Job Discussion Forums

[Steiner]

One of denise's posts about taking courses on making good tests made me think. Today one of the English teachers at our school called us and asked us about one of the recent test questions.

It was a matter of ______ would take the position.
A. who
B. whoever

I submit that a sentence like this, with no context around it, is a rather poor indication of a student's English ability. I'm often angered by the tests that are given here. There are lots of questions where any of two or three multiple choice answers would be correct, depending on the context. It's like this:

Mrs. Robson replaced the receiver and crossed the hall into the comfortable __________.
A. bedroom
B. living room
C. office
D. dining room

If you don't know what the test maker is thinking, you can't get it right. And some of the reading sections are unintelligible. One reading section says, "Kendrick believes sheep got their reputation (Chinese characters here) as dumb (unable to speak) animals because they live in large groups and do not appear to have much individuality (Chinese characters here) and are frightened of just about everything."

The test maker didn't know what dumb meant in this context. The sentence is also poorly written and could do with some punctuation and could use some editing. Or how about this gem of an extract about a 77 year old lady who has gone back to college: I had and essay failed this week. The professor said I hadn't answered the question. I've been thinking about it all week. I find it difficult to organize ideas of an essay proplerly. I just let myself go and get excited. I feel more emotionally than I do mentally. I'm very ordinary really.

Kids' futures are being decided based on how they do on these tests! The title of this particular test is Test of English. No wonder the Chinese don't speak English very well even after six years of classes.

So how are the locally grown exams in your part of the world?

[yaramaz]

Here in Turkey, the exams for kids are all multiple choice or T/F, which annoys me to no end because the little blighters usually just guess at the answers! They have no clue why one answer is better than another, or why they even chose the answer they circled. These are kids who can't construct their own sentences orally or in writing. Also, context is a major issue. I have no examples to give off hand but I proof read several exams given to the 7 and 8th grades last year and really, I was hard pressed to find a single perfectly correct answer... usually more than one would have worked... Indeed the context was lacking and too many options were valid. Annoying. I wanted to argue the merits of most of the choices...

[denise]

I haven't seen anything yet here, but the oral placement exam I had to administer in China last summer was ridiculous. The results were rated something like this:

1) If they can tell you what their name is, they're beginners
2) If they can talk about their family, they are advanced beginners
3) If they know colors, they are pre-intermediate

End of test. Nothing beyond name, family, and colors.

??????

WTF????



d

[Roger]

I abhor all those multiple-choice questionnaires and T/F-type exams.
If ever I have to administer an oral exam I test how they respond in mock interviews such as when applying for a job.

It may surprise some of you to know that Chinese preschoolers have to pass English exams too! Now what is the point of hiring an expat for a CHinese kindergarten when the exit exam is being held by Chinese English teachers? Yes, that's right - my Chinese colleagues, some more competent, some less, gave each kid a score ranging from 60 to 100, while I was idel during that hectic end of the school term!
The parents did not care to know my opinion but the opinion of a Chinese English teacher.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[woza17]

Thank god I had multiple choice questions when I had to pass my written driving exam.
I understand people's frustration, but what are you going to do about it? The ultimate is to get these kids into Uni and the foreigners can't do that.
Oral English has nothing to do with getting a good place at a good Uni.
That's why I like teaching adults at a language institute, it's relevant for their immediate needs, to find a better job or do their job better.
Cheers Carol

[guest of Japan]

In Japan the ideal test for Boards of Education and Principals is a multiple choice test filled with trick questions. They don't test English ability at all. They test IQ's and testing ability. One of my extra duties is to write test questions for my boss to try to sell. It's infuriating to have to write questions like those.

[Jess_Laoshi]

In my boyfriend's English book (he's a third year major now, this was in his second year book) there's a section with SAT style analogies. This one in stuck with me. We showed it to several native speakers who all had a good laugh trying to justify each answer.


eskimo:igloo::

a)Ham:cheese
b)palm:florida
c)noise:cannon
D)war:vietnam

B was the general consensus, but with questions like these, who really knows what kind of answer they're looking for. It's such a crappy analogy. I really felt bad for those students sometimes. I mean, if native speakers can debate the answers, then how is a Chinese kid supposed to have a clue?

The sad thing is, this was in a book that was supposed to prepare these students for the English major's exit exam. Some of the stuff was just assinine. How about "terpsichorean" for a vocabulary word?? I read a ton, and I've never, ever come across that word before. Not that it's a bad thing to know an obscure word, but surely there are more useful things they could be teaching. I don't know who writes these textbooks, but some of them are really laughable.

[Wolf]

[Dr.J]

There's always a 'hidden' personality test behind an exam.

Are you the kind of person who does well with abstract written materials?

Do you function well under high-pressure, competitive (non-cooperative) situations?

If you are, you will probably score much higher than another person even if you study for the same amount of time, and have the same practical ability.

[Psy]

Wow, I must say China's exams sound pretty bad. Not only do those questions test absolutely nothing, they should succeed in utterly confusing the students as well.

This is the sad situation in most of Asia.

www.engrish.com

Although this site shows products from mostly Japan, it's more or less the same in many other parts of the world. I've grown quite accustomed to it and find it hardly unusual now. I'm sure many of you have as well.

Seems like we have a long way to go, guys and gals.