 Testing

The very term ‘Test’, in ELT, refers to a process of measuring learners’ knowledge or skill
in a particular issue through some oral or written procedures. It is a means to show both
the students and the teacher how much the learners have learnt during a course.Tests
could be used to display the strength and weaknesses of the teaching process and help the
teacher improve it. Now we will look into what the test is.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines test as:
“…an examination of somebody's knowledge or ability, consisting of questions for them
to answer or activities for them to perform”
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary describes test as:
“…a way of discovering, by questions or practical activities, what someone knows, or
what someone or something can do or is like”
Andrew Harrison in his “A Language Testing Handbook” (1983) writes:
“A test is seen as a natural extension of classroom work, providing teacher and students
with useful information that can serve each as a basis for improvement.
A test is one form of assessment and refers to procedures used to measure a learners’ learning
at a specific point in time and often involves collecting information in numerical form.
Common forms of tests are multiple choice questions and gap-fill or cloze tests. In English
classes, teachers also need to assess their students’ learning to determine the effectiveness of
their teaching and of the materials they use. Assessment refers to any of the procedures
teachers use to do this, which may include interviews, observations, administering
questionnaires and reviewing students’ work.

Assessment covers a broader range of procedures than testing and includes both formal and
informal measures.
Simply put, a test refers to a tool, technique, or method that is intended to measure students’
knowledge or their ability to complete a particular task. In this sense, testing can be
considered as a form of assessment. Tests should meet some basic requirements, such as
validity and reliability.
Validity refers to the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure.
Reliability refers to the consistency of test scores when administered on different occasions.
There are different types of tests:

Placement tests: It is designed to help educators place a student into a particular level or
section of a language curriculum or school
Diagnostic tests: they help teachers and learners to identify strengths and weaknesses.
Proficiency tests: they measure a learner’s level of language.
Achievement tests: they are intended to measure the skills and knowledge learned after some
kind of instruction.

 Assessing
The verb assess comes from the French ‘assesser’, but the origin is from the Medieval Latin
‘assessare’ meaning “fix a tax upon,”. Another derivation of the Latin term is ‘assidere’ or
‘adsidere’ meaning “to sit beside” (a judge). Reference is made to the assistant of the judge
whose job was to fix the amount of a fine or tax by estimating the value of a property.

Assessment is thus the process of collecting information about students from diverse sources
so that educators can form an idea of what they know and can do with this knowledge. While
evaluation is concerned with making judgments about instruction, a curriculum, or an
educational system, assessment is concerned with the students’ performance. In other words,
one assesses an individual but evaluates a program, a curriculum, an educational system, etc.

The verb ‘assess’ often collocates with:

skills,
abilities,
performance,
aptitude,
competence.
According to Le Grange & Reddy, (1998, p.3)
Assessment is thus the process of collecting information about learners using different
methods or tools (e.g. tests, quizzes, portfolios, etc).

Educators assess their students for a variety of purposes:

To evaluate learners’ educational needs,

To diagnose students’ academic readiness,
To measure their progress in a course,
To measure skill acquisition.
There are different types of assessment:
Formative assessment:
It is process-oriented and is also referred to as an ‘assessment for learning.’ It is an ongoing
process to monitor learning, the aim of which is to provide feedback to improve teachers’
instruction methods and improve students’ learning.
Summative assessment:
It is product-oriented and is often referred to as an ‘assessment of learning.’ It measures
student learning progress and achievement at the end of a specific instructional period.
Alternative assessment:
It is also referred to as authentic or performance assessment. It is an alternative to traditional
assessment that relies only on standardized tests and exams. It requires students to do tasks
such as presentations, case studies, portfolios, simulations, reports, etc. Instead of measuring
what students know, the alternative assessment focuses on what students can do with this
knowledge.
Assessment is a variety ways of collecting information on a learner’s language ability or
achievement. In measuring how far students can get along learning process, it is important to
test the students as a part of assessment. Assessment is a central element in curriculum
design: it is the critical link between learning outcomes, content and learning and teaching
activities. The testing and assessment usuallay used interchargeably, the latter is an umbrella
term encompassing measurement administered on a one of basis of tests, qualitative methods
of monitoring and recording students learning such as observation, stimulations or project
work. Actually assessment also familiar as a part of evaluation which take a part with overall
language programme and not only with what have learn by individual learner.
There are 4 kinds of assessment; 1) Proficiency assessment, the assessment of general
language abilities acquired by learner independent of course study (Carter., R, Nunan., D,
2001:137), 2) Assessment of achievement, what students has learned in relation to a
particular course or curriculum (Carter., R, Nunan., D, 2001:137), 3) Formative assessment,
assessment which carried out by teachers during the learning process with the aim of using
the result to improve instruction (Carter., R, Nunan., D, 2001:137), 4) Summative assessment,
assessment which take at the end of a course, term or school year – often for purpose of
providing aggregated information on programme outcomes to educational authorities (Carter.,
R, Nunan., D, 2001:137).
For the interpretation of assessment devided into two part such: Norm referenced: assessment
rank learners in relation to each other. Criterion referenced occurs when learners’
performance is described in relation to an explicit stated standard (Carter., R, Nunan., D,
2001:137).
Furthermore, based on what have been discussed by Geoff Brindley cited in Carter., R,
Nunan., D, 2001: 137-138 there are three types of validity; 1) construct validity, the extent to
which the content of the test/assessment reflect current theoritical understanding of skill (s)
being assessed, 2) content validity, whether it represent an adequate sample of ability, and 3)
criterion-related validity, the extent to which the results corelated with other independent
measure of ability.
Assessment is caried out to collect information on learners’ language proficiency and
achievement that can be used by stakeholders in language learning programmes for various
purposes. These purposes included; selection, certification, accountability, diagnostic,
instructional decision-making, and motivation (cited in Carter., R, Nunan., D, 2001:138).
Under the influence of structural linguistics, language test were design to assess learners’
mastery of different areas of linguistic system such as phoneme descrimination, grammatical
knowledge and vocabulary (Carter., R, Nunan., D, 2001:138). To maximise reliability, test
often used objective testing formats such as multiple choice and included large numbers of
items. Discrete item test provided no information on learners’ ability to use language for
communicative purposes (Carter., R, Nunan., D, 2001:139). It began to look for other more
global forms of assessment which were ablr to tap the use of language skills under normal
contextual constarints. Integrative test, sush as cloze test, and dictation which focus on
learners to use linguistic and contextual knowledge to reconstitute the meaning of spoken or
written texts (Carter., R, Nunan., D, 2001:139).
In language assessment there are two major point should be focus on (by Geoff Brindley in
Carter., R, Nunan., D, 2001:139) 1) the key question of how to define language ability and 2)
self assessment of language ability. To answer this question, it is necessary to describe the
nature of the abilities being assessed, known as contruct definition. Assessment not only
assess a language performance but also need to meet the requirement of validity and
realibility and also practically feasible. In a direct assessment of language performace is time
consuming and particularly individualised testing. So, if teachers are required to construct
and administer their own assessment tasks. It is crucial to provide adequate support and
establish system for ensuring the quality of assessment tool used (Bottomley et al. 1994;
Brindley 1998a; Geof Brindley in Carter., R, Nunan., D, 2001: 141).
 Measuring
Measurement is the process of finding the size, quantity or degree of something.
Measurement implies the existence of tools, skills and criteria. Measurement is the
quantifiable part of the testing process; it is required to gauge the efficacy of programs and
the growth of students.

Without measurement, we do not know what to assess.

Example of Measurement in Education
So, how do you measure student learning progress? Assessments are one of the primary tools
for measurement.

We can use the results of assessments, such as standardized test scores, to measure student
progress.
Other examples of measurement in education are:

Percentile ranking
Raw scores
Standard scores
Completion percentages
All of the data we can collect through assessment and evaluation allows us to measure
student progress and determine the level of success that is being reached
 Evaluating

Evaluation is a purposeful, cyclical process of collecting analyzing and interpreting relevant

information in order to judge and make educational decisions. Evaluation may focus on the
quality, appropriateness, worth or relevance of teachers, students, classroom instruction,
instructional materials and activities, or whole courses or programmes of instruction. The
process of evaluation includes different stages and aspects such as measurement, assessment,
appraisal and judgment. Summative evaluation may contribute little or nothing to the ongoing
teaching / learning process; but it is a part of the teacher’s job, something we need to know
how to do effectively . Evaluation is used to make a judgement or put a value to the learning
and the achievement of the outcomes based on established criteria. Once we provide value to
the learning, we can then make key decisions about providing inputs and feedback to improve
performance or consider other steps such as providing additional inputs and resources to
further enrich the learning. 

Evaluation is: the process of judging or putting a value on a learning process using

established criteria to identify the degree to which knowledge or skill has been gained and
applied. The purpose of an evaluation is to judge the quality of learning.

While the definitions highlight the differences between assessment and evaluation, I also see
some similarities between the two. Both require the use of established standards or criteria,
the application of specific method(s) of observation and measurement, and the use of the
collected information to aid in decision-making. In addition, based on my experience as an
adult educator, I see the purpose of assessment and evaluation as follows:

1. To communicate

I use assessment and evaluation as a bridge between the participant and the facilitator. It is a
way for the participant to communicate their learning and progress to the facilitator and for
the facilitator to share inputs and feedback on their learning. With this purpose in mind, a
facilitator does not need to assign a mark or a grade for such a communication to take place.
However, there is a need to be clear and transparent about the learning outcomes and
assessment criteria and a need to be diligent about providing timely and qualitative feedback
on the participant’s learning with respect to these outcomes and criteria.

2. To guide workplace performance

What we choose to evaluate tells our participants about what we value. Therefore, I use
evaluation as a tool to guide workplace performance and align learning to business outcomes.
The choice of learning outcomes, assessment criteria, and evaluation standards informs the
participants about what is valued and expected at the workplace. It demonstrates the
importance and value of the task (that is being taught) and how performing the task
effectively is critical to the success of the participant and of the business.

3. To encourage continuous learning

I see the core purpose of assessment and evaluation to aid in continuous learning for both the
participants as well as the facilitators. When we share information about a participant’s
progress with the participant and with other stakeholders, it is a way to not only view the
progress from a learning perspective but also to identify areas that require further work for
both the participant and the process. Similarly, inputs and feedback from the participant to the
facilitator aids in improving the teaching process and the facilitator’s skill in creating the
right environment for learning. An effective assessment and evaluation approach needs to
answer the question, “What needs to be improved?”

"Ultimately, assessment defines what students regard as important, how they spend their
time, and how they come to see themselves as students and then as graduates. Because
students take their cues about what is important from what is being assessed, if you want to
change student learning, then change the method of assessment.” (Lombardi, M. (2008), p.
2)

The verb evaluate means to form an idea of something or to give a judgment about
something. The term comes from the French word ‘évaluer’, meaning “to find the value of”.
The origin is from the Latin term ‘valere’ meaning “be strong, be well; be of value, or be
worth”.

In the educational context, the verb ‘to evaluate’ often collocates with terms such as:

the effectiveness of an educational system,

a program,
a course,
instruction,
a curriculum.
According to Weiss (1972), evaluation refers to the systematic gathering of information for
the purpose of making decisions. It is not concerned with the assessment of the performance
of an individual, but rather with forming an idea of the curriculum and making a judgment
about it. This judgment is made based on some kind of criteria and evidence. The purpose is
to make decisions about the worth of instruction, a course, or even the whole curriculum.
Evaluation is thus larger and may include an analysis of all the aspects of the educational
system.