Assignment 1
Select an assessment task used in your language teaching context you are familiar with. Outline the basic principles underlying the assessment. Discuss whether the task meets the qualities of effective assessment in terms of reliability and validity and whether it successfully measures your learners’ language ability. If not, what are some of the practical considerations to enhance its effectiveness?
I. INTRODUCTION
At my school, the Asian International School (secondary school), students usually take English tests. The format of the tests for grade 6 is based on Cambridge English: Key, also known as the Key English Test (KET). Therefore, this paper will consider the KET (listening paper), which, at A2 level, is formally recognized
…show more content…
In contrast, according to Brown (2004), there are five principles of language assessment: Practicality, Reliability, Validity, Authenticity, and Washback. Due to the time constraints, I just focus on validity and reliability.
2.1.1. Validity
According to Gronlund’s viewpoint (as cited in Brown ,2004), validity is ‘the extent to which inferences made from assessment results are appropriate, meaningful, and useful in terms of the purpose of the assessment’. Viewing from the similar perspective, Hughes (as cited in Brown, 2004) mentioned that Validity means discovering whether a test ‘measures accurately what it is intended to measure’. And there are five types of evidence of validity (Brown, 2004, p.22):
1. Content validity: any attempt to show that the content of the test is a representative sample from the domain that is to be tested (to achieve content validity in classroom assessment: test performance directly).
2. Criterion-related evidence: is the extent to which the ‘criterion’ of the test has actually been reached. It includes two
…show more content…
How to increase validity and reliability
According to The Council of Europe (2001, p.188), subjectivity in assessment can be reduced, and validity and reliability thus increased by taking steps like the following:
- Developing a specification for the content of the assessment, for example based upon a framework of reference common to the context involved
- Using pooled judgements to select content and/or to rate performances
- Adopting standard procedures governing how the assessments should be carried out
- Providing definitive marking keys for indirect tests and basing judgements in direct tests on specific defined criteria
- Requiring multiple judgements and/or weighting of different factors
- Undertaking appropriate training in relation to assessment guidelines
- Checking the quality of the assessment (validity, reliability) by analysing assessment data.
3. Language ability
According to Bachman (1990), language ability includes the knowledge/competence of language and the capacity for implementing this competence. It is the ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom.A framework of communicative language ability (CLA) includes three components: language competence, strategic competence, and psychophysiological mechanisms (Figure 3.1) (Bachman, 1990,
The fifth claim is Australia should seek permission to use the UK Government’s Phonics Screening Check structure and item generation database (Buckingham, 2016). Evidence to support this claim is the report of The UK Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. The author provided so various kinds of details about the implementation of UK Phonics Screening Check, why it should be implemented, what the method of the application is, how the validity and the reliability of the test is. Also who should be included and excluded from the analysis, and how the method can improve student’s literacy level in the country. She assumes that this approach can be implemented in Australia, and Australia does not need to create its assessment independently. She assumes that even though Australia and United Kingdom has different policy context, the rationale is the same and by conducting a pilot study before implementing the Phonics Screening Check nationally, it will allow any technical
1) I believe that my theoretical curves don’t really match like figure 4 but then again it somewhat does. My immigration curve and extinction curve do hit each other once, but not like in figure 4 where they hit each other twice. Also my extinction curve is going up like in figure 4 and my immigration curve is going down just like in figure 4. So I guess you could say that my curves represent the curves on figure 4.
After an awkward silence, Mulally stood up from his chair. Then he began clapping. He didn’t just clap politely. He applauded vigorously. Mulally turned and addressed Fields, “Thank you, Mark, for the transparency. Mark, that is great visibility. Now, is there any help you need from any member of the team?”7 People began to offer suggestions and assistance. A constructive discussion ensued. In the past, executives might have engaged in the blame game. Now they rushed to help. Soon the Edge launch got back on track.
Hope you had a great week, I enjoyed reading your post and agree that we as individuals need to have accountably for our own health and well-being, in particular, making healthier choices. Below you will find my response to this week’s post.
Validity refers to ability of an instrument to measure the test scores appropriately, meaningfully, and usefully (Polit& Beck, 2010). The instrument has been developed to serve three major functions: (1) to represent a specific universe of content, (2) to represent measurement of specific psychological attributes, (3) to represent the establishing of a relationship with a particular criterion. There are three types of validity; each type represents a response to one of three functions
Dillon, Naomi. “LANGUAGE TEST. (cover story).” American School Board Journal 192.8 (2005): 10. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 18 Feb. 2001.
Well lets see, “ how will I apply the tips I have learned in this week's assignment?” (unit 1 homework) There is a lot of tips and information in the paper I just read. It is all very good information and helpful, I know it will come in handy not only in this assignment but in all my work throughout this program. I learned the different ways people learn and think and how to work at being those kinds of thinkers and apply that to the papers I write. There is a lot of information out there, knowing where to look is very important and knowing how to incorporate your research is a must. Knowing your subject in and out and the proper way to do so is also important, to write a well informed paper. What I have read will help me with that also.
...e into consideration the characteristics of young English language learners and their language development, the learning conditions that are most effective for these learners, and the kinds of instruction that best meet their needs.
The different types of assessments are Formative assessment; which is data gathered while teaching or program implementation is occurring; changes to instruction and programs are made while they are in process (pp. 17). The advantages of Formative assessment are the link to appropriate curriculum during a learning activity to improve learning and The disadvantages of Formative assessment are that the teacher is evaluating students according to the same criteria. Authentic assessment is determining developmental progress of children through a variety of means, including observation and special problems or situations (pp. 19). The advantages of Authentic assessment are intellectual accomplishments to student learning and achievement. The disadvantages of Authentic assessment are having to create the curriculum to follow from the assessment.
There are different methods and uses of assessment that are used in the Education system, the reason for this, is that not all assessments serve the same purpose for its methodologies, the feedback that learners receive needs to correspond with the purpose of the assessment. (Sieborger, 1998)Thus educators tend to make use of multiple assessments to establish a fair and just measurement of the learner’s capability. This essay will extensively describe and analyse the tensions between the two methods of assessment: Summative assessment and Formative assessment and further reflect on their ability to integrate.
This test was developed in correspondence with the increased need for competitive skills in English language. It is mostly taken by those who need to certify their level of English proficiency for reasons such as education, vocation and immigration. Quoting the IELTS Handbook (2006:4) Green (2007) claims that the test tests the language ability of candidates who may need to study or work in countries where English is the language of communication. The test generally measures a person’s ability to communicate in English across several skills including Listening on which this paper will focus on.
First and foremost, Jones and McLachlan (2009) argue that the acquisition of a new language within the classroom setting is best achieved when key linguistic competences such as, speaking, listening, writing and reading are interlinked to create a whole language experience (Jones and Coffey 2013; Kirsch 2008). Gardner (1983) researched into cognitive processes and suggested in his seminal theory that there is the existence of seven forms of intelligence, which are regularly targeted within the MFL lessons, such as kinaesthetic, visual, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, logical and verbal-linguistic learning (Goswami and Bryant 2007; Jones and Coffey 2013; White 2005). This suggests that if teachers provide opportunities for the pupils to access and participate in the learning, and make available ample opportunities for pupils to contribute their understanding (McCallum et al. 2000; Pachler et al. 2007) that children can be assessed using different assessment strategies suited to the learning style (LGfL 2011). As a result the scheme of work (Appendix 1) adopts a range of kinaesthetic, visual, audible learning strategies throughout and using a range of resources also allows assessment to consider the l...
By involving referees, a researcher candidate can get a clear understanding about the items used as well as the validity of such items to the content of the research conducted. In this study, the researcher sent his questionnaire to some PhDs holders in the field of applied linguistics and English language teaching (ELT) to get highly valid and reliable data. At the first step, the researcher discussed the questionnaire items with some PhD candidates in the field of ELT. Then, after that discussion, the researcher sent the questionnaire items to Dr. Paul John Kurf, Ph.D., Academic Specialist, Michigan State University, UAS. Dr. Paul sent back the questionnaire with some comments and suggestions, which the research took into account and modifying the draft of the questionnaire. The researcher then sent the questionnaire to Dr. Reza Mobashshernia who holds PhD in Applied Linguistics and is employed by English Department, at Islamic Azad University, in Chaloos, IRAN). He is one of the Iranian PhD experts in the field of Applied linguistics. Dr. Mobashshernia was asked to check the content validity of the items as they related to the research questions. The researcher 's items designs got a high score of validity from Dr. Mobashshernia, that is, a score of 96%. The data related to that score is included in the appendix. The researcher also sent the
Validity applies to whether a test is measuring what it is supposed to measure, meaning a test for reading comprehension isn’t actually measuring listening abilities. There are three different forms of validity that further address the assessment: face validity, content validity, and criterion-related validity. Face validity refers to whether the test appears like that type of assessment should, content validity makes sure the questions apply, and criterion-related validity compares the test with outside criteria. Major standardized tests such as the TOEFL and IELTS are often considered valid, but many disagree as there can always be issues when building the test. Reliability is another contested element of assessment.
...t/cupidlucid/3-factors-affecting-l2-learning-presentation, n.d). Just like in intelligence, successful language learners are not necessarily strong in all the components of aptitude.