DIAGNOSTIC TESTING

AND REMEDIAL
TEACHING

Speaker:
Dr. Satinder Dhillon
Assistant Professor
Khalsa College of
Education,
Amritsar.
Diagnosis means the careful and extensive
observation
In Medicine
Diagnosis refers to careful and extensive
observation of the patient under controlled
conditions
In Education
Diagnosis refers to the process of determining
the nature and causes of the educational
difficulties
WHY DIAGNOSTIC
TESTING

?
Q. Why a student is subjected to repeated failure in a
particular subject?

Q. Why a student is feeling difficulty in learning a particular

subject or concept ?

Q. Why is he not attending the classes in a particular subject?

Q. Why does he create fun or problems in the class?

Q. Why does he hate a particular teacher and his/her subject?

Diagnostic Testing may be defined
as testing or evaluation programme
carried out by a teacher for
diagnosing the nature and extent of
the learning difficulties and
behavioural problems of an
individual student or group of
students alongwith the inherent
causes for chalking out suitable
remedial programmes aimed to
help them in getting rid of their
difficulties and problems.
Phases of Diagnostic
Testing
PHASE-I
Identifying the students who are having trouble or need
help
PHASE-II
Locating and identifying the areas of learning difficulties
(determining the specific nature of difficulties)
PHASE –III
Hypothesizing the probable causes for the weaknesses and
difficulties
PHASE-IV
Applying remedial teaching
PHASE-V
Evaluating the outcomes of remedial teaching
PHASE-I

Identifying the students who are having

trouble or need help through

 Achievement tests
 Homework and assignments
 Informal classroom evaluation
 Observation
 Interview
 Personality inventories
PHASE-II

Locating and identifying the areas

of learning difficulties
It is very essential to find out the particular
area where the difficulty lies or the particular
concept where the learner commit errors. To
locate and identify the areas of learning
difficulties leads to diagnostic testing.
PHASE –III

The probable causes for the weaknesses and

learning difficulties may be

 Irregular attendance
 Inattentiveness of the student during teaching learning
process
 Physical illness
 Faulty study and work habits
 Insufficient practice
 Feeling of helplessness
 Complexity of the subject matter
 Behaviour of the teacher
PHASE-IV
Applying remedial teaching

The corrective work or instructional

material designed for helping the students
in getting rid of their common or specific
weaknesses or learning difficulties is known
as remedial teaching.
Remedial materials prepared should meet the
following criteria:

Must be self directive

Must permit individual rates of progress
Must provide readable and comprehensible written
directions
Must provide a wide range of difficulty
Must be designed to correct the pupils' individual
difficulties
Must encourage systematic recording of evidence of
pupils’ progress
Above All
Remediation should be accompanied by strong
motivational programme
PHASE-V

Evaluating the outcomes of remedial

teaching

The process of diagnostic testing should not end

at remedial measures. The effects or outcomes of
remedial teaching should be then evaluated to
see whether or not the desired success has been
achieved.
 Diagnostic Testing and
Remedial Teaching Cycle
Identifying
Hypothesizing Remedial
Weaknesses
the Probable Evaluating Success
and Learning
Causes Teaching
Difficulties

Lack of
success
thus the main
aim of
diagnostic
testing is
to analyse not
to assess
Construction of Diagnostic Test
Points to be kept in mind while preparing
diagnostic test

 Focus should be on particular learning area or

specific problem
 Should keep in mind the individual difficulties of

the students
 Test items should cater to varying abilities of the

students
 Consideration of maturity level, age, class etc.
 Steps for Construction of Diagnostic
Test

Three Phases:

 Planning Phase
 Construction Phase
 Final try out (Administration and interpretation)
Planning Phase
It involves
 Identifying the areas of weakness or learning
difficulties
 Isolating a unit, sub-unit or concept for
diagnosing in depth
 Content Analysis

 For Determining the pre-requisite behaviour

 For determining the expected behavior outcomes

 Deciding about the nature of the items of the test

Construction Phase

It involves
 Planning and preparation of the test items
(Preliminary Draft)
 Writing and editing of the test items
 Try out of the preliminary draft
 Item analysis
 Formulation of the final form of the test (Final
Draft)
Final Try Out
(Administration and Interpretation)

The following points need to be kept in view:

 The first task of the teacher is to win the confidence of

the students and reassure them that test is to help
them in the improvement of their learning rather than
for declaring pass or fail.
 It should be administered in a released environment.
 Students should be seated comfortably.
 Students should be asked not to consult each other
while taking the test.
Final Try Out
(Administration and Interpretation)
If any student is not able to follow something, he
should be allowed to seek clarification from the
teacher.
 The teacher may ensure that the students taking
the test attempt all questions.
 Time schedule should not be enforced strictly, if
any
 If any student takes a little more time, he should be
allowed to do so.
A SAMPLE DIAGNOSTIC TEST IN MATHEMATICS
A SAMPLE DIAGNOSTIC TEST IN MATHEMATICS
Error Analysis
Error analysis stands for the analysis of
the errors committed by the students with
a purpose to

 To diagnose their weaknesses and learning

difficulties
 To frame a suitable remedial programme
Error Analysis
Remedial Teaching in
Mathematics
 Case of an elementary class student

 Concept : Multiplication
 Error committed

4x1=5 or 5x1=6
 Error Analysis
 lacking in terms of the understanding of
the basic concept of multiplicative identity
i.e
nx1=n
 lacking in terms of the identification of the

sign of addition and multiplication

Remedial Teaching in
Mathematics
 Remedial Programme
 Use visual presentation material
 Use concrete aid material
 Practise as below

4x =4
5x =5
x1 =5
Remedial Teaching in
Mathematics
 Concept : Sets
 Error committed
Let A = {4, 5, 6}, B = {8, 9}
AUB = {4+8, 5+9, 6+0}
= {12, 14, 6}
 Error Analysis

The student was ignorant about the concept

of sets. He has mixed the union (U) of sets
with addition. He is also ignorant about the
mathematical symbols. So he had
committed errors in applying these symbols
in questions.
SOME PARTICULAR EXAMPLES FROM RESEARCH WORK
DONE AT M.Ed LEVEL
A student belonging to average intelligence of score 10 was
selected. This particular student has given the definition of set
as:
“Collection of elements is known as set.”
He had solved the another question as:
(-6) x [5 + (-8) + (-3)] x (-4) x [-7 + (-3) – (-2)]
= (-6) x [5 + (-8) + (-3)] x (-4) x [-7 + (-3) – (-2)]
= (-6) x [5 – 8] + (12) x (-7-3-2)]
= (-6) x (-3) + (12) x (10 - 2)
=18 + 12 x 8
=30 x 8
=240 Ans
COMMENT
The student was ignorant about the concept of sets. The student
lacks understanding in solving arithmetical operations. He has no
knowledge of the operation of brackets and of dealing with signs
while solving problems involving brackets.
Another student belonging to below average
intelligence score of 6 was selected
The 6th sum solved by the student is as follows:
If x = 5, y = 3 and x  y
Then x < y and y > x.
Comment
The student was ignorant about the mathematical symbols. So he had
committed errors in applying these symbols in questions.
Another sum solved by the student is as follows:
7x – 25 = -4 (given x=3)
7(3) x– 25 = -4
21x – 25 = -4
-4x = -4
21x = 21
x=1
COMMENT
The student lacks understanding of solving the mathematical equations. He is
also ignorant about how to substitute the values in a given equation.
REMEDIAL MEASURES

 The students should be given sufficient

practice in solving simple problems
themselves.

 Simple to complex procedure should be

followed in teaching.

 A thorough checking of the note books of

the students should be made by the subject
teachers.
REMEDIAL MEASURES
 A systematic procedure should be followed in teaching the
techniques of problem solving.
 Remedial work should be given in small doses and should
be checked carefully to suggest the next exercise. It should
be so organised as to give a sense of achievement to the
students with poor performance in mathematics.
 The overall low performance of the students on the
diagnostic test speak of poor teaching of the subject in
schools. There is a dire need that basic concepts of
mathematics should be make sufficiently clear to the
students.
 There is a dire need to construct diagnostic tests in
different topics of mathematics so that the basic
understanding of different concepts may be diagnosed or
checked.
Educational Implications

 Diagnostic tests should be used to analyse

and diagnose the weaknesses and difficulties
of the students in the learned and taught
material.

 Diagnostic testing should provide a variety of

exercises and problems in somewhat
restricted range and instructional objectives
thereby giving students a considerable
opportunity to commit errors that will be
indicative of their potential deficiency.
Educational Implications
 A diagnostic test not only reveal that a pupil is weak or
deficient in any particular subject as in the case of
achievement test, but also point out what areas are weak.
Thus diagnostic testing should be undertaken to pinpoint
the area, type and nature of errors committed by students
in a particular area.

 Diagnostic testing should be such that it should yield

results that would be comparable over a period of time and
groups of students.

 Diagnostic test should be sufficiently precise to note

progress during small units of time.
Educational Implications
 Diagnostic testing should be done to give proper
attention to identify the causes of learning
difficulties and weaknesses and to plan suitable
remedial measures so that more effective
learning may result.

 Remedial work should be given in small doses

and should be checked carefully to suggest the
further work. It should be so organised as to give
a sense of achievement to the students with poor
performance in a particular subject.
Educational Implications
 Diagnostic testing should be done to explore the
fundamentals of basic concepts which form the basis of
other topics by diagnosing the various errors committed by
the students.

 Diagnostic testing should also be done to identify the

students of superior ability. Frequently the superior children
who seem to do an adequate job with all phased
instructions will show even better achievement if some
attention is paid to differential abilities, they may have
with in an area.
THANKS