Lesson 1. key concepts in language testing jose martin serna valdeolivar

key features onTesting
Firstly we must recognize that
assessments are not exactly a
students’ favorite thing, in fact only
to hear that name make the most
of them to react negatively and/or
even annoying.

It’s extremely important to
understand that point. If we take
some considerations, our students
could achieve better results in their
evaluations.

3 Possible negative points
about exams.
1. They don’t understand the real meaning and
usefulness.
2. Previous experiences have not been very
pleasant.
3. People normally feel afraid to fail, assessment is
usually understood as a pass or fail thing.

What is assessment?
assessment, noun [U] the process of
making a judgement or forming an opinion,
after considering something or someone
carefully

Assessment must be considered
as a PROCESS.
Purpose: in most cases it should be “to let
people and the same students know how
much they have progressed. It shouldn’t be
a way to intimidate and to confuse them.
That’s why exams must be designed
carefully.

Assessment must be more that
only tests and exams.
In order to really assess students progress,
there are several types of assessment,
¡look at two of them!

key features
onTesting
Activity assessment
a) Did you like that activity?
b) Was that activity easy or difficult?
c) What was the hardest part of that?
d) Was the activity useful? How? Why?
Self-assessment
a) Now I can ...
b) I still need to work on ...
c) I've improved in ...
d) Today I learnt ...
e) In the test I got X and Y wrong. I'm going
to study these for homework.

key features
onTesting
Assessment must be about the PROCESS of
learning.
• Students must think about their
reality. what have they done?
• Rather than only being about the
product, it’s necessary to be about
the real important matter: THE
PROCESS OF LEARNING.

key features
onTesting
Then,
 should we eliminate Tests?
 Aren’t they a valid way to assess?
Of course not, but we must find different ways to
assess our students.
Assessment shouldn't be about how good or bad
someone is at a particular point in time, it should
be about the progress they have made, the work
they've put in and the learning that has taken
place.
We must analyze the process as well as the product

key features
onTesting
Then,
 When should assessment take place?
As we said before, Assessment is about the
LEARNING PROCESS.
It means that it’s very important to know where
they began and what they knew at the beginning
of the course.
So, it’s a good idea to start with a diagnostic
assessment to ubicate where they are.
This will be the reference for comparison at the
end of the course.

key features
onTesting
Then,
After that, assessment should take place fairly
frequent. It’s recommended to do it throughout
different ways, namely:
• Homework,
• Project work,
• In class activities,
• Formal tests.

key features
onTesting
Then,
One important thing is to make assessment varied
and flexible, these reduces pressure to students
and help them be a little less worried, comfortable
and confident.
This also takes into account the possibility that
students could have a bad day in the only available
opportunity.
Students might be sick or have a personal problem.

key features
onTesting
HELPING STUDENTS BECOME
COMFORTABLE
• Assessment CONNOTATION: as we know,
assessment is usually equated with tests,
passing, failing and scores , it makes students
feel worried on the results.
• Students CHANGE PERCEPTION: it’s necessary
to make students notice that assessment is good
for them, that will make the process easier.
• Teacher MUST: in order to make this possible,
one of teacher’s most important task is to help
students feel comfortable and confident.

key features
onTesting
A FEW SIMPLE IDEAS
Talk about assessment with your students.
1. What is assessment?
2. Why do we assess students?
3. How are we going to assess them?
4. What are the criteria used? Are these
criteria clear?

key features
onTesting
A FEW SIMPLE IDEAS
Get students involved in assessment.
1. Use self-assessment, i.e. 'Can do'
statements.
2. Use peer assessment.
3. Get students to come up with assessment
criteria / agree criteria with students.
4. Get students involved in picking or
designing assessment tasks.

key features
onTesting
A FEW SIMPLE IDEAS
Make assessment part of
the teaching and learning process.
1. If you can build in a form of assessment regularly,
maybe even every lesson, then your students will
become used to it and therefore more
comfortable.
2. Make sure you include the results of any
assessment into your teaching. If students can see
that you actually take notice of the assessment,
and not simply the score, it will become more
meaningful and positive for them

key features
onTesting
A FEW SIMPLE IDEAS
If students understand that
assessment is about the process and
not simply about a product (i.e. a
score), then they will start to have a
more positive attitude towards it.
¡Try it,
it will be worth!

Language testing and assessment
WASHBACK
The term 'washback' refers to the impact that tests
have on teaching and learning. Such impact is
usually seen as being negative: tests are said to
force teachers to do things they do not necessarily
wish to do. However, some have argued that tests
are potentially also 'levers for change' in language
education: the argument being that if a bad test has
negative impact, a good test should or could have
positive washback (Alderson, 1986b; Pearson, 1988).

ETHICS IN LANGUAGE TESTING
When talking about testing as when talking about any
other matter in life, we need to think ethically and to
act on that base. In the same frequency testers
should follow ethical practices, and have a moral
responsibility to do so.
Language testers are independent moral agents, and
they are morally entitled to refuse to participate in
procedures which would violate personal moral
belief.

POLITICS IN LANGUAGE TESTING
Apart from educational interests, usually there are
others that can and often influence on language
testing.
Politics can be seen as methods, tactics, intrigue,
manoeuvring, within institutions which are
themselves not political, but commercial, financial
and educational.

STANDARS IN TESTING
Nowadays in this globalized world, standards in testing
take a huge importance, and it’s necessary to create and
to observe global criteria to test and to assess in language
matters. There are several associations that are
authorities in language testing. Some examples
TEST OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (TOEFL)
Kenyon does not have a minimum score requirement for
the TOEFL. In general, however, preference will be given
to students who score 100 or higher.
INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING SYSTEM
(IELTS) Students are advised to take the Academic
Module. Seven (7) is the minimum recommended score.

OTHER WAYS OF TESTING
• National tests
• LSP Testing
• Computer-based testing
• Self-assessment
• Alternative assessment
Although there are many different ways of assessing, any
of them has its own qualities and must be used in
combination, taking into account the type of students,
age and other criteria, never forgetting the main goal;
EDUCATE.

ASSESSING YOUNG LEARNERS
In this case, we must consider that young learners need
different teaching strategies.
When teaching young learners, alternative assessment
procedures are more appropriate than formal testing
procedures.
We must understand that children might not feel
comfortable and confident trying to demonstrate how
good he is, but being in risk of failure might make him feel
really scared.

Thanks a lot
JOSE MARTIN SERNA VALDEOLIVAR
Universidad Vizcaya de las Américas
Campus Manzanillo

Lesson 1. key concepts in language testing jose martin serna valdeolivar

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Lesson 1. key concepts in language testing jose martin serna valdeolivar