Designing Classroom Language Tests Jacob Luth Questions to

Designing Classroom Language Tests Jacob Luth

Questions to Consider • What is the purpose of the test? • What are the objectives of the test? • Do my test questions match the purpose and objectives of the test? • How will you decide the test items? • What kind of scoring, grading, or feedback is expected?

Types of Test • • Language Aptitude Tests Proficiency Tests Placement Tests & Diagnostic Tests Achievement Tests

Language Aptitude Exams • Category I language: 95 or better[4] (French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish) • Category II language: 100 or better (German, Indonesian) • Category III language: 105 or better (Dari, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi/Urdu, Persian, Punjabi, Ru ssian, Serbo-Croatian, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, and Uzbek) • Category IV language: 110 or better (Modern Standard Arabic, Pashto, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) • US Military

High Stakes Proficiency Exam • http: //www. ets. org/toefl/ibt/about/who_acc epts_scores? WT. ac=toeflhome_whoaccepts_1 21127

Clear Objectives • • What do you want to test? Ex: I want to test the Define your objectives. Example: Students will use the progressive future tense in written discourse

Designing Multiple Choice Items • • • Simple item to create but difficult to do well Students can guess Students can cheat -High Practicality High Reliability

Multiple Choice Exams • Design each item for a specific objective • Make the stem as simple as possible • The intended answer is the only correct one

Grading • How will you score the exam? -- based on your intentions What is important?

Feedback • One number (0 -5) • Sub scores • Listening and reading section – Signals for what is correct – Side comments

More Feedback • Interview or Presentation Scores for each element on a rubric A checklist of what elements that need to be included Essay Written comments Rubric Ongoing and post conferences Self assessment

Design Your Own Quiz!