developing and using test effectively.ppt
- 1. Developing and Using Tests Effectively Mrs. Marites Saldivar Tenedor
- 2. Planning a Test Two Vital Parts The content, skills or processes that will be covered on the test The cognitive skills to be measured-Bloom’s Taxonomy
- 3. Test Items/ Assessment/Measurement / Evaluation It is a specific task that test takers are asked to perform. The act of gathering information on a daily basis to understand individual learning & needs. Broader than testing, it includes attendance, records, quest The culminating act of interpreting the information gathered.
- 4. Functions of Language Test In learning – tests are used to measure students’ language ability , to discover how much they have been learning, to diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses, and to motivate students in learning. In Teaching – tests are used as a means to ensure effective teaching, to improve teaching quality, to obtain feedback on student learning. Back wash effect In Research – language proficiency,processing, acquisition and teaching
- 5. Bloom’s Revised Cognitive Taxonomy Test items should require test takers to use different levels of intellectual skills to produce a response
- 7. KNOWLEDGE Emphasis is on recall whether of specifics or universals
- 8. COMPREHENSION Emphasis is on grasp of meaning, intent or relationship in oral, written, graphic, or non- verbal communication
- 9. APPLICATION Emphasis is on applying appropriate principles or generalizations
- 10. ANALYSIS Emphasis is on breakdown into constituent parts and detection of relationships of the parts and of the way they are organized. Analysis is often an aid to comprehension or prelude to evaluation
- 11. SYNTHESIS Emphasis is on putting together elements or parts to form a whole not clearly there before the student performance
- 12. EVALUATION Emphasis is on values, making qualitative or quantitative judgments with criteria from internal or external sources and with standards
- 13. Other Factors that Influence what Kind of Test to Give Size of your class Time availability Scoring or checking of the test What has been taught/stressed The cognitive level of response expected
- 14. How Long Should the Test Be? Test length is mostly influenced by the time available
- 15. Rule of Thumb True and false ------- 30 seconds each Multiple choice ------ one minute each Completion items ---- one minute each Short answer items ---- two minutes each Multiple choice requiring higher level thinking -- 90 seconds
- 16. Matching items -------------- 30 seconds each Short essays ----------------- 10- 15 minutes Extended essay ------------- 30 minutes (2-3 pages)
- 17. Other Time Considerations A reasonable number of items for a fifty-minute multiple choice test is 50 items, for a true or false test it would be 80-90 items. The fastest student will typically finish a test in about half the time as the slowest student.
- 18. Keep in mind the greater the number of items the better the reliability of the test. However, the test should allow almost every student to attempt every question.
- 19. What about using an optional items or student choice test? Permitting students to choose which of several test questions to answer is not considered sound measurement practice. The test actually becomes several different tests and therefore you are not evaluating each student on the same basis. Also, this type of test may cause students to not study all of the material.
- 20. General Guidelines for Test Item Development Test for important ideas and skills—not trivial details— continually ask the question, "What knowledge, ability or skills are most worthwhile for students to know?"
- 21. Write items as simply as possible, making certain that the students know exactly what information is being requested—It is easy to be confusing because teachers know the information so well that they often do not recognize what they take for granted or assume students know
- 22. Make items appropriate for the age and ability levels of the students. The cognitive developmental level of students needs to be taken into account as well as vocabulary, cultural and other background information.
- 23. Students that are dualistic thinkers will have great difficulty with questions that require them to deal with situations which may have many possible answers or solutions.
- 24. Make certain that objective questions have only one correct or one best answer. Ask students for the best answer—as some very effective distracters can have elements of correctness to them.
- 25. Avoid irrelevant clues and "give away" items— subject verb agreement, grammatical clues, similar words in the stem of the question as in the answers, etc.
- 26. Have someone else review the test before giving it to the students—they can often see the lack of clarity, or unintended clues.
- 27. Developing Test Items Recommendation is to use items that 50- 70% of the students can answer correctly.
- 28. The items should be difficult enough that students that did not study will get it wrong but students that did study will get it right.
- 29. A few items may be used to challenge the upper end of your students, but the general rule is that the items should be of average difficulty.
- 30. What makes an item difficult? The content it asks about The cognitive skill being measured
- 31. The students’ learning experience The construction of the item itself
- 32. PHASES OF EVALUATION PREPARATION PHASE ASSESSMENT PHASE EVALUATION PHASE REFLECTION PHASE
- 33. STAGES OF TEST CONSTRUCTION 1. PLANNING ( GOAL, FORMAT, TASK) 2. DESIGN ( COLLECTING, WRITING, EVALUATING, REWRITING) 3. DEVELOPMENT ( PILOTING , REVISING)
- 34. CRITERIA OF A GOOD TEST RELEVANCE REPRESENTATIVITY AUTHENTICITY BALANCE VALIDITY RELIABILITY