3.1 Types of Testing

Direct and indirect testing: Direct testing provides information that is not going to change depending of the person answering it. Just one possible answer. Indirect is the opposite, being the answers different and unique.

Example: For direct is multiple choice and for indirect an open paragraph

Discrete point and integrative testing: Discrete test just one skill at the time, while integrative as its name says, blends them together.

Example: For discrete, fill the gaps. For integrative, listen to an audio and take notes.

Norm-referenced and criterion referenced testing: norm-referenced testing is used to make comparisons between students’ performance and the other one is used when we want to know if students are able to perform certain things.

Example: For norm reference we compare between the students who passed the test and those who doesn’t. For criterion, it is just a regular exam to say if they have the knowledge or not.

Objective and subjective testing: The scorer acts objectively or subjectively when revising.

Example: True or false statements are objective, while an open paragraph is subjective.

Computer adaptive testing: Used to collect data from scores.

Example: Use a computer to create a digital exam

Communicative language testing: used to evaluate the performing of communicative skills.
Example: The students listen to an audio and then explains orally the content of it.

3.1 Types of tests

There are different types of tests. The most important ones are:

Proficiency tests: This type of test was made to test people's abilities in a language and show their skills and performance of the language, no matter if they have a previous training in the subject.

A good example is the TOEFL test, which shows the proficiency in the English language. The equivalent of this type of tests in Japanese is the JLPT, made by the Japanese government.

Achievement tests: Are tests made by authorities to get feedback about students' performance and what they have achieved. There are two subcategories under this type of tests: final achievement and progress achievement. The first one is applied at the end of the course in order to know if the objectives were achieved, and the second one is applied in the middle of the course.

"Prueba ENLACE" is clear example of this type of tests. With that test, the Mexican government can get results from students all over the country, compare them and change the educational strategies in order to get better results next time.

Diagnosis tests: This test does not have an impact on the students' grades and it is made just to know the abilities of the students at the beginning of a course, so the teacher can know the level of the students before starting the classes.

Diagnostic tests are commonly used at schools in the first days of classes, so each institution has their own tests for this. Also, many teachers prefer to made their own diagnostic tests according to their own needs.

Placement tests: This kind of tests are used to "place" students in group according to their proficiency at the beginning of the course, so the content of this one can meet the expectations and needs of the students taking the course.

Many institutions have their own tests. However, some tests as CENEVAL are used not only to decide if the students are admitted into school, but to place them into groups. In the other hand, speaking about language courses, a tests which shows a result based on the Common European Framework for Languages can be used to place students into groups.

Reflection of Unit 2

In this unit the three of us learnt what informal and formal assessment was and how we may apply it in the future when we have our own classes, informal assessment could be really good during the first and last week of the semester as we can really see the progress in our students from we gave the first class to the last class, and with the help of formal assessment we can see, during the months, how are our students doing, the activity with the rubric in this unit was a little confusing for us, but we kind of got the gist of it with the presentation and overall we felt pretty good in this unit.

What is informal assessment for us

Informal assessment is a way of collecting data from our students, without a test or in any way of doing what is considered a formal assessment and it never has a grade, it has a scale that it might be given to the student so he/she can get better at that area. It can be done during only one class or during a period of time, it will never make formal assessment useless because informal needs formal and viceversa, to form a complete feedback that we can give to the student at the end of the class or the semester.

2.3 Rubric

2.2 Assessing Informally

Informal Assessment = 50%

Activities:

Reading:  15%

Ø  The student reads a short paragraph about the holidays and traditions of Peru, Canada, USA, etc

Ø  Then the student will highlight what he or she thinks is the most important holiday and tradition of the country that was chosen

Ø  Then the student will respond a question about why only that holiday or tradition is important for them

Writing:  15%

Ø  The students will try to interpret a person from a country and write a letter with the traditions and holidays from their respective country then do the act of sending it to another person from another country; it can be done with a classmate of the left or right.

Ø  The students will assume that they are the same person from before, but now, they will write a short paragraph about their favorite holiday or tradition from their country and do the same act, now with the classmate in the front or the back.

Speaking:  20%

Ø  The students will work in small groups, they are going to be a representative of a chosen country like if they were in a congress, they will talk about their favorite holiday or tradition in their country and why they feel that the holiday or tradition is part of the country.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

5- he/she reads aloud clearly. Good writing. He/she speaks the language without a problem.

4- He/she has some problems reading. He/she has little grammar or spelling errors when writing. Some trouble when speaking.

3- Reading is mildly difficult. Miss some words when writing. Needs to practice more the speaking part.

2- Reading gets difficult. Writing is very hard for the student. Moments of silence when speaking the language.

1- Many problems when reading, speaking and writing. Needs extra attention.

Activity 2.1 Assessment Plan

Unit 7 “Holidays and traditions”.- The students will be able to talk about their traditions in oral and writing forms using appropriate grammar and communication.

CONTENTS OF UNIT

VOCABULARY

·         Holidays

·         Traditions

·         Differences between countries

·         Use of Costumes

·         Dances

·         Union of families

LISTENING

·         Paying attention to the explanation

·         Listening for details or specific information

PRONUNCIATION

·         Repeating unknown words

·         Practicing the words that are difficult to pronounce

SPEAKING

·         Asking for other holidays

·         Asking for the favorite holiday

WRITING

Describing what is they favorite holiday and why

How are we going to assess?

Non- linguistic aspects:

Participation

Paying attention o the classmates

Being respectful

What would be assessed informally? (Through observation in normal classroom conditions)

Linguistic aspects

·         Writing

·         Grammar

·         Pronunciation

·         Speaking

·         Vocabulary

Non- linguistic aspects

·         Group work

·         Participation

·         Respect

What would be assessed formally (Through tests)?

Vocabulary: how they address to the holidays and other classmates

Writing: Spelling, use of punctuation.

What would be the weight? Represent it in percentages

1.      Informal: 60%

·         Writing                              10%

·         Grammar                           10%

·         Listening                           10%

·         Vocabulary                       15%

·         Pronunciation                   15%

2.      Formal: 40%

·         Grammar                          15%

·         Vocabulary                      10%

·         Writing                            15%