement with appropriate synonyms…etc
Dictation seems to provide a reasonably valid method for
integrating listening and writing skills.
 Communicative Stimulus Response Tasks (a more authentic eg
of extensive listening)
The test-taker is presented with a stimulus monologue or
conversation then is asked to respond to a set of
comprehension questions.
 Dialogue and multiple-choice comprehension items
 Dialogue and authentic questions on details

 Authentic Listening Tasks

At this stage can we ascertain that the aural comprehension is
assessed in a truly communicative context?
The answer is going to be yes if we take the liberty of stretching
the concept of assessment to extend beyond tests and into a
broader framework of alternatives. Here are some possibilities.
1) Note Taking : one form of a midterm examination at the
American Language Institute at San Francisco State
University; uses a 15 mnt lecture as a stimulus. one among
response format includes the learner’s note-taking. These
notes are evaluated by the teacher on a 30-point system, as
follows:
 Scoring system for lecture notes
0-15 points
Visual representation: (how clear and easy to read)
0-10 points
Accuracy: (main ideas and details)
0-5 points
Symbols and abbreviations: (to save time)

 The process of scoring here is time consuming, but the task

is authentic and mirrors what the learners exactly need.
2) Edditing: authentic task providing both a written and a spoken
stimulus, and requires the test taker to listen for discrepancies.
Scoring achieves relatively high reliability.
 Edditing a written version of an aural stimulus

3) Interpretive tasks: it extends the stimulus material of paraphrasing

to a longer stretch of discourse and forces the test-taker to infer a
response.
Potential stimuli include:
• Song lyrics, poetry, radio/television news reports, and an oral
account of an experience.
 Test-takers are then directed to interpret the stimulus by answering
few questions (in open-ended form)
 This task conforms to certain time limitations; reliable scoring may
be an issue (interpretations);but it realizes the authenticity of
interaction and potential wash back to the student.
4) Retelling : test-takers listen to a story or a news event and
simply retell it, or summarize it, either orally or in writing (they
must identify idea, purpose…etc)
Scoring is partially predetermined by specifying a minimum
number of elements that must appear in the retelling.
Reliability may suffer, and the time and effort needed to read and
evaluate the response lowers practicality.
Validity, cognitive processing, communicative ability, and
authenticity are all well incorporated in the task.

CONCLUSION:
The interactive nature of listening will be addressed in the next
chapter. Don’t forget that a significant proportion of real world
listening performance is interactive. With the exception of
media input, speeches, and lectures, many of our listening
efforts are directed toward a two way process of speaking and
listening in face to face conversations.