tsl3123 lecture4

Language Assessment

TSL3123Lecture 4

HHYeoh/TSL3123/Lecture 4

Learning OutcomesDesigning Classroom Tests

•Identify the different stages of test construction •Decribe the features of a test specification •Draw up a test specification that reflect

both the purpose and the objectives of the test


Stages of Test Construction

Assessing clear, unambiguous objectives

Drawing up Test specificationsItem writingItem moderationPre-testingAnalysisReporting


Assessing clear, unambiguous objectives

• Know what you want to test• Examine the objectives for the unit

you are testing• Objectives – stated in terms of overt

performance• Determine appropriate objectives


Can you ….

• Write an objective (in terms of performance) ?

• Linguistic domain – Speaking skills


Test Specifications

The writing of test items should be accompanied with a carefully prepared set of test specifications.

The function of the specifications is to describe the achievement domain being measured and to provide guidelines for obtaining a representative sample of test tasks.


Drawing Up Test Specifications (Brown, 2004)

• TS for classroom use – simple and practical ouline of your tes

a) A broad outline of the testb) What skills you will testc) What the items will look like


Test Specifications are:• The result of the design process (i.e. test content

and test method TEST SPECIFICATIONS• A set of instructions for creating the test• Function – to force explicitness about the design

decisions in the test and to allow new versions to be written in future.

Length and structure of the test The type of materials (e.g. authentic

materials) The response format The test rubric Scoring of responses

•


Item Writing and Moderation (Hughes, 1989)

• Setting of items – extremely difficult; some items rejected, others reworked

• To be improved or abandoned- through teamwork• Critical questions that may be asked:

Is the task perfectly clear?Is there more than on possible correct response?Can candidates show the desired behaviour (or arrive at

the correct response) without having the skill supposedly being tested?

Do candidates have enough time to perform the task(s)?


Guidelines in Writing Test Items

• Avoid wording that is ambiguous and confusing.

• Use appropriate vocabulary and sentence structure.

• Keep questions short and to the point.• Write items that have one correct answer.• Do not provide clues to the answer.


Pre-testing

• Even after careful moderation, there are likely to be some problems with every test.

• Aim – administer it first to a group as similar as possible to the target group.

• Problems in administration and scoring are noted

• For a number of reasons – pretesting is not feasible. WHY?


Analysis

Statistical analysis of test results mean standard deviation histograms

Item analysis involves the careful

analysis of score pattern on each of the test items

Tells us how well the item is working – the overall candidates’ ability emerging from the test


Item analysis – 2 kinds of information

Item facility/ difficulty

• Helps us decide if test items are at the right level for the target group

Item discrimination• Allows us to see if

individual items are providing information on candidates’ abilities consistent with that provided by other items on the test.


Reporting

DescriptionCommentDecisions


Summary

• Stages of test construction?• Test specifications ?


Tutorial #4

• Pairwork: • Draw up a table of specifications that reflect

both the purpose and the objectives of the test

• Discuss the importance of test specifications for the purpose of assessment.

tsl3123 lecture4

Documents

test hhyeohtsl3123lecture

test itemstells

writing of test items

writing test items

test specifications

setting of items

possible correct response

correct answer