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AbeCross
Joined: 21 Jun 2012
Posts: 191
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 Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 9:26 am Post subject: STEP test for English competency |
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| Does anyone have any experience prepping students for this test? We are to do a little test prep/orientation as a supplement to a general English course for gifted Saudi teens. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly. |
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baa_baa
Joined: 04 Dec 2011
Posts: 265
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:05 am Post subject: |
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hi. since its the first time I heard about this exam I googled it and realized that its like the toefl-computer based.
SO grab a toefl book use that. It should be a great guidance. There are 500 words listed in the internet for toefl exams. have the kid learn these words as well.
Goodluck. Preparing these kids for such an exam is not easy. They think that once they ve found a teacher, then its done.  |
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The Fifth Column
Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Posts: 331
Location: His habitude with lexical items protrudes not unlike a damaged pollex!!!
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| ...gifted Saudi teens... |
I tried to say this, but bit my tongue several times in the process...  |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:34 pm Post subject: Re: STEP test for English competency |
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| AbeCross wrote: |
| Does anyone have any experience prepping students for this test? We are to do a little test prep/orientation as a supplement to a general English course for gifted Saudi teens. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly. |
STEP is an acronym for Standardized Test of English Proficiency. It is designed to be an objective and unbiased test of a person‟s level of proficiency in the use of English. The test is made up of the following four components: Reading Comprehension, Structure, Listening Comprehension and Compositional Analysis.
Curricular exams I designed and developed with others matched (statistically correlated) the STEP in late 2012 when its implementation was normalized. To my knowledge, no other institution in the country did so. Most curricular exams are still referred to as language "structure" exams, often conflating usage, grammar (and grammatical knowledge) and the "four strands".
Compositional analysis is also called "error analysis" in which sections of a sentence (terminable units) are underlined and the usual four selectors of mulitple choice are expanded by one more: No Error.
As to its listening component, I would follow baa_baa's suggestion of modeling ToEFL, which is somewhat notorious for mixing up long and short inputs, the former testing for a very specific piece of information drowned in noise (just my opinion, there is method to its madness) and the latter presenting a short exchange to test for implied meanings.
I believe the structure component evaluates usage, largely, but I'm likely wrong about that. Maybe someone knows better.
Reading comprehension can involve "lower" vs "higher" order "thinking" skills (Bloom's taxonomy) where evaluation of a text can be made "higher" by introducing another text with which both are compared/contrasted. But I can't directly attest to STEP's procedure comparing/contrasting texts per Bloom-- I only know our curricular exam did so and matched its results. |
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baa_baa
Joined: 04 Dec 2011
Posts: 265
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:21 pm Post subject: Re: STEP test for English competency |
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| buravirgil wrote: |
| AbeCross wrote: |
| Does anyone have any experience prepping students for this test? We are to do a little test prep/orientation as a supplement to a general English course for gifted Saudi teens. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly. |
STEP is an acronym for Standardized Test of English Proficiency. It is designed to be an objective and unbiased test of a person‟s level of proficiency in the use of English. The test is made up of the following four components: Reading Comprehension, Structure, Listening Comprehension and Compositional Analysis.
Curricular exams I designed and developed with others matched (statistically correlated) the STEP in late 2012 when its implementation was normalized. To my knowledge, no other institution in the country did so. Most curricular exams are still referred to as language "structure" exams, often conflating usage, grammar (and grammatical knowledge) and the "four strands".
Compositional analysis is also called "error analysis" in which sections of a sentence (terminable units) are underlined and the usual four selectors of mulitple choice are expanded by one more: No Error.
As to its listening component, I would follow baa_baa's suggestion of modeling ToEFL, which is somewhat notorious for mixing up long and short inputs, the former testing for a very specific piece of information drowned in noise (just my opinion, there is method to its madness) and the latter presenting a short exchange to test for implied meanings.
I believe the structure component evaluates usage, largely, but I'm likely wrong about that. Maybe someone knows better.
Reading comprehension can involve "lower" vs "higher" order "thinking" skills (Bloom's taxonomy) where evaluation of a text can be made "higher" by introducing another text with which both are compared/contrasted. But I can't directly attest to STEP's procedure comparing/contrasting texts per Bloom-- I only know our curricular exam did so and matched its results. |
Yes yes I came across the same definition that you wrote here and went through the sample test. The reading grammar section. ALL.
I was going to suggest headway for listening as a starter. I know they are gifted but it doesn't mean that learning a language is easy. They need to be able to understand conversation before they jump to those long boring lectures that I tear up at during the exams. I have tested it and it works well just not sure with these gifted kids. Don't worry I know they are not young but still I see them that way.
For grammar use ego4u.com. It's got keys. Students enjoy doing this because it's SO easy. That way they feel they are learning. Otherwise they quit. (I taught cutting edge) do you know how difficult it is to teach that? Ex: they were teaching the conjunctions. My God the marker sentence was so difficult. It's difficult for stuff dents to highlight the to recognize the clauses and decide which conjunction to use). Do this for a month. That website has grammar worksheets with answer for every grammar rule. Your eyes will drop when you see how they learn through them. If it's an intensive course. Do it for a month. 1 grammar rule each day with this website for support. Then the difficult part is finding grammar tests. (Multiple choice) all they have to do is practice. Believe me. They will be super strong. When teaching grammar put the books aside. THEY WILL LISTEN.
If you want an advice hire someone who knows grammar rules by the book. Why present perfect uses "have/has" and the past form of the past participle? While simple past tense uses the past form of the verb with a past tense? I have heard so many silly explanations. Teachers are not able to explain this. The students need to know this so they can be able to write.
For writing: there's this blue book I used. I'm not sure: I think KAPLaN. They are so good useful and simple for the students.
Don't jump to the process of writing. These kids are not native. They are not able to write a sentence. Work with them paragraph by paragraph. Believe me, spare a month at least for each paragraph. I did this and it worked. Ex: when teaching the introduction, spare a month. How to introduce. These kids just start writing about their experience. They don't know how to introduce their topics. They are completely lost. They need many many examples.
Unfortunately my suggestion may be weak for reading but I do this and it works: I keep on pulling out reading texts from third and fourth grade (from the internet). I do this for a month then I start with comparisons and meanings that lie beneath the sentences, finding the themes, main ideas, etc. they can not think without understanding what's written. They are not able to form an individual opinion because they don't understand which leads to kids withdrawing from learning. "We-teachers" keep on forgetting this and just go by the book. By following what I have said always got me in trouble because I would always fall behind but at least they learned. I lost many positions because of this but believe me the students learned.
Do teach the 500 vocab. list suggested in the internet. Do flash cards. AGAIN for a month. Have them write words on a side and a meaning on the other. This will form a habit if you do this. Then you can check and give out bonuses every now and then. You ll be amazed on how well they ll have developed.
First month should be tough for you, easy for the students, because it's not easy finding such materials and putting all this together. Bu if you did this it would do wonders for them. It is the hardest thing to do. To bring materials from different materials and to put them together for a suitable level.
Of ourse to develop this and to find materials for the following levels, and to build to suit the level of this STEP exam. good luck.
I completely understand the need to disagree but all I have suggested is based on my experience with ESL students and students who are native speakers. It's the skill that we are teaching which needs to be taught (and then-later on develop them) at its simplest form.
Edit:
I know you are not teaching esl kids. These are gifted. Just figure out the level and apply the above mentioned, they ll reach their goal. You just need patience.
Last edited by baa_baa on Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:33 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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baa_baa
Joined: 04 Dec 2011
Posts: 265
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| The Fifth Column wrote: |
| Quote: |
| ...gifted Saudi teens... |
I tried to say this, but bit my tongue several times in the process... |
 i agree with you but then again i don't. I sometimes don't blame them. I have witnessed teachers leave before time, speak in class on their phones, put make up, etc.
I'm not talking about teachers doing these things once. Here's the worst part: administration not supporting us. This is where we die. |
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baa_baa
Joined: 04 Dec 2011
Posts: 265
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe sth like this maybe helpful  Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges From Language Proficiency to Academic Achievement [Paperback] I found it on Amazon. Com |
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