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CONCEPT AND MEANING OF EVALUATION, ERROR ANALYSIS AND REMEDIAL

TEACHING AND LANGUAGE TEST

Prepared by
Dr. Riyaz Ahmad Kumar
Coordinator
PG (English)
DDE
University of Kashmir
&
Mr. Showkat Rashid Wani
Coordinator
Bed DDE
University of Kashmir

CONCEPT AND MEANING OF EVALUATION

Evaluation is a continuous process which is an integral part of teaching. Evaluation is not merely
a test at the end of an English lesson or a unit. It is much more comprehensive term than either
test or examination. It goes on constantly during lessons and units and is clearly related to the
teacher’s goal and points of view an English teaching. Evaluation is a continuous comprehensive
experience and it is also cumulative.
Tests and examinations are the most widely used tools of evaluation. Test can used for grading
and classifying the students in any particular area but they cannot be the real interpretations of the
total assessment of personality of an individual. Examinations at the end of session can also be
used to check the comprehension, memorizing power or writing abilities and then arriving at
numerical or alphabetical ratings for report cards. This hinders much of the positive use f
evaluation as a means of teaching and learning.
Evaluation not only assesses the students but also the teachers – how far have they been able to
attain their pre-determined objectives. Thus evaluation is an integral part of teaching-learning
process. Evaluation is concerned with finding out how far students have learned as a consequence
of teaching.

Purpose of Evaluation.
Some of the useful purposes with evaluation serves are:
1. Evaluation makes it easier for the teacher to know his taught well and assessment and
judgment becomes more exact.
2. Continuous evaluation can set future goals and lead to best path.
3. Evaluation can help to find out difficulties, problems as well as gifted aptitudes among
students.
4. It is the best measurement of the value of teaching methods and procedures.
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5. Continuous evaluation gives a total picture of an individual right from his entry into a system
to his exit from the system.

ERROR ANALYSIS AND REMEDIAL TEACHING

English being a second language in the Indian situation still has a great importance because of its
being associate official language and above all an international language. Whatever the planning
or best efforts put in its teaching learning may be still then it has been found that there remain
some gaps which drive the learners of the second language to fall into errors. The individual
learners commit certain errors and distortions not exactly knowing where the error has crept in, in
his learning process. Certain loopholes noted by the teachers at an early stage are done away with
but certain errors may not be pointed out which go on with the learner and may in the long run put
him in some embarrassing situation.

Causes and Types of Errors.

Generally speaking pupils’ errors may be due to one or more of the following reasons:
1. Interference of the mother tongue.
2. Inadequacy in learning.
3. Over-learning or over-generalization of a rule ( e.g., mans for men)
4. Inefficient and defective teaching.
5. Unsuitable textbooks, inadequate help from teachers or parents, unfavorable atmosphere for
learning etc.
6. Sensory defects of vision and hearing
7. The errors can be broadly classified into two categories:
a. Speech Errors. Speaking and writing are active and expressive skills. There can be many
errors in writing like:
i. Grammatical errors.
ii. Structural errors due to interference of first language.
iii. Incomplete answers.
iv. Wrong answers.
v. Spelling mistakes.
vi. Punctuation errors.
vii. Weak in composing, organizing and reporting.
b. Speech Errors. It includes errors in spoken English, and errors in reading English. Errors
in this category may arise out of:
i. Mispronunciation due to effect of bilingualism.
ii. Proper stress and intonation missing.
iii. Wrong pronunciation of words due to incorrect production of sounds, vowel,
consonants and diphthongs.
iv. Stammering due to lack of confidence.
v. Shouting and not reading/speaking.
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vi. Lack of vocal expression and so on.

Some common Mistakes.

1. Sentences are being written as:
a. He go to the Shimla.
b. I did not went.
c. She as well you are busy.
2. Specimen of spelling mistakes.
a. Fation Feshion Fesion
b. Colleg Colege Collega
3. Mistakes while writing opposite genders:
Masculing Feminine
a. Pen Pencil
b. Dog Doggy
c. Flower Floweress
4. Mistakes while writing opposite numbers.
Singular Plural
a. Woman Womans
b. Sheep Sheeps
c. Children Childrens
5. Mistakes in spoken English.
a. Knife is pronounced as ‘kin-nife’.
b. Wrong is pronounced as ‘wa-rong’
6. Errors while inserting articles.
a. I saw a European entering an university.
b. He saw not a honorable man.
c. A man in mortal and an honesty is best policy.
7. Punctuation error.
Example;
they has played Together in infancy, they had worked Together in Manhood they were now
tottering about and gossiping away in the Evening of life and in a short time, they will probably
be buried together. In the neighboring churchyard;

Remedial Teaching.
The most important step now is to take necessary remedial measures in the light of pupil
performance. Teaching, evaluation and remedial measures are the three classic steps in any
teaching learning process. So the duty of the teacher is not merely to teach and test but to take
necessary remedial measures wherever and whenever required. The aim of this step is not just
revision of earlier work and check on it but analyzing errors and then applying the remedial
measures till the problem of students are done away with.
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A remedy has to be to based on an identification of the malady and its causes. The solution of the
difficulties arising out of errors has to be organized in various steps like:
1. Identification of the cases who have much difficulty and create errors more often.
2. Arranging remedial classes for such students in addition to the regular classes.
3. Changing of the previous strategies, molding and re-planning the lesson plans as per the need.
4. Switching on to situational teaching, use of substitution tables etc.
5. Preparing suitable assignments, worksheets, regular tests etc.
6. More practice and drill work to be organized in accordance with the difficulties occurring more
and more.
7. Remedial classes should always be handled by capable energetic, patient and imaginative
teachers.

CRITERIA OF A GOOD LANGUAGE TEST

Tests and examinations are important as far as learner’s career is concerned. Tests are to be
designed in such a way that they test the learner’s ability adequately and correctly. Some of the
main characteristics of a good test item are:
1. A good test includes only those items which have been taught by the teacher. The course to
be taught should be defined yearly with unitization and sticking strictly to the term and monthly
tests.
2. Tests and examination should strictly revolve round the aims of teaching English. We know
that we have four aims of teaching English
a. To enable the students to understand English when spoken.
b. To enable them to speak.
c. To enable them to read, and
d. To enable them to write.
3. Tests and exams should be carefully designed with examiner having clarity as to what a
particular question is framed to test. The teacher should not test knowledge or information
through English test paper. The questions should aim at testing the candidate’s real mastery
of structures and vocabulary items.
4. The test should be nether too difficult nor too easy. If the test is very difficult, then all students
would score low and no distinction will be made among good, average and weak students and
same will happen vice-versa.
5. The test should neither be too lengthy nor too short. If it is lengthy, it will not be completed
in given time and if very short, it will be completed before time.
6. The instruction in the test paper should be clear.
7. The language used in framing questions should be such that it leaves no room for any
ambiguity.
8. The answers should be fairly and easily scorable. It means that a test paper should have a
judicious combinations of the objective type questions and short answer type questions.
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9. In a good test in English due credit should be given to the work done by the students in the
class.

Types of Language Tests

Earlier the tests used to be of traditional style only i.e., more stress was laid on the written aspect
of language. Then came a period when the test was either oral or written. By testing the language
this way we can test the written skill, the spoken form and the oral reading but nowhere the aural
test is conducted. Latest researches reveal that aural tests can be conducted quite easily and
appropriately.
Written tests, aural-oral tests – all the types of tests can be used to test the objectiveness of teaching
English. Depending upon the length of the answers and the objectivity in scoring, the tests are
usually of following types:

Written Tests.
1. Essay Type. Essay type tests are also called as traditional tests. These tests are facing a lot of
criticism these days as far as languages are concerned. The essay type tests can measure verbal
fluency, skill if expression, organization of thoughts and attitude of examinees towards
problems and subjects considered in the class. it however lacks some of the qualities of a good
measuring tests.
2. Objective Type tests. Objective type tests have become very useful and popular these days.
The objective type tests have a direct relation and objectivity in scoring. The student has to
point out the correct option among given few options and since only one answer is correct, the
subjective judgment of the examiner cannot vitiate the scoring. The tests are highly reliable
so far as scoring is concerned and it has no scope for favoritism to anybody. The objective
type tests have certain advantages over the traditional essay type tests. The former can cover
large area of the syllabus in prescribed short time schedules and they can be scored easily and
objectively.
The only disadvantage of the objective type test being that they leave a scope for guess work.
The objective type tests are in the form of:
a. Multiple Choice Questions. This type of tests comprises of several alternative forms the
examinee has to select one that matches the statement most correct. This type is very useful
because it has less chances of guess work and intelligent thinking is encourages. For every
question three or four alternatives called distracters are given and only one option is correct.
For example:
Select the word or words that spell correctly:
i. Biassed.
ii. Biased
iii. Baissed
iv. Baised
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b. Matching type. The matching type test is a type of recognition test ‘what goes with what’.
Here usually two mismatched columns are given and the examinee has to compare and
match the correct one in one column with its match in the other column.
For example, match the words with their meaning.
Word Meaning
Relax Think
Ponder Respected
Assimilate Life Down
Revered Just
Judicious Absorb
c. Fill in the blanks type. These types of questions either may or may not have the given
options. Here, the students has to fill in the either correct grammatical structures without
any clue or assistance or the examinee may have to fill the blanks from the context/prose
already taught in the class.
For example, fill in the blanks by inserting suitable articles:
i. She is __________ untidy girl.
ii. English is _______ language of _____ people of England.
iii. Yesterday _______ Europeans came to _______ office where I work.
d. Yes – No type. By asking yes – no answer type questions, the teacher can check the
students grasping things correctly. These types of questions can be scoring only for those
who really know about the content completely.
For example, write ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as question demands:
i. One who knows to speak English can definitely write it well. ( )
ii. Both English and Hindi are considered as out national languages. ( )
e. Completion type test. This type is a means to recall information in an English content
and completing the given statements/words etc
For example, complete the following sentences:
i. Where there is will, there _______________________.
ii. The patient had died __________________________.
iii. He is not an ______________________________.
3. Short answer type tests.
a. Very short answer type tests. In the short answer type tests, such questions are asked
which demand short answers. T he length of the answer in most cases is a matter of
subjective judgement. The test items in this type expect brief – to the point, limited short
answers. Thus these tests teach the art of preciseness and still elegant. The preparation for
tests on the part of teacher becomes easy and the students can also score well easily.
The short answer type tests combine the advantages of objectivity and wider coverage of
the syllabus of the objective type tests and some amount of comprehensiveness of the essay
type tests. Thus these are the reliable tests.
b. Oral tests. Oral tests are used to test the reading, comprehension, and expression abilities
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i. Reading. The teacher resorts to individual reading by each child individually and
checks out the correct pronunciation, intonation, rhyme and rhythm, alliteration etc
and gives scores accordingly.
ii. Comprehension. The comprehension may be of following types:
1. Auditory comprehension. The teacher reads some content and asks questions
about the content only.
2. Reading comprehension. The teacher tests it either by loud reading or silent
reading of the students and the questions are asked.
3. Picture comprehension. A picture/flash card is shown to the students and then
they have to answer some questions based on the picture.
4. Story comprehension. the teacher narrates a story and then checks students
comprehension by asking certain questions.
iii. Expression. The expression can be tested in various ways. Either the teacher may
perform some actions and ask the students to describe them, or the students may be
asked to dramatize a situation/action or mimic a character and so on.
Oral testing enables a teacher to test the sound stress, pronunciation, fluency
intonation etc quite informally.
c. Testing Listening Comprehension. Listening comprehension testing is one of the most
important tests for really testing the learning of English language. This sort of skill testing
has to be very creative and it will definitely vary from place to place and situation to
situation and will also depend on how resourceful and creative an English teacher is. Some
examples for testing listening comprehension are:
Example 1.
A teacher may give some command and see whether the students are responding correctly.
If so, it means that they are listening and grasping the words with comprehension like:
1. Open your book.
2. Close your notebooks.
3. Rameez, shut the door please.
4. Beeta, open that window, and so on.
Example 2.
The teacher may talk about something and then show the students some pictures. In these
pictures, only some will be relevant to the speech delivered by the teacher. The teacher
may ask the students to point/sort out the relevant pictures.
A good teacher can create many situations to test listening comprehension.