Theoretical Framework
- 1. UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE LA SANTÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓN FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN Departamento de Lenguas Theoretical Framework Evaluación de la Competencia Comunicativa en Inglés Profesora Gabriela Sanhueza José Miguel Casanueva H. Makarena Sánchez C. Concepción, Marzo 2014
- 2. Theoretical framework Assessing a test should be developed following different qualities in order to fulfill a specific objective. Language testing at any stage is a complex process that must be based on theory and practice. Throughout this theoretical framework will be discussed three author’s points of view that have studied this field. On one hand, Brown (2004), stated that test must be effective in order to be successful. On the other hand, Backman& Palmer (1996) focused on the usefulness of a test. Consequently, Coombe (2007), focused her attention on theoretical and practical features of a language testing. According to Backman& Palmer (1996), test usefulness is the main quality among all including 6 types of principles, which is also connected with Combe’s position. A useful test cannot be evaluated independently, and must be determined for each specific testing situation. Similarly, Brown (2004) considered effectiveness as the most important characteristic at the moment of assessing a test. In terms of validity, the three authors stated that it is required to measure what and how is been taught. Brown (2004) and Coombe (2007) divided validity in three subgroups, which are content-validity, construct-validity and face-validity. However, Brown (20049, went further on this concept, adding two other groups: criterion-related evidence and consequential validity, for criterion-related validity, it is concerned to measure how well a variable predicts an outcome based on information from other variables; moreover, consequential validity includes all the consequences of a test, such as accuracy, intended criteria and the impact of the test socially and individually. This last concept is alike to what Backman&Palmer (1996) expressed, on the impact that a test has in a micro and macro level; moreover, Coombe (2007) emphasized the idea of that washback is generally positive and negative depending on the kind of impact; even though, she preferred to name it guided washback instead of positive washback, because it is a guided process so students as well as teachers can feel a sense of fulfillment. Reliability refers to the consistency of a test in terms of measurement, which means that a test should offer similar results if it were given at another time (Coombe, 2007). Nonetheless, Coombe (2007) and Brown (2004) had similarities in some of the factors that influence reliability. Both authors agreed that emotions can deviate from one’s true score. (Brown, 2004), at the same time they also referred to the idea that subjectivity in scoring
- 3. can introduce error which eventually will affect the test’s results, and they also agree on the idea that outside factors can contribute to unreliability. At the moment of designing and developing a test, teachers need to take into account practical aspects. In this level, the three authors recognized that a test should include the cost of test expansion, the appropriate time for developing a test, the available resources, and the easiness to administrate and marking it. Another major principle is related to authenticity, which is defined as the degree of correspondence of the characteristics of a given language task to the features of a TLU task (Backman& Palmer, 1996). Nevertheless, Brown (2004) stated four characteristics as the main ones to take into consideration when dealing with a test, which is related to language usage, items put it in context, meaningful topics and also Coombe (2007) proposed real-world situations. There were already described all the different principals that each author have in common with one another. Even though, there are more concepts that need to be highlighted. Transparency refers to the availability of clear and proper information to students about testing (Coombe, 2007) and it is related with Backman and Palmer’s authenticity quality, which means that the information of the test should be accurate according to what they have studied. Interactiveness is another concept that is related to authenticity because the language that is used in the text must be familiar according to the students’ knowledge. Finally there is an isolated concept that Coombe (2007) proposed which is related to the recycle of materials in order to use them again since teachers do not have time to always prepare new tests. Security is much related to what Brown (2004) stated keeping the time in a range. Thus, by recycling material, the professor will save time for doing other activities of interest. Within the authors already explained we decided to select Coombe’s perspective because her overall work really compromises all the different features that one needs to cover at the moment of assessing a test. From the current situation of the educational system we can realize that there are many deficiencies during the developing of a test, not only in the theoretical aspects but also in the practical ones. As what we have experienced so far as in-class teachers, there are several tests that does not measure what it is supposed to evaluate and at the same time there are outsiders factors that may interfere on this
- 4. process. This kind of problems can be mostly noticed on public schools since there is not sufficient time to administer a test and this is very frustrating not only for teachers but also students. Moreover, the infrastructures in these schools are not adequate to have a normal class being able to affect the teaching process and the students learning. At the end it turned an unreliable source for them. Validity is another issue that affects our teaching reality. Many times we have noticed that teacher’s tend not to measure what it is supposed to be measured. There is no room for students to express what they know because the evaluations are to force giving priority to the traditional items such as multiple choices, true or false and filling the gaps. Besides, many of these tasks are not contextualized to the real world. Thus, through this type of typical items there is not much student’s production because students tend to memorize contents in order to approve a test instead of generating the target language. It is essential to mention that nowadays there are practical aspects in consideration. Firstly schools are saving money in resources such as computer access, coping facilities and equipment to storage space. Teachers do really not spend much money at the moment of developing a test since much of the evaluations are printed. Another aspect is that the different evaluations that we have seen in our practicum classes are cheap but also less time consuming, so it does not require much time to correct them. Even though, this does not give certainty that a test is going to be good in terms of quality. As Coombe (2007) referred to the existence of positive and negative washback. In our educational system, English has not been good evaluated in different exams such as the “SIMCE” and “PruebaInicia”. For this reason, washback is a good opportunity for us to realize which our defects are, and more importantly learners have to know about their mistakes and their strengths to boost their motivation and increase the students’ active participation. As teachers to be, it is very frustrating seeing this kind of results, but at the same time is a good opportunity for us to make an effort and improvement of our system. In addition, having bad results in a micro level makes students and teachers get low status. For this reason, Coombe (2007), proposed a guided washback with is an excellent opportunity to really understand our shortcoming and try to improve them with both students and teachers.
- 5. Another worrying situation is linked to the authenticity of the educational materials. Most of these materials do not really demonstrate real situations because teachers are still developing grammar tasks instead of applying the communication approach which should be the dominant methodology at schools. Even if grammar would be the quintessential approach, they assessment is not the appropriate one because there is still a gap between tests and the target language usage. Transparency is another issue seeing that tests need to demonstrate what students have been taught over the process of learning, these teachers have to show accuracy information at the moment of testing. However, transparency is not a major problem in our society, because there are not many contents to be evaluated and teachers tend to repeat what they are going to review several times. On top of that, teachers have to provide security that is to say that they should recycle their material in order to save time,as the time passes by, teachers have more duties and demands for the student’s needs. Additionally, teachers are overwhelmed because they have too much work to correct, and they do not really have time to always create new material. As a conclusion, it is necessary to pinpoint that language assessment principles are a required tool to be manage and applied for training teachers and those educators who have spent more time teaching and whose experience have grown so far, that is to say that they need to adapt their methodologies according to the learner’s background and abilities.
- 6. References Bachman, L. F. & Palmer, A. (1996).Language testing in practice: designing and developing useful language tests. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment principles and classroom practices.New York: Pearson Education Coombe, C., Folse, K. Hubley, N. (2007). A practical guide to assessing English language learners. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.