The most Important principles

1. PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE
ASSESSMENT
BROWN, D. (2004)
Presenter: Mg. Erika Restrepo (April 2016)

2. Practicality
 Costs
 Time
 Administration
 Scoring/Evaluation procedure

3. Reliability
 Student-Related Reliability
Physical/psychological factors
Test-taker’s “test-wiseness”
 Rater Reliability
Inter-rater reliability
Intra-rater reliability
(scoring criteria, inexperience, inattention, fatigue, bias) *
 Test Administration Reliability
 Test Reliability (long, timed, poorly written tests = test unreliability)
* Use of an analytical scoring instrument to increase rater reliability.

4. Validity
 Content-Related Evidence (Content validity)
Example: unit on greetings/exchanges (discourse for asking personal information, form-
focus on the verb to be, personal pronouns, question formation) + performance
(listening/speaking).
Direct/indirect testing
 Criterion-Related Evidence (test taker’s abilities on the test are demonstrated in
other contexts.)
 Construct-Related Evidence
 Consequential Validity
 Face Validity
Familiar tasks, doable within the time limit, clear, uncomplicated items, crystal clear
directions, tasks related to the course work, reasonable challenge.

5. Authenticity
Tasks which are likely to be enacted in the “real world”.
Natural language
Contextualized items
Meaningful topics
Story line or episode thematic organization

6. Washback
Effects of tests on instruction
Praise for strengths and constructive criticism on learners’
weaknesses.

7. Cualidades de las pruebas*
Validez sistémica
Democracia
Transparencia
Justicia
* Maturana, L., Restrepo, M., Ferreira, M. (2009). Mó dulo -Guía
e n Evaluació n de lo s Apre ndiz aje s e n Le ng uas Extranje ras.