Transcript
Karina Mendoza
Diana Monzón
Zonia Castro
Francis Merck
Why Test Grammar?
As far as proficiency tests are
concerned, there has been a shift
towards the view that since it is
language skills that are usually of
interest, then it is these which should
be tested directly, not the abilities
that seem to underlie them.
Probably, most proficiency tests that
are administered on a large scale
still retain a grammar section.
One reason for this must be the ease
with which large number of items
can be administered and scored
within a short period of time.
The question of content validity: if
we decide to test writing ability
directly, then we are severely
limited in the number of topics, style
of writing and the grammatical
elements that we can cover in any
version of the test.
Wherever the teaching of grammar
is thought necessary, then
consideration should be given to the
advisability of including a grammar
component in achievement area.
Whether or not grammar has an
important place in an institution’s
teaching, it has to be accepted that
grammatical ability, or rather the
lack of it, sets limits to what can be
achieved in the way of skills
performance.
Reflect an attempt to give the test content validity by selecting widely from the structures specified.
It should also take into account of what are regarded as the most important structures.
It should not deliberately concentrate on the structure that happen to be easiest to test.
Whichever techniques are chosen, it is
important for the text of the item to be
written grammatically correct and in
natural language.
E.g. We can’t work in this class because
there isn’t enough silence.
To avoid unnatural language, it is
recommended to use corpus based
examples.
4 techniques are presented here:
gap filling, paraphrase, completion
and multiple choice. The first 3
require the candidate’s production,
the last calls only for recognition.
An item with two possible correct
responses may be acceptable if the
meaning is the same, whichever is
used.
E.g. My dad works in a company
_________ makes Nike Shoes.
[that/which]
This item may be improved by including
the words “then”, and “just” so that it
cannot fill the gap.
Doctor: Then _________ just let her cry.
She’ll stop in the end. [I’d , you]
Require the student to write a sentence
equivalent in meaning to one that is
given.
It is helpful to give part of the
paraphrase in order to restrict the
students to the grammatical structure
being tested.
When I came, my mom was setting
up the dinner table.
When I came, the dinner
table____________
Can be used to test a variety of
structures.
Usually in a form of conversational
transcript.
There are times when gap filling will
not test what we want to test
because there are too many
possibilities.
Multiple Choice:
A: They left at 7. They _________ be
home by now.
B: Yes, but we can’t count on it, can’t
we?
a. can b. could c. will d.
Can be used to test discontinuous elements.
A: Poor man, he ________at that for days now.
B: Why doesn’t he give up?
a) was workingb) has been workingc) is workingd) had worked
The important thing when scoring is to be
clear about what each item is testing,
and to award points for that only.
Nothing should be deducted for non-
grammatical errors, or for errors in
elements of grammar which are not being
tested by the item.
If two elements are being tested in an
item, then points may be assigned to
each of them.
Alternatively, it can be
predetermined that both elements
have to be correct for any points to
be awarded.
To ensure scoring is valid and
reliable, careful preparation of the
scoring key is necessary.
The main difficulty in testing
productive lexical ability is the need
to limit the candidate to the lexical
item that we have in mind using only
words. One way around this is to use
pictures.
However, this method is obviously
restricted to concrete nouns that
can be unambiguously drawn.
May work for a range of lexical
items.
But not all items can be identified
uniquely from a definition
Not all words can de defined
entirely in words more common or
simpler than themselves.
This can take the form of one or
more sentences with a single word
missing.
Often there is an alternative word to
the one we have in mind. This
problem can be solved by giving
the first letter of the word (possibly
more) and even an indication of the
number of letters.
While grammar contribute to
communicative skills, they are rarely
to be regarded as ends in
themselves.
It is essential that tests should not
accord them too much of
importance, and so create a
backwash effect that undermines
the achievement of the objectives
of teaching and learning where
these are communicative in nature.
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