Teacher Discussion Forums

I am a university student who majors in English Education. In my class, one student is very good at taking English exams, especially in written tests. But her oral performance and language competence are not considered the best in our class. So, I wondered, do test-taking skills really count a lot in learning a language? Are students who are good at taking exams good learners? Thank you!

dear, i think it's not that necessary to take that kind of tests.

Depends on the test. Lots of students like to pretend that failing tests doesn't mean much, but not every test is a multiple choice grammar quiz. Some are good all-round measuring devices.

Writing tests are obviously not that great at measuring speaking ability.

Maybe it would be fair to say that nerves can have a bigger negative affect in language exams, compared to some other kinds. I know that when I can't understand a listening question and the tape moves relentlessly on to the next question, I can get very stressed and unable to focus.

And that's just when I'm the teacher

Right now in Puerto Rico a law has been passed that awards teachers that have graduated with with a high grade in their specialty the privilege to skip turns when new positions are available in the Department of Education. Now experience doesn't count. I have openly rejected it because of the fact that many years of experience have taught me that a teacher is not made in the University (although I have my BA degree) but in the classroom. And I also pointed the fact that many students become "expert test takers" being able to take test and pass them as long as they are multiple choice. Now if you give the same student a performance test or an oral exam the situation changes completely.

The problem is that professors prefer to give multiple choice tests because they are easier to tab.

It is experience and performance what counts. I myself prefer to give oral tests as they require the student to actually remember and produce information.

Michael D. Castro wrote:Right now in Puerto Rico a law has been passed that awards teachers that have graduated with with a high grade in their specialty the privilege to skip turns when new positions are available in the Department of Education. Now experience doesn't count. I have openly rejected it because of the fact that many years of experience have taught me that a teacher is not made in the University (although I have my BA degree) but in the classroom. And I also pointed the fact that many students become "expert test takers" being able to take test and pass them as long as they are multiple choice. Now if you give the same student a performance test or an oral exam the situation changes completely.

The problem is that professors prefer to give multiple choice tests because they are easier to tab.

It is experience and performance what counts. I myself prefer to give oral tests as they require the student to actually remember and produce information.

Thank you for the information. However, in China, experience does count a lot. Most schools would require three-year woking experience, which makes it very hard to find a job as a teacher for university students.
As far as I am concerned, a good student should be a good learner, a good speaker and a good test-taker, because these three are what a good student is supposed to be. However, it is just so hard to become a student like that.

The info you provide me tells me that there has to be a medium point one where experience and academic achievement count equally. Regarding being good test taker i believe we have to be careful of not making test taking an end in itself, learning should be the main goal.

I think it depents on what kind of the test. When it is a big and important exam, test-taking skills really count a lot. But as EFL learners, we learn English mainly for daily use, not for taking exams.
In my opinion, oral performance is far more important than test-taking skills in learn English.

Michael D. Castro wrote:The info you provide me tells me that there has to be a medium point one where experience and academic achievement count equally. Regarding being good test taker i believe we have to be careful of not making test taking an end in itself, learning should be the main goal.

Yes, I totally agree with you on that test is just a tool, not the utimate goal. But the fact is that a student with high marks is considered a good student in most cases. And learning has been long evaluated by testing. It really counts a lot.
I think education in all the countries is limited by tests to some or great extent.

The thing about tests is that the result is only an indication of the level of ability on the day the test was taken. I can`t remember even being at uni let alone what I learnt there, if anything really

Macaviti:

But I'm sure you clearly remember your last day at school and what you learned there.

It's a British thing Mike. We are attached to those t's, though they are fading away a bit under NA influence.

NA influence is not a good influence at all. Believe me the trend in this side of the world is one of glorifying tests and encouraging test takers. This encouraging has been reflected in a decrease in real learning. I am currently trying to balance my teaching between test taking skills and language learning but giving language learning a more favorable role. If at any moment I sense that a student is having difficulties with test taking I offer that student an alternate way to show me his or her true learning. Oral tests are now my favorite.

Actually, I mean learnt. In Britain we say "learnt". Sometimes.

Test takers, yes. But the main problem to my mind is relying on tests a great deal and yet not bothering to use decent tests. However, recently things have improved for English a little bit.

Hey Mikey,
you wrote:

But I'm sure you clearly remember your last day at school and what you learned there.


No, I had tonsilitis that week!

I usually take the irregular verb form where it's available because it feels more natural to me; as Woodcutter says, a British thing.

Perhaps the reason that I don't really see the value of tests is because my own school days were made miserable by them. I went to primary school in the seventies, and, as unbelievable as it sounds now, we were regularly subjected to corporal punishment for failing tests - and I am no great shakes at taking tests. So I don't give tests unless specifically asked to, and then only under duress! That doesn't mean to say that I don't keep a check on or track my students' progress, though.

I like to experiment in my classes. Next semester I plan to work with oral tests micro tests and a combination of both. I think like you Macavity. It's good to see that there are people who think alike.