Testing and Evaluating pupils achievements

Testing is an important part of every teaching and tearing experience.

Tests are often misused, of which the following are just a sampling:

ü Tests were used as a punishment

ü Test were administered instead of teacher’s giving instruction

ü The test were the only measure for grading

ü Test didn’t reflect what was taught

ü The test were returned with a lack of corrections or explanations

ü Students were not adequately trained to take the tests.

A more constructive view of language testing exists when

a) testing is seen as an opportunity for interaction between a teacher and student

b) students are judged on the basis of the knowledge they have

c) tests are intended to improve students skills

d) the criteria for success on the tests is clear to students

e) students are trained to take tests

f) tests are returned promptly and discussed.

Requirements for the tests.

In order to compile a good test it is necessary that the test should be:

1.valid (it measures only the things you have taught).

2.reliable (if the test brings the same results one day and the next, if results reveal some stability).

3.scorable (it can be scored easily).

4.economic (the amount of time for test should be reasonable).

5.administrable (if any teacher, not specially trained can conduct testing).

Types of test .

There are 4 types of tests:

-achievement test,its aim is to find out how much each student and the class as a whole has learnt of what has been taught, how effectively the teacher has taught and to provide feedback on student‘s progress to both students and teachers.

-proficiency test,its aim is to test global competence in a language. It is not limited to any one course, curriculum or single skill in the language. Many proficiency tests are intended for the students from several different schools, countries and even language backgrounds. It measures the students’ control of the language in the light of what he or she will do with it in the future in the particular type of employment. Test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL) is the example.

-aptitude test,its aim is to measure a person’s capacity on general ability to learn a foreign language and to be successful in it. Aptitude tests are independent of a particular foreign language, they predict success in the acquisition of any foreign language. The following tasks may be included in the tes: Learning numbers, listening, detecting spelling clues and grammatical patterns.

-diagnostic test, although the term “diagnostic test” is widely used, few tests are constructed only as “diagnostic test”. Achievement and proficiency test are frequently used for diagnostic purposes. The teacher notes the errors made by the students and plans appropriate remedial teaching.