Job Discussion Forums

[Glenski]

[Sweetsee]

I want to make a simple test. Simple for the students and simple for me to grade.

I want it to show how much they worked.

I also want to hear them using the language we worked on.


Therefore, I propose to dictate the key expressions we worked on and have them write their own answers.

When they begin to finish I will call them outside. I will start with the best students and have them drill their classmates as they come out.

The others will be busy with another part of the test; correct the mistakes. I know you said you don't like it Glenski but I am going to try it. I made a list of the 20 most frequently heard mistakes in class. By seeing the mistakes and correcting them it has to help them avoid making them over and over.



What do you think about that Glenski?

[guest of Japan]

I'm not Glenski, but I'm afraid I don't think you are not designing a test which will evaluate your students effectively and the way you are implementing it will encourage rampant cheating.

You may dislike multiple choice tests but they offer an effective means to evaluate all students, enable all students to pass without cheating and still provide a separation of grades at the upper end to make students feel rewarded for their efforts.

What is the point of testing to find the errors in a sentence? Teaching them to deconstruct their every utterance so they never communicate effectively? If you are teaching with a communicative approach then you should be encouraging mistakes not punishing them for them. Why don't you test what they know and not what they don't?

Your use of dictation and response will stimulate severe test anxiety for the students (especially the lower students). A few questions is fine, but not as a foundation for the test at lower levels. Many students who may have enough skill in English to pass a test will choose to answer none of your questions because they are too intimidated by spelling, grammar and the pressure to make a perfectly correct response. It takes a long time to get students to the point at which your test will have a positive effect.

If you leave the room with the students still taking the tests they will cheat. And they will do it badly. You will get answers copied so carelessly that students will say that their name is the person they copied from because they did it in such a hurry with a completely apathetic manner because they already view your test as too hard for them.

What true evaluation is taking place then? Will you really be reinforcing and enhancing the learning process?

I realize that I'm coming off extremely rigid and harsh, but you did ask for advice for testing. People have given it to you with great thought and care, but all you really want is people to tell you "That's a great test. That will give you exactly the results you want." I wish I could say these things, but neither would be true.

[Sweetsee]

Guest,

Thank you so much.

We agree on some points. But I hope you know that whatever happens
when I'm done those kids will be singing those key expressions in their heads on the way home.

I see your point about the error correction but I will use it to let them cheat with. I don't think it will hurt anybody's communicative ability to see a list of the most frequently made mistakes.

Severe test anxiety? You are probably right.

I don't dislike multiple choice tests at all.

No, I think they are too easy.

You are right, as a test it sucks. Don't they all?

I don't even have to give a test. I've heaped all this upon myself at the last moment in the hopes of becoming a better teacher.

[Sherri]

I think you have got some great advice here. I just want to add one point. That is, what have you told the students about evaluation in your class? By this I mean, before your class began, what did you tell your students the goals were? You should stick to what you have promised and what you have covered in your class. It is unfair to suddenly tell students that you are going to, for example, ask them to take dictation as part of the test. Did you tell them that they would have to take dictation and give them a chance to practice it in your regular classes? It is a separate skill in itself and a fairly complex one.

Ideally you should decide how to evaluate the students before you start teaching not while you are teaching them. Ask yourself--what are you really looking for? Why do they need to be tested? Can't you see how they are learning by your own in class evaluations--a kind of continuous assessment? Wouldn't this reflect your communication-related goals more closely?

Do you have access to recording equipment like a video camera or a tape recorder? You could think about taping different pairs or small groups doing a task and then listening to the tape later and evaluating it on the basis of factors such as fluency, vocab usage, accuracy. In some classes I have decided that I am going to focus on one particular group of students. While they practice in small groups I sit in and take careful notes on how they perform their task. I later give them written feedback on how I think they are doing.

As I believe you said at the beginning, the grades are not that important. I would say keep the testing informal and as close to what you have already covered in class. Don't introduce writing or grammar tasks that have not been covered in class. Above all, try to clue your students into what you expect from them before the test and preferably before your classes begin.
Best
Sherri

[Sweetsee]

Thanks Sherri,

You are absolutely right. We haven't done any writing in class and I told them that all we have to do is learn these key expressions.

Okay so dictation is out.

Correct the mistakes is out.

How can I let them know how they are doing and assess my own efforts?




Thanks Sherri,
S

[Sherri]

Good I am glad your students did well on the test. Now you know that they can take dictation of set phrases and can write down the correct answers based on their dictation. If this shows you that they can communicate then your test achieved its purpose. Congrats.
Sherri

[Sweetsee]

Do I smell smoke?

[Sweetsee]

I am going to go in and make a multiple choice test.

Give it to my students and after 25 minutes collect the tests hand out something relevant and invite students out in the hall to show me what they have learned.

Maybe put on some music and of course have a laugh.

[BenJ]

[Sweetsee]

I meant that.

Yes, I am for real, really scatter brained.

Are you?

[Sweetsee]

I meant that, what I said to Guest. Guest, I hope you, and every one for that matter understands I mean no disrespect. Still wrestling with the written word.

And you? Are you part of the problem or the solution?

What is real and what is an illusion?

[Sherri]

Well, Sweetsee I tried to give you a bit of advice. You replied with a message which you later found so embarrassing that you edited it--edited so heavily that the main point was removed. I won't be offering you any more advice.

Sherri

[Glenski]

[Gordon]

Glenski, you are so patient with her.