In the past,large scale and standardized testing organizations have implemented language assessments aimed to assess the English language proficiency of students aiming to study in higher education.These high stake tests play a vital role when decisions made on individual performance and its outcome is considered as a diagnosis of the test takers’ ability.Among these performance, the International English Language Testing System ( IELTS) writing score is considered by most universities a benchmark against learners success in higher education.This has increase the concern of non-native (NNS) raters reliability and their consistency in rating scores in countries these tests are adopted. Although these NNS raters are not qualified as IELTS examiners,they are occupying IELTS preparation language classes in these countries. As a wash back to the assessment,the curriculum of such courses is shaped by how the raters perceive the assessment criteria. Various factors underlying the variabilities in NNS rater rating include rater characteristics such as experience, background knowledge and cultural background. Recent studies claimed that raters ego, style and their intellectual ability to memorize can be accounted for the raters diverse actions during the rating process (Lumeley,2002; Wiseman, 2012). However, the process of rating assessments was suggested by Barkaoui (2010), that rating is a decision making process which evolves interaction between the rater and also the rating scales. Therefore, its influence on raters behavior due to the variety of scales use in different tests and raters individual differences in scales interpretation may interfere with how they derive at a score. This paper aims to review studies of... ... middle of paper ... ...SL essay evaluation: The influence of sentence-level and rhetorical features. Journal of Second Language Writing P, 3-17. McNamara, T., & Roever, C. (2006). Validity and the social dimension of language testing. Language Learning, 56, 9-42. Upshur, J. A., & Turner, C. E. (1999). Systematic effects in the rating of second-language speaking ability: Test method and learner discourse. Language Testing, 16(1), 82–111. Weigle, S. C. (2002). Assessing writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Winke, P., Gass, S., & Myford, C. (2011). The relationship between raters' prior language study and the evaluation of foreign language speech samples. TOEFL iBT® Research Report. Princeton, NJ, Educational Testing Services. Wiseman, C. S. (2012). Rater effects: Ego engagement in rater decision-making. Assessing Writing, 17(3), 150-173.
Metalinguistic awareness increased within the ESL students, therefore their phonics increased as well and they scored higher than some L1 students. Students who know multiple languages at an early age are proven to do better in both languages than students who only know one language.
The lack of appropriate assessment strategies unfairly puts cultural and language diverse students at a disadvantage. These types of tests are geared towards assessing the majority of the population, not the minority. This poses a serious problem when trying to correctly identify students who may have learning or behavioral problems (Ralabate, & Klotz, 2007).
After taking the Personal Survey of Assessment Literacy, I learned a lot about myself and what I do know about assessments, and what I don’t. This survey allowed me to reflect on the process that I take to plan, develop, and administer tests in my class and what I need to do with the results. When I went through the criteria of all of the topics in the survey, I honestly did not know what the survey was talking about or what it meant. This was really concerning to me because I like to think that I do a pretty good job when it comes to instruction of my class and how I assess their knowledge of the material. I learned from this survey that there are a lot of things I do well during assessments and that there is still a lot that I need to learn to be an effective classroom leader. After scoring the survey, I noticed that I scored myself the highest in the section of During Test Administration with a perfect average score of 5 and scored an average of 4 in the section After Testing. The two lowest sections I scored in where in the General Considerations with an average score of 3.3 and in the section of Prior to Test Design with a score of 3.5.
“More than half of public school students in New York City failed their English exams,” (Medina). There are so many students that are continuously failing these exams and being held back from the next grade level or from graduating high school. These exams are doing more harm than good since students are failing to actually learn information. The students are so worried about passing the exams that they just try to re...
Standardized testing is an unfair and inaccurate form of judging a person’s intellect. In many cases, people are either over- or underrepresented by their test scores, partly because America does not currently have the capabilities of fairly scoring the increasing number of tests. Additionally, many students today are not native English speakers, and their capabilities could be grossly underestimated by these types of exams. Although President Bush is a supporter, many influential people are against this bill, including the largest teacher’s union in the United States, which has formed a commission in opposition to the President’s proposal.
The same words used to describe a person could produce very different ratings of that person depending on the order in which the words were presented. When adjectives with more positive meaning were given first followed by words with less positive meaning, the participants tended to rate that person more positively, but when t...
In the past, assessments were popularly conducted for the purpose of accreditation, but with the growing change in the quality of education, it has become evident that assessments aren’t just products to qualification but as Sieborger (1998) identifies, is that assessment is the process of gathering and interpreting knowledge to make valid and justifiable judgements about the learners performance and the assessors ability to transfer and establish knowledge to the learners.
The IELTS test is designed to assess students’ competence in English language in an integrated skills; reading, speaking, writing and listening. It is an obligatory exam for registration in many universities as well as it is a certificate to raise their luck in gaining a job. The listening test is particularly aimed at measuring the ability of students understanding of English. In most cases Universities offer preparation course for the students to develop their skills further, in order to prepare them, the exam centres are well equipped with computers, microphones and other recording devices. This paper will accentuate on evaluating an IELTS listening test in relation to its reliability, validity, authenticity, instructiveness, fairness, impact and wash back. The particular test to be evaluated was taken from IELTS official practice material updated in March 2009.
It is observed that raters adopt a different approach while rating women and men. For example, it
In today’s highly competitive job market it is extremely challenging and important for businesses to fill a vacancy with the right candidate (Cann, 2013). Due to high demand of potential candidates, developing a portfolio of employability skills which include psychometric testing is considered important in every workplace (Mills et al., 2011). Thus, I recently took three practice psychometric tests on verbal, numerical and inductive/logical reasoning. This essay is a reflection of my personal experience of psychometric testing. First, I will talk about what the literature comments on in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of psychometric testing. Then, I will assess whether literature reflects
Abrahamsson, Niclas, & Hyltenstam, Kenneth. (2008). The robustness of aptitude effects in near-native second language acquisition. Studies In Second Language Acquisition, 30(4), 481-509. doi:10.1017/S027226310808073X
In the twentieth century, the avoidance of the using L1 in classrooms dominated teachers’ minds; as well it was implemented in many policies and guidelines of language teaching (Cook, 2001). Thornbury (2010) listed a set of arguments against using L1 in L2 classrooms mainly for that the translation of L2 into another language will play negative effects on students’ learning process. He pointed out that the use of L1 will result learners to have a cognitive dependence on their mother tongue at the expense of developing independence TL learning. Although the two language systems are not equivalent in many aspects, students may have an awareness of the notion of equivalence of the two languages if translation serves to convey meanings. Some argue that the use of translation to convey the meaning of the TL is more efficient and more memorable. However, Thornbury (2010) sees the opposite. He stated that the simple and direct way of translation will make L2 knowledge less memorable since the process lacks mental efforts in working out meanings.
Many parents concerned about negative effects on child development. However, second language does not have any negative effects such as child’s speech delay or language confusion. Let’s look at r...
Based on the Programme for International Student Assessment’s 2012 results (PISA), the United States has ranked 30th in comparison to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) participating countries. The United States, a country that has once held the ideal for educational standards, has now ranked just slightly above other countries that are just being developed. By using high-stakes test statistics to drive America’s educational standards, classrooms are beginning to lose their meaning of helping students to learn and grow as individuals. Because of classrooms just teaching the test are beginning to lose the meaning of helping students to learn and grow as individuals, results of high stakes testing which can be affected by the minutest details, are not a reasonable way to judge overall student competency; a better alternative would be by performance based assessments. “Test developers are obliged to create a series of one-size-fits-all assessments. But, as most of us know from attempting to wear one-size-fits-all garments, sometimes one size really can’t fit all.” (Popham, James W.). High stakes tests are not a reasonable way to judge overall student competency because educators can not expect to have accurate and precise results in just one sitting for 12 years of learning. Although tests pose an important role in education, they should not be given such high stakes of determining if a student should be rejected from a college “based solely on the fact that their score wasn’t high enough” (Stake, Robert.).
Walker, Cheryl. “Foreign Language Study in Elementary School.” Wake Forest University News Releases. Wake Forest University, 26 June 2004. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. .