EFL Testing and Assessment for University Prep Teachers

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, the students are expected to have a sound knowledge of:

1. Fundamental concepts:

A. Definitions of terms: test, measurement, evaluation, assessment,

B. Test Functions: achievement, proficiency, placement, diagnostic, etc.

C. Test References: norm and criterion referenced

2. Characteristics of a Good Test

1. Qualities of a good item: item facility, item discrimination, choice distribution
2. Qualities a good test: reliability, validity, usefulness

3. Test Design: planning, writing, administering, scoring
4. Assessment and its varieties: Classroom, Authentic, and Dynamic assessment
5. Technology in testing and assessment

Course Conduct

For several reasons, this course is quite different from the traditional classes you might have been experiencing in your university courses. First it is an online course and we will communicate in a virtual world. Second is my own teaching philosophy where the focus is learning by exploring and doing. I would like to strongly urge you to believe that learning does not happen through reading from books, taking notes from lectures, memorizing the content, and giving memorized knowledge back to get a passing grade. Learning is a highly intellectual activity that should provide the learner with a sense of achievement, self-confidence, and motivation to implement the acquired knowledge in real world of practice. Therefore, the requirements of this are intended to help you improve your assessment knowledge to assess your students’ achievement and make fair decisions on them.

Active class participation is one of the most important requirements of this course. More specifically, the class will be managed in a discussion format rather than a lecture format. Except for some short necessary lectures, the class will focus on the questions you have and problems you face. All of us should be prepared to help the class by discussing the concepts, issues, arguments in articles, or on power point slides.

PLEASE read the instructions very carefully. Feel free to contact any time you feel you need assistance.  

Finally, Learning objectives of this course are intended to help you develop your own framework of language testing and assessment that is appropriate for your own context of teaching. To help you achieve such an ambitious goal, a variety of readings, tasks, and assignments are planned to help you achieve these goals. Some of the assignments are on a weekly basis and others continue through the term. Some of them need to be completed individually, others in pairs, and still others in groups. I hope you will perform the tasks with pleasure and joy of learning rather than with reluctance or with having a feel of mere requirement that need to be fulfilled.  The following is the details of course requirements. 

1. Self-Assessment

You should complete and send it via email before the class starts. I will align the course materials based on your feedback on your needs.  Please do it carefully since the purpose is to better serve your needs. There are certain concepts that you may be familiar that does not necessarily mean you know them. To make sure that you certainly know it, try to define it for yourself. If you could not, it means that you need help. You will take the same self-assessment at the end of the course to see how much you have accomplished.  

2. Reflective Essays (RE)

This is an individual task. You need to reflect upon class procedures and share your feelings with the instructor. Your comments are highly valued and may lead to procedural changes in class conduct. REs are due by midnight of the day after the class.  Please remember that simply writing a paragraph or two as a review of the content of the sessions will not satisfy this requirement. All REs should address the questions posed in the instructions (uploaded on to the drop box). Please read the instructions VERY CAREFULLY and follow them accordingly. It is highly recommended that you take notes after each session and put them together when you prepare your RE. Please also note that the more logical criticisms you offer, the more valuable and effective your RE will be. In fact, RE’s are one of the best ways of expressing your thoughts and communicating with me directly and privately.  

3. Thought Provoking Questions (TPQ)

TPQ is a one of the main assignments of this course. Most of the class discussion, hands on tasks and content of the quizzes will be taken from the TPQs. You need to upload your questions to the platform we will create and we will all discuss, comment, and or provide guidelines on the platform. I will give you information about the platforms we will use in the first session of the class.

The TPQs should lead to a discussion rather than just seek information, e.g., asking a question like “what is reliability?” would not be acceptable because the answer can be directly found in the readings. On the other hand, a question like “why do we need high reliability for a test?” may serve as a good TPQ since it requires thinking and providing explanatory response. This assignment works on the first come first served policy. That is, when the first person uploaded the questions, the others may not repeat or paraphrase those questions.

4.  Assignments (A)                                                       

A1

This assignment is an assessment instrument development project. You will design, develop, review, administer if you can, and analyze the data on a language achievement test for a group of learners you are working with. You will complete this assignment in FOUR phases:

A1a: Project Proposal  

A one page proposal where you will explain the teaching scenario for which the test will be designed, and the initial ideas about conceptual make up of the test. You need to identify who your tests will be designed for and where you would administer it. A suggestion for this task would be the following:

1.  Select a chapter or a unit of a textbook you have taught or are teaching.
2. Analyze the linguistic and comunicative elements of the unit.
3. Provide justification for your choice

            A1b: Test specifications

You will submit specifications for the test that include the definition of the construct, description of the test, detailed explanation of the elements to be tested, type and number of items, administration procedures, and scoring criteria.

A1c: Test preparation

You will develop a test of 15 items for your proposed test specifications.  Your test should cover grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension (5 items each).  You may use different item types such as MC or constructed response, etc.

A1d: Piloting /Reviewing and revising

You will pilot your test to around 10-20 students (if you can), score, analyze the results, and revise the items based on the information obtained from the analysis of your data. Then you will put all three sections together and prepare the final report of around 5 pages. The final report should include introduction, body, conclusions, and recommendations sections. You need to include all versions of your test, scored sheets, and other necessary parts in the appendixes of your report.

A2. Test Evaluation (TE)

Select a local test (preferably one of tests in your workplace), perform a critical review on its content, and write a report on it.

You may want to use the model offered. 

5. Quizzes

I am not an exam type person. In my view, exams, especially the final exam, may contribute to memorizing the materials, but they certainly do not contribute to sustained learning.

There will be 2 quizzes on the dates specified in the syllabus.

The content of the quizzes will be based on the class materials. The questions will be selected from the scenarios and TPQs prepared by the students. The questions will be of problem solving type. That is, you will be required to read some scenarios, identify the problem, and offer appropriate solutions. It also means that you do not need to memorize the materials because the answers will not be directly in the materials, rather you need to use the information to solve the problem.  

Course Assessment & Grading

Grading in this course is based on the assessment of students’ performance during the course. Further, students will be assessed by their improvement during the course rather than their prior knowledge. Finally, assessment will follow criterion-referenced system rather than norm referenced system. The following is the allocation of points to various class requirements of the course.

1. TPQs
2. Reflective essays
3. Assignments
4. Quizzes

Required and Recommended Texts

Farhady articles

Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press.

Green, Anthony (2014). Exploring Language Assessment and Testing. Routledge Publishers.

Supplemented by some articles

I will share all the materials with you in the drop box.