Paperback

Published: 26/03/2010

Extent: 304 pages

Illustrations: 20

 

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Summary:
Practical Language Testing equips you with the skills, knowledge and principles necessary to understand and construct language tests.

This intensely practical book gives guidelines on the design of assessments within the classroom, and provides the necessary tools to analyse and improve assessments, as well as deal with alignment to externally imposed standards. Testing is situated both within the classroom and within the larger social context, and readers are provided the knowledge necessary to make realistic and fair decisions about the use and implementation of tests. The book explains the normative role of large scale testing and provides alternatives that the reader can adapt to their own context. This fulfils the dual purpose of providing the reader with the knowledge they need to prepare learners for tests, and the practical skills for using assessment for learning.

Practical Language Testing is the ideal introduction for students of applied linguistics, TESOL and modern foreign language teaching as well as practicing teachers required to design or implement language testing programmes.

• Individual and group activities consolidate learning and help readers put what they have learned into practice
• A glossary of key terms aids revision
• Examples from a variety of real life settings make the text relevant to all students and practitioners with an interest in language testing
• A guide to further reading promotes more indepth study
• All stages of test construction are covered from theory, through designing tests, to prototyping and piloting, analysis and dealing with external standards.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements
List of figures
List of tables
Preface
Chapter 1 Testing and assessment in context
Test purpose
Tests in educational systems
Testing rituals
Unintended consequences
Testing and society
Historical Interlude I
The politics of language testing
Historical Interlude II
Professionalising language education and testing
Validity
Activities
Chapter 2 Standardised testing
Two paradigms
Testing as science
What’s in a curve?
The curve and score meaning
Putting it into practice
Test scores in a consumer age
Testing the test
Introducing reliability
Calculating reliability
Living with uncertainty
Reliability and test length
Relationships with other measures
Measurement
Activities
Chapter 3 Classroom assessment
Life at the chalk-face
Assessment for Learning
Self- and peer-assessment
Dynamic Assessment
Understanding change
Assessment and second language acquisition
Criterion-referenced testing
Dependability
Some thoughts on theory
Activities
Chapter 4: Deciding what to test
The test design cycle
Construct definition
Where do constructs come from?
Models of communicative competence
4.1 Construct models
4.2 Performance models
From definition to design
Activities
Chapter 5 Designing test specifications
What are test specifications?
Specifications for testing and teaching
A sample detailed specification for a reading test
Granularity
Performance conditions
Target language use domain analysis
Moving back and forth
Activities
Chapter 6 Evaluating, prototyping and piloting
Investigating usefulness and usability
Evaluating items, tasks and specifications
Guidelines for multiple-choice items
Prototyping
Piloting
Field testing
Item shells
Operational item review and pre-testing
Activities
Chapter 7: Scoring language tests
Scoring items
Scorability
Scoring constructed response tasks
Automated scoring
Corrections for guessing
Avoiding own goals
Activities
Chapter 8 Aligning tests to standards
It’s as old as the hills
The definition of ‘standards’
The uses of standards
Unintended consequences revisited
Using standards for harmonisation and identity
How many standards can we afford?
Performance level descriptors (PLDs) and test scores
Some initial decisions
Standard-setting methodologies
Evaluating standard setting
Training
The special case of the CEFR
You can always count on uncertainty
Activities
Chapter 9 Test administration
No, no. Not me!
Controlling extraneous variables
Rituals revisited
Standardised conditions and training
Planned variation: accommodations
Unplanned variation: cheating
Scoring and moderation
Data handling and policy
Reporting outcomes to stakeholders
The expense of it all
Activities
Chapter 10 Testing and teaching
The things we do for tests
Washback
Washback and content alignment
Preparing learners for tests
Selecting and using tests
The gold standard
Activities
Epilogue
Glossary
References
Index

About the Author(s):
Glenn Fulcher is Senior Lecturer in Education (TESOL), University of Leicester, UK

Readership:
Student teachers taking modules in applied linguistics and TESOL. Students of linguistics taking modules in SLA and language teaching.