Discussion 7: Classroom testing

          I think that there is too much of an emphasis on testing and that classroom testing doesn’t always reflect a student’s abilities.  Some tests are not broad enough and ask very specific questions on small details instead of questions based on the overall topics.  I think most classroom-based tests that I took in my high school language class concentrated too much on reading, writing and grammar skills, and a little on listening skills.  I think having an oral component to every test is essential.  I think being able to speak and understand a foreign language is the most important aspects and ways to show that a student is learning the language.  I really like the idea of students making a portfolio of their progress through out a semester and having them write a reflection to explain why they included each artifact in their portfolio, these artifacts would include tape recordings, essays, projects, and maybe past test.  I think a portfolio like this would be a much better final exam, then a written final exam.

            The classroom-based tests that I took in high school didn’t show much and any student that just memorized a few new vocabulary words and grammar structures could have easily aced the test.  I think test need to show that the student can use the language in new and meaningful ways, not just with simple fill-in the blanks and matching type questions.  I do think that there are students who just don’t test well.  Traditional testing methods focus too much on small details such as grammar and unrealistic language use.  I really like the writing and mixed-skills formats.  The cloze adaptation is a better fill-in the blank method than just having a sentence and the verb right after because students do not even need to show that they understand the sentence to get the answer correct.  The partial conversations are also very good for testing reading and writing skills at the same time.  I think even novice students can have some open-ended questions and maybe have a word bank provided to give them cues on what vocabulary they should be using. Testing listening comprehension using a table that students have to fill-in and they have to listen for certain semantic cues.

            All language tests should be designed as hybrid tests, which purposefully blend grammar, context, structure and situation.  I think there should be open-ended (convergent) and one-right answer specific questions (divergent).  Chapter 9 points out that achievement tests which are the standard classroom-based test can be made to reflect proficiency goals as well.  It may be harder to grade an exam like this, but it will more accurately reflect the students’ abilities.  The focus needs to be on providing students with sequential, naturalistic discourse on tests and not a random sequence of single sentences or phrases.  People use language in so many different ways and this is what makes learning a second language so challenging, but also fun at the same time.  Students need to be exposed to as much authentic material as possible and do in class communicative activities that reflect meaningful language use.  The testing formats used should be ones that the student has encountered before in classroom or homework assignments and these assignments need to encourage students to use their new language skills.  Testing is a part of life, but tests in general should not focus solely on achievement because a student who doesn’t perform well on standard tests should not be considered incompetent.  Testing formats need to be adaptive and diverse enough that students aren’t just memorizing and filling-in answers without even thinking about real language use.