1) The document discusses different types of English language testing including traditional tests, teacher-made tests, standardized tests, multiple choice tests, and communication tests. 2) It explains the importance of testing for evaluation purposes in education and how well-designed tests can benefit both teachers and students. 3) The key types of tests discussed are teacher-made tests which evaluate student progress, standardized tests which use uniform procedures and cover a wider scope of material, and communication tests which aim to assess language skills more globally.

1. ‫انگلیسی‬ ‫زبان‬ ‫ارزیابی‬ ‫و‬ ‫سنجش‬
‫اول‬ ‫فصل‬
:
‫کاربردها‬ ‫و‬ ‫ها‬ ‫نظریه‬ ‫انگلیسی‬ ‫زبان‬ ‫در‬ ‫آزمون‬
‫مدرس‬
:
‫خیابانی‬ ‫پایدار‬ ‫نفیسه‬ ‫دکتر‬

2. What is a test?
• A test is a measurement device or technique which is used
to quantify behavior or help us understand behavior.
• It includes items or questions to which a person responds
and those responses can be scored or evaluated.
• Therefore as a result of a person’s answer to a set of
questions, we obtain a measure or numerical value of a
characteristic of that person.

3. Why is testing important?
• Evaluation is a major consideration in any educational
setting. Teachers want to know and make sure they treat
students the same and equal, to see what they have
learned and what they can do with the language they have
learned.
• Students, teachers, administrators, and parents all work
together to achieve educational goals. So measurement
and evaluation are essential devices to help them make
sound educational decisions.

4. What is decision-making?
• It is the process of making choices by identifying
a decision, gathering information, and assessing
alternative resolutions.

5. Different types of educational decisions:
1) Some educational decisions will affect a large number of
people. (the entrance exam to the universities)
2) Some educational decisions will affect only a single
person. (should Ali be placed in an advanced group?)

6. The main feature of a good decision:
A good decision is one that is based on
all relevant information.

7. What does the term measurement imply?
• It is measuring characteristics by means other than giving
tests. It is using observations, rating scales other devices
that allow us to obtain information in a quantitative form.
• The advantage of measurement is that it allows for
comparison, we can compare one student with other.

8. What is meant by evaluation?
• Evaluation is categorized as professional judgment or as a process
that allows one to make a judgment about the value of a measure.
• It involves making a qualitative judgment about people which
involves interpretation of information.
• The advantage of evaluation is that it values the result.
• Evaluation requires that we have a goal or objective in mind.

9. What is assessment?
Language assessment is a measure of the proficiency a
language user has in any given language.
It is considered a kind of estimation of the level of
characteristics.

10. How can well-made tests help students?
When a test is well-made both test givers and test-takers
benefit from the test results.
1) Testing will encourage and motivate students in learning
the subject matter.
2) Teachers should provide positive classroom experiences
for their students by giving tests.
3) Testing will help the students prepare themselves and
thus learn the materials.

11. 4) Repeated tests and preparation will enable students to
master the language.
5) students will benefit from the test results.
6) Several tests or quizzes make them be aware of course
objectives.
7) Students will have an opportunity to make up for their
weaknesses.

12. The main responsibilities of instructors:
They should provide good instruction and appropriate
evaluation.
Why do EFL or ESL teachers need testing?
They need testing to explain and justify their activities in
class.

13. What types of answers does an appropriate
test provide?
• Has the instruction been successful?
• Were the materials for instruction at the right level?
• Have all language skills been emphasized equally?
• What points need reviewing?
• Should the same materials be used next year or do they
need some modifications?

14. What types of questions should be answered in the
analysis phase of testing?
• Were the test instruction clear?
• Was the allotted time sufficient?
• How did the students feel when responding to the items?
• Were the test results a reflection of the students’
performances during the course?

15. Teacher-made tests:
1) They are frequently used to evaluate the student’s
progress in school.
2) Through classroom achievement tests, teachers can
measure the efficiency of the instruction.

16. Values of teacher-made tests according to
Schwartz and Tideman (1957):
1) Measure student’s progress based on the classroom
activities
2) Motivate students
3) Provide an opportunity for the teacher to diagnose
students’ weaknesses

17. Possible problems with teacher-made tests:
1) The content of the test might be ambiguous.
2) Sometimes the tests are irrelevant to instructional materials.
The basis for the content of teacher-made tests:
Any teacher-made tests must be based on predetermined content
to measure the student’s knowledge at a given point in time.

18. Standardized tests:
• They are commercially prepared by skilled test makers
and measurement experts.
• They provide samples of behavior under uniform
procedures.

19. Uniform procedure in standardized tests:
It means that the same fixed set of questions is administered with
the same set of directions, time restrictions, and scoring
procedures.
What is a scoring procedure for standardized
questions?
Scoring is usually based on objective procedures. However, some
may also include essay-type questions.

20. Differences between teacher-made tests and
standardized tests in terms of the scope of the
tests:
1) Teacher-made tests usually cover a single unit of work or
that of a term.
2) Standardized tests usually have a wider range of
coverage (they cover more material)

21. Relationship between testing and teaching:
Testing is viewed as a practical teaching strategy
giving learners useful opportunities for discussion
of language choices.

22. Different types of testing procedures:
Traditional tests
Multiple-choice tests
Testing communication

23. Main features of traditional tests:
 They are related to GTM in language teaching.
 The early stage of traditional testing is called the intuitive stage in
which the relationship between language teaching and testing is
stronger.
 Knowing about the language was emphasized.
 Students had to memorize many language rules and a list of words.

24. Which disciplines helped language testing enter a
more scientific stage than the traditional one?
Structural linguistic & Behavioristic psychology.
• These two disciplines suggested that language mastery
could be evaluated scientifically bit by bit.
• Behavioristic psychologists consider language learning as
a set of habits.
• Structural linguists analyze the components of language.

25. What types of tests were devised by structural
linguists and behaviorist psychologists?
Objective tests were devised because subjective tests were
unreliable.
• Objective tests: are scored by comparing students’ responses
with an established set of correct responses on an answer key.
E.g; true-false, multiple choice, matching.
• Subjective tests: require scoring by opinion or personal
judgment so the human element is very important. E.g; essay
tests, term or concept definition, interviews.

26. Main features of multiple-choice items:
 Are the most popular type of objective tests.
The students are presented with alternatives or options
(including one correct answer and distracters)
They are expected to choose the correct alternative.
The measure only a single or discrete feature of language.
They provide the learner with restricted contexts usually
no wider than the item context.

27. The main problem with multiple choice items:
Constructing good test items with reasonable distracters is very
difficult.
How we can construct good multiple-choice items:
• The inexperienced test constructors should first prepare open-
ended items and administer them to some students.
• The wrong answers provided by the students could be used as
reasonable distracters later on.

28. Main features of testing communication:
 They move toward global testing.
They make more comprehensive demands on the learners.
Two popular types of global tests are dictation and cloze
( it is based on a passage with some deleted words)

29. What does providing deleted words in cloze tests
require:
 It requires perception and productive skills and sound
knowledge of lexical and grammatical systems.
Students should take advantage of all linguistic clues.
The students should rely on some other contextual clues,
too.

30. The main reason for the failure of traditional
testing:
There is a misconception about language that successful
language usage would lead to successful language use.
While linguistic aspects of language are only one part of the
communication process.