This document provides an overview of key concepts in language testing and assessment. It defines language testing and distinguishes it from assessment. It outlines different types of tests (e.g. proficiency, achievement, diagnostic), testing methods (e.g. direct, indirect, discrete point, integrative), and scoring methods (e.g. norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, objective, subjective). It also contrasts classroom assessment with large-scale standardized testing and provides references for further information.

1. Language Testing
Introducing language and assessment
PRESENTED BY : NAJAH M. ALGOLAIP
PRESENTED TO : DR. ABDULHAMEED ONIBA

2. Layout:
 What is language testing?
 Fundamental concepts of assessment
 Purposes of language assessment and types of tests
 Contrast classroom assessment with large-scale
testing
 References

3. What’s language testing?

4. Fundamental concepts of assessment
Assessment / evaluation/ measurement
Assessment is a method for analyzing and evaluating
student achievement or program success.
Measurement as used in education refers to the process
of quantifying an individual’s achievement, personality,
and attitudes among others by means of appropriate
measuring instruments.

5. Types of Measurement
Objective measurements- are measurements that do not depend on
the person or individual taking the measurements.
Subjective measurements- often differ from one assessor to the next
even if the same quantity or quality is being measured.
Evaluation is the process of systematic collection and analysis of both
qualitative and quantitative data for the purpose of making some
decision and judgments.

6. Test, Examination, Quiz
A test in the educational setting is a question or a series of
question which aims to determine how well a student learned
from a subject or topic taught.
An examination is a long test which may or may be composed
of one or more test formats. Examples: Mid- term examination,
Licensure Examination for Teachers, comprehensive
examination.

7. A quiz is a short test usually given at the beginning or
at the end of a discussion period.

8. Testing vs. assessment
Testing
Assessment
Tests are prepared administrative
procedures that occur at
identifiable times in a curriculum when
learners muster all their faculties to offer
peak performance, knowing that their
responses are being measured and
evaluated
Assessment. on the other hand,
is an ongoing process that
encompasses a much wider
domain. Whenever a student
responds to a question, offers a
comment, or tries out a new
word or structure, the teacher
subconsciously makes an
assessment of the student's
performance.

9. Purposes of assessment
Checking the students’ progress : it should give teachers
feedback on their students’ performance at different stages of
the course.
 Reinforcing the students’ learning: it should also be a way of
giving students regular feedback so that they are aware of their
excellence or failures
Evaluating the teaching/ learning process : it should give
teachers basic information about how successful the teaching.

10. Types of tests
1.Proficiency tests
designed to measure people’s ability in a language, regardless of any training
they may have had in that language. It is based on specifications of what learners
need to know in a language in order to be considered proficient.

11. 2.Achievement tests
establish how successful individual students, groups of students,
or the courses themselves have been in achieving objectives
Two kinds of achievement tests
1. Final achievement tests (external)
2. Progress achievement tests (internal)

12. 1.Final achievement tests
administered at the end of a course of a study by ministers of
education, official examining boards, or by members of
teaching institutions. The content must be related to the course
The content can either be based on
a detailed course syllabus (syllabus-content approach)
or the objectives of the course
2.Progress achievement tests
tests measuring the students’ progress, contributing to formative
assessment
•Repeatedly administer final achievement tests (not feasible)
•Pop quizzes (measuring the intermediate objectives )

13. 3. Diagnostic tests
identify the learners’ strengths and weaknesses
It is important to note that very few tests are made for purely
diagnostic purposes. This is largely because of the difficulty anyone
attempting to design a diagnostic test will face
We can, for example, create tests that measure learners’ writing
and even analyze some writing samples. However, it will be difficult
to obtain a detailed analysis on a learner’s command of
grammatical structures.

14. 4.Prognostic tests
A test designed to predict how well one is likely to do in a language course.
5.Placement tests
provide information to place students at the stage of the program
appropriate to their abilities.
They can be bought but it is recommended not to do so unless the
teaching institution is sure that the test suits its teaching program.
Most successful placement tests are those that are made for
particular situation

15. 6. Language Aptitude tests
Tests measuring someone’s potency in learning a foreign language to
predict his success in a language classroom. It is designed to measure
someone’s capacity to learn a foreign language. For example, MLAT (the
Modern Language Aptitude Test)
They’re characterized by the their type of tasks:
1. Spelling clues.
2. Words in sentences.
3. Phonetic script

16. Types of testing
Direct testing
Requires the candidates to perform precisely the skill we wish to
measure
Easier to carry out to measure the productive skills
It has many attractions
1. Straightforward to create the conditions upon which we will base
our judgments
2. The assessment and interpretation of students’ performance is
also straightforward (writing & speaking)
3. There is likely a helpful backwash effect

17. Examples of direct test items in TESOL
For speaking: Interviews and presentations
 For writing: Essay questions
For reading: Using real reading material and having the
student respond to question verbally and or in writing
For listening: Following oral directions to complete a task

18. Indirect testing
Measure the abilities underlying the skills we want to measure.
For example, asking students to identify the inappropriate erroneous
elements among a group of underlined elements to indirectly
measure their writing ability.
Indirect testing result is more generalizable than direct testing
Examples of indirect test items include:
1. Multiple-choice questions
2. Cloze tests
3. C-tests
4. Reordering items
5. Transformation items

19. Discrete point/ integrative testing
Discrete point is based on the premise that language can be broken down to its
components, so it tests these components one at a time. They will almost always be
indirect. Also, diagnostic tests of grammar tend to be discrete point.
Integrative testing is based on the premise that language abilities are indivisible;
hence, they cannot be tested separately. Integrative tests tend to be direct e.g.
writing a composition, making notes while listening, dictation, cloze passages.

20. Norm-referenced/ criterion referenced
These two types are based on the interpretation of scores
Norm-referenced tests (NRTs)compare a person’s knowledge or skills
to the knowledge or skills of the norm group.
Criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) compare a person’s knowledge or
skills against a predetermined standard, learning goal, performance
level, or other criterion.

21. Objective‘/ subjective testing
These two types are based on the way scores are put.
The distinction is based only on scoring, and the presence or absence of
the scorer’s judgment.
If a test requires no judgment on the part of the teacher then it is
objective. (multiple choice, true or false, matching)
If, however a test requires scorer’s judgment then it is subjective. (
short answer essay, essay, extended response)

22. Computer adaptive testing
A computer-based test that adapt the questions according to the
candidate’s level of ability, lowering or raising the level of difficulty until a
dependable estimate of their level is achieved.
Interviews are a form of adaptive testing
Communicative language testing
It tests learners’ language performance in real life situations. So it not only
test their competence but also their performance.

23. Standardized testing
Standardized tests are defined by W. James Popham, former president of the
American Educational Research Association, as "any test that's administered,
scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner.“
High stakes achievement tests are examples of standardized tests

24. High stakes testing
A high-stakes test is any test used to make important decisions. These decisions
include whether :
oA student will be promoted to the next grade
oA student will receive a high school diploma
oSchools are classified as unacceptable, acceptable, or exemplary
oSchools, principals or teachers receive financial or other incentives
oA state educational agency takes over the administrative control of local
schools
oPrincipals, teachers or other school staff are reassigned or even offered
employment control renewal

25. Low stakes testing
A low-stakes test is used to measure academic
achievement, identify learning problems, or
inform instructional adjustments.
What make high stakes tests and low stakes tests different is not the design of
the test but its function

26.  classroom assessment with large-scale testing
Large-scale assessments are tests or other data collection
procedures administered to large numbers of students at the
same time. These assessments often are used to measure
student achievement for educational accountability, where
either the system or individuals in the system are held
responsible for student performance.

28. Refrences:
Flucher, G. (2010). Practical language testing.
Hughes, A. (2003). Teaching for language teachers.
Kubiszyn, T., & Borich G. (2003). Educational testing and
measurement: Classroom application and practice.
Coobe,C (2018) An A to Z of second language assessment