EL F KANTARCIO LU FOIA-12 APRIL, 2019 OVERVIEW TEST - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

ELİF KANTARCIOĞLU

FOIA-12 APRIL, 2019

OVERVIEW

• TEST SPECIFICATIONS
• CONSTRUCTING LISTENING TESTS
• SCORING DECISIONS – SOME CONSIDERATIONS
• A REVIEW OF TASK TYPES
• THE USE OF THE CEFR

LISTENING

• SAID TO BE THE MOST DIFFICULT SKILL TO LEARN AND TEACH?

BUT

• MOST WIDELY USED ONE

TEST SPECIFICATIONS

CONTEXT VALIDITY (WEIR, 2005)

TEST TAKERS?

COGNITIVE PROCESSES? SCORING?

WEIR, 2005

PURPOSE

• MEASURING AT A SINGLE LEVEL OF PROFICIENCY?
• EASIER TO SAMPLE FROM THE TARGET LEVEL COMPETENCIES/OPERATIONS
• MEASURING AT MULTIPLE LEVELS OF PROFICIENCY?
• SAMPLING DECISIONS MORE CRITICAL

TEXT DIFFICULTY IN READING VS. TEXT DIFFICULTY IN LISTENING?

• NOT POSSIBLE TO LOOK BACK AT THE TEXT

AS A WHOLE

• LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTY
• INTERACTION BETWEEN SPEAKERS, IF ANY
• MONOLOGUE? DIALOGUE? CONVERSATION

AMONG MORE THAN 2 PEOPLE?

• VOICES?
• CLEAR ROLES? MOTHER AND CHILD? 2

CLASSMATES?

• TIME AND CONTEXT/SETTING
• PLAYED ONCE? TWICE?
• PACE
• LENGTH
• TOPIC FAMILIARITY
• ABSTRACTNESS
• LENGTH OF UTTERANCES
• INFORMATION DENSITY AND COMPLEXITY
• REDUNDANCY
• REPETITION
• EXEMPLIFICATION

CONSTRUCTING LISTENING TESTS

TEXT CONSTRUCTION ITEM CONSTRUCTION

• REFLECTING REAL LIFE TASKS AS MUCH AS

POSSIBLE

• BACKGROUND NOISE
• SCRIPTED OR SEMI-SCRIPTED
• AVOID PASSAGES ORIGINALLY INTENDED

FOR READING

• INSTRUCTIONS PRINTED AND RECORDED
• RECORDING QUALITY
• ITEMS FROM RECORDED TEXT NOT THE

SCRIPT

• TEXT MAPS
• KEEP ITEMS SUFFICIENTLY FAR APART
• QUESTIONS SHOULD NOT BE ANSWERED

FROM GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

• LEXICAL OVERLAP
• VISUAL INPUT?
• SOME TOPIC RELATED INFORMATION AT THE

BEGINNING OF THE TEST

WHICH STAGE TAKES PLACE FIRST?

Text construction Item construction

WHICH STAGE TAKES PLACE FIRST?

Item construction Text construction

Text Item Text Item

SCORING

SCORING

• PENALISING LEARNERS FOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR IN LISTENING
• WEIGHTING – EQUAL POINTS FOR ALL QUESTIONS?
• STUDENTS SHOULD UNDERSTAND HOW THEIR TESTS WILL BE SCORED?
• PRIOR TO THE TEST
• DURING THE TEST
• NUMBER OF CORRECT RESPONSES SHOULD BE LIMITED FOR A GIVEN QUESTION
• MAKES MARKING EASIER AND FAIR
• WHAT ARE YOU MEASURING?

TASK TYPES

TASK TYPES

• MC
• READING LOAD?!?!
• T/F
• READING LOAD?!?!
• THE TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN
• SUITABLE AS A LISTENING TASK?

TASK TYPES

• GAP-FILL
• WRITING LOAD?!?!
• THE NUMBER OF WORDS EXPECTED NEEDS TO BE SHARED WITH THE STUDENTS
• SPELLING
• WORDS SPELT OUT
• GRAMMAR

MARKING BECOMES MORE SUBJECTIVE

• SENTENCE COMPLETION
• CLEAR CONTEXT
• ONE OR A LIMITED NUMBER OF CORRECT ANSWERS

THE USE OF THE CEFR

PROGRESSION OF PROFICIENCY IN CEFR (FIELD, 2019

THE DUTCH CEFR CONSTRUCT PROJECT (ALDERSON ET AL. 2006)

THE AIM IS

• TO DEVELOP A TOOL TO HELP DESCRIBE THE CONSTRUCT OF READING AND LISTENING

UNDERLYING TEST ITEMS, TASKS, AND WHOLE TESTS IN RELATION TO THE CEFR

• CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INPUT TEXT
• CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ITEM

IT WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE THE CEFR CV WAS RELEASED

• THE GRID

B1

I CAN UNDERSTAND THE MAIN POINTS OF CLEAR STANDARD SPEECH ON FAMILIAR MATTERS REGULARLY ENCOUNTERED IN WORK, SCHOOL, LEISURE, ETC. I CAN UNDERSTAND THE MAIN POINT OF MANY RADIO OR TV PROGRAMS ON CURRENT AFFAIRS OR TOPICS OF PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL INTEREST WHEN THE DELIVERY IS RELATIVELY SLOW AND CLEAR. SCRIPT

• SPEECH ON FAMILIAR MATTERS
• FACTUAL INFORMATION
• MAIN MESSAGES REPEATED
• PROGRAMS IN THE MEDIA

OPERATIONS

• MAIN IDEAS / MESSAGES

RECORDING

• RELATIVELY SLOW AND CLEAR STANDARD

SPEECH

B2

I CAN UNDERSTAND EXTENDED SPEECH AND LECTURES AND FOLLOW EVEN COMPLEX LINES OF ARGUMENT PROVIDED THAT THE TOPIC IS REASONABLY FAMILIAR. I CAN UNDERSTAND MOST TV NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS PROGRAMMES. I CAN UNDERSTAND THE MAJORITY OF FILMS IN STANDARD DIALECT.

SCRIPT

• ANY SPEECH ON REASONABLY FAMILIAR TOPICS, INCLUDING

EXTENDED SPEECH

• COMPLEX ARGUMENTS
• LECTURES
• PROGRAMS IN THE MEDIA AND FILMS

OPERATIONS

• MAIN IDEAS AND SPECIFIC INFORMATION
• COMPLEX IDEAS AND LANGUAGE
• SPEAKER’S VIEWPOINTS AND ATTITUDES

RECORDING

• STANDARD DIALECT
• IDIOMATIC USAGE
• REASONABLY NOISY ENVIRONMENTS

REFERENCES

• ALDERSON ET AL. (2006). ANALYSING TESTS OF READING AND LISTENING IN RELATION TO THE

COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE DUTCH CEFR CONSTRUCT PROJECT. LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT QUARTERLY, 31(1) 3-10.

• FIELD, J. (2008). LISTENING IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM. CAMBRIDGE: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

PRESS.

• WEIR, C. (2005). LANGUAGE TESTING AND VALIDATION: AN EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH. OXFORD:

PALGRAVE.

• FIELD, J. (2019). RETHINKING THE SECOND LANGUAGE LISTENING TESTS FROM THEORY TO
• PRACTICE. BRITISH COUNCIL MONOGRAPHS 2. SOUTH YORKSHIRE: EQUINOX PUBLISHING LTD.

THANK YOU 