A Practical Guide to Language Assessment
Description
An essential resource on effective language assessment, invaluable for a new generation of teachers and education researchers
A Practical Guide to Language Assessment helps educators at every level redefine their approach to language assessment. Grounded in extensive research and aligned with the latest advances in language education, this comprehensive guide introduces foundational concepts and explores key principles in test development and item writing. Authored by a team of experienced language teacher educators, this book addresses the potential impacts of poorly designed tools and prepares teachers to make informed, effective assessment decisions.
Perfect for developing test blueprints and crafting effective assessment tools, including those for young learners, A Practical Guide to Language Assessment bridges the gap between theory and practice to provide the real-world training educators need to successfully navigate the complexities of modern language assessment. Clear and accessible chapters highlight the critical role of well-designed assessments, emphasize the importance of selecting appropriate tools to accurately measure student proficiency, and discuss recent innovations and emerging needs. With practical examples and a focus on current innovations, including 'ungrading' and the use of AI, A Practical Guide to Language Assessment:
- Explains the foundational concepts of language assessment with practical examples and clear explanations
- Bridges theoretical principles with practical applications, enabling educators to create effective test blueprints and assessment items and tasks
- Provides up-to-date coverage of timely topics such as the integration of AI in assessments and the ethical and legal considerations of language testing
- Features a wealth of in-depth examples of how theoretical concepts can be operationalized in practice
A Practical Guide to Language Assessment is an essential read for students in language education, as well as teachers, assessment managers, professional development trainers, and policymakers in language program evaluation.
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Persons
Ildiko Porter-Szucs is Professor of ESL and TESOL at Eastern Michigan University, a K-12 certified ESL and German teacher, and co-founder of the Polish Language Center of Ann Arbor. She has extensive experience teaching Polish, Hungarian, German, and English to diverse age groups in public schools, language schools, corporate settings, refugee programs, and higher education. She spent four years working for a high-stakes standardized testing organization.
Cynthia J. Macknish is Professor of ESL and TESOL at Eastern Michigan University. She has taught at a range of levels in several countries, including Canada, the Bahamas, and Singapore, where she taught pedagogy and assessment courses to pre- and in-service teachers at the National Institute of Education. Cynthia was also a certified IELTS examiner for 14 years.
Suzanne Toohey is Supervisor of Instruction and Pedagogy at Oakland Schools. She has taught ELs for seventeen years, with her passion for second language acquisition ignited during her service as a Peace Corps volunteer. She has published work in the Detroit Free Press and MITESOL Messages as well as for TESOL Press and the National Association of English Language Program Administrators.
Content
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
1 Concepts 1
2 Qualities of Test Usefulness and the Assessment Use Argument 31
3 Test Design 51
4 Crafting Assessments 79
5 Tools of the Trade 123
6 Assessing Young Learners 143
7 PK-12 in the United States and Canada: Assessment Is Not a Dirty Word 157
8 Assessing Exceptional Language Learners 177
9 Assessing Listening, Viewing, Representing, Speaking, and Pronunciation 193
10 Assessing Reading, Vocabulary, Grammar, and Writing 225
11 Grading, Evaluation, and Feedback 261
12 Ethics, Fairness, and Security 285
13 Technology for Language Assessment 295
14 Improving Assessments Through Statistics 313
15 Conclusion 331
Appendices 333
Appendix A: Diagnostic Test (Pre-Test) 333
Appendix B: Achievement Test (Post-Test) 339
Appendix C: Answer Keys 345
Glossary 347
Bibliography 355
Index 377
Chapter 1
Concepts
Chapter Overview
We begin this chapter with a diagnostic test (refer to Appendix A) that covers content from the entire book. Take it in a quiet setting, without external assistance. Your aim is to gauge your existing knowledge to set effective learning goals. After the self-assessment, engage in value-clarification exercises. Reflect on each question individually before discussing with others.
To effectively use assessment language in this book, clarify commonly confused concepts and terms. This will enable categorization of assessments into different types.
1.1 Chapter Objectives
- Express teaching and learning beliefs and align them with beliefs about English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL: English as a Second Language [ESL] and English as a Foreign Language [EFL]) or foreign-language (FL) testing and assessment
- Explain important assessment concepts and terminology
- Evaluate assessment practices in an ESL/EFL/FL setting you are familiar with by applying to it each of the key terms in this chapter
- Distinguish between different types of assessment
- Distinguish standards-based from standardized assessment
STOP How assessment literate are you? Before reading this chapter, consider how much background knowledge you bring. Go to Appendix A and take the diagnostic quiz. After checking your answers, set learning objectives for yourself for the rest of the book.
1.2 Aligning Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Beliefs
In the following Think-Pair-Share value-clarification exercises, you will have the opportunity to verbalize your teaching and learning preferences on one hand and your assessment preferences on the other. You will also attempt to align them and consider potential conflicts between them. One question at a time, reflect on the issues. For example, if you believe that good teaching involves task-based learning, is your preferred assessment method, fill-in-the-blank grammar exercises, effective for this? Capture your thoughts in writing. Next, pair up with another teacher and discuss your thoughts. Once you have completed the first exercise, repeat the steps for the second and third exercises.
Think-Pair-Share 1.2a Value-Clarification Exercise-Part 1
Think back to the best and worst teachers who have ever taught you. What teaching strategies and techniques did they use? Make a list of the qualities that contributed to your judgment about them. What kind of teacher do you wish to be? Discuss.
Think-Pair-Share 1.2b Value-Clarification Exercise-Part 2
Think back to your most and least favorite ways of being assessed? What made them so? What goals did each of these ways try to achieve? Did these ways have any unintended consequences? To what extent did these forms of assessment contribute to your learning the subject matter? Discuss.
Think-Pair-Share 1.2c Value-Clarification Exercise-Part 3
Consider again the kind of teacher you wish to be. What assessment methods or tools can you employ to stay true to your pedagogical goals? What assessment methods run counter to your goals? Discuss.
Now that you have had a chance to explore your beliefs of teaching, learning, and assessment, consider the beliefs of the following pre- and in-service teachers. As you read, think about how internally consistent each teacher's beliefs are. Pay particular attention to how well each teacher's beliefs about teaching and learning match the needs of the students. Then compare how each teacher's beliefs about assessment match the teaching and learning beliefs and the needs of the students. How can you explain any inconsistencies you may find?
Teacher Profile: Han Mei Yin
Han Mei Yin tutors EFL students in China. Her students range in age from 8 to 18 years. They are motivated to study with Han Mei Yin to improve their grades in school, score well on the national college entry exam (Gaokao), and occasionally to improve their overall language proficiency.
Han Mei Yin wishes for her students to be able to communicate in English around the world. She believes teachers should develop not only their students' language proficiency but also their cultural competence, critical thinking skills, and autonomy. She's also intrigued by content-based instruction.
According to Han Mei Yin, assessment should show her students' progress. It should consist of various item types such as multiple-choice (MC) and short answer.
Teacher Profile: Kwang Bai
Kwang Bai teaches EFL students in a school in South Korea. His students range in age from 12 to 18 years. In his classes, he focuses heavily on accuracy to prepare his students for a national college entrance exam. For one year, he had an English teaching assistant co-teach his class, whose presence shifted the emphasis slightly onto communication.
Kwang Bai believes that the most effective and meaningful learning takes place when teachers, as facilitators, guide their students based on the students' needs. He wants to create a safe learning environment for the students and allow them to practice authentic language.
He knows that assessment affects what and how to teach. Assessments need to be practical for large groups of students but ideally should also allow for students to perform in various situations.
Teacher Profile: Joe Tremblay
Joe Tremblay teaches newly arrived immigrant adults in a community program in Canada. His students are developing language skills for immigration and employment. Joe Tremblay's philosophy of teaching and learning is guided primarily by his respect for his students. He asks his students whether they are learning English to find a job, to talk to their children's teachers at school, to write college essays, or for some other purpose. He feels it is his duty to teach the students what they want to learn.
Joe Tremblay assesses his students by asking for their opinion on their learning. He asks whether they think they are improving, whether the method of instruction is helpful for them, etc.
Teacher Profile: Steffi Wagner
Steffi Wagner teaches German in the United States to students aged 6 to 18 years. At the two schools where she teaches, world languages are taught through Comprehensible Input (CI) (Krashen 1982). Steffi Wagner's students across Levels 1-6 are a combination of heritage-language learners and those who are interested in the sciences and business. Her teaching philosophy favors the creation of a low-anxiety, input-rich environment, prioritizing listening, reading, and having fun. She shelters vocabulary but not grammar (Hedstrom 2017). Productive skills (speaking and writing) and grammatical accuracy emerge as the students are ready.
Steffi Wagner assesses her students' listening and reading comprehension by focusing on accuracy, while their speaking and writing skills by focusing on their fluency. Her beliefs are grounded in the idea that when students are motivated and eager to use the language, accuracy emerges naturally.
1.3 Concepts and Terminology
We need a common language to talk about assessment. Some terms will be new to most while others may appear to be familiar. We say appear to be because many related terms are widely used, yet poorly understood.
These include
- testing
- measurement
- assessment
- evaluation
In illustrating the relationship among these terms, a common representation uses concentric circles. Testing is the most specific term at the center, followed by measurement, which is a broader concept encompassing testing. Assessment is the broadest term, covering both testing and measurement.1 Each of these terms can be followed by the step of evaluation. We would also add another step: feedback. These terms will be explored in this and subsequent chapters.
The narrowest term is testing. Testing is the systematic administration and collection of instruments of learner (test taker [TT]) performance. Examples include the administration of tests with both high stakes and low stakes. High-stakes tests, in other words those that have important consequences for the TT, include the International English Language Testing System (IELTS 2024), Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English (ECPE), or the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI 2024a), to name a few. These tests can determine employment, college admission, immigration, and certification. Low-stakes tests, such as in-class pop quizzes or chapter exams, may affect a course grade, but they carry fewer consequences for learners.
To measure something means to apply a scale or measuring instrument to the targeted object by skilled users of the instrument. Language assessments measure students' and TTs' performance in the target language. Measurement, then, "is the process of quantifying the observed performance" of TTs (Brown and Abeywickrama 2010, p. 4). Measurement of receptive language, for instance, may include the administration of an MC vocabulary test (Internet-Based Test of English as a Foreign Language [TOEFL iBT] and the TOAFL test of Arabic) or of matching names to pictures following verbal commands (Cambridge English's Pre-A1 Starters). The responses are then scored by computer or a human, based on an answer key. Productive language includes the writing of...
