Dr. Suswati Hendriani, M. Pd., M.

Pd
Nina Suzanne, M. Pd

LANGUAGE TESTING

STAIN Batusangkar Press

2013
Perpustakaan Nasional: Katalog dalam Terbitan (KDT)

Suswati Hendriani
Nina Suzanne
Language Testing

Cet 1.-Batusangkar: STAIN Batusangkar Press, 2013

v + 135 hlm. ; 21 x 15 cm
ISBN : 978-602-8887-69-4
1. Language Testing

1. Judul

Hak cipta dilidungi Undang-undang pada penulis

Cetakan Pertama, Agustus 2013
Language Testing
Penulis
Suswati Hendriani
Nina Suzanne
Perwajahan Isi & Penata Letak
Marhen
Desain Cover
Marhen
Penerbit

STAIN Batusangkar Press, 2013

Jl. Sudirman No. 137 Lima Kaum Batusangkar
Telp : (0752) 71150, 574221,574227,71890,71885.
Fax : (0752) 71879
Web : www.stainbatusangkar.ac.id
e-mail : [email protected]
 PREFACE

This book offers some aspects in language testing that

consists of definition, characteristics, kinds and forms of language
testing. The purpose of this book is to give a straightforward guide
to assessments for language students as candidate teachers and for
anybody who wants to get more understanding about testing and
assessment.
There are six chapters in this book:
1. Teaching, Assessment, and Testing
This chapter will give an overview about the relationship of
teaching, assessment, and testing.
2. Characteristics of a Good Test
This chapter will consist of detail explanation about validity,
reliability, and practicality.
3. Constructing and Administering Language Test
The readers can find some principles and guidance to
construct and administer the language testing in chapter III.
4. Types of Test
There are four types of test that will be discussed in this
chapter, they are: objective, performance, oral and essay.
5. Testing Language Skills and Components
This chapter will offer some principles and kinds of tasks
giver to test the language skills (listening, speaking, reading,
and writing), and components (grammar and vocabulary).
6. Assigning Grades and Course Marks
This chapter will give explanation about scoring, grading,
and giving marks.
The writers are grateful to all people which cannot be
mentioned one by one here that enabled them to work on this book.

The Writers

iii
 TABLE OF CONTENT
Preface……………………………………………………. iii
Table of Content………………………………………….. iv

Unit 1. Teaching, Assessment, And Testing

A. Introduction to Language Assessment and
Testing………………………………………… 1
B. Purpose and Methods of Language
Testing………………………………………… 6
C. Direct versus indirect testing………………….. 8
D. Discrete points vs integrative testing………….. 9
E. Norm vs criterion referenced testing………….. 9
F. Communicative Language Testing………….… 10

Unit 2. Characteristics Of a Good Test

A. Validity………………………………………... 11
B. Reliability……………………………………… 19
C. Practicality…………………………………….. 25
Unit 3. Constructing And Administering Language Test
and Table of Specification
A. Constructing language Test…………………… 29
B. Administering Language Test…………………. 34
C. Table of Specification…………………………. 35
Unit 4. Types of Tests
A. Objective Test…………………………………. 42
B. Performance Test……………………………… 52
C. Essay Test……………………………………... 54

iv
 D. Oral Test………………………………………. 59
Unit 5. Testing Language Skills and Components
A. Testing Grammar……………………………… 63
B. Testing Vocabulary……………………………. 65
C. Testing Listening……………………………… 68
D. Testing Speaking………………………………. 82
E. Testing Reading……………………………….. 102
F. Testing Writing………………………………... 118
Unit 6. Assigning Grades And Course Marks
A. Scoring Tests………………………………………. 125
B. Assigning Grades…………………………………... 127
C. Conventional Methods of Assigning Course Marks.. 130
D. New Methods of Grading………………………….. 132
References…………………………………………………… 135

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 Language Testing

UNIT I
TEACHING, ASSESSMENT, AND TESTING

A. Introduction to Language Assessment and Testing

It is helpful for students especially those who take
educational major (candidate teachers) to be knowledgeable
about educational assessments because the results are used
widely for selection, certification, diagnosis, or placement.
Students should also have knowledge that tests, exams,
quizzes, projects, assignments, or portfolios as a part of their
teaching face development. The ability to develop
worthwhile assessments does not come naturally but is a skill
that can be acquired. That’s why, candidate teachers should
understand this well which can support their professional job
field in the future. It has been estimated that teachers spend
as much as one-third of their time in assessment-related
activities.
1. Teaching and Assessment
Assessment plays an important role in teaching. The
assessment may occur informally during the instruction
(teaching and learning process) or at the end of instruction as
formal assessment. Both assessments are useful to find out

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Language Testing

the students’ progress, achievement, and even career’s

prospects in the future.
High quality teaching or successful teaching demands
accurate, comprehensive assessment of learning at the
beginning, during the year, and at the end of the year.
Obviously, the measurement objectives must coincide with
instructional objectives. A teacher has a crucial role on this
point.
Athanasou and Lamprianou (2002:3) in their book
define assessment as the process or processes of collecting
and combining information from tasks (e.g., tests on
performance or learning) with a view to making a judgment
about a person or making a comparison against an established
criterion. From the definition, it can be understood that
teachers are free to include many different types of tasks
(assignments, exercises, projects, quizzes, etc) under the
umbrella of assessment. The assessment itself is used daily
by teachers and students to refer in a shorthand type of way
to a particular task that may have been designed.
In all fields of education, the purpose of assessment is
to decide about:
 Students (students’ progression).
 Teaching and learning (curriculum decisions).
Increasingly assessments will be linked with certification
competence and the validation of performance on job-
related tasks.
For instance, assessments are given to find the answers
for some questions, such as:
 How realistic are my teaching plans for these students?
 Are my students ready for the next unit?
 What learning difficulties are students facing?
 Which students are underachieving?
 How effective was my teaching?

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 Language Testing

 Which learners are advanced?

 Which learners are gifted or talented?
 Which learners require special assistance?
The assessment process is an integral aspect of
education that helps teachers to make judgments about
students’ current levels, about the most appropriate method
for teaching, or when to conclude teaching a topic.
Because of the importance of assessments, teachers or
candidate teachers should prepare and construct the
assessment well. Teachers should be able to create an
effective and appropriate assessment, because it will help
people or students to learn in a way that is meaningful and
encourage their motivation to learn.

2. Assessment and Test

Assessment is a popular and sometimes misunderstood
term in current educational practice. You might be tempted to
think of testing and assessing as synonymous terms, but they
are not.
In the last decade, the word “assessment” has taken
over from terms such as “testing.” Firstly, it was seen as a
broader term than “test” because it encompasses many
different educational practices, such as portfolios, case
studies or presentations. Secondly, it also took into account
divergent processes of assessment such as teacher
assessment, self-assessment and peer-assessment. Thirdly, it
gave some expression to more liberal views in education that
were opposed to the oppressive, mechanical and unthinking
use of tests.
Assessment is an ongoing process that encompasses a
much wider domain. Tests, on the other hand, are a subset of
assessment. They are prepared administrative procedures that
occur at identifiable times in a curriculum when learners

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Language Testing

muster all their faculties to offer peak performance, knowing

that their responses are being measured and evaluated.
Tests are a subset of assessment; they are certainly not
the only form of assessment that a teacher can make. Tests
can be useful devices, but they are only one among many
procedures and tasks that teachers can ultimately use to
assess students.
In simple terms, a test is a method of measuring a
person’s ability, knowledge, or performance in a given
domain. Let’s look at the components of this definition.
 A test is a method: it is an instrument ─ a set of
techniques, procedures, or items ─ that requires
performance on the part of the test-taker.
 A test must measure: Some tests measure general ability,
while others focus on very specific competencies or
objectives.
 A test measures an individual’s ability, knowledge, or
performance.
 A test measures performance, but the results imply the
test-taker’s ability, or to use a concept common in the field
of linguistic, competence.

3. Kinds of Assessment
Assessment can be divided into:
a. Informal and Formal Assessment
Informal assessment can take a number of forms,
starting with incidental, unplanned comments and
response, along with coaching and other impromptu
feedback to the student. Example: “Nice job!” “Good
work!” Did you say can or can’t?” I think you meant
broke the glass, not you break the glass”, or putting (a
smile character) on some homework or assignment.

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 Language Testing

On the other hand, formal assessments are exercises or

procedures specifically designed to tap into a storehouse
of skills and knowledge. They are systematic, planned
sampling techniques constructed to give teacher and
student an appraisal of student achievement.
Is formal assessment the same as a test? We can say
that all tests are formal assessments, but not all formal
assessment is testing. For example, you might use a
student’s journal or portfolio of materials as a formal
assessment of the attainment of certain course objectives,
but it is problematic to call those two procedures “tests.”
A systematic set of observations of a student’s frequency
of oral participation in class is certainly a formal
assessment, but it too is hardly what anyone would call a
test. Tests are usually relatively time-constrained (usually
spanning a class period or at most several hours) and draw
on a limited sample of behavior.
b. Formative and Summative Assessment
Most of our classroom assessment is formative
assessment: evaluating students in the process of
“forming” their competencies and skills with the goal of
helping them to continue that growth process. The key to
such formation is the delivery (by the teacher) and
internalization (by the student) of appropriate feedback on
performance, with an eye toward the future continuation
(or formation) of learning.
For all practical purposes, virtually all kinds of
informal assessment are (should be) formative. They have
as their primary focus the ongoing development of the
learner’s language. So when you give a student a comment
or a suggestion, or call attention to an error, that feedback
is offered in order to improve the learner’s language
ability.
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Language Testing

Summative assessment aims to measure, or summarize

what a student has grasped, and typically occurs at the end
of a course or unit of instruction. Final exams in a course
and general proficiency exams are examples of summative
assessment.

B. Purposes and Methods of Language Testing

Language tests have many uses in educational
programs, and quite often the same test will be used for two
or more related purposes. Generally, classroom tests are
constructed, administered and scored by the teacher, so the
objectives of the tests usually are based on the course
objectives.
Before giving a language test, a teacher should decide
the purpose or the function of the test. The following list
summarizes the chief objectives of language testing which
emphasized in measuring student’s ability or achievement
(Harris, 1969):
1. To determine readiness for instructional programs
2. To classify or place individuals in appropriate language
classes.
3. To diagnose the individual’s specific strengths and
weaknesses.
4. To measure aptitude for learning.
5. To measure the extent of student achievement of the
instructional goals.
6. To evaluate the effectiveness of instruction.
For simplicity, the foregoing six categories can be
grouped under three headings:
a. Aptitude (category 4 above). An aptitude test serves to
indicate an individual’s facility for acquiring specific
skills and learning.
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 Language Testing

b. General proficiency (categories 1 to 3). A general

proficiency test indicates what an individual is capable of
doing now (as the result of his cumulative learning
experiences), though it may also serve as a basis for
predicting future attainment.
c. Achievement (categories 5 and 6). An achievement test
indicates the extent to which an individual has mastered
the specific skills or body of information acquired in a
formal learning situation.
In line with above quotation, Hughes (1989:7) mentions
some purposes of testing as follow:
 To measure language proficiency regardless of any
language courses that candidates may have followed.
 To discover how far students have achieved the objectives
of a course of study.
 To diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses, to
identify what they know and what they do not know.
 To assist placement of students by identifying the stage or
part of a teaching program most appropriate to their
ability.
Tests are used to obtain information. The information
will vary from situation to situation. Tests can be categorized
according to a small number of kinds of information being
sought. Further information about the kinds of tests will be
given below.

C. Direct versus Indirect Testing (approach to test

construction)
Testing is said to be direct when it requires the
candidate to perform precisely the skill which we wish to
measure. If we want to know how well candidates can write
compositions, we get them to write compositions. If we want
7
Language Testing

to know how well they pronounce a language, we get them to

speak.
Direct testing is easier to carry out when it is intended
to measure the productive skills of speaking and writing. The
very acts of speaking and writing provide us with information
about the candidate’s ability. With listening and reading,
however, it is necessary to get candidates not only to listen or
read but also to demonstrate that they have done this
successfully.
Direct testing has a number of attractions: a) provided
that we are clear about just what abilities we want to assess, it
is relatively straight forward to create the conditions which
will elicit the behavior on which to base our judgments. b) At
least in the case of the productive skills, the assessment and
interpretation of students’ performance is also quite
straightforward. c) Since practice for the test involves
practice of the skills that we wish to foster, there is likely to
be a helpful backwash effect.
Indirect testing attempts to measure the abilities which
underlie the skills in which we are interested. One section of
the TOEFL, for example, was developed as an indirect
measure of writing ability. It contains items where the
candidate has to identify which of the underlined elements is
erroneous or inappropriate in formal standard English.
The main problem with indirect tests is that the
relationship between performance on them and performance
of the skills in which we are usually more interested tends to
be rather weak in strength and uncertain in nature.

D. Discrete Point versus Integrative Testing

This historical perspectives underscores two major
approaches to language testing that were debated in the 1970s
and early 1980s. these approaches still prevail today, even if

8
 Language Testing

in mutated form: the choice between discrete-point and

integrative testing methods.
What does an integrative test look like? Two types of
tests have historically been claimed to be examples of
integrative tests: cloze tests and dictations.
Discrete point testing refers to the testing of one
element at a time, item by item. This might involve a series
of items each testing a particular grammatical structure.
Integrative testing, by contrast, requires the candidate to
combine many language elements in the completion of a task.
This might involve writing a composition, making notes
while listening to a lecture, taking a dictation, or completing
a cloze passage. Discrete point tests will almost always be
indirect, while integrative tests will tend to be direct.
However, some integrative testing methods, such as the cloze
procedure, are indirect.

E. Norm-referenced versus criterion-referenced testing

It is important to differentiate between norm-
referenced tests and criterion-referenced test. Norm-
referenced relate one candidate’s performance to that of other
candidate. For example, a student took a test. Then, the
student obtained a score that placed her or him in the top ten
percent of all candidates who have taken the test. In norm-
referenced tests, each test taker’s score is interpreted in
relation to a mean, median, standard deviation, and/or
percentile rank. Typical of this kind of test is SAT (Scholastic
Aptitude Test), and TOEFL (Test as a Foreign Language).
Criterion-referenced tests are designed to give test
takers feedback, usually in the form of grades, on specific
course or lesson objectives. Classroom tests involving the
students in only one class, connected to a curriculum. This
kind of test is designed to provide information about what a
student can actually do in the language without comparing to
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Language Testing

other candidates. The purpose of criterion-referenced tests is

to classify people according to whether or not they are able to
perform some task or set of tasks satisfactorily.

F. Communicative Language Testing

By the mid-1980s, the language testing field had
abandoned arguments about the unitary trait hypothesis and
had begun to focus on designing communicative language-
testing tasks. Bachman and Palmer (1996, p.9) include among
“fundamental” principles of language testing the need for a
correspondence between language test performance and
language use.
And so a quest for authenticity was launched, as test
designers centered on communicative performance.
Communicative testing presented challenges to test designers.
Test constructors began to identify the kinds of real-world
tasks that language learners were called upon to perform.
Communicative language testing presented challenges
to test designers. Test constructors began to identify the kinds
of real-world tasks that language learners were called upon to
perform. The assessment field became more and more
concerned with the authenticity of tasks and the genuineness
of texts.

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 Language Testing

UNIT II
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEST

All measuring instruments possess, to some degree,

three important qualities (characteristics): (1) validity, (2)
reliability, and (3) usability (practicality). Of course, other
qualities are important, but these three are the essentials
without which a testing instrument would be useless.

A. Validity
Of the three qualities mentioned above, validity is the
most important. The term validity refers to an instrument’s
truthfulness, appropriateness, or accuracy. A valid instrument
is truthful because it measures what the person using the
instrument wishes or attempts to measure.
In the Standards for Educational and Psychological
Testing in Athanasou and Lamprianou (2002: 167), the
definition of validity is “the degree to which accumulated
evidence and theory support specific interpretations of test
scores entailed by proposed uses of a test.” The degree of
validity is an inference that requires several lines of evidence.
Furthermore, validity is specific, since an instrument
has validity only for the purpose for which it was intended.
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Language Testing

This can be illustrated by the fact that an English grammar

test probably has virtually no validity for measuring algebra.
The purpose and the educational objectives to be
assessed determine the choice of measurement instrument.
Thus, when the wrong instrument is selected, validity will be
low. Even when the correct test is selected, validity will be
low if the test is poorly constructed or if it has a large
sampling error because it consists of too few test items or of
unrepresentative test items.
There are two errors, which teachers may make, can
reduce the validity of measurement: (error in the choice of an
instrument and (2) error in item sampling.
There have been generally been two approaches to the
determination of the relative validity of achievement tests:
1. The curricular approach
In the curricular approach, which is actually a rational
approach, it is assumed that the curriculum in the specific
field as represented by textbooks, courses of study, and
expert opinion is valid, and the test content is compared
against these criteria to determine its validity. A teacher,
as the expert, examines his course outline and his teaching
objectives to determine the degree to which they coincide
with test content.
2. The statistical approach
When the statistical approach is used to validate a test, a
criterion which is presumed to have validity is selected,
and the test scores of a group of examinees are correlated
with that criterion. Criteria that are used in this validation
process include school marks, judgment of experts, and
acceptable tests. Statistical validation is not often used for
teacher-made tests; nevertheless, a teacher certainly must
note such data as other school marks and performance on
standardized tests for comparison with the performance of
examinees on his own tests.
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 Language Testing

1. Types of Validity
There are several types of validity, but among them
there are three which are commonly described: contents,
construct, and criterion validity. Each type of validity
seeks to answer a separate question, such as:
 Content validity: does the assessment match the content
and learning outcomes of the subject?
 Construct validity: does the assessment really involve
the particular behaviors, thought processes or talents
that are said to be assessed?
 Criterion validity: does the assessment provide
evidence of future achievement or performance in other
related subjects?
Here are the explanations for each type of
validity:
a. Content Validity
A teacher’s primary concern for a classroom test
is with content validity. Content validity refers to the
degree to which an instrument samples the subject matter
in the area to be measured or the degree to which it
coincides with the instructional objectives which are to
be measured in a given field. In this term, the test-takers
are required to perform the behavior that is being
measured. For example, assessing a person’s ability to
speak a foreign language in a conversational setting is by
asking him/her to speak within some sort of authentic
context can achieve the content validity. But, asking the
learner to answer paper-and-pencil multiple-choice
questions requiring grammatical judgments doesn’t
achieve content validity.
Content validity is sometimes confused with what
is called “face” validity. Face validity is the appearance

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Language Testing

of the test and its relevance to the person taking the test.
For instance, test-takers are perplexed when the content
does not appear to match the subject area. Face validity
is not content validity but is related.
There are two essential aspects that need to be
considered by testers related to content validity; first,
testers need to ensure that all questions are asked in a
way that is familiar for the learner and consistent with
the subject; two, testers need to judge whether the
assessment adequately samples the topics and learning
outcomes in the subject.

b. Criterion-related validity
Criterion-related validity is the extent to which the
“criterion” of the test has actually been reached. In the
case of teacher-made classroom assessments, criterion-
related evidence is best demonstrated through a
comparison of results of an assessment with results of
some other measure of the same criterion. Criterion
validity is commonly indicated by correlation
coefficients.
There are two categories of criterion-related
evidence:
1). Predictive Validity
Predictive validity is present in an evaluative
instrument or technique if relative success of the
student can be predicted accurately from the score or
rating obtained. It is important in the case of
placement tests, language aptitude tests, and the like.
It is used to assess and predict a test-taker’s likelihood
of future success.

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 Language Testing

The predictive validity of results indicates how

well the assessment results can predict future
performance of the students/testee. In education,
there is little evidence of the predictive validity of our
assessments since this involves long-term follow-up
studies of pupils who have completed schooling,
students who have graduated or people who have
completed courses.
Example of predictive validity:
 A teacher wants to determine whether the results of
a computer programming selection test predicts
success in his/her class. The end-of-year test results
for a certificate course in computing are used as the
predictive criterion.
2). Concurrent Validity
Concurrent validity is a characteristic that the
measuring instrument or evaluative technique must
have in order to determine the current status of a
pupil; it is concerned with present student behavior. A
test has concurrent validity if its results are supported
by other concurrent performance beyond the
assessment itself.
Concurrent validity is the extent to which
results estimate present performance on some other
task or assessment. Different from predictive validity,
information on the concurrent validity of assessments
is easier to obtain since it involves examining the
performance of students on other subjects in a course,
or comparison with work placements or on-the-job
training.

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Language Testing

c. Construct validity
Construct validity indicates the qualities a test
measures. Constructs that may adversely influence the
performance of certain pupils include desire to achieve,
response set, reading ability, competitiveness, and poor
test psychology. The pupil who has little desire to
achieve, or who has a poor test psychology, or who is
uncompetitive may perform much below his optimum
level. Furthermore, a pupil who knows the answers to
some questions but misunderstands them, possibly
because of his culture bias or his poor reading ability,
will probably answer incorrectly.
Construct-related validity refers to the theoretical
evidence for what we are measuring. How can you be
sure that a final exam in marketing is really assessing
“marketing” and not scholastic aptitude or examination
ability?
Construct validity studies can involve:
 Internal consistency analysis of the questions in a
test to see whether a single aspect is being
assessed.
 Analysis of results over time to trace changes in
student development of knowledge, skills or
attitudes.
 Checks to see whether graduates or workers in an
occupation perform better than novices or
students.
 Factors analysis of the items.
 The correlation between assessments results and
other related assessments of knowledge, skills or
attitudes.

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 Language Testing

In construct validation, testers have to identify

and describe the general characteristics they are
assessing (e.g., numerical skills, literacy,
communication competence, mechanical competence,
word processing skills, design creativity). Then, testers
also need to find evidence to support the claim that the
assessment is directed to what is intended.
d. Face Validity
Face validity refers to the degree to which a test
looks right, and appears to measure the knowledge or
ability it claims to measure, based on the subjective
judgment of the examinees.
Face validity will likely be high if learners
encounter:
 A well-constructed, expected format with familiar
tasks.
 A test that is clearly doable within the allotted
time limit.
 Items those are clear and uncomplicated.
 Directions those are crystal clear.
 Tasks that relate to their course work (content
validity)
 A difficulty level that presents a reasonable
challenge.
This type of validity is not something that can
empirically tested by a teacher or expert. It is purely a
factor of the “eye of the beholder”, how the test takers
intuitively perceive the instrument.

2. Factors Reducing Validity

The most important factor for a classroom teacher
is to ensure that the assessment given has content
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Language Testing

validity. The validation of test results should be a

continuing process. There are some questions to do it:
 Does the content sample the topics in my syllabus?
 Is every learning outcome covered by a question?
 Is the relative importance of a topic and learning
outcome reflected in the number and types of
questions?
 Is the format appropriate for the students?
 Is the reading level of the questions appropriate for
the group?
 Are the directions clear to the students?
 Are the questions clear and unambiguous?
 Is the scoring accurate?
 Is the grading of the results appropriate to the learning
outcomes?
The list of the questions can prevent us from the
inappropriateness of assessment given. However, it is not
uncommon for major errors to occur in examinations.
Green (1975:138) mentions that there are two errors
that can reduce the validity of measurement:
a. Error in the choice of an instrument.
A writing test by asking the students to compose a
text has high validity for measuring writing ability,
probably has no validity for measuring speaking.
When the wrong instrument is selected, validity will
be low.
b. Error in item sampling.
It occurs when the test has a large sampling error.
For example, there are too few items or several
unrepresentative test items.

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 Language Testing

B. Reliability
The second important quality of measuring instrument
is its reliability. Reliability is the next important characteristic
of assessment results after validity. Testers should be certain
that the assessment has a high degree of validity and must
also be reliable.
Reliability refers to its consistency. A reliable
instrument is one which is consistent enough that subsequent
measurements give approximately the same numerical status
to the thing or person being measured. If a reliable test is
given two or three times to the same group, each person in
the group should get approximately the same score on all
tests.
The Standard for Educational and Psychological
Testing in Athanasou and Lamprianou (2002:175) define
reliability as “the degree to which test scores for a group of
test takers are consistent over repeated applications of a
measurement procedure and hence are inferred to be
dependable, and repeatable for an individual test taker.”
Reliability relates to questions about the stability and
consistency of results for a group. The questions that need to
be answers are:
 Would the ranking of students’ results on an assessment
be similar when it is repeated?
 Do two versions of an assessment produce the same
results?
 Can I increase the reliability of results by lengthening a
test?
 Are all the responses to the items or tasks homogeneous
and consistent with each other?
In a sense reliability is a part of validity, for the test
with high validity should measure that quality with

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Language Testing

consistency and accuracy. It would be possible to have an

extremely reliable test that had very little validity for the
purposes for which it was being used. For instance, an
algebra test might be reliable but lack validity if it were used
in an English class to measure achievement in grammar.
Reliability or the stability of results are necessary but
not sufficient for validity. Like validity, reliability refers to
the results and not necessarily to a particular assessment. In
other words, we cannot say that a particular test is reliable,
but we can say that a set of results is reliable. Unlike validity
which is based on evidence or inference, reliability is largely
a statistical approach and is reported mainly as a correlation
coefficient.
Unfortunately, in educational assessment, there will
always be a margin of error. The major source of error or
unreliability is people (test-takers). This is because people are
naturally inconsistent in their response, answers and reaction
to situations.
The accuracy or consistency of measurement is subject
to three types of errors:
(1)Errors inherent in the instrument
For example: if one wished to measure the dimensions
of a room and had a choice of using a yardstick or a 50-
foot steel tape, he could error in the choice of
instrument by selecting the yardstick.
(2)Errors in the use of the instrument
For example: related to the case above, even if he were
to select the steel tape, he might still have an error of
several inches in his measurement of the room if he
lacked skill in using the tape.
(3)Errors emanating from the subject’s response
For example: Errors emanating from subject responses
have a variety of causes, including poor motivation,

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 Language Testing

lack of interest, improper test environment, poor

emotional set, and illness.

Methods of Checking Test Reliability

There are three methods of checking test reliability: (1)
the test-retest method, (2) the alternate-forms method, and (3)
the split-half method. Each of these methods relies on the
correlation technique, wherein two sets of scores are
compared statistically to determine the extent of their
relationship. Correlations are statistical indicators of a
relationship.
The coefficient of correlation can range from a +1.00, a
perfect positive relationship, to ─1.00, a perfect negative
relationship. A coefficient of relationship of 0.00 shows no
relationship between the two sets of scores (zero
relationship). Reliability of good tests is generally in the
range of +0.80 to above +0.95. As a rule, a negative
correlation is unacceptable.
The following is the explanation for each method:
1. Test-retest method
With test-retest method, only one form of the test
is necessary, since the test is given to a group of pupils
and after a reasonable lapse of time ─one to six
months─ the same test is given to the same group.
Then, testers should correlate the scores from the first
occasion with those from the second occasion.
Test-retest method gives a coefficient of stability
because it is based on the stability of the performance
of a group of students in a retest situation after a lapse
of time following the first administration of the test.
A test-retest correlation is normally calculated for
a group. We would assume that if the reported test-
retest correlations are high for a particular assessment
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Language Testing

then we could have some confidence in the stability of

results over time for most people who take this
assessment. However, the test-retest method is not used
for most classroom tests because it is an inconvenient
approach.
2. Alternate-forms method
With the alternate-forms method two equivalent
forms of a test are made up, and a group of pupils is
given both forms in order that their scores on each form
can be compared. Obviously, the higher the correlation,
the more reliable the test will be. A comparison of the
results for the groups determines equivalence and this
should provide you with moderate (0.5 to 0.6) to large
(0.7 to 0.8) reliability coefficients.
The alternate-forms method gives a coefficient of
equivalency if both forms of the test are administered to
the same group of pupils at the same time, since the
purpose of the method is to develop two forms on
which pupils obtain equivalent scores and equivalent
rank within their group. This approach is much easier to
implement for classroom tests.
3. Split-half method
The split-half method of determining reliability is
used more than any other method because it requires
only one group of pupils, one test form, and one test
administration.
This technique actually gives a coefficient of
internal consistency. It is based on giving the test once
to a group; scoring two equivalent halves of the test
(e.g., odd and even numbered questions), correlating
the scores on the two halves and finally correcting for
the shortened test length.

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 Language Testing

The split-half method can be used for classroom

tests. Even though it is time consuming in adding up
scores for each half but it is not difficult. These
measures are simply a measure of mean inter-item
correlation, or how well items correlate with each other.
Internal reliability coefficients are affected by
some factors:
 Number of items on the test: The more the items, the
more reliability the test has.
 Variation in item difficulty: Reliability just can
increase with equal difficulty.
 Dispersion of scores: No spread of scores will reduce
reliability.
 Level of item difficulty: Items with facility values of
0.5 maximize item variance, and so increase test
reliability.
Teacher-made assessment commonly has reliabilities
somewhere between 0.60 and 0.85 and for the most part this
is satisfactory level for the instructional decisions made by
teachers. Lower reliability is tolerable when: it is minor
decision, dealing with the early stages of a decision, a
decision is reversible, or achievement is able to be confirmed
by other information, or the decisions that are made concern a
class rather than an individual, or the effects of any decision
are temporary.

Factors Affecting Reliability

Controllable factors that operate to increase or decrease
the reliability of a measuring instrument include:
a. The test itself
It includes:
 Length of the instrument
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Language Testing

Tests must be short enough to be practical and yet

long enough to be reliable.
Example: short daily quizzes, such as a 10-item true-
false quiz are completely unreliable as measuring
devices.
b. The testee/test-taker
It includes:
 Variability of the tested group
Test reliability is greatest with an unselected
heterogeneous group. If a test is administered to an
extremely homogeneous group of pupils, the
differences among individuals could be so small that
a very slight increase or decrease in score would
change one person’s group rank significantly.
Furthermore, if the test is too easy, the variability of
scores is reduced, and reliability may be affected.
 Age range of the tested group
Although the age range is a factor in standardized
tests, teacher-made tests that are administered to one
class or grade level are little affected by it because
ordinarily there is not a great variability in age
range.
c. Tester/test maker (scoring process)
It includes:
 Objectivity of scoring
A test can be inherently reliable but have its
reliability reduced either through error or
subjectivity in the scoring. The more objective the
test, the greater the scoring reliability.
d. Test administration
It includes:
 Testing conditions
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 Language Testing

Testing conditions affect reliability in that poor

testing environment, including such factors as poor
light, ventilation, or heat, can affect the reliability
by increasing the human error.

C. Practicality
Practicality refers to its usability. It is the third
desirable quality of tests. A test should be applicable to our
particular situation. For a test to have a high degree of
usability, it should:
 be easy to administer
 be easy to score
 be economical to use, both in terms of teacher time
and of materials required
 have good format
 have meaningful norms.
The usability of a teacher-made test can be ensured by
observing the following rules:
1. Have the test typed and duplicated so that each pupil
will have a copy.
2. Directions to the pupil should accompany each part of
the test.
3. The test should be designed to fit the time limits of the
class period.
4. The test should be set up so that it can be readily
scored.
5. Care should be exercised in planning the test to make it
economical in terms of time required for test
construction, duplication, and scoring.
6. Norms of pupil performance should be established from
test results.

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Language Testing

In the preparation of a new test or the adoption of an

existing one, we must keep in our mind a number of very
practical considerations.
1. Economy
A test should be economy in cost and time. In writing
or selecting a test, we should certainly pay some
attention to how long the administering and scoring of
it will take. This point is of particular importance when
the test must be administered in the classroom and
scored by the classroom teacher.
2. Ease of administration and scoring
Other considerations of test usability involve the ease
with which the test can be administered. Scoring
procedures, too, can have a significant effect on the
practicality of a given instrument.
3. Ease of interpretation
If a standard test is being adopted, it is important that
we examine and take into account the data which the
publisher provides. If we plan to use the test over a long
period of time, we shall almost certainly wish to
develop local norms of our own.

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 Language Testing

UNIT III
CONSTRUCTING AND ADMINISTERING
LANGUAGE TEST and TABLE OF
SPECIFICATION

The construction of a good test does not happen by

chance. It involves extensive thought, planning, and work. At
least, there are three steps are essential in the development of
a high-quality testing instrument: 1) planning the test, 2)
constructing the test, and 3) evaluating the test.
Before constructing the test, there are some important
steps that should be followed in planning the test. Teachers
should consider the taxonomies of educational objectives in
planning their instructional objectives, balance the emphasis
that he places on various types of pupil learning, and also
select the type of measurement that is appropriate for their
selected objectives.
The taxonomies of educational objectives are well
known as Taxonomy Bloom. Here is the outline:
1. Knowledge
Knowledge involves recall of specific facts and
universal concepts, structures, patterns, etc. The
objectives are generally stated in terms of the pupil’s
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Language Testing

being expected “to know”, “to demonstrate

knowledge of”, “to define”, and “to be familiar with.”
2. Comprehension
This is the one that is generally of greatest concern in
schools. It involves understanding of communications
in oral and written form, either verbal or symbolic.
The objectives are generally stated in terms of the
pupils’ ability “to understand”, “to comprehend,” “to
interpret”, “to translate”, and “to interpolate”.
3. Application
Application requires problem solving using acquired
knowledge and understandings. Objectives are
frequently stated in terms of pupils’ ability “to apply”,
“to predict”, and “to use.”
4. Analysis
Analysis requires the ability to breakdown material
into its constituent parts to determine the relationship
and organizing principles among those parts. The
objectives are often stated in terms of pupils’ ability
“to distinguish”, “to analyze”, “to discriminate”, and
“to infer”.
5. Synthesis
Synthesis requires putting together the elements and
parts to form an entire entity. Objectives can be stated
in terms of the ability “to write”, “to put together”, “to
create”, “to make”, and “to produce”.
6. Evaluation
This category requires the pupil to make a judgment
of the relative value of ideas, products, documents,
paintings, etc. The objectives are written in terms of
requiring the pupil “to judge”, “to appraise”, “to
assess”, and “to evaluate”.

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 Language Testing

The six terms above are called cognitive domain. The

second major learning domain is the affective domain. It
deals with a person’s values, feeling, and attitudes. This
affective domain is much more difficult to teach and to
evaluate than the more concrete cognitive domain.

A. Constructing language Test

The construction of an educational test includes the
following steps:
1. Planning the test
2. Preparing the test items and directions
3. Submitting the test material to review and revising on
the basis of review
4. Pretesting the material and analyzing the results
5. Assembling the final form of the test
6. Reproducing the test
Each step above will be described as follows:

Planning the Test

Effective testing requires careful planning. Here are the
steps:
Step 1. Determining the General Course Objectives
In the preparation of an achievement test, one may base
the test objectives directly on the objectives of the course.
The teacher should consider the course content. The
following are the example of course content:
1. Textbook lessons, each consisting of
a. Short reading selection
b. Dialogue
c. Pronunciation drill
d. Grammar drill

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Language Testing

e. Word study
2. Laboratory practice, including drill on dialogue and
pronunciation points keyed to the textbook.
3. Weekly compositions based on topics related to the
textbook reading.
From the course coverage it is clear that the general
objectives of the course are:
1. To increase skill in listening comprehension
2. To increase skill in oral production
3. To develop skill in reading simple descriptive and
expository prose.
4. To develop skill in writing simple description and
exposition
Our basic objectives, then, are to measure the extent to
which students have acquired or improved their control of
these skills.
Step 2. Dividing the General Course Objectives into Their
Components
The objectives in step 1 were extremely broad. As our
next step, then, we need to break them down into their
specific components, after which we may determine which of
these components we shall measure in our final examination.
Step 3. Establishing the General Design of the Test
At this point, two extremely important factors must be
considered: the time to be provided for testing, and the degree
of speediness we wish to build into our test.
Let us assume that a maximum of two hours has been
scheduled for the final examination. Of the total 120 minutes,
we should reserve at least 10 minutes for administrative
procedures: seating the students and handing out the
materials, giving general directions, collecting the materials
at the end of the testing period, handling unanticipated

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 Language Testing

problems, etc. We are thus left with 110 minutes for actual
testing.

Preparing the Test Items and Directions

a. Additional notes on the preparation of items
In the preparation of multiple-choice or short-answer
(supply) items, it is always necessary to write more
items than will be needed in the final form of the test.
b. Writing test directions
Test directions should be brief, simple to understand,
and free from possible ambiguities. They should be
accompanied by sufficient examples to ensure that even
the slow learner or least skilled examinee understands
the problem type. It is also advisable too to indicate the
length of time which will be allowed for the test or its
several parts.

Reviewing the Items

When the items have all been written, they should be
set aside for a few days before being reviewed by the writer.
Once he is satisfied with his material, it should be submitted
to at least one colleague with experience in the subject matter
field-as, in this case, a teacher of English.

Pretesting the Material

Standard objective tests consist of pretested materials.
That is to say, all the items have first been tried out on a
fairly large number of subjects of the same kind as those for
whom the test is being designed. Only those items which
prove statistically satisfactory in the pretest are included in
the final version of the test. Items are said to be statistically
satisfactory if they meet two requirements:

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Language Testing

 If they are of a suitable level of difficulty—neither too

hard nor too easy for the population being tested.
 If they discriminate between those examinees who
know the material or have the skills or abilities being
tested, and those who do not.
In the case of informal classroom tests, pretesting is
seldom practicable, and in the preparation of such tests this
step, and item analysis, may need to be omitted. Pretesting is,
however, essential for any test that is to be administered to
large numbers of examinees and used to make important
decisions about these subjects—as, for instance, a test
designed to screen university applicants or to place such
students in appropriate classes.

Analyzing the Pretest Result (Item Analysis)

After the pretest answer sheets have been accumulated,
the items should be analyzed to determine their effectiveness
in terms of the two criteria listed in the preceding section.
a. Determining item difficulty
A very satisfactory method is simply to ascertain the
percent of the sample who answered each item
correctly.
b. Determining item discrimination
This step is to determine how well each item
discriminates between high-and low-level examinees,
for each item in a test should help to separate the
proficient subjects from those who lack the tested skills
or learning.
How?
Step 1. Separate the highest and the lowest 25 percent
of the papers.

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 Language Testing

Step 2. For each item, subtract the number of “lows”

who answered the item correctly for the
number of “highs” who answered correctly.
Step 3. Divide the result of step 2 by the number of
papers in each group, “highs” and “lows”, to
obtain the “item discrimination index.”
c. Determining the Effectiveness of Distracters
One further step in the analysis of multiple-choice
items is highly desirable, and that is to inspect the
way each item distracter functioned.
d. Recording item analysis data
It is most convenient to record item analysis data on
an “item analysis slip” which contains (1) the item,
written out in full, (2) an identification of the pretest
in which the item was tried out, (3) the position of
the item in the pretest, (4) the item difficulty and
discrimination indices, and, in the case of multiple-
choice items, (5) a tabulation of how the “highs” and
“lows” responded to the several choices.

Assembling the Final Form

In assembling multiple-choice items in the final form,
the test maker must take care not only to order the items
according to increasing level of difficulty but also to ensure
that (1) each answer position is used about the same number
of times and (2) the answer positions do not form any
observable pattern. For example, if we have a test consisting
of one hundred 4-choice items, each answer position A, B, C,
and D should occur about twenty-five times, the answers
having the appearance of a completely random sequence.

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Language Testing

Reproducing the Test

1. It is essential that test materials be reproduced as clearly as
possible, for poor reproduction of a test will almost
certainly affect student performance.
2. Test material should be spaced so as to provide maximum
readability.
3. No multiple-choice item should be begun on one page and
continued on the next.
4. When blanks are left for the completion of short-answer
items, a guideline should be provided on which the
examinee may write his response.
5. It is advisable to indicate at the bottom of each page
whether the examinee is to continue on to the next page or
stop his work.
6. If each part of the test is separately timed, the directions
for each part should occupy a right-hand page of the book.
7. The use of a separate cover sheet will prevent examinees
from looking at the test material before the actual
administration begins.

B. Administering Language Test

Preparing for the Test

1. Selecting the testing room.
Testing must be conducted in a quiet, well-lighted room
located where there will be a minimum of outside noise
and interference.
2. Checking materials and equipment.
At least a day in advance of the test-and considerably
earlier if materials must be ordered from an outside
source-the examiner must take a careful count of all
testing materials to ensure that an adequate supply is

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 Language Testing

available. The examiner must also obtain an accurate

watch for timing the test.
3. Reading the test materials in advance.
The examiner must familiarize himself with all the test
materials in advance of the administration.

Conducting the Testing Preliminaries

1. Seating the examinees.
As the examinees arrive at the testing room, the proctors
should have them take alternate seats within rows.
2. Calling the examination to order
When the examinees have all been seated, the examiner
should call the group to order and briefly introduce the
test.
3. Distributing the test materials.
Materials should be given individually to each examinee.
4. Instructing examinees on filling out the answer sheet.
When all materials have been distributed, the examiner
should explain how the personal data portion of the
answer sheet is to be filled out.
5. Giving test directions
Clear, complete directions to examinees should be
included in the test itself.

C. Table of Specification
According to Fulcher and Davidson (2007:52), Test
specifications (specs) are generative explanatory documents
for the creation of test tasks. Specs tell the test makers of how
to phrase the test items, how to structure the test layout, how
to locate the passages, and how to make a host of difficult
choices as we prepare test materials.

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Language Testing

Test specifications for classroom use can be a simple

and practical outline of a teacher-made test. The table of
specifications may consist of:
1). A broad outline of the test,
2). Skills to be tested, and
3). The items will be look like.
The time span of the test should follow the curriculum,
and the four skills need to be tested because suggested in the
curriculum also. While, considering the items is much more
complicated and should be based on the skills and its
purposes.
The following is the sample of table of specification:

KISI-KISI PENULISAN SOAL MID SEMESTER I

Sekolah : SMPN …..

Mata Pelajaran : Bahasa Inggris
Kelas : VII
Jumlah Soal : 20 butir
Alokasi Waktu : 30 menit
Tahun Pelajaran : 2013/2014
Penulis : ……..

No SK KD Mat Indikator Indikator Bentuk Level No Wkt

of
Penc. soal soal think soal

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 Language Testing

Ket:

No : Nomor
SK : Standar Kompetensi
KD : Kompetensi Dasar
Mat : Materi
Indikator Penc. : Indikator Pencapaian
Indikator Soal : Indikator Soal
Bentuk soal : Bentuk soal
Level ot think : Level of thinking
No. Soal : Nomor soal
Wkt : Waktu
STANDAR KOMPETENSI
5. Memahami makna dalam teks tulis fungsional pendek sangat sederhana
yang berkaitan dengan lingkungan terdekat.

KOMPETENSI DASAR
5.2 Merespon makna dalam teks tulis fungsional pendek sederhana
secara akurat, lancar dan berterima yang berkaitan dengan
lingkungan sekitar.

MATERI
Functional Text
 Invitation card
 Short messages
 Announcement
 Greeting Card

INDIKATOR PENCAPAIAN
 Mengidentifikasi makna teks tulis fungsional berbentuk invitation
card.
 Mengidentifikasi makna teks tulis fungsional berbentuk short
message.
 Mengidentifikasi makna teks tulis fungsional berbentuk
announcement.
 Mengidentifikasi makna teks tulis fungsional berbentuk greeting card.

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Language Testing

INDIKATOR SOAL
1. Invitation Card
 Menentukan gambaran umum teks
 Menentukan topik teks.
 Menentukan informasi rinci tersurat dalam teks.
 Menentukan informasi rinci tersirat dalam teks.
 Menentukan rujukan kata dalam teks
 Menentukan makna kata berdasar konteks

2. Short Messages
 Menentukan gambaran umum teks
 Menentukan topik teks.
 Menentukan informasi rinci tersurat dalam teks.
 Menentukan informasi rinci tersirat dalam teks.
 Menentukan rujukan kata dalam teks
 Menentukan makna kata berdasar konteks

3.Announcement
 Menentukan gambaran umum teks
 Menentukan topik teks.
 Menentukan informasi rinci tersurat dalam teks.
 Menentukan informasi rinci tersirat dalam teks.
 Menentukan rujukan kata dalam teks
 Menentukan makna kata berdasar konteks

4. Greeting Cards
 Menentukan gambaran umum teks
 Menentukan topik teks.
 Menentukan informasi rinci tersurat dalam teks.
 Menentukan informasi rinci tersirat dalam teks.
 Menentukan rujukan kata dalam teks
 Menentukan makna kata berdasar konteks

BENTUK SOAL
 Pilihan ganda
 Essay

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 Language Testing

UNIT IV
TYPES OF TESTS

There are some kinds of tests that are divided into some
categories. According to a small number of kinds of
information being sought, the tests are divided into as follows
(Hughes: 9):

1. Proficiency Tests
This kind of test is designed to measure people’s
ability in a language regardless of any training they may
have had in that language. The content of this test is based
on a specification of what candidates have to be able to do
in the language in order to be considered proficient. So, it
is not based on the content or objectives of language
courses which people taking the test may have followed.
In the case of some proficiency tests, “proficient”
means having sufficient command of the language for a
particular purpose. Example: a test designed to discover
whether someone can function successfully as a United
Nations translator, a test used to determine whether a
student’s English is good enough to follow a course of

39
Language Testing

study at a British university, Cambridge examinations, and

the Oxford EFL examinations.
Despite differences between them of content and level
of difficulty, all proficiency tests have in common the fact
that they are not based on courses that candidates may
have previously taken.

2. Achievement Tests
Most teachers are unlikely to be responsible for
proficiency tests. It is much more probable that they will
be involved in the preparation and use of achievement
tests. In contrast to proficiency tests, achievement tests are
directly related to language courses, their purpose being to
establish how successful individual students, groups of
students, or the courses themselves have been in achieving
objectives.
There are two kinds of achievement tests: final
achievement tests and progress achievement tests. Final
achievement tests are those administered at the end of a
course of study. They may be written and administered by
ministries of education, official examining boards, or by
members of teaching institutions. Clearly the content of
these tests must be related to the courses with which they
are concerned, but the nature of this relationship is a
matter of disagreement among language testers.
In the view of some testers, the content of a final
achievement test should be based directly on a detailed
course syllabus or on the books and other material used
(syllabus-content approach).
The disadvantage; if the syllabus is badly designed, or
the book or other materials are badly chosen, and then the
result of a test can be very misleading.

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 Language Testing

Progress achievement tests are intended to measure

the progress that students are making. Since “progress” is
towards the achievement of course objectives, these tests
too should relate to objectives. Then if the syllabus and
teaching are appropriate to these objectives, progress tests
based on short-term objectives will fit well with what has
been taught. If not, there will be pressure to create a better
fit.
3. Diagnostic Tests
Diagnostic tests are used to identify students’
strengths and weaknesses. They are intended primarily to
ascertain what further teaching is necessary. Testers can
create tests that will tell them that a student is particularly
weak in, say, speaking as opposed to reading in a
language.
The lack of good diagnostic tests is unfortunate. They
could be extremely useful for individualized instruction or
self-instruction.
4. Placement Tests
Placement tests are intended to provide information
which will help to place students at the stage (or in the
part) of the teaching program most appropriate to their
abilities. Typically, they are used to assign students to
classes at different levels.
The placement tests which are most successful are
those constructed for particular situations. They depend on
the identification of the key features at different levels of
teaching in the institution.
According to their functions, tests fall into three
categories:
1. Instructional tests.

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Language Testing

This test is used in formative evaluation which is

designed to let the pupils know about their strengths
and weaknesses. When it is graded by teachers, the test
is handed back to the students for class discussion.
2. Mastery tests
The function of mastery test is to assess pupils
competencies before proceeding to the next level of
learning. This kind of test is useful in such basic skill
areas such as grammar and mathematics. Evaluation of
pupil competence on this performance basis is
criterion-reference evaluation and relies on the
individual performance.
3. Measurement tests
This is a kind of standardized tests which
established national or regional norms, or carefully
constructed teacher-made tests. This test is given when
the teacher needs to obtain norm-referenced or group-
performance.
Measurement test has a high difficulty level with
the purpose to give a precise measurement of each
pupil’s achievement during the school year, during the
semester, or at the end of a unit of teaching.
There are four types of tests based on its forms, they
are: oral, objective, essay, and performance test. The
explanation for each is given below:

A. Objective Test
Objective tests can be generally classified as formal or
informal tests. The formal tests are the published,
standardized tests that have been highly refined (1) through
the process of careful analysis of objectives, of course
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 Language Testing

content, and of texts to determine test content; (2) through

administration to a representative sample of the target
population; (3) through item analysis and item editing and
revision to eliminate faulty items; (4) through the
establishment of standardized scores which represent the
levels of performance of the sample of the population or the
criterion group to whom the test was administered.
The informal objective tests are tests constructed by the
teacher for use in his classroom. These tests are most useful
in measuring pupils’ knowledge and understanding in various
subject fields and levels of instruction.
The advantages of objective tests are: 1) permits
evaluative sampling of an extensive domain of content, 2)
can be refined through item analysis for reuse with the same
or other groups. In the cognitive domain, objective tests
function best in the knowledge, comprehension, and
application levels.

Forms of Objective tests

Green (1975: 58) divides the forms of objective tests

into four. The explanation for each is given below.
1. Short-answer form
This may include questions, incomplete sentences,
definitions, or identification items. This form is particularly
well adapted to the measurement of factual recall. When the
objectives to be measured indicate that the pupil is to know,
to recall, to recognize, or to identify, then certainly the short-
answer is an appropriate test form to use.
The short-answer question has wide application in
education. It also requires a constructed response. Short
answer questions are useful for eliciting necessary facts,
information, declarative or procedural knowledge.

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Language Testing

An assessment that uses short answer questions restricts

the answer to a paragraph, a sentence or even a phrase. The
short answer questions have clearly identified, correct
answers and are scored objectively.
The examples of short-answer form:
 Question
What is the type of the essay?
 Incomplete sentence
The name of the first president of Indonesia was
__________.
 Definition
Define practicality: ___________________
 Identification
Identify the core part of the following sentence.
The man who is standing in front of the office is
his father.
____________________

Rules for construction:

a. Only significant words should be omitted in
incomplete statement items.
b. Grammatical clues to the correct answer should be
avoided.
c. Blanks should be kept uniform in length so that the
pupil is not given the unnecessary clues of a short
blank for a short response and a long blank for a long
response.
d. One point should be allowed for each blank.
e. Blanks should be arranged in a manner convenient to
score.
f. Limit use of this test form to measure only the recall
important information.

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 Language Testing

g. When the question form is used, questions should be

explicit enough to evoke the correct type of response.
h. Limit the length of the responses to single words or
short phrases.
i. Verbatim quotes from the textbook should be
avoided.
j. A scoring key, which contains all acceptable answers,
should be prepared.

Short-answer forms have several strengths, as follow:

1) It is relatively easy to prepare and construct.
2) It is most effective in measuring recall.
3) It can be used in many fields to provide an extensive
sample of factual information.
4) Providing better coverage of topics than an essay
question.
5) Being easy to score.
6) Having high reliability of scoring, especially with
model answer.
7) Allowing more scope than other objective questions
to show whether a student has greater knowledge of a
subject.

On the other side, this test form also has some weaknesses
as follow:
1) It is difficult to construct items that call for only one
correct answer.
2) Completion-type items stress rote recall and
encourage pupils to spend their time memorizing
trivial details rather than seeking important
understandings.

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Language Testing

3) Completion items are somewhat unrealistic, since life

problems generally offer a variety of possible
solutions rather than one “key-word” solution.

2. Alternate-Response Form
The alternate-response or true-false form is probably
used more frequently by teachers than any other test form.
The alternate-response form can be constructed to measure
fairly complex understanding. It consists of a statement to be
judged true or false/correct or incorrect.
The average test difficulty is normally about the 75-
percent level and pupil has a 50-50 chance of guessing the
correct response. It means that, with a well-constructed, but
difficult, true-false test, the average pupil will answer
correctly approximately 75 percent of the items.
True-false questions are used widely in education and
training because these questions can be directed to the
essential structure of a subject’s knowledge. They are helpful
when there is a need to assess knowledge of the basic facts or
ideas in a subject area.

Example:
 Most Americans stop working at age 65 or 70 and
retire.
T F

 Is downtown the central business area?

Yes No

 Make every false statement true by suggesting a

substitute for the underlined word.

There is some similar between you and your brother.

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 Language Testing

Rules for Construction:

a. Each statement should be entirely true or entirely
false.
b. Trivial details should not make a statement false.
c. The statement should be concise without more
elaboration than is necessary to give clear meaning.
d. Exact statements should not be quoted from the
textbook.
e. Quantitative terms should be used instead of
qualitative terms, whenever possible.
f. Specific determiners, which give a cue to the answer,
should be avoided.
g. Negative statements should be avoided.
h. When a controversial statement is used, authority
should be quoted.
i. A pattern of answers should be avoided.

Strengths of true-false questions:

1) Its versatility or adaptability to several fields.
2) Its usefulness in measuring both knowledge and
understanding objectives.
3) Its relative ease of construction.
4) Its usefulness in sampling a broad range of material.
The weaknesses are:
1) It encourages pupils to guess.
2) It is often poorly constructed.

3. Multiple-Choice Form
The multiple-choice test is considered by most test
experts to be the best type of objective test for measuring a
variety of educational objectives. The test is versatile, and it

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Language Testing

requires some discriminatory thinking on the part of the

pupil. Multiple-choice items have a premise, which consists
of an incomplete statement or question followed by several
choices which include one correct answer and several
distracters.
Multiple choices is widely applicable forms of
questioning that is developed around World War I as an
economic means of administering tests to large groups. The
aim of multiple choice forms is to assess a person’s
knowledge as well as his/her ability to discriminate among
several possible alternatives. It is adaptable to most subject
areas.
Many standardized and commercial tests such as
TOEFL use only multiple-choice questions. It is important to
have some knowledge of their use and construction because
there are many misconceptions about this form of
questioning.
A multiple-choice questions consist of a direct question
or an incomplete statement, in which the main part of the
question is called the stem, and the suggested solutions are
called alternatives/choices or options. Typically, the student
is requested to read the stem and consider the alternatives in
order to select the best option. The incorrect alternatives are
called distracters.
Example:
 What does the term consistent mean?
a. steady
b. unsteady
c. compatible
d. fluid
e. changeable
 The word “auctions” in line 16 is closest in meaning
to
a. meetings
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 Language Testing

b. deliveries
c. sales
d. demonstrations

Rules for Construction:

a. The central problem of the item should be stated in
the premise so as to make only one choice justifiable.
b. All choices in the item should be grammatically
consistent.
c. The choices should be as brief as possible.
d. A pattern of answers should be avoided.
e. Negatively stated items should be avoided.
f. Authority should be quoted when the item contains
controversial opinion.
g. Ambiguous items should be avoided.
h. All choices should be plausible.
i. Specific determiners should be avoided.
j. Each item should contain an independent problem
which gives no clues to the answers of other items.

Strengths of multiple-choice forms are:

1) It minimizes the guessing factors.
2) It can be used to measure higher types of learning
than the other forms.
3) It is adaptability to numerous fields and the possibility
of extensive measurement sampling.
4) It is more difficult to remember exam content than
with other questions.
5) Items can be re-used with less concern for security of
the exam.
6) Multiple choices are not as physically exhausting as a
written exam.
7) Item responses are easily analyzed.

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Language Testing

8) The potential guessing in high scores is minimal.

9) Around one multiple-choice item can be answered per
minute.
10) The results are more reliable than with a comparable
essay.
11) The sampling of subject content is greater than with
essays.
12) Higher level thinking can also be measured by the
multiple-choice item.
Weaknesses:
1) It is difficult to construct good and effective
questions.
2) The formats are restricted to abstracted or verbally
presented content rather than real situations in
context.
3) They rely largely upon the recognition of the right
answer and this is a very specific cognitive process.

4. Matching Form
The matching examination is most useful for measuring
recognition and recall. It can be constructed in such a manner
that the pupil has virtually no chance of guessing the correct
responses.
Example:
All the names on the premise (on the left) are the
capital city of the countries on the right.

1. Kualalumpur a. Indonesia
2. Singapore b. Malaysia
3. Jakarta c. Myanmar

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 Language Testing

4. Bangkok d. Philippines
5. Manila e. Singapore
f. Thailand

Rules for Construction:

a. Only homogeneous premises and homogeneous
responses should be grouped in a single matching set.
b. Relatively short lists of responses—not less than 5,
not more than 15—should be used.
c. Premises should be arranged for maximum clarity and
convenience to the examinee.
d. Response options should be arranged alphabetically
or chronologically.
e. Directions should clearly indicate the intended basis
for matching.
f. Providing perfect one-to-one matching between
premises and responses should not be attempted.
g. All of the choices for each matching set should be
included on a single page.
h. More responses than premises should be used in a set,
or a single response should be used to answer several
premises.

Strengths:
1) It is easy to construct.
2) It takes very little time to administer and to correct.
3) It is to measure the pupil’s ability to recognize or
recall these facts
Weaknesses:
1) Its inability to measure the higher levels of learning.

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Language Testing

B. Performance Test
Performance of any task is a complex of many factors,
but it includes two measurable aspects: (1) the procedure,
skill, or technique, and (2) the product or result. When the
procedure is assessed, the examiner is attempting to
determine how skillfully the subjects perform the desired
procedure, while the assessment of the product stresses the
end result through an examination of the quality of the
product.
A teacher must select a measurement approach
adaptable to his purpose. The three general approaches are:
1. Object or identification tests
It is a test that emphasizes knowledge of the product,
wherein the pupil is asked to identify the nature and
function of various components of the product.

2. Procedure evaluation methods

It includes:
a. The evaluation of actual job performance
This would be an ideal situation for
evaluation, but it’s too time-consuming unfeasible.
b. The use of simulated-conditions tests to measure
performance under conditions that approximate
actual job conditions.
This approach emphasizes the procedure. The
actual conditions of the job to be measured are
duplicated as nearly as possible.
c. The use of work-sample tests to measure specific
task or skill performance that is essential to
competent job performance.
This approach emphasizes on both the product
and the procedure. Pupils are required to perform
some aspects of the total job that is being measured.

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 Language Testing

The quality of the pupil’s performance of the tasks

then gives evidence of his likely success or failure
in the job in question.
The procedure can be evaluated by using two
forms, they are:
1). A check list
It is used to determine whether or not each of
the important elements is represented in the
subject’s procedure without any attempt to
evaluate the level at which each was performed.
2). Rating scale
It evaluates the level of performance on each
element of the procedure. The evaluator must both
identify the specific elements performed by the
subject and determine how well he/she completed
those performances.

3. Product evaluation methods

It includes:
a. Quality scales
It is often used to evaluate the products that
pupil complete or construct. Example: drawings,
writing composition, etc.
The steps are:
(1). Select 5 to 10 samples of pupils’ work which
representatives of various quality levels.
(2). Arrange the samples in a sequence from best to
worst with approximately equal increments of
improvement between each.
(3). Establish numerical scores or grade equivalents
for samples at various levels of the scale.

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Language Testing

b. Consensus ratings
It is a group-rating method in which a number
of people rate the product or the procedure. For
example, scores from a teacher and peers. The
average of these ratings is the score that is assigned.

c. Rank orderings
It is another means of comparatively
evaluating products. The products are arranged in
order from the best to the poorest.

d. Paired comparisons
In this method each product is compared
against others in all possible pairings to determine
which of each pair is better.

C. Essay Test
Essay tests should be used to measure such objectives
as understandings, attitudes, interests, creativity, and verbal
expression. With reference to the taxonomy, this test form is
useful to evaluate learning in the upper levels of the cognitive
domain, notably: application, analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation.
The essay examination fits well with the teaching style
that encourages divergent thinking and creativity, that
stresses the acquisition and application of large concepts, and
that deals with controversies and problem solving.

Types of Essay Tests

There are two types of essay tests:
1. Restricted-response items

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 Language Testing

It is much more easily graded than the extended-

response type, for the pupil’s answers are closely
circumscribed.
Example:
a. Discuss three techniques of instruction—lecture,
demonstration, and class discussion.
b. Define the term inference.

2. Extended-response items
The extended-response question is one that is
relatively unstructured, permitting the pupil freedom in
organizing and expressing the answer in a manner that
displays his personal insights and the breadth and scope
of his knowledge.
Example:
a. Discuss the tax structure of the local, state, and
federal branches of government in the United States.
b. Explain the purpose of the author in writing the
article.

Monroe and Carter in Green (1975:111) list the

variety of possible types and essay questions as follow:

1). Selective recall─basis given

 Name the presidents of Indonesia who had been in
military life before their election.
 What does urban mean?

2). Evaluation recall─basis given

 Which do you consider the three most important
reasons for people to take the public
transportation?

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Language Testing

 Name the two most practical reading strategy by

Kinsella.

3). Comparison of two things─on a single designated

basis
 Compare Eliot and Thackeray in ability in
character delineation.
 Compare the armies of the North and South in the
Civil War as to leadership.

4). Comparison of two things─in general

 Compare the early settlers of the Massachusetts
colony with those of the Virginia colony.
 Contrast the life of Habibi in Indonesia with his
life in Germany.

5). Decision─for or against

 Whom do you admire more, Abu Bakar Siddik or
Ali bin Abi Thalib?

Planning Essay Tests

The major problems to be considered in the planning
stage are:
1. Are the material and objectives to be measured
adaptable to an essay test?
2. Do the pupils have sufficient background, both in
composition and in the subject area, to write an
essay test?
3. Does the test permit freedom of response sufficient
to permit the pupils to bring to bear the depth and
scope of their knowledge.
4. Has sufficient time been allotted the pupils to plan
their responses so that they are more than mere

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 Language Testing

disjointed associations of somewhat relevant

statements?

Construction of Essay Tests

The following suggestions will help the teacher to
construct better essay tests and get better results from them:
a. The questions should be written with care, the
language should be precise in meaning and
unambiguous.
b. Time and thought should be given to the actual
selection and preparation of the questions.
c. The directions for the test should be explicitly written
out.
d. There should be no optional questions on the test.
e. Open-book essay tests should be avoided.
f. Pupils should be given advance notice of essay tests.
g. Pupils should be given training in taking tests.
h. Validity of the essay test is improved by restricting
its use to the measurement of content and objectives
to which this test form is best adapted.
i. The reliability and the extent of the sample for essay
tests can be improved by increasing the number of
questions and varying the types of questions.

Methods of Grading
There are two acceptable methods for grading essay
tests:
1. The point-score method
a. The Construct a grading key which includes the
major aspects that the pupil should include in his
response to each question.
b. Read a single question through all the papers.

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Language Testing

c. Total the points on each paper after all of the

questions have been read.
2. The sorting method
a. Read through all the papers as quickly as
possible
b. Reread the papers
c. Assign letter grades on the basis of the piles into
which the papers were sorted.

Problems of Grading
There are several special problems in grading essay
examinations, regardless of the method used:
1. The halo effect
The halo effect is apparent when the score given by
the grader for one paper is influenced by a well
organized and answered of the first question. Even
though the following answers are poorer, the paper is
still assigned a high score.
In another case, a good pupil who did well at the
first test, but did poor at the last test is still assigned a
good score because the scorer is influenced by his
previous performance. On the other hand, a poor pupil
is still given a low score even though he did the last
test better than the previous one.
2. High grading or generosity error
It is related to halo effect. The grader who is
affected by generosity error consistently assigns grades
that are too high for all papers.
3. Low grading or penalty error
It is unfair as generosity error. The grader is too
strict. He consistently assigns grades that are low or too
low with too high standard for all of the classes.
4. The influence of extraneous factors.

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 Language Testing

This factor is extremely difficult to overcome. For

example, the bad quality of handwriting can cause the
difficulty in reading the papers that can affect the
students’ scores. Other problems are ability in
grammar, vocabulary, spelling, organization, neatness
and composition.

D. Oral Test
The oral test is the oldest form of examination used
by teachers. It was used by early teachers. Nowadays, it
is used rarely to examine students’ ability. When properly
constructed and used, it can be both a good instructional
technique and a valuable, informal means of appraising
pupil progress.

Oral Questioning Strategies

According to Suchman in Green (1975), there are four
types of questions that can lead pupils to clarify their thinking
and improve their learning. The four questions are:
1. Verification questions.
The pupils seek the information base, the facts,
and data necessary to his quest.
2. Experimentation questions.
The pupils verbally manipulate information
gathered at the verification level.
3. Necessity questions.
The pupils seek to sort the data and to determine
what data are relevant and irrelevant to his quest.
4. Synthesis questions.
The pupils check the validity of his hunches,
theories or conclusion as explanation or solution to
the problem or phenomena under scrutiny.

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Language Testing

Types of Oral Examination

Usually, when doing oral examination, a teacher asks
each pupil in turn a single question and then gives grade.
Obviously such practice has little measurement value. The
following classification of oral examination is suggested:
1. The orally administered examination that require an
oral response. This examination can be grouped in
two types:
a. A single question is asked to individual in group
situation.
b. Numerous questions are posed to single
individual.
2. The orally administered examination that require a
written response.
For example: teacher-constructed test, auditory
comprehension examination, or the readiness test
given to preschool.
3. The orally administered examination of the
standardized type.
For example: intelligence test.
4. The interviews in which persons are selected for
particular responsibilities or positions.
For example: an interview given to the job applicants.

Planning Oral Examination

Many teachers cannot use the oral examination properly
because of poor planning. In preparing oral examination, care
should be taken with the following planning steps:
1. The objectives and content areas should be listed to
form a test outline. Next, the outline needs to be
elaborated as that for objectives.
2. The types of oral examination should be selected on
the basis of the table of specification.

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 Language Testing

Construction of Oral Examination

There are two most important principles in
constructing the oral examination:
1. The questions should be written out ahead of time.
2. Acceptable answers should be written for each of
the questions constructed.
The questions for oral examination should be prepared more
than a simple recall response. The following is types of
questions for oral examination suggested by Gallagher
(1963):
a. Convergent (conventional thinking)
Example: How does perception of students toward
their teachers affect their school
achievement?
b. Divergent (creative thinking)
Example: If Institution doesn’t support its students to
follow exchange study, how can it promote
global change in the institution?
c. Evaluative (judgment thinking)
Example: How does fluoridation of water compare to
systematic brushing in preventing tooth
decay?
The types of the oral questions above are divided into
the following:
1. Oral questions-oral responses
This kind of questions should be similar to questions
written for essay examination (can be restricted or
extended-response questions).
2. Oral questions-Written response
Fewer questions should be included in this
examination because pupils obviously write more
slowly than they speak.
3. Oral Performance examination

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Language Testing

It is particularly well adapted to such areas as speech,

dramatics, and foreign language. Both speech and
dramatics stress verbal performance, and the quality
of the performance cannot be measured by written
examination.

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 Language Testing

UNIT V
TESTING LANGUAGE
SKILLS AND COMPONENTS

A. Testing Grammar
There is an essential difference between the traditional
―grammar‖ test for the native speaker of English and the kind
of structure test appropriate for the foreign learner. Structure
test for the native speaker is formal written English. On the
other hand, structure tests for foreign students will have as
their purpose the testing of control of the basic grammatical
patterns of the spoken language.
The preparation of s structure test should always begin
with the setting up include the full range of structures that
were taught in the course, and each structural type should
receive about the same emphasis in the test that it received in
the classroom.
The following are the item types of grammar test:
1. Completion (multiple-choice)
Example:
a. Sinta (lives) (is living) (has lived) in Padang
since 2010.
A B C

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Language Testing

b. Sinta ___________ in Padang since 2010.

A. lives C. has lived
B. is living
c. ―is Sinta still in Jakarta?‖ ―No, ________ in
Padang since 2010.‖
A. she lives C. she’s living
B. she’d lived D. she’s lived

2. Sentence alternatives (multiple-choice).

Example:
Choose the best answer.
A. Sinta is living in Padang since 2010.
B. Sinta lives in Padang since 2010.
C. Sinta has lived in Padang since 2010.
3. Sentence interpretation (multiple-choice)
Example:
―An old friend of Ryan’s family brought him
news of his uncle last night.‖ Him refers to
A. an old friend C. the uncle
B. Ryan
4. Scrambled sentence (multiple-choice)
Example:
When ______________ ?
A. plan C. to go
B. do D. you

5. Completion (supply type)

Example:
Direction: complete the sentences by writing a
form of the verb given in parentheses.
Sinta _____________ (live) in Padang since 2010.

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 Language Testing

6. Conversion (supply type)

Example:
Direction: Change the sentences into passive sentences
1. She reads the novel twice a week.
2. My lecturer gives an assignment every week.

B. Testing Vocabulary
The selection of vocabulary test words is relatively easy
in achievement tests. The first decision that must be made is
whether to test the students’ active or passive vocabulary,
that is the words they should be using in their speech and
writing or those they will need merely to comprehend,
especially in their reading.
Generally speaking, vocabulary tests on an
intermediate level will concentrate on the words needed in
speaking or in comprehending the oral language, while tests
on an advanced level will deal mostly with the lexicon of
written Englishthe words needed by students if they are to
understand newspapers, periodicals, literature, and textbooks.
In selecting the test words, dictionary may be used, but
it is more convenient to use word lists based on frequency
counts of lexical items occurring in actual samples of the
language.
Useful as these and similar word counts are, the test
maker must be alert to their several shortcomings:
1. Word counts are usually based on the written language
only; therefore, many words that are extremely
common in the oral language will receive low
frequency ratings in the word lists.
2. The word lists classify words according to relative
frequency rather than absolute difficulty, and the two
are by no means always equivalent.

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Language Testing

3. Word frequency in English does not serve as a good

guide to the probable difficulty of lexical items for
which there are cognate forms in the foreign students’
native language.
4. Some of the word lists do not differentiate among the
various meanings of a word.
5. Unless the word lists are based on very recent surveys
of frequency, they are likely to contain items whose
status is currently quite different from what it was at the
time the data were collected.
6. Some word lists are based on a sample of written
materials quite unlike those which the typical foreign
learner of English is likely to have read.

Item types of testing vocabulary

a. Multiple-choice
1. Definition
It is called the ―classic‖ type of vocabulary item which
consists of a test word followed by several possible
definitions or synonyms.
Example:
Nap
A. A brief sleep
B. A happy song
C. A sharp rock
D. A short meeting
2. Completion
A second item type places the problem words in
context.
Example:
The old woman was too ___________ to push
open the heavy door.
A. Feeble

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 Language Testing

B. Sincere
C. Deaf
D. Harsh

3. Paraphrase
A third method of testing vocabulary, combining
elements of two of the previously discussed devices, is
to underline a word in context and provide several
possible meanings.
Example:
George was astounded to hear her answer
A. Greatly amused
B. Greatly relieved
C. Greatly surprised
D. Greatly angered

b. Supply type
1. Paraphrase
This is the variation of type above
(paraphrase/multiple-choice) and useful highly in
informal classroom testing. This type requires a
structured short answer supplied by the examinee.
Example:
George was astounded to hear her answer.
Direction: rewrite the sentence by substituting other
words for the underlined portion.
The possible answers include:
 George was greatly surprised to hear
her answer.
 George was amazed to hear her
answer.
 George was astonished to hear her
answer.

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Language Testing

2. Pictures (objective)
In the testing of children who have not yet reached the
reading stage, vocabulary may be measured with
pictures. There are two types of picture items have
frequently been used, as follow:
a. The examiner pronounces the name of an object
and asks the child to indicate, by pointing or
making a pencil mark, which one of a set of
pictures shows the object named.
Example:
The test booklet might contain four picturesof
a book, a bird, a boat, and a boxand the
examiner might ask, ―Draw a circle around the
boat.‖
b. In the second type, the child is shown a picture of
an object and is asked to name it.

The Principles of Item Writing for Testing Vocabulary

1. The definition should be expressed in simple words
readily comprehensible to all examinees.
2. All the alternatives should be on approximately the same
level of difficulty.
3. Whenever possible, all choices should be related to the
same general area or kind of activity.
4. The choices in each item should be of approximately the
same length or be paired by length.
5. Items should be kept free of extraneous spelling problems.

C. Testing Listening
Teachers need to pay close attention to listening as a
mode of performance for assessment in the classroom.

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 Language Testing

Designing appropriate assessment tasks in listening begins

with the specification of objectives, or criteria.
The performance of listening with specific objectives is
categorized in two skills; microskills (bottom-up process of
learning such as the smaller bits and chunk of language) and
macroskills (top-down approach of listening task which
focused on the larger elements of language).
The following lists show the micro and macroskills
which provide 17 different objectives to assess in listening
(adapted from Richards, 1983 in Brown (2004)).
Microskills:
1. Discriminate among the distinctive sounds of English.
2. Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short-
term memory.
3. Recognize English stress patterns, words in stressed and
unstressed positions, rhythmic structure, intonation
contours, and their role in signaling information.
4. Recognize reduced forms of words.
5. Distinguish word boundaries, recognize a core of words,
and interpret word order patterns and their significance.
6. Process speech at different rates of delivery.
7. Process speech containing pauses, errors, correction, and
other performance variables.
8. Recognize grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.),
systems (e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns,
rules, and elliptical forms.
9. Detect sentence constituents and distinguish between
major and minor constituents.
10. Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in
different grammatical forms.
11. Recognize cohesive devices in spoken discourse.

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Language Testing

Macroskills:

12. Recognize the communicative functions of utterances,

according to situations, participants, goals.
13. Infer situations, participants, goals using real-world
knowledge.
14. From events, ideas, and so on, described, predict
outcomes, infer links and connections between events,
deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as
main idea, supporting idea, new information, given
information, generalization, and exemplification.
15. Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.
16. Use facial, kinesic, body language, and other nonverbal
clues to decipher meanings.
17. Develop and use a battery o listening strategies, such as
detecting key words, guessing the meaning of words
from context, appealing for help, and signaling
comprehension or lack thereof.

Brown (2004) in his book divides listening assessment

tasks into four:

1. Intensive Listening
Listening for perception of the components
(phonemes, words, intonation, discourse markers, etc)
of a larger stretch of language. The focus in this section
is on the micro skills of intensive listening.
There are several kinds of tasks assessed for
intensive listening, they are:
a. Recognizing Phonological and Morphological
Elements

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The typical test gives a stimulus and ask test-takers

to identify the stimulus from two or more choices,
such as:
 Phonemic pair, consonants
Test-takers hear : He’s from Surabaya
Test-takers read : (a). He’s from Surabaya
(b). She’s from Surabaya

 Phonemic pair, vowels

Test-takers hear : Is she living?
Test-takers read : (a). Is she leaving?
(b). Is she living?

 Morphological pair, -ed ending

Test-takers hear : I loved chocolate
Test-takers read : (a). I loved chocolate
(b). I love chocolate
 Stress pattern in can’t
Test-takers hear : My brother can’t come tonight
Test-takers read: (a). My brother can’t come
tonight
(b). My brother can come
tonight
 One-word stimulus
Test-takers hear : vine
Test-takers read : (a) vine
(b) wine
b. Paraphrase Recognition

In this kind of task, the words, phrases, or

sentences are frequently assessed by providing a
stimulus sentence asking the test-takers to choose

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the correct paraphrase from a number of choices.

The following are the example:
 Sentence paraphrase

Test-takers hear : Hi, my name’s Siti. I come

from Malaysia
Test-takers read :
(a) Siti likes Malaysia
(b) Siti wants to come to Malaysia
(c) Siti is Malaysian
(d) Keiko is happy in Malaysia

 Dialogue paraphrase

Test-takers hear: Man: Hi, Mary, my name’s John

Woman: Glad to meet you, John.
Are you American?
Man: No, I’m Irish.

Test-takers read: (a). John lives in the USA

(b). John is American
(c). John comes from Ireland
(d). Mary is Irish

2. Responsive Listening
Responsive listening focuses on the assessment
of a relatively short stretch of language (a greeting,
question, command, comprehension check, etc) in order
to make an equally short response. This typical
listening task is in a question-and-answer format which
provide interaction. The following are the example:
 Appropriate response to a question

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 Language Testing

Test-takers hear: How much time did you have to

finish your project?

Test-takers read: (a) in about a month

(b) about a month
(c) about Rp.1 million
(d) yes, I did

 Open-ended response to a question

Test-takers hear: How much time did you need to

finish your project?

Test-takers write or speak: __________________

This kind of task needs students’ creativity to

response what they hear, and the teacher must judge
the response appropriateness which takes time.

3. Selective Listening
In this kind of assessment task, the test-takers
listen to a limited quantity of aural input and must
discern within it some specific information.
Processing stretches of discourse such as short
monologues for several minutes in order to ―scan‖ for
certain information. Assessment tasks in selective
listening could ask students, for example, to listen for
names, numbers, a grammatical category, directions
(in a map exercise), or certain facts and events.
The techniques used in selective listening are:
a. Listening Cloze
Listening cloze tasks/ cloze dictations or partial
dictations require the test-taker to listen to a story,

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monologue, or conversation and simultaneously read

the written text in which selected words or phrases
have been deleted.
The listening cloze technique has a weakness
that it may simply become reading comprehension
tasks because this kind of task is most commonly
associated with reading only.
The example of the task:
Test-takers hear:
Ladies and gentlemen, I now have some
connecting gate information for those of you making
connections to other flights out of Jakarta.
Flight___________ to Bandung will depart
from gate __________ at __________ p.m. Flight to
Padang will depart at _________ p.m, from gate
_______. Flight ________ to Surabaya will depart at
________ p.m. from gate _________. And flight
________ to Bali will depart from gate __________
at ___________ p.m.
Test-takers write the missing words or phrases in the
blanks.
(the words: seven-oh-six, seventy-three, nine-thirty,
ten-forty-five, nine-fifty, seventeen, four-forty,
nine-thirty-five, sixty, sixteen-oh-three, nineteen,
ten-fifteen).
The difference of listening cloze from
standard reading cloze is that the deletions are
governed by the objective of the test, not by every
nth word; and more than one word may be deleted.

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b. Information Transfer
In information transfer technique, the
information must be transferred to a visual
representation, such as labeling a diagram,
identifying an element in a picture, completing a
form, or showing routes on a map.
The techniques used for this information
transfer task are:

 Information transfer: multiple-picture – cued

selection

Test-takers hear:
Choose the correct picture.

There are two thick books on the table. One pencil is

on the book on the right.

Test-takers see:
a. A picture of a table with one thick book and one
thin book on it.
b. A picture of a table with one thick book on it.
c. A picture of a table with one thick book and one
pencil on it.
d. A picture of a table with two thick books and a
pencil on the book on the right.

 Information transfer: single-picture – cued verbal

multiple-choice

Test-takers see: a photograph of a woman in a

laboratory setting, with no glasses
on, squinting through a microscope

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Language Testing

with her right eye, and with her left

eye closed.

Test-takers hear: (a)she’s speaking into a microphone

(b) she’s putting on her glasses
(c) she has both eyes open
(d) she’s using a microscope

 Information transfer: chart-filling

Test takers-hear:
Now you will hear information about Diana’s daily
schedule. The information will be given twice. The
first time just listen carefully. The second time, there
will be a pause after each sentence. Fill in Diana’s
blank daily schedule with the correct information. The
example has already been filled in.
Diana’ schedule
No Day Time Activities
1. Monday 05.00 Wake up
05.10 Pray Subuh
05.30 ………..
……. Have breakfast
2.

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c. Dictation
Dictation is a widely researched genre of
assessing listening comprehension. In a dictation,
test-takers hear a passage, typically of 50 to 100
words, recited three times: first, at normal speed;
then, with long pauses between phrases or natural
word group, during which time test-takers write
down what they have just heard; and finally, at
normal speed once more so they can check their
work and proofread.
There are some difficulties in dictation. First,
the difficulty of a dictation task can be easily
manipulated by the length of the word groups, the
length of the pauses, the speed at which the text is
read, and the complexity of the discourse, grammar,
and vocabulary used in the passage. Second is the
difficulty in scoring. Scoring the dictation should be
depended on the context and purpose by deciding on
scoring criteria for several possible kinds of errors:
- Spelling error only, but the word appears to
have been heard correctly.
- Spelling and/or obvious misrepresentation of a
word, illegible word.
- Grammatical error.
- Skipped words or phrases.
- Permutation of words.
- Additional words not in the original.
- Replacement of a word with an appropriate
synonym
Beside the disadvantages above, dictation also
has benefits. First, it is practical to administer.
Second, there is a moderate degree of reliability in a
well-established scoring system. Third, there is a

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strong correspondence to other language abilities

speaks well for the inclusion of dictation among the
possibilities for assessing extensive (or quasi-
extensive) listening comprehension.

The example of the techniques used in dictation:

First reading (natural speed, no pauses, test-takers

listen for gist):
Most mothers have a good piece of advice: Never go
into a supermarket hungry! If you go shopping for
food before lunchtime, you’ll probably buy more
than you plan to. Unfortunately, however, just this
advice isn’t enough for consumers these days.
Modern shoppers need an education in how —and
how not — to buy things at the grocery store.

Second reading (slowed speed, pause at each//break,

test-takers write):
Most mothers // have a good piece of advice: Never
go // into a supermarket // hungry! If you go
shopping // for food // before lunchtime, you’ll
probably buy // more than you plan to.
Unfortunately, however, just this advice // isn’t
enough // for consumers // these days. Modern
shoppers // need an education // in how —and how
not — // to buy things // at the grocery store.

Third reading (natural speed, test-takers check their

work.
d. Communicative Stimulus-Response Tasks
Communicative stimulus-response tasks are
another-and more authentic-example of extensive

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listening which is found in a popular genre of

assessment task. In this kind of listening task, test-
taker is presented with a stimulus monologue or
conversation and then is asked to respond to a set of
comprehension questions.
The following is a typical example of such a task.
(Taken from Brown, 2004):
Test-takers hear:
Direction: Now you will hear a conversation
between Lynn and her doctor. You will hear the
conversation two times. After you hear the
conversation the second time, choose the correct
answer for questions 1-5 below.
Doctor: Good morning, Lynn. What’s the problem?
Lynn : Well, you see, I have a terrible headache, my
nose is running, and I’m really dizzy.
Doctor: Okay. Anything else?
Lynn : I’ve been coughing, I think I have a fever,
and my stomach aches.
Doctor: I see. When did this start?
Lynn : Well, let’s see, I went to the lake last
weekend, and after I returned home I started
sneezing.
Doctor: Hmmm. You must have the flu. You should
get lots of rest, drink hot beverages, and stay
warm. Do you follow me?
Lynn : Well, uh, yeah, but…shouldn’t I take some
medicine?
Doctor: sleep and rest are as good as medicine when
you have the flu.
Lynn : okay, thanks, Dr. Brown.

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Language Testing

Test-takers read:
1. What is Lynn’s problem?
a. She feels horrible
b. She ran too fast at the lake
c. She’s been drinking too many hot beverages

2. When did Lynn’s problem start?

a. When she saw her doctor
b. Before she went to the lake
c. After she came home from the lake

3. The doctor said that Lynn __________

a. Flew to the lake last weekend
b. Must not get the flu
c. Probably has the flu

4. The doctor told Lynn _____________

a. To rest
b. To follow him
c. To take some medicine

5. According to Dr. Brown, sleep and rest are

________ medicine when you have the flu.
a. More effective than
b. As effective as
c. Less effective than

4. Extensive Listening
Listening to develop a top-down, global
understanding of spoken language. Listening for the
gist, for the main idea, and making inferences are all
part of extensive listening.

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a. Note-taking
Note-taking is an authentic listening task that
is very appropriate to test students’ listening
ability. The students are asked to listen to a
lecture and take note any important point from
the lecturer’s explanation.

b. Editing
Editing is another authentic task provides both
a written and a spoken stimulus, and requires the
test-takers to listen for discrepancies.
The following is the way the task proceeds:

Test-takers read:
The written stimulus material such as a news
report, an email from a friend, notes from a
lecture, or an editorial in a newspaper.
Test-takers hear:
A spoken version of the stimulus that deviates,
in a finite number of facts or opinions, from the
original written form.
Test-takers mark:
The written stimulus by circling any words,
phrases, facts, or opinions that show a
discrepancy between the two versions.

Example: The description of political scandal that

can be gotten from a newspaper, then compared
to the one from a radio broadcast.

In scoring, the smaller number of specific

differences are identified, the more reliable the
score is.

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Language Testing

c. Interpretive tasks
An interpretive task extends the stimulus
material to a longer stretch of discourse and
forces the test-taker to infer a response. Potential
stimuli include song lyrics, recited poetry,
radio/television news report, and an oral account
of an experience.
Test-takers are then directed to interpret the
stimulus by answering a few questions (in open-
ended form), such as:
 Why was the singer feeling sad?
 What events might have led up to the
reciting of this poem?
 What do you think the political activists
might do next, and why?

It is difficult to get high reliability in

scoring this kind of task because there may be
more than one correct interpretation.
d. Retelling
In a related task, test-takers listen to a story
or news event and simply retell it, or summarize
it, either orally or in writing.
In making a good retelling, test-takers
should identify first the gist, main idea, purpose,
supporting points, and/or conclusion to show full
comprehension.

D. Testing Speaking
Speaking is a productive skill that can be directly and
empirically observed. Those observations are invariably
colored by the accuracy and effectiveness of a test-taker’s

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listening skill. In productive performance, the oral or written

stimulus must be specific enough to elicit output within an
expected range of performance such that scoring or rating
procedures apply appropriately.
Brown (2004:142) also writes a list of speaking micro
and macroskills. The microskills refer to producing the
smaller chunks of language such as phonemes, morphemes,
words, collocations, and phrasal units. The macroskills imply
the speakers’s focus on the larger elements: fluency,
discourse, function, style, cohesion, nonverbal
communication and strategic options.
There are 16 different objectives to assess in speaking
as described in micro and macroskills.
Microskills
1. Produce differences among English phonemes and
allophonic variants.
2. Produce chunks of language of different lengths.
3. Produce English stress patterns, words in stressed and
unstressed positions, rhythmic structure, and intonation
contours.
4. Produce reduced forms of words and phrases.
5. Use an adequate number of lexical units (words) to
accomplish pragmatic purposes.
6. Produce fluent speech at different rates of delivery.
7. Monitor one’s own oral production and use various
strategic devices ─ pauses, fillers, self-corrections,
backtracking ─ to enhance the clarity of the message.
8. Use grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc),
systems (e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization), word
order, patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.
9. Produce speech in natural constituents: in appropriate
phrases, pause groups, breath groups, and sentence
constituents.

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Language Testing

10. Express a particular meaning in different grammatical

forms.
11. Use cohesive devices in spoken discourse.

Macroskills

12. Appropriately accomplish communicative functions

according to situations, participants, and goals.
13. Use appropriate styles, registers, implicature,
redundancies, pragmatic conventions, conversation rules,
floor-keeping and –yielding, interrupting, and other
sociolinguistic features in face-to-face conversations.
14. Convey links and connections between events and
communicate such relations as focal and peripheral
ideas, events, and feelings, new information, and given
information, generalization and exemplification.
15. Convey facial features, kinesics, body language, and
other nonverbal cues along with verbal language.
16. Develop and use a battery of speaking strategies, such as
emphasizing key words, rephrasing, providing a context
for interpreting the meaning of words, appealing for
help, and accurately assessing how well your interlocutor
is understanding you.
Furthermore, Brown (2004) divides the assessment of
speaking into five:
1. Imitative Speaking
At one end of a continuum of types of speaking
performance is the ability to simply parrot back
(imitate) a word or phrase or possibly a sentence. The
imitative speaking tasks are as follow:
a. Word repetition task
In a simple repetition task, test-takers
repeat the stimulus, whether it is a pair of words,
a sentence, or perhaps a question.
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 Language Testing

Study the following example:

Test-takers hear: Repeat after me:

Beat [pause] bit [pause]

Bat [pause] vat [pause]

I bought a boat yesterday

The glow of the candle is growing

When did they go on vacation?

Do you like coffee?

Test-takers repeat the stimulus.

The above task can be scored by using the

following scoring scale.

2 Acceptable pronounciation

1 Comprehensible, partially correct

pronounciation

0 Silence, seriously incorrect pronunciation

One example of this kind of test is Phonepass

test. The PhonePass test is an example of a popular
test that uses imitative production task. It elicits
computer-assisted oral production over a telephone.
Test-takers read aloud, repeat sentences, say words,
and answer questions.
The test has five sections.

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PhonePass test specifications

Part A:
Test-takers read aloud selected sentences from
among those printed on the test sheet. Examples:
1. Traffic is a huge problem in Southern
California.
2. The endless city has no coherent mass transit
system.
3. Sharing rides was going to be the solution to
rush-hour traffic.
4. Most people still want to drive their own
cars, though.

Part B:
Test-takers repeat sentences dictated over the phone.
Examples: ―Leave town the next train.‖

Part C:
Test-takers answer questions with a single word or a
short phrase of two or three words. Example:
―Would you get water from a bottle or a
newspaper?‖

Part D:
Test-takers hear three word groups in random order
and must link them in a correctly ordered sentence.
Example: was reading/my mother/a magazine.

Part E:
Test-takers have 30 seconds to talk about their
opinion about some topic that is dictated over the
phone. Topics center on family, preferences, and
choices.

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Scores for the PhonePass test are calculated by

a computerized scoring template and reported back to
the test-takers within minutes. There are six scores
given:
- An overall score between 20 and 80
- Five subscores on the same scale that rate
pronunciation, reading fluency, repeat
accuracy, repeat fluency, and listening
vocabulary.
2. Intensive Speaking
A second type of speaking frequently employed
in assessment contexts is the production of short
stretches (not more than a sentence) of oral language
designed to demonstrate competence in a narrow band
of grammatical, phrasal, lexical, or phonological
relationships. Part C and D of the PhonePass test
fulfill the criteria of intensive tasks.
The tasks for intensive speaking test are:
a. Directed Response Tasks
Example:
Directed response
Test-takers hear:
Tell me he went to the school
Tell me that you like pop music
Tell me that you aren’t interested in
Basketball
Tell her to visit me next week
Remind me to check the report soon
b. Read-Aloud Tasks
This task includes reading beyond the
sentence level up to a paragraph or two. This

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Language Testing

technique has advantages in the administering

and scoring because both aspects are relatively
easy to be done.
c. Sentence/Dialogue Completion Tasks and Oral
Questionnaires
Test-takers are acquired to read dialogue in
which one speaker’s lines have been omitted.
First, the test-takers are given time to read
through the dialogue and think the possible
answers to fill it. Then as the tape, teacher, or test
administrator produces one part orally, the test-
takers respond.
Here is the example:

Dialogue completion task

Test-takers read (and then hear):

In a department store:

Salesperson: May I help you?

Customer : ______________________
Salesperson: Okay, what size do you wear?
Customer : ______________________
Salesperson: Hmmm. How about this green
sweater here?
Customer: ______________________
Salesperson: Oh, well, if you don’t like
green, what color would you
like?
Customer: ______________________
Salesperson: How about this one?
Customer: ______________________
Salesperson: Great!

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 Language Testing

Customer: ______________________
Salesperson: It’s on sale today for $39.95
Customer: ______________________
Salesperson: Sure. We take Visa,
MasterCard, and American
Express.
Customer: ______________________

Test-takers respond with appropriate lines

d. Picture-Cued Tasks
Picture-cued stimulus requires a
description from the test-taker. The pictures may
be very simple, designed to elicit a word or a
phrase.
Example:
- Picture-cued elicitation of minimal pairs

Test-takers see:

(source: www.odopod.com)

Test-takers hear: [test administrator points to

each picture in succession]
What’s this?

- Picture-cued elicitation of comparatives

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Language Testing

Test-takers see:

Test-takers hear: use a comparative form to

compare these objects.

- Picture-cued elicitation of future tense

Test-takers see: a picture of a family going on

their vacation to Hawaii. Each member imagines
the interesting activities they will do at their
destination.
Test-takers hear: This family is at an airport
going on their vacation.
1. [point to the picture in general] Where are
they going for their vacation?
2. [point to the father] What will he do in
Hawaii?
3. [point to the girl] What is she going to do
there?

- Picture-cued elicitation of nouns, negative

responses, numbers, and location

Test-takers see: (some pictures in a classroom)

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 Language Testing

Test-takers hear:
1. [point to the table] What’s this?
2. [point to the blackboard] what is this?
3. [point to the teacher] is he a teacher?

- Picture-cued elicitation of responses and

description

Test-takers see: (some pictures of paintings

with its description)

Test-takers hear:
1. [point to the painting on the right] when
was this one painted?
2. [point to both] which painting is older?
3. Which painting would you buy? Why?
- Map-cued elicitation of giving directions
Test-takers see:

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Language Testing

Test-takers hear:
You are at Main Street [point to the spot]. People
ask you for directions to get to five different
places. Listen to their questions, then give
directions.
1. Please give me directions to the City Park.
2. Please give me directions Community Center.
3. Please tell me how to get to the Bus Station.
Scoring responses on picture-cued intensive
speaking tasks varies, depending on the expected
performance criteria. The tasks that asked just for
one-word or simple-sentence responses can be
evaluated simply as correct or incorrect.

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The following rubric can also be used with

modifications:
2 Comprehensible; acceptable target form

1 Comprehensible; partially correct target

form

0 Silence; or seriously incorrect target form

e. Translation (of Limited Stretches of Discourse)

The test takers are given a native language
word, phrase, or sentence and are asked to
translate it. As an assessment procedure, the
advantages of translation lie in its control of the
output of the test-takers, which of course means
that scoring is more easily specified.
3. Responsive Speaking
Responsive assessment tasks include interaction
and test comprehension but at the somewhat limited
level of very short conversations, standard greetings
and small talk, simple requests and comments, and the
like.
The tasks of responsive speaking are:
a. Question and Answer
Question-and-answer tasks can consist of
one or two questions from an interviewer, or
prepare a battery of questions and prompts in an
oral interview.
The questions and answers form are:
 Questions eliciting open-ended responses
Test takers hear:

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Language Testing

1. What do you think about the weather

today?
2. What do you like about the English
language?
3. Why did you choose your academic major?

Test-takers respond with a few sentences at

most.

 Elicitation of questions from the test-takers

Test-takers hear
- Do you have any questions for me?
- Ask me about my family or job or
interests.

Test-takers respond with questions

b. Giving Instruction and Directions

The technique is simple: the administrator
poses the problem, and the test-takers responds.
Example:
Eliciting instructions or directions
Test-takers hear:
1. Describe how to make an omelet?
2. How do I go to the Post Office from here?
3. What’s a good recipe for making a cake?

Test-takers respond with appropriate

instructions/directions.
c. Paraphrasing
The test-takers hear a limited number of
sentences (perhaps two to five) and produce a
paraphrase of the sentence.
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 Language Testing

For example:
- Paraphrasing a story
Test-takers hear: Paraphrase the following little
story in your own words.

Test-takers respond with two or three sentences

- Paraphrasing a phone message
Test-takers hear:
Please tell Josie that I’m tied up in traffic so I’m
going to be about a half hour late for the nine
o’clock meeting.

Test-takers respond with two or three sentences.

The example of this test is Test of Spoken
English (TSE). The TSE is a 20-minute audiotaped
test of oral language ability within an academic or
professional environment.
The tasks are designed to elicit oral production in
various discourse categories rather than in selected
phonological, grammatical, or lexical targets. For
example:
 Describe something physical
 Narrate from presented material
 Summarize information of the speaker’s own
choice
 Give directions based on visual material
 Give an opinion, etc.

4. Interactive Speaking
Interactive tasks are what some would describe
as interpersonal speech events.
The tasks are:

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Language Testing

a. Interview
A test administrator and a test-taker sit down
in a direct face-to face exchange and proceed
through a protocol of questions and directives.
The interview is scored on one or more
parameters such as: accuracy in pronunciation
and/or grammar, vocabulary usage, fluency,
sociolinguistic/pragmatic appropriateness, task
accomplishment, and comprehension.
Michael Canale in Brown (2004) suggests four
stages of interview, as follow:
1). Warm-up
Preliminary small talk for about one or
two minutes. Samples of questions are:
- How are you?
- What’s your name?
- What country are you from?
2). Level check
This stage check the test-taker’s readiness
to speak, confidence, etc. The questions are:
- Tell me about your family
- What is your academic major?
- What are your hobbies?
- What will you be doing ten years from
now?
3). Probe
Probe questions challenge test-takers to go
to the heights of their ability. The questions
are:
- What is your opinion about that issue?
- If you were president of your country,
what would you like to change about your
country?

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 Language Testing

- What career advice would you give to

your younger friends?
- What are your goals for taking the English
program?
4). Wind-down
It is simply a short period of time during
which the interviewer encourages the test-
taker to relax with some easy questions.
The samples of questions are:
- Did you feel okay about this interview?
- Do you have any questions you want to
ask me?
- It was interesting to talk with you. Best
wishes.
b. Role Play
Role plays open some windows of opportunity
for test-takers to use discourse that might otherwise
be difficult to elicit. It frees the students to be
somewhat creative in their linguistic output.
Example:
- Pretend that you’re a tourist asking me for
directions.
- You’re buying a new bag from me in Matahari
Department store, and you want to get a lower
price.‖

c. Discussion and Conversation

As formal assessment devices, discussions
and conversations with and among students are
difficult to specify and score. But as informal
techniques to assess learners, they offer a level of
authenticity and spontaneity that other assessment
techniques may not offer.

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Language Testing

d. Games
There are a variety of games that directly
involve language production.
Example:
Assessment games
1. ―Tinkertoy‖ game: A Tinkertoy (or Lego
block) structure is built behind a screen. One or
two learners are allowed to view the structure.
In successive stages of construction, the
learners tell ―runners‖ (who can’t observe the
structure) how to re-create the structure. The
runners then tell ―builders‖ behind another
screen how to build the structure. The builders
may question or confirm as they proceed, but
only through the two degrees of separation.
Object: re-create the structure as accurately as
possible.
2. Crossword puzzles are created in which the
names of all members of a class are clued by
obscure information about them. Each class
member must ask questions of others to
determine who matches the clues in the puzzle.
3. Information gap grids are created such that
class members must conduct mini-interviews
of other classmates to fill in boxes, e.g., ―born
in July,‖ ―plays the guitar,‖ has a two-year-old
brother,‖ etc.
4. City maps are distributed to class members.
Predetermined map directions are given to one
student who, with a city map in front of him or
her, describes the route to a partner, who must
then trace the route and get to the correct final
destination.

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5. Extensive Speaking
Extensive speaking tasks involves complex,
relatively lengthy stretches of discourse. They are
frequently variations on monologues, usually with
minimal verbal interaction. This kind of assessment
includes more transactional speech events.
The tasks are:
a. Oral Presentation
In academic and professional arenas, the oral
presentation can be the presentation of a report, a
paper, a marketing plan, a sales idea, a design of a
new product, or a method. The following is the
example of a checklist for a prepared oral
presentation at the intermediate or advanced level
of English.

Oral presentation checklist

Evaluation of oral presentation
Assign a number to each box according to your
assessment of the various aspects of the speaker’s
presentation.
3 Excellent
2 Good
1 Fair
0 Poor

Content:
The purpose or objective of the presentation
was accomplished.
The introduction was lively and got my
attention.
The main idea or point was clearly stated

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toward the beginning.

The supporting points were
 Clearly expressed
 Supported well by facts, argument
The conclusion restated the main idea or
purpose

Delivery:
The speaker used gestures and body language
well.
The speaker maintained eye contact with the
audience.
The speaker’s language was natural and
fluent.
The speaker’s volume of speech was
appropriate.
The speaker’s rate of speech was appropriate
The speaker’s pronunciation was clear and
comprehensible.
The speaker’s grammar was correct and
didn’t prevent understanding.
The speaker used visual aids, handouts, etc
effectively.
The speaker showed enthusiasm and interest.
[if appropriate] The speaker responded to
audience questions well.

b. Picture-Cued Story-Telling
At this level, we consider a picture or a series
of pictures as a stimulus for a longer story or
description.
Example:

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Picture-cued story-telling task (Brown, 2004)

Test-takers see the following nine-picture

sequence:

Test-takers hear or read:

Tell the story that these pictures describe.

Test-takers use the pictures as a sequence of cues

to tell a story.

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c. Retelling a story, News Event

Test-takers hear or read a story or news event
that they are asked to retell.
d. Translation (of Extended Prose)
In this case, longer texts are presented for the
test-takers to read in the native language and then
translate into English. The texts can be in various
forms, such as: dialogue, directions for assembly of
a product, a synopsis of a story or play or movie,
directions on how to find something on a map, and
others.

E. Testing Reading
In foreign language learning, reading is likewise a
skill that teachers simply expect learners to acquire. There
are two primary concepts that must be cleared to become
efficient readers, they are: 1. They need to be able to
master fundamental bottom-up strategies for processing
separate letters, words, and phrases, as well as top-down,
conceptually driven strategies for comprehension, 2. A
part of top-down approach, second language readers must
develop appropriate content and formal schemata ─
background information and cultural experience ─ to carry
out those interpretation effectively.
Brown (2004:186) divides the types (genres) of
reading as follow:
1. Academic reading
This includes:
 General interest articles (in magazines,
newspapers,etc).
 Technical reports, professional journal articles
 Reference material
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 Textbooks, theses
 Essays, papers
 Test directions
 Editorials and opinion writing

2. Job-related reading
This includes:
 Messages
 Letters/emails
 Memos
 Reports
 Schedules, labels, signs, announcements
 Forms, applications, questionnaires
 Financial documents
 Directories
 Manual, directions

3. Personal reading
This includes:
 Newspapers and magazines
 Letters, emails, greeting cards, invitations
 Messages, notes, lists
 Schedules
 Recipes, menus, maps, calendars
 Advertisements
 Novels, short stories, jokes, drama, poetry
 Financial documents
 Forms, questionnaires, medical reports,
immigration documents
 Comic strips, cartoons
Like listening and speaking, reading also has micro
and macro-skills which represent the spectrum of
possibilities for objectives in the assessment of reading
comprehension.
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Brown (2004:187) mentions the micro and

macroskills for reading comprehension:

Microskills

1. Discriminate among the distinctive graphemes and

orthographic patterns of English.
2. Retain chunks of language of different lengths in
short-term memory.
3. Process writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit
the purpose.
4. Recognize a core of words, and interpret word
order patterns and their significance.
5. Recognize grammatical word classes (nouns,
verbs, tense, agreement, pluralization), poattern,
rules.
6. Recognize that a particular meaning may be
expressed in different grammatical forms.
7. Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse
and their role in signaling the relationship between
and among clauses.

Macroskills

8. Recognize the rhetorical forms of written

discourse and their significance for interpretation.
9. Recognize the communicative functions of written
texts, according to form and purpose.
10. Infer context that is not explicit by using
background knowledge.
11. From described events, ideas, etc, infer links and
connection between events, deduce causes and
effects, and detect such relations as main idea,

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supporting idea, new information, given

information, generalization, and exemplification.
12. Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.
13. Detect culturally specific references and interpret
them in a context of the appropriate cultural
schemata.
14. Develop and use a battery of reading strategies,
such as scanning and skimming, detecting
discourse markers, guessing the meaning of words
from context, and activating schemata for the
interpretation of texts.

The following is some principal strategies for

reading comprehension. (Brown, 2004:188):
1. Identify your purpose in reading a text.
2. Apply spelling rules and conventions for bottom-
up decoding.
3. Use lexical analysis (prefixes, roots, suffixes, etc)
to determine meaning.
4. Guess at meaning (of words, idioms, etc) when
you aren’t certain.
5. Skim the text for the gist and for main ideas.
6. Scan the text for specific information (names,
dates, key words).
7. Use silent reading techniques for rapid processing.
8. Use marginal notes, outlines, charts, or semantic
maps for understanding and retaining information.
9. Distinguish between literal and implied meaning.
10. Capitalize on discourse markers to process
relationships.
Brown (2004) in his book divides the assessment of
reading into four categories, they are:

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1. Perceptive reading

Perceptive reading tasks involve attending to the

components of larger stretches of discourse: letters,
words, punctuation, and other graphemic symbols.
Bottom-up processing is implied here, and focused
mostly in form.
The tasks are:

a. Reading aloud
The test-takers see separate letters, words,
and/or short sentences and read them aloud, one
by one, in the presence of an administrator.

b. Written response
In this case, the test-takers are given a task to
reproduce the probe in writing. If an error occurs,
the test-makers should determine its source. For
example, what might be assumed to be a writing
error may actually be a reading error, or vise
versa.

c. Multiple-choice
Here are some possibilities:
 Minimal pair distinction
Test-takers read: Circle ―S‖ for same or ―D‖
for different.
1. Led let S D
2. Bit bit S D
3. Seat sit S D
4. Too to S D
5. Meet meat S D
 Grapheme recognition task

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Test-takers read: circle the ―odd‖ item, the

one that doesn’t belong.
1. Piece peace piece
2. Book book boot
3. Let led let

d. Picture-cued items
Test-takers are shown a picture along with a
written text and are given one of a number of
possible tasks to perform.
The tasks are as follow:
 Picture-cued word identification

Test-takers hear: Point to the word that you

read here.

Cat clock chair

 Picture-cued sentence identification

Test-takers hear: point to the part of the
picture that you read about here.

Test-takers see the picture and read each

sentence written on a separate card.

The man is reading a newspaper

The cat is under the chair

 Picture-cued true/false sentence identification

Test-takers read:

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1. The pencils are under the table T F

2. The cat is under the chair T F
3. The picture is one the wall T F

 Picture-cued matching word identification

Test-takers read:

1. Clock
2. Glass
3. Spoon
4. Dog
5. Chair

 Multiple-choice picture-cued word

identification
Test-takers read: square

Test-takers see, and choose the correct item

2. Selective Reading
A combination of bottom-up and top-down
processing may be used.
a. Multiple-choice (for form-focused criteria)
The most straightforward multiple-
choice items may have little context, but might
serve as a vocabulary or grammar check.
Example:
1). The cat is ____________ the room.
a. under
b. between
c. around
d. in

2). He’s not married. He’s ____________

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a. single
b. young
c. a husband
d. first

3). Manager: Do you like to work by yourself?

Employee: Yes, I like to work ________
a. independently
b. definitely
c. impatiently
d. dependently

4). I’ve lived in England (20) _____ three

years. I (21) _____ live in Indonesia. I
(22) ______ speak any English. I used to
(23) _______ homesick, but now I enjoy
(24)_______ here. I have never (25)
_____ back home (26) ______ I came to
England, but I might (27) ______ to visit
my family soon.

20. a. since 24. a. live

b. for b. to live
c. during c. living

21. a. used to 25. a. be

b. use to b. been
c. was c. was

22. a. couldn’t 26. a. when

b. could b. while
c. can c. since

23. a. been 27. a. go

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b. be b. will go
c. being c. going

b. Matching tasks
The most frequently appearing criterion in
matching procedures is vocabulary. The
format is as follow:
Direction: Write in the letter of the definition
on the right that matches the word on the left.

______ 1. Exhausted a. unhappy

______ 2. Disappointed b. understanding
of others
______ 3. Enthusiastic c. tired
______ 4. Empathetic d. excited
e. enjoy
c. Editing tasks
Editing for grammatical or rhetorical errors is
a widely used test method for assessing
linguistic competence in reading. Here is a
typical set of examples of editing:
Direction: choose the letter of the underlined
word that is not correct.
There are two way of making a gas
A B
condense: cooling it or putting it under
C D
pressure.

d. Picture-cued tasks
The methods that are commonly used are:
1). Test-takers read a sentence or passage and
choose one of four pictures that is being
described.
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2). Test takers read a series of sentences or

definitions, each describing a labeled part
of a picture or a diagram.

e. Gap-filling tasks
An extension of simple gap-filling tasks is
to create sentence completion items where
test-takers read part of a sentence and then
complete it by writing a phrase.
For example:

Melani : Doctor, what should I do if I get sick?

Doctor : It is best to stay home and _______
You should drink as much _______
You should also _______________
This task requires both reading and writing
performance and has low validity of reading
test.

3. Interactive reading
Top-down processing is typical of such tasks,
although some instances of bottom-up performance may
be necessary
a. Cloze tasks
Cloze procedure is very popular for this task.
Cloze procedure itself can be divided into: cloze
procedure, fixed-ratio deletion (every nth word);
Cloze-procedure, rational deletion; c-test procedure,
and cloze-elide procedure.
1). Cloze procedure, fixed-ratio deletion (every fifth
word).

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Today I received some (1)______from Malaysia.

There were (2)_______beautiful stamps on the
(3)_______. I took them off (4)______gave them
to my (5)______. He collects stamps from
(6)_______over the world.

2). Cloze procedure, rational deletion (preposition and

conjuction)

Today I received some letters from Malaysia.

There were some beautiful stamps (1) _____ the
envelopes. I took them off (2) _____ gave them
to my brother. He collects stamps from all over
the world.

3). C-test procedure

Today I rece---- some letters fr-- Malaysia. There

were some beautiful sta--- on the envelopes. I to-
- them off and ga-- them to my brother. He col---
-- stamps from all over the world.

4). Cloze elide procedure

Today I received some letters from Malaysia.

There were some beautiful stamps on the
envelopes. I took them off and then gave them to
my brother. He just collects stamps from all over
the world.

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Cloze elide procedure has two disadvantages:

1). neither the words to insert nor the frequency of
insertion appears to have any rationale.
2). Fast and efficient readers are not adept at
detecting the intrusive words.

b. Impromptu Reading Plus Comprehension Questions

This is a typical reading comprehension task
where the test-takers are given a passage and answer
some questions.
For example:

Text 1 (question 1-10)

Sometimes mail arrives at the post office,

and it is impossible to deliver the mail. Perhaps
there is an inadequate or illegible address and no
return address. The post office cannot just throw
5 this mail away, so this becomes ―dead mail.‖ This
dead mail is sent to one of the U.S. Postal Service’s
dead-mail offices in Atlanta, New York,
Philadelphia, St. Paul, or San Francisco. Seventy-
five million pieces of mail can end up in the dead-
10 mail office in one year.
The staff of the dead-mail offices has a
variety of ways to deal with all of these pieces of
dead mail. First of all, they look for clues that can
help them deliver the mail; they open packages in
15 the hope that something inside will show where the
package came from or is going to. Dead mail will
also be listed on a computer so that people can call
in and check to see if a missing item is there.
However, all of this mail cannot simply be
stored forever; there is just too much of it. When a
lot of dead mail has piled up, the dead-mail offices
hold public auctions. Every three months, the public
is invited in and bins containing items found in
dead-mail packages are sold to the highest bidder.

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1. The best title for the passage is

(A). the U.S Postal Service
(B). staff responsibilities at the U.S Postal Service
(C). why mail is undeliverable
(D). dead-mail offices

2. According to the passage, how many dead-mail offices does

the U.S Postal Service have?
(A). 3
(B). 5
(C). 15
(D). 75

3. The word ―illegible‖ in line 2 is closest in meaning to which

of the following
(A). incorrect
(B). unreadable
(C). missing
(D). incomplete

4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a way that post

office staff members deal with dead mail?
(A). they search for clues
(B). they open dead mail
(C). they throw dead mail away
(D). they list dead mail on a computer

5. The word ―auctions‖ in line 16 is closest in meaning to

(A). meetings
(B). deliveries
(C). sales
(D). demonstrations

c. Question-Answer Tasks
This is an alternative task that a teacher can give
to his students. For example:

Open-ended reading comprehension questions

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1. What do you think the main idea of this passage

is?
2. What would you infer from the passage?

d. Editing (longer texts)

This technique is applied to longer passages of
200 to 300 words. The advantages are: authenticity
is increased, the task stimulates proofreading one’s
own essay, the test designer can draw up
specifications for a number of grammatical and
rhetorical categories that match the content of the
course.

e. Scanning
Assessment of scanning is carried out by
presenting test-takers with a text and requiring rapid
identification of relevant bits of information.

f. Ordering tasks
Sentence-ordering task

Put the following sentences in the correct order:

A. It was called ―The last Waltz‖

B. The street was in total darkness
C. Because it was one he and Richard had
learnt at school
D. Peter looked outside
E. He recognized the tune
F. And it seemed deserted
G. He thought he heard someone whistling

g. Information transfer: Reading charts, maps, graphs,

and diagrams
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Converting such nonverbal input into comprehensible

intake requires not only an understanding of the
graphic and verbal conventions of the medium but
also a linguistic ability to interpret that information
to someone else.
Reading a map is necessary to tell someone
where to turn, how far to go, and what place to be
reached.
4. Extensive Reading
Extensive reading applies to texts of more than a
page, up to and including professional articles, essays,
technical reports, short stories, and books. Some tasks
described in interactive reading can also apply here,
they are: impromptu reading plus comprehension
questions, short-answer tasks, editing, scanning,
ordering, information transfer, and interpretation.
The tasks are:
a. Skimming tasks
Like the previous category, skimming can
apply to a longer text. Readers read a text fast, try
to get a sense of the topic, the purpose of the text,
the organization, the view, etc. Then, the readers
can answer several questions such as:
 What is the main idea of this text?
 What kind of writing is this?
 What do you think you will learn from the text?

b. Summarizing and responding

Summarizing is one of most common tasks
given in extensive reading.
For example:

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Direction: Write a summary of the text. Your

summary should be about one
paragraph length, and should include
your understanding of the main idea
and supporting ideas.

Evaluating summary is difficult. The following is

the criteria for the evaluation of a summary. (Imao,
2001, p.184)

1. Express accurately the main idea and

supporting ideas.
2. Is written in the student’s own words;
occasional vocabulary from the original text
is acceptable.
3. Is logically organized.
4. Display facility in the use of language to
clearly express ideas in the text.

Summarizing requires a synopsis or overview of

the text, while responding asks the reader to
provide his or her own opinion on the text as a
whole or on some statement or issue within it.
In responding task, the students are asked to
write an essay based on an issue from the text, and
support their opinion with information from the
article and from their own experience.

c. Note-taking and outlining

These are included in informal assessment of
reading because it is difficult to control the
conditions and time frame for both techniques. A
teacher, perhaps in one-on-one conferences with
students can use students’ notes/outlines as
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indicators of the presence or absence of effective

reading strategies, and thereby point the learners in
positive directions.

F. Testing Writing
There are three genres of writing, they are:
1. Academic writing
o Papers and general subject reports
o Essays, compositions
o Academically focused journals
o Short-answer test responses
o Technical reports
o Theses, dissertations
2. Job-related writing
o Messages
o Letters/emails
o Memos
o Reports
o Schedules, labels, signs
o Advertisements, announcements, manuals
3. Personal writing
o Letters, emails, greeting cards, invitations
o Messages, notes
o Calendar entries, shopping lists, reminders
o Financial documents
o Forms, questionnaires, medical reports,
immigration documents
o Diaries, personal journals
o Fiction

Types of writing performance

1. Imitative Writing

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This category includes the ability to spell

correctly and to perceive phoneme-grapheme
correspondences in the English spelling system.
2. Intensive (controlled)
Meaning and context are some importance in
determining correctness and appropriateness, but
mostly focused on form.
3. Responsive Writing
The learners are required to perform at a limited
discourse level, connecting sentences into a
paragraph and creating a logically connected
sequence of two or three paragraphs.
4. Extensive Writing
It implies successful management of all the
processes and strategies of writing for all purposes,
up to the length of an essay, a term paper, a major
research paper, and even a thesis.

Brown (2004:221) mentions the micro and

macroskills of writing:

Microskills
1. Produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of
English.
2. Produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit
the purpose.
3. Produce an acceptable core of words and use
appropriate word order patterns.
4. Use acceptable grammatical systems (e.g. tense,
agreement, pluralization), patterns, patterns, and
rules.
5. Express a particular meaning in different
grammatical forms.
6. Use cohesive devices in written discourse.
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Language Testing

Macroskills
7. Use the rhetorical forms and conventions of
written discourse.
8. Appropriately accomplish the communicative
functions of written texts according to form and
purpose.
9. Convey links and connections between events,
and communicative such relations as main ideas,
supporting idea, new information, given
information, generalization, and exemplification.
10. Distinguish between literal and implied meanings
when writing.
11. Correctly convey culturally specific references in
the contexts of the written text.
12. Develop and use a battery of writing strategies,
such as accurately assessing the audience’s
interpretation, using prewriting devices, writing
with fluency in the first drafts, using paraphrases
and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor
feedback, and using feedback for revising and
editing.

Testing writing can be divided into four big categories

(Brown, 2004):
1. Imitative Writing
Many beginning level English learners, from
young children to older adults, need basic training in
and assessment of imitative writing the rudiments of
forming letters, words, and simple sentences.
The tasks are:
a. Tasks in (hand) writing letters, words, and
punctuation
For example:

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1). Copying
The test-takers read: Copy the following
words in the spaces marks

Bit bet bat but

___ ___ ___ ___

2). Listening cloze selection tasks

3). Picture-cued tasks
4). Form completion tasks
5). Converting numbers and abbreviations to
words.
Test takers hear: fill in the blanks with words

Test takers see:

9:00 ________ 4:45 _________
5/3 ________ 156 main st. ______

b. Spelling tasks and detecting phoneme-grapheme

correspondences
For example:
1). Spelling tests
2). Picture-cued tasks
3). Multiple-choice techniques
Test-takers read:
Choose the word with the correct spelling to
fit the sentence, then write the word in the
space provided.

The doorbell rang, but when I went to the

door, no one was ____________
a. Their c. they’re
b. There d. thair
4). Matching phonetic symbols.
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2. Intensive (controlled) writing

The tasks are:
a. Dictation and Dicto-Comp
Here, a paragraph is read at normal speed,
usually two or three times; then the teacher asks
students to rewrite the paragraph from the best of
their recollection.

b. Grammatical Transformational tasks

The tasks can be as follow:
 Change the tenses in a paragraph
 Change full forms of verbs to reduced
forms (contractions)
 Change questions into statement, etc.

c. Picture-cued tasks
It can be divided into:
1). Short sentences
2). Picture description
3). Picture sequence description

The tasks in controlled writing can be scored by using

the following criteria:
2 grammatically and lexically correct
1 either grammar or vocabulary is incorrect, but
not both
0 both grammar and vocabulary are incorrect

d. Vocabulary Assessment tasks

For example:
Test taker read:
Write two sentences, A and B. In each sentence,
use the two words given.
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A. interpret, experiment ______________

B. interpret, language ________________

e. Ordering tasks
Reordering words in a sentence
Test-takers read:
Put the words below into the correct order to
make a sentence

1). Cold/winter/is/weather/the/in/the
2). Doing/what/they/are

f. Short answer and sentence completion tasks

Limited response writing tasks
Test takers see:
Ratna : Who’s that?
Doni : __________________ Gina.
Ratna : where’s she from?
Doni : __________________ Bandung.

3. Responsive and Extensive Writing (open-ended

writing)
In this type of writing test, the testee is given a
freedom to express his ideas freely.
The tasks are:
a. Paraphrasing
In paraphrasing, the testee says something in
his own words, avoid plagiarizing, and offer some
variety in expression.

b. Guided questions and answers

The test makers ask several questions in order
based on a story/text given to the testees. Then,
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based on the answers, the testee can construct a

paragraph or an essay.

c. Paragraph construction tasks

1). Topic sentence writing
2). Topic development within a paragraph
3). Development of main and supporting ideas
across paragraphs.

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UNIT VI
ASSIGNING GRADES AND COURSE MARKS

A. Scoring tests
According to Green (1975: 159), scoring refers to the
process of checking the tests to determine the number of
correct and incorrect responses and assigning numerical
scores. These scores are called raw scores, and they indicate
the number of items that pupils have answered correctly. In
addition, there are also derived scores, such as percentiles
and standard scores, which are statistically calculated from
the raw scores.
Different types of tests can be scored in the different
manner. It is explained further as follow:

1. Objective Tests
Objective tests can be scored most quickly and
accurately of all the test types. If an answer sheet is
used for the test, a scoring key can be made by
punching out the correct responses on a cardboard
sheet, which fits over the answer sheets in such a way
that the pupils’ errors can be marked through the holes
in the cardboard.

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2. Essay Tests
Essay tests can be scored by using two kinds of
scoring methods: point-score method and sorting
method. Scorers should carefully prepare the keys in
order to improve the reliability. There is no doubt that
careless, cursory reading by the evaluator and lack of
clearly defined grading criteria have been major
factors contributing to the unreliability of the essay
test.

3. Performance tests
Since there are several types of performance
tests, the methods of scoring these tests vary.
Objective performance tests, such as the identification
test, can be scored in the same manner as the
conventional objective test. Usually the work-sample
test can also be set up so that it can be scored
numerically, when a specified number of points is
allotted to each work-sample station, pupils’ scores
can be compiled and handled in the conventional
manner.
When pupil products are evaluated, however,
the scoring procedure is different in that check lists
and rating scales are used to increase the reliability of
the evaluation.

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B. Assigning Grades
This section is focused on principles and methods of
grading.
Problems of Grading
There are several problems in grading that are needed to
be solved:
1. Course marks frequently do not reflect the actual
course achievement of individual pupils.
2. Teachers lack objective, clearly defined criteria for
assigning grades.
3. The halo effect frequently influences teachers to
grade those whom they like higher than their
achievement warrants.
4. Occasionally personality conflicts between a pupil
and his teacher cause the pupil to be unfairly
penalized when he is assigned a grade.
5. There is a tendency for male teachers to assign
higher grades to female pupils than to male pupils
for comparable achievement.
6. Course marks are often given on the basis of
insufficient data concerning the achievement of
pupils.
7. The grade may reflect a cultural bias detrimental to
minority group pupils.
8. The basis for assigning grades may not be clear to
pupils and parents.

General Principles of Grading

It might be well to mention some general principles that
teachers should follow when assigning marks to pupils:

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1. The course mark should accurately reflect the level of

achievement of each pupil in the class.
A mark should tell the pupil how successful he
has been in achieving the goals or objectives of the
class and in mastering the content area studied.
2. Class marks should not be used for disciplinary
purposes.
To correct the disciplinary infractions, teachers
should not lower the marks of pupils because it is not
effective to solve the problem.
3. Pupils should be acquainted with the grading method
that the teacher is using.
They should know which factors will be weighed
in grading and their relative importance.
4. Pupils should be permitted to know their grade
progress throughout the term.
Tests should be returned to pupils and discussed.
Then, they can make improvement from the errors
they made. Grades may also be posted periodically.
5. If the grades are to have comparability from one class
to another within a school system, it is essential that
there be staff consensus on the grading policy.
There should be agreement on the method of
reporting marks, the method of assigning marks, and
the relative weight of final examinations.
6. If the grading system is norm referenced, the grade
distribution will approximate the normal-curve
percentages.
7. If the grading system is criterion referenced, the
standards should be set at a level that most pupils can
reasonably be expected to achieve.

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Conventional Methods of Grading

It is necessary that a teacher be familiar with the
numerous methods of grading, and it is probably desirable
that he uses more than one of the methods in his classes. The
methods are:
1. Individual Standard
Grading based on an individual standard is
sometimes referred to as ability grading. An effort is
made through a standardized testing program to
determine each pupil’s relative capacity for learning,
and a standard of achievement appropriate to that
potential is set for each pupil in the class. Thus, for a
comparable grade, less achievement is expected of a
dull pupil than of a bright pupil.
2. Fixed Standard
With fixed-standard grade assignment, grades
are assigned on the basis of subject matter standards
which are set by the teacher and which represent, in
his judgment, appropriate levels of competence.
Furthermore, the most frequently used method
for assigning grades is to convert the raw scores into
percent scores and assign letter-grade equivalents.
The advantage of the fixed-standard is it gives a
generally understood meaning to the competence
levels that the different letter grades given in a course
imply. However, this method has two weaknesses: 1.
the standards are variable in that they are actually set
by individual teachers. Any teachers can change the
standards in his class without the immediate
consequence of more than minor repercussions. 2.
When the teacher holds too rigidly to a fixed standard,
he ignores the difference among pupils and among
classes.

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3. Group or Norm-Referenced Standard

Individual pupil’s achievement is compared to
his group or class rather than judged against a rigid
set of subject matter standards. With this method, a
curve is used as the basis for assigning grades.
This method has disadvantage that it tends to
overemphasize competition, which arises when pupils
vie with one another for the top ranks within the
group.

C. Conventional Methods of Assigning Course Marks

General Principles
A course mark represents a composite picture of the
grades that have been given on examinations and of the class
work during the semester. The assigned marks should be a
valid representation of the pupil’s achievement. It should be
relatively easy if the examinations are good and the class
works are graded carefully.
The following suggestions should be useful for teachers
in assigning marks:
1. Certainly teachers should not assign marks without
collecting sufficient data about the pupils’
achievement to permit a valid judgment to be made.
2. It is important that several achievement factors be
weighed in a course mark and that the pupil be aware
of the factors to be included as well as their relative
weight. Factors that should normally be weighed in a
course mark include (a) examinations, (b) daily
written assignments, (c) review or teaching tests, (d)
written research reports, and (e) oral presentations.
3. The final examination should have a significant
weight. In general, the final examination should be
assigned a weight of from one-fifth to one-third of the

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total mark, but the weight should vary according to

the course and the objectives of instruction.

Use of Median and Mode

Teachers are most familiar with the arithmetic mean as
the basis for assigning the course mark. However, in some
cases it can cause a poor representation of the pupil’s
achievement. For example, a pupil earns the following seven
scores─100, 95, 95, 90, 85, 80, and 0. He would get an
average score of only 78. Actually, his actual work is of A or
B caliber, but his mark based on the mean will probably be C.
That’s why some teachers avoid this difficulty by eliminating
one or two of the pupil’s lowest scores from the list to be
averaged.
Perhaps a better solution is to rely upon the median
rather than the mean as a basis for assigning marks. The
median is unaffected by extreme scores because it is the
midpoint of the distribution of scores. In the example above
the pupil’s median grade would be 90, which more truly
represent his actual achievement than does the mean of 78.
If there are numerous grades to be averaged, the mode
(most frequent score received by the pupil) is also useful,
although it is less reliable than the median as a measure of
central tendency.

Point-Score Methods
The point-score technique of assigning course marks is
useful in classes from the upper elementary grades through
the university. There are alternative methods for calculating
marks when using the point-score technique:
1. Cumulative-point score
It may be used with a curve. This method is
useful when some of the factors to be included in a
final mark are not readily assigned either a letter or
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numerical grade. For example, the daily class work

can quickly be evaluated as “unsatisfactory”
(symbol: ─ ), “satisfactory” (√), and “superior” (+).
After each pupil’s cumulative-point score has
been totaled, the mean and standard deviation
should be calculated and the final marks assigned on
the basis of the calculated curve.

2. Grade-point average
It is easier to use than the cumulative-point
score method and is a better system to follow in
most courses. With this system pupils are given
letter grades on all their assignments and
examinations, and the letter grades are translated
into the following point scale before being
averaged: A=4 points, B=3 points, C=2 points, D=1
point, and F=0 point.

D. New Methods of Grading

For many years, educators at the public elementary and
secondary schools and also higher education are finding that
they face the conflicting social mandates that they educate
pupils who in the past would not have competed successfully
within then group, and also that the graduate and certify the
level of competence of those pupils. Included in this group of
pupils are: (a) the culturally different, (b) the language
handicapped, (c) the educationally handicapped, (d) the slow
learner, and (e) the non competitive.
Two decades ago, the acceptable answer was to screen
out these pupils through academic failure and dropout, but
today these methods are increasingly unacceptable. As a
result, there is growing acceptance of individualized
approaches to instruction and assessment with heavy reliance

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upon behavioral objectives, performance-based instruction,

criterion-referenced measurement and grading, and
continuous-assessment procedures.

The following are the new methods of grading:

1. Criterion-Referenced Grading
The criterion or criteria of success are carefully
spelled out in terms of specified minimum levels of
acceptable competence, levels that can generally be
demonstrated in specific behavior or performance. The
emphasis is on successful performance, not failure, and
diagnostic measurement is used by the teacher at the
beginning to analyze pupil status and establish a base line
of competence.
During the instruction, formative measurement helps
in pacing the individual pupil’s progress, in determining
mastery of specified competencies or concepts, and in
recycling pupils through identified problem areas. At the
end of the instructional period, summative evaluation is
used to demonstrate the exit-level competence of each
pupil. At this point there are several options open to the
teacher (Green, 1975):
a. He may certify on the pupil’s record only the
specific competencies that have been mastered,
assigning no grade for unmastered competencies
requiring future instruction.
b. He may use a pass-fail grade, passing all who
demonstrate the minimum acceptable level of
competence.
c. He may give letter grades. Assigning A grades to
all who achieve the specified minimum
competence.

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d. He may use conventional methods of assigning

course marks.

2. Continuous-Assessment Methods
Particularly at the lower elementary level where basic
skills are stressed, continuous monitoring or assessment
of achievement is carried out. In this instance the record
of each subskill, for example, word attack skills in
phonics, is evaluated with frequent (daily) tests, and the
record is kept graphically with a continuous charting of
errors and successes.
This procedure provides both teachers and students
constant feedback concerning progress, a type of
feedback which may be more meaningful than a letter
grade.

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REFERENCES

Athanasou James A and Iasonas Lamprianou. 2002. A Teacher’s

Guide to Assessment. Sydney: Social Science Press.
Bachman, Lyle. F. 1990. Fundamental Considerations in
Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brown, H. Douglas. 2004. Language Assessment: Principles and
Classroom Practices. Longman: Pearson Education, Inc.
Fulcher, Glenn and Fred Davidson. 2007. Language Testing and
Assessment. An advance resource book. Great Britain:
MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin.
Green, John A. 1975. Teacher-Made Tests (2nd edition). New
York: Harper and Row, Publishers.
Harris, David P. 1980. Testing English as a Second Language.
New Delhi: McGraw Hill Hook.
Henning, Grant. 1987. A Guide to Language Testing:
Development, Evaluation, Research. New York: Newbury
House Publishers.
Hughes, Arthur. 1989. Testing for Language Teachers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, Scott. 1999. How to Teach Grammar. Edinburgh:
Pearson Education Limited.
Weir, Cyrill J. 1990. Communicative Language Testing. New
York: Prentice Hall.
Weir, Cyrill. 1993. Understanding and Developing Language
Test. New York: Prentice Hall.

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