Helen Strong

MSc English Language Teaching Management

Language Testing

The question

Analyse and critically comment on a test with which you are familiar, along the four following parameters: management of the test development phase; management of test administration; reflection of appropriate standards (technical and ethical); and value for money. State whether you would recommend this test for wider use.

The extract

Tests serve to provide information which leads to evaluation and therefore decision-making. In education, tests provide feedback to management, teachers, students and other interested parties about the effects of a learning programme, which in turn can lead to improvements being made to the programme. Tests can also be motivational for teachers and students, since they provide a goal to aim towards. This point could prove invaluable in situations where the student is not familiar with the concept of learning a new skill, particularly a foreign language where progress is often perceived by learners to be painstakingly slow if not non-existent.

One of the drawbacks of testing is the difficulty in designing tests which measure performance, particularly in a subject such as language learning, where it is hotly debated whether communicative competence, for example, can be adequately measured. In order to overcome this problem, a number of measures can be taken to promote what is termed "beneficial backwash", i.e. ensuring the test has a positive effect on teaching and learning. Reference to such measures will be made throughout this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse a progress achievement test which is to be introduced in Audi Akademie, a training institution in southern Germany, in 2005. The test was written to accompany a new syllabus, which was developed for a range of language levels. The specific test being examined in this paper will be the Beginner level test. Following a background to the syllabus and test, the test will be analysed with respect to its development, administration, reflection of appropriate standards and value for money. The paper will conclude with a recommendation as to whether the author feels this test could be more widely used in other institutions.

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