Tips for good test design

for effective

test design

Isabela Villas Boas

Terminology brush-upEvaluation, assessment, and testing

Types of tests

Cornerstones of testing: usefulness, validity, reliability, practicality, washback, authenticity, transparency

Alignment

Evaluation, assessment, and testEvaluation – concerned with the overall program; considers all aspects of teaching and learning (Genessee, 2001, as cited in Coobe et al., 2007)

Assessment – a variety of ways of collecting information on learners’ achievement or ability

Test – a type of assessment tool

Types of tests

Placement Aptitude Diagnostic

Achievement Proficiency

Usefulness

Any language test must be developed with a specific

purpose, a particular group of test-takers, and a specific

language use in mind. (Bachman and Palmer, 1996, as cited in Coombe et al, 2007)

Validity

The extent to which the test measures what it purports to measure – content, construct,

and face validity.

Reliability

Consistency of test scores: formats and content of questions and the time given to students to

take the exam must be consistent. The more items on a

test, the more reliable it is.

Practicality

Are teachers able to develop, administer, and mark the test within the available time and with the available resources?

Washback

The effect of testing on teaching and learning. It can be positive

or negative.

Authenticity

Tests should reflect authentic, real-life uses of the language and

use authentic or authentic-like materials as much as possible.

Transparency

The availability of clear, accurate information to students about

testing: outcomes to be evaluated, formats used,

weighing of items, time allowed, grading criteria.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

ASSESSMENTS

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES

A L I G N M E N T

Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence, Carnegie Mellon University

You have probably taken or given bad tests. Why were they bad?

ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

Before writing the test – make a blueprint / test specifications

Write down all

the learning

outcomes you want

to test

Decide how you are going to assess each

outcome – what type of item will

you use? Multiple-choice? Fill-in-the blanks?

Constructed response? Make

sure they are aligned with the

instructional strategies.

Balance types of items.

Decide how much each test item is going to be

worth. What percentage of the test will each

item represent?

Decisions about what to include on the test

If you teach the four skills, the four skills should be represented in your assessment system. If you have an oral test, then include the other three skills on the test.

.

Decisions about what to include on the test

Balance grammar, language functions, and vocabulary (grammatical competence, pragmatic competence, and discourse competence).

.

Decisions about what to include on the test

Think about how the test will reflect the types of activities you do in your classroom. Think about how the test will affect the teaching, that is, the washback effect.

.

Testing listening and reading

Choose texts that are neither too easy nor too hard for the students; use the i+1 principle.

Choose text genres that match the genres presented in the instructional activities.

Testing listening and reading

Try to use texts that are as authentic as possible.

Include items that test listening and reading for the main idea and listening and reading for details.

Testing listening and reading

If the listening or reading is a bit difficult, use easier items. If it is easier, use more challenging items. Grade the task (in the sense of adapting to the level) according to the input.

Make sure there aren’t unknown words/structures in the listening or reading prompts. You are testing the reading of the text, not of the reading comprehension items!

Go beyond multiple-choice or True or False

Other types of items are:

- Listen and fill in the blanks- Correct wrong information- Read and complete a summary- Listen or read and fill in the chart / fill out a form (information

transfer)- Number events in the correct order- Relate the text to a picture- Listen and draw- Insert sentences into the reading.

Be careful!

Make sure students can’t answer the questions just by common sense, without listening or reading.

Make sure the questions are not ambiguous or based on subjective interpretation.

Be careful!

Avoid “not stated” for listening because there’s no time to process the text and also what’s not in it.

Make sure the listening is at a pace that matches the listenings used in class.

Be careful!

Arrange the listening items in the same order that the information appears in the listening.

Only assess the listening and reading strategies that were taught during the period, as this is an achievement test, not a proficiency one.

Avoid tricky items!

Grammar, functions, and vocabulary

Whenever possible, contextualize the item: use a dialogue or a paragraph rather than isolated sentences (discourse competence).

When you contextualize, choose topics that are relevant/familiar to students.

Grammar, functions, and vocabulary

Balance selected-response and constructed-response items. The more advanced the test, the more constructed-response items it should have.

Types of vocabulary items

- Fill-in-the blanks with words from a word bank; always include at least one extra word.

- Match the word with the sentence it can complete: always include an extra item on the right, not on the left to prevent correction confusion (more numbers than parentheses).

Types of vocabulary items

- Complete the sentences with words; provide the first letter of each word; Ss have to remember the words: useful for more common words; active vocabulary.

- Crossword puzzles: active vocabulary- Multiple-choice- Odd-man out

Types of grammar / language function items

- Multiple-choice- Editing- Fill-in-the blanks of sentences, dialogues, or

paragraphs- Complete the dialogue- Answer questions- Sentence transformation (from active to passive;

from direct to indirect speech)- Write sentences based on a chart or graph

You can also integrate grammar and vocabulary

Beyond grammar: language functions

Be careful!Avoid exceptions / rare cases.

Have in mind what you consider passive knowledge and active knowledge to decide the item type.

Don’t be more wordy than you need in your paragraphs and dialogues.

Be careful!Don’t make the items too mechanical, with almost the same answer in all sentences.

Stick to your instructional strategies - ex: if students didn’t do an exercise mixing two tenses, don’t include this on the test!

Provide a correction key for reliability purposes: what should be given partial credit to? What should not?

Controversial issues

Should timed, one-shot writings (paragraphs and essays) be part of a test?

Should we provide a glossary of some unknown words for the reading?

How many times should the listening be played?

Controversial issues

Should we test grammatical terminology?

Should the distractors in multiple-choice exercises contain grammatical errors?

???