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R i c h m o nP u b l i s h i n g d 19 Berghem Mews Blythe Road London 140HN W O Andy Baxter1997 P u b l i s h e d R i c h m o nP u b i s h i n g d by @ d F i r s p u b l i s h e1 9 9 7 t All rightsre.served. paft.of thisbook may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system or llo transmitted any form, electronic, in photocopying, mechanical, recording otherwise, or withoutthe prior permission writing of the publishers. in However, pub.lisher the grants permission the photocopying those pages for of marked 'photocopiable', for individualuseor for usein classes taughtby the puichiser only. Under no circumstances any paft of this book be photocopiedfor resale. may ISBN: 84-294-5067-X Depbsito legal: M-45897-2002 Printed Spain Palgraphic, in by S.A. Design Jonathan Barnard Layout CeckoLimited CoverDesign CeoffSida, ShipDesign l l l u s t r a t i o n s C e c k o i m i t e d J o h np l u m b L & Dedication To my father- a greateducator.

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Baxter, A. (1997). Evaluating your students. London: Richmond Publishing.

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Whydo weassess learning? students'

There manygroups are who have interest assessing in an a student's abilities: parents, governments of course, students teachers, heads departments, of and, the themselves. However, allshare same we four mainreasons assessment: for the ... to comoare students each with other ... to seeif students meet oarticular a standard . . . t o h e l p h es t u d e n tl'e a r n i n g t s ... to check theteaching programme doingitsjob. if is

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givenin your Writea [ist of the typesof tests(notjust foreign [anguages) primarity group each school. aretheygiven? Why Which is one aimed Who at? arethe results for? governments parents heads departments students teachers others of lf yourstudents to enter university study popular want to a subject, the a university to select has which lt on students takes. decides a comparative it basis, it wants top 20%of candidates. thereisa problem: A e.g. the But consistency. goodyearof candidates be compared may with a weakyear:thisyear's 20% top year's 20%. However, is stillthe 20% that maynot be asgoodaslast it top top 'rationing carrots': getthrough exam. approach been the This has called the perform, the top 20% getthrough. well however allthecandidates only this Although system appear may it and unfair, is stilloftenusedby governments parents judge quality a school. to the of Large organisations, thestate, international like boards, have or examining certain standards proficiency students of mustmeet.These standards not do that reflect teaching programme the students necessarily the havefollowed: that schools usedifferent may different books syLLABUsEs. or Sotheselarge have and organisations to settheirown standards criteria, seeif the student or at canperform thislevel. like Othersmaller organisations, individual schools, also a particular can set based their on individually-agreed standard own criteria. frequently, though, will on More schools base theirassessment theirown programme. analyse They cover class, then in and teaching whatthestudents whether students the havelearned oftenby givingan ACHTEVEMENT it, TEsr. assess

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Testers differoverwhatan AcHTEVEMENT resrshould actually cover. could lt testeither: (e.g. ... the overallobjectivesthe syLLABUS in English, ability express of the past to time,or the ability writein a variety styles), to of or (e.g. ... the individual items thesvLlneus in English, past on the simple, writing or advertisements). reason assessment for Another is initial placement. cananalyse students' We the in abilities orderto seewhere theyfit intothe system. example, the school For if hasrestrictions space classes, maybe placed on in they according what to percentage get (e.g. top 10% go into the top class). they the Alternatively, there maybe ceftain criteria students expected meet.lf oneclass the are to concentrates writing on whileanother in specialisesgrammar revision, the students' class be determined theirsuccess will by according these to criteria.

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proficiency achievement, cananalyse student's Whether assess we or we the in way. abilities a diagnostic Instead using assessment grade of the to the we where student student, useit to see the needs morehelp. example, For the getsan excellent grade writingan adveftisement, makes student in but many -s. in errors the grammar section, especially the present in simple thirdperson we maythendecide givehim/her to additional andteaching thisarea. help in Butsuppose the students excellent get all grades writingadvertisements, in but -s. all makemanyerrors the present in simple thirdperson we maythendecide programme giveallthe students to alterthe wholeteaching to additional help in andteaching thisarea. if On a larger scale, teachers inspectors and identify common a problem across all government decide alter wholeof itseducation schools', a may to the programme. Summary There are,aswe shall in thisbook,manywaysof assessing see students. But probably mostcommon the method assessmenta test. of is c pRoFtctENcy examine general rEsrs a standard ability, in regardless the of programme. teaching c ACHTEVEMENT TESTS examine whether students do whattheyhavebeen can taught,either testing by specific syLLABUs or general items objectives. c PLACEMENT a mixture the above TESTS are of two, depending what criteria on we useto place student. the c DlAcNosrlc usePRoFtcrENcy rEsrs or AcHTEVEMENT analyse TEsrs to strengths and weaknessesthe student theteaching in or programme itself.

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Thinkof two different teststhat you knowwetLa tanguage or othertest test in that is used yourschool" oneof another and subject abil.ity or (tikedriving). programme not? Is the test based the teaching on or Whosetsthe tesfs standards/criteria? How are the resutts used? compare To students? assess teaching To the programme? otherreasons? For

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Every timewe askstudents answer question whichwe already to a to knowthe answer, aregiving we thema kindof test.Muchof whatwe do in class in is, fact,testing students' knowledge. aresomeexamples. Here He goes the cinema. to They...? 'angry'. Finda word in the text that means On the tape,wheredoesJohn tell Susan wantsto visit? he What is the main ideaof paragraph three? Dictation:write down the following... That's that part of the lesson finished. Whatdo you think we'regoingto do next?

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performance Turning into numbers
Testing traditionally, has, performance. measured results student the of o We choose somerepresentative samples language. of et We measure whether student usethese a can samples. o We thentry to quantify by turning intoa markor grade. this it e We keepa record these of marks usethisto givean endassessment. and (whether Overtime,alltesting theory languages shampoo or development) has traditionally based a semi-scientific been on procedure, namely: 1 Measure performance. the 2 Do something affect performance. to the 3 Measure performance the again andcompare difference. the Applying traditional this procedure model language testing or to learners has meantthat the language learner treated a kindof plant.We measure is as the plant, apply newfertiliset thenmeasure plantagain seewhateffect the and the to the fertiliser had.As language has we teachers, applya (pmcEmrNr) teach, test, and then givean ACHTEVEMENT how muchbetter students TEsr see to the are. In otherwords, testing generally is with concerned eruunnennrroru, turning that is, into oerformance numbers. Plants
Stage'l Stage2 3 Stage plant measure addfertiliser measure plantagain comoare difference the

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Exercise I Fill the gap with an appropriate form of the verb. a John b John Exercise 2 betweenthe wo sentences. the In groups,discuss differences a John hasvisited Franceeveryyearsince 1993. b John visited Francelast year. Franceeveryyear since 1993. Francelast year. (visit) (visit)

and activities Testing activities teaching

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Exercise 3 Composition:A Summer'sDay at the Beach(150words) Exercise 4 Readthe following two compositionsentitled A Summer'sDay at the Beach'. \fhich do you prefer and why? Underline all the words and ideasrelating to summer.Underline all the words and ideasrelating to the beach.Put a tick next to the parts you like in eachessay. Put a crossnext to the parts you don't like in each essay. got If all the paragraphs accidentailyjumbled up, could you put them back in the right order?Vhat would help you do this? Discussyour ideaswith another group. Homework: write your own compositionon the sametheme (150 words).

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ideas we outlined as the above, Exerciseisclearly test:it wants Using same 3 a the to can student showuswhathe/she do. Exercise on the otherhand, 4, clearly tries moreaware what he/she tryingto do: it triesto increase the of to make student is givingthe task.lt triesto helpthe student learn. before awareness to

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: Sometimes, though, teachers get confused can aboutwhether theyareteaching ' or testing. canthinkwe areteaching We whenwe areactually testing. : Thisis particularly whenwe try to teach fourskills: true reading, writing, the speaking listening. and Here language teachers a majorproblem. don't face We I really knowenough; is,there no clear that are rules aboutgoodlistening, : reading otherskills. we have somerather and All generalised suchas are ideas skimming scanning, these not detailed and and are enough helpusworkout to an effective progressive and programme. teaching In otherwords, whenfaced with a skill that is difficult teach, to suchasgood listening, normally we answer problem oneof two ways. this in Either give we the students of opportunitiesshowwhattheyknowsowe canseeif they're lots to improving. askthemto read, We writeor listen textsof increasing to linguistic complexity hopetheykeep same and general the results evenimprove; we or or the texts andincrease complexity the questions. the of ; keep same Thisis a bit likea doctor your illness why sayingdon'tknowwhatcaused I or you'regettingbetter, yourtemperature goingdown. All we cando to but is teachthe four skills expose is students language taketheirtemperature to and via testing seeif they're to getting befcer. Or we substitute skill the that isdifficult teach with onethat is easy teach. to to Whilethe rules skills notveryclear, do havesomeverygoodrules for are we for gf&mmdr vocabulary, and whichmakes themeasier teach(however, writinga to grammar/vocabulary canbecomplex, we shall later). we test as see So sometimes believe areteaching testing skill, we or a whenreally are we grammar vocabulary. example, or or For manyspeaking tests . practising testing grammar aredisguised revision: canbecome oraltestof grammar. they They an don'ttestreal speaking such interrupting skills as without causing offence all. at Why isthis? Because semi-scientific model testing plant the of whichwe looked at earlier some has problems. nextpartcovers major The problems. these Problem Skills 1: intonumbers On pnce we sawthattesting based an idea 9, is fromscience: measure, make on , changes, measure again compare. and Oneproblem withthescientific model thatnot everything necessarily is can be measured thisway.There some in are things caneasily in thisway,e.g. we test -s. the present simple thirdperson Butotherskills more are difficult measure. to How,for example, we quantify can a student's ability makeuseful to contributions the class? to 'useful' 'contribution' a wavthatwe o First, wouldhave define we to in and couldmeasure them. 'useful' 'successfully c We could define as explaining something another to student'. 'contribution' 'answeringquestion to the whole c We could define put as a class by the teacher'. e We couldnow count how many times student a successfully answered a question the majority the restof the class teacher's and of understood. Theproblem with thisisthatwe arenow measuring manytimes student how a 'successfully answered teacher's question the majority the restof the a and of understood'. isnot necessarily same This class the thingasmaking useful a contribution theclass. to
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Listen yourcotleagues (11)conversationsthe staffroom. to having in Whatpercentage their naturat of spoken [anguage consists fut[ sentences? of Whatpercentage consists sentence of fragments [inked intonational by devics and ums and ers? Howoftendo you teachstudents speak fragmented to in sentences?

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Problem Results processes, versus 2: versus what why problem Another with thissemi-scientific system euRrurrrnrrvr of mensunrmerur is that it doesnot record euAlrrArvF onrR. Measuring tell usif the planthas will grown,but not why (orwhy not).lt gives information us about results, the but doesn't usanything tell about process. the (sEe 10), In the example essay pnce we wouldgeta muchbetter idea the of from Exercise because could some the processes student's abilities 4, we see of behind work,e.g.we couldlookat where student theticks the the put andcrosses in the essays, thenseeif andhowthese and werereflected his/her in own essav. Problem Standardisation odd results 3: and with the scientific A thirdproblem model thatthefertiliser is given the plant to mustalways the same, the results be or cannot compared. mustremove be we the variables order assess success the programme.isdifficult seehow in to the of lt to thiscanworkin teaching. schools, theteaching ln all wouldhave bethe same, to really or we couldn't compare progress individual the of students. model This of leads rather testing therefore to authoritarian teacher-proof methodologies. Thescientific modelis alsomoreinterested general in trends, strange and individual results oftenignored. example, are For imagine in a listening that test get9OT", yourbeststudent allyourstudents but onlygets10%. Forus as it teachers, isthat one odd result that we wouldwantto investigate.

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In thisbook,we will seeevaluation widerthantesting. as Evaluation testing sees asa useful tool, but alsothinks thereareotherimportant criteria assessing for performance. wantto assess someone's we students' ability usethe present to simple, we alsowantotherinformation but abouttheir(language) learning, e.g. ei Canthey usea dictionary? e Do theyactually the targetlanguage class (e.g. chatting)? use in for c Are theirnotes wellorganised? c Do theycontribute groupwork? to e' Aretheywell behaved? lf we compare to the syLLABUS{uRRtcuLUM we canseea this diagram, (simplified) similarity:

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Problem Skills 1: into numbers Evaluation not limited numbers justgiving is to or students marks. Instead of tryingto countor measure student's a ability makeuseful to contributions the to judgewhether class, cansimply we he/she makes contribution not. In other a or words,you canbe subjective wellasobjective. as judgements, mustrealise otherpeople, Butwhenwe make we that including teachers students, not agree and may with whatwe think.Evaluation means that sometimes will haveto justify, we negotiate possibly and modifyour opinions. We may needmorethanonejudge- we mayevenneeda jury. Problem Results 2: versus processes, versus what why In addition EttuiurRnrtoru, to evaluation looks tlumrrunrroru: did you learn for How that?why did you writethat?we aredoingsomething the student, with rather than doingsomething the student. we hadto assess to lf Miguel's performance pnce overtheyear, wouldwe rather havehisessay from Exercise(sEe 1o),or his 3 essay from Exercisewith hisnotes 4 stapled the backof it? Exercisetellsus to 3 what, but Exercise tellsus what,how, andwhy. 4 In addition, asking by questions, will learn lot of extrainformation: these we a ... whatthe student thinks helshe learning is ... whatthe student thinks easyldifficult is ... whatthe student enjoys/hates in class doing
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4, As we willseein cHRprrRwriting goodtestisan extremely a complex task, not andrequires onlya lot of timeandresources, alsosome in but expedise analysis. thisreason, tends be large For it statistical to organisations as such governments universities writebigtests, and that mainly because need they to NoRM-REFERENcED yearafter!ear. C, srr pnce standards keep same the 31 however, aretryingto helpthe student learn. we With evaluation, to Evaluation is notjustan assessment, an aidto learning. means the more but This that people in who areinvolved the process, better process the is. the Summary in seen thischapter, teach As we have to students whicharedifficult skills to (i.e. we either themlotsof questions effectively ask teach, micro-tests) seeif to improving we substitute skill or they're the that isdifficult teach to with onethat is easy teach. to in whichis difficult measure, eitherre-define to To assess students a skill to we it it measurable; possibly make but change whatwe aremeasuring we leave or it only out of the testand measure the easily-measurable. at rather Testing looks thegeneral, also thanthe individual. Individuals, whether or are theyareteachers students, variables haveto be removed that fromthe process. lndividuals turnedinto eunrurrrnrrvr likeresults; assessment are data and onrn, or are removed. euALtrATrvE likeprocesses attitudes, statistically

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can language learners? Who evatuate has Thehead yourschool decided develop newassessment of to a for system year.He/She asked to provide list of atl you has the endof the nextschoot a who mighthaveuseful information the people abouta student's [anguage Make appropriate then consider fotlowing an abitity. questions. learning [ist, the group provide? each information coutd What as now, whowouldactual.ty consutted? Given system it exists the be Whatinformation wouldyou get us'ing present the system? giventhe present wouldbe missing, information What situation? partsof the missing information the mostimportantto incl.ude? Wh'ich are youthink of anyways incorporating of Can theseimportant into the areas present withoutneeding re-design whole system to procedure? the assessment

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However, questions havemorethanoneanswer. exampre: can For Teacher: Miguel, wheredoesthe president the lJnitedstates of live? Miguel(1):He livesin London. Miguel(2):He live in the WhiteHouse. Miguelgives teacher problem the a here. firstanswer grammatically His is correct but factually wrong.Hissecond answer grammatically is wrongbut factually correct. Whichanswer better? is Theanswer thisquestion lt depends youasked questionLanguage to is why the teaching concerned bothmessage medium. we aretesting third is with and lf the -s, person Answer mustbe correct. the otherhand, arealsotryingto 1 on we teachstudents communicate a different to in language. grammatical The mistake thatMiguel makes Answer does stopcommunicationthe idea. in 2 not of 'correctnesses': right Language teachers haveto balance different two the idea, i.e.the message the rightformof expressionthatidea, the medium. and of i.e.
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use versus language components Which language Language items thatwe abilitiesdo we test? Another the we is distinctionwhether assess individual common (grammar, of i.e. put together makea sentence, the components a language to putsthese how we or pronunciation); whether assess the student vocabulary, (i.e.the four skills of use whentheyactually the language together components and reading writing). listening, speaking, of Otherskills usinglanguage (e.g. informal appropriate formalversus that We needto uselanguage is socially whatwe sayfit what has SKILLs: We needotscouRsE making etc.). vocabulary, not (e.g./ sawJohn.He saidhe wasgoingto the cinema, / saw saidbefore been SKILLS, suchas how too, going...). needsrRnreclc We lohn. JohnsaidJohnwas for get from a text,listen gist,etc. to taketurnsin speaking, information skills learning Language e the ability usea dictionary to words of e the ability work out meanings unknown to of What's pasttense the the such e learning metalanguage asasking teacher thatverb?etc. skills learning General in in, c contributing andworking groups class to, c the ability knowwhat you knowandwhatyou stillneedto learn to you e, strategies findinginformation don't know for in etc. ei following instructions tests, the skills or Otherbehavioural social is for skills anylearner the wouldsaythatoneof the primary Manyteachers working chair in to partof the lesson, staysitting his/her for ability, at least the and around disrupting class. thanwandering rather in we should include ourassessment? abilities Whichof these skill worth? be each How muchshould we our how if theyareincluded, should record assessment? And, are scores to markor record. or these Thistakesus on to how easy difficult

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language omponents c ( g r a m m a rv o c a b u l a r y , , pronunciation) ranguage se u ( r e a d i n gw r i t i n g , , l i s t e n i n gs p e a k i n g ) , language ompetencies c ( s o c i o - l i n g u i s t d i, c o u r s e ic s andstrategic ompetencies)

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Thinkaboutyourcurrent system evatuatingstudent the endof theyear. of a at Which of the skilts mentioned above are includedin your current assessment system? Which the skills not inctuded? youthinkwhy of are Can they arenot included? Is onetypeof skittmore valuable For than another? examp[e, getshigher it marks, determines studenfs or the assessment? Howarethesemarks recorded? Whichskiltsareforma[ly (i.e. assessed you record information the the on studenfs records)? Which skitts think aboutwhenassessing student, arenot recorded do the but officiatty? yourpresent Does system get work? the good Do students through the bad and fait? ones yoursystem So howdoes define goodlearner? a Finish sentence the betow: In ourschool, goodlearneris a someone can... who

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FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

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Whatformsof testingandevaluation we shoutd use?

testing and Direct indirect

" Whatis directtesti ?" ng " Whotis indi ect t esti ?" ng r
whatwe want to test. to we rcsrNcmeans askthe student perform DrREcr of we that giveusan indication the means testthings rEsrNc tNDtREcr performance. student's their to we rEslNG, talkto students seeif theycancommunicate ideas In orREcr practical to Thissounds obvious, it is not always but conversation. in interactive to maybe too big to speak maybe awaysick, the class or do this,e.g.a student to. if there a strict is syLLABUs to adhere time,especially for member enough each of we thatgiveusan indication how well rEslNC wouldfindthings In rNDrRrcr use we For speak. example, knowthatgoodspeakers longer can thestudents We theninventa testwhere than or sentences utterances weakspeakers. could lengthof each with e.g. skills we measure associated goodspeaking, the average the the the the longer utterance, higher grade. utterance: to We ask is Thesame truefor writing. coulddirectly the students writea However, theremay wouldtellusabout theirwriting skills. This of number texts. (e.g. actually marking time)why we can'taskthe students be reasons restricted (e.g. words we Therefore mightgivethema teston linker perform skill. this to giveusan indication theirability writewell. of to Thismay etc.). however, length of we a between above, areassumingconnection In theexamples and linkers writingability. and ability; and utterance speaking goodindicator resr surethat the rruorRrcr isan extremely is Oneproblem making with we coRRELAToN the skill aretryingto test.lf we find students hasa HtcH or linkers are high on test, writeachieve scores our linkers thisshows whocannot invalid. This not a goodindicator. will makethe testresult 28): a BAcKWAsH (srrpnce effect also rEsrNc oftenproduces negative tNDrREcr linkers rather than in teaching hours theclassroom will teachers spend some that'swhat is in the test. writing,because teaching rEsrtNc whenwe useDlREcr methods. Therefore, exist problems cannot These possible, them. use whenever to resrs. Some woutdargue TEsTS teachers that, as DTRECT are preferabte tHotnrcr - in we students communicate otherwords, teachers, areteaching to language to uselanguage. in (speaking [istening), reading Weuse[anguage tal.king and and writing. goodat grammar unabte commun'icatespeech can Someone be but to in or grammar, writing.In this case, vocabulary pronunciation and tests mustreatty of testing. a[[ beforms indirect

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These termsrefer the way a testis madeandthe way the results a test to of arepresented.

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- fromthat yearandfrom otheryears. with otherstudents' performances Forexample, university a wantsto restrict entryto its (science) courses the to applicants have best who the chance successfully of completingcourse. the a In past,it hasfound- perhaps trialanderror that students goy. or by who scored morein theirfinalschool yearexams the candidates likely succeed. are most to Therefore offerplaces to students they only yourschool from who got g0%or 1 6 / 2 0i n t h e i r i n a s c i e n c e a m s . f l ex

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"Whatis criteria referenced when the result youabout tells whatthe individual student do,anddoes can testing?" not compare him/her with otherstudents. describes lt certain criteria the that
student been has able meet. to Forexample, student applying a job whichrequires ability usea a is for the to word-processor. employer The does wanta computer not expert, onlysomeone who cando basic word-processing: typing; file-management; cut,copy simple andpaste commands. studenttakesword-processing andthefinal The a course examtests these skills. Theemployer doesn't need knowif anyone on the course befter to else was or worse. He/she simply wants knowwhatthecandidate do. to can "So wh.ich better...?' As we sawabove, is ls it the state and large international examination boards who aremostconcerned comparing with people. value their The of qualifications depends uponyear-on-year comparison consistency. and For example, manypeople that 'exams feel these daysaren'tasdifficult whenI as wasat school'. Lack year-on-year of consistency devalues state's the awards, like university places university and degrees. However, needfor consistency this means isverydifficult improve develop it to or exams because results wouldn't be comparable. There a similarity with DrREcr rruorRecr is g here and rEsrNc. see nncr3o

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In simple testing evaluation. and the between we First mustremember difference questions to is whenwe areasking students the thisbook,the term testing used to We the knowthe answers. areusing termevaluation ask whichwe already questions: questions whichwe don'tknowthe answers genuine to the students useful? feel Do the students they aregettingbetter?Havethey foundthe course pRoncrENcy AcHTEVEMENT rEsrs, typesof test: different identified several We earlier pLACEMENTand orncruoslc (ser in tests, rESTS pnce However, allthese 8). rEsrs TEsrs, and to theyfit in to our system our the students seewhere we aretesting We criteria. arein control. questions learn we aboutthe because areasking to is Butevaluation different process attitudes, aboutthe teaching and and learning student's Programme. whendescribing suMMAlvE, terms used evaluation: common are There three
EVALUATIoN. and FoRMATTvE coNcnuENT

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Think about when andwhyyourschool evatuates students. its Does askthe student it genuine questions improve schoofs to the teaching: a during yearor teaching the programme? b at the endof theyearor teaching programme? Does askyou, the teacher, it genuine questions improve to the schoo['s teaching: a during yearor teaching the programme? b at the endof the yearor teaching programme? yourschool Does examine curricula, new syLLeBusesassessment and procedures before implementing themin order check to they match schoofs the aims? 'officiaf yourschoofs Does programme teaching have aims? Why? Whynot?

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