Post on 28-Nov-2014
description
TESTING GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
Daniel F. Cali O.
CONTENTS:1. Grammar
1.1 Why test grammar?1.2 Specifications1.3 Sampling1.4 Items1.5 Scoring
2. Vocabulary2.1 Why test vocabulary?2.2 Specifications2.3 Items2.4 Testing production ability
GRAMMAR
Times have changed…
Past Present
Language skills
Grammar
Times have changed…
Past Present
Language skills
CA: e.g. EBP
Grammar
WHY GRAMMAR?
“[…] gramatical ability, or rather, the lack of it, sets limits to what can be achieved in the way of skills performance.”
Existing gaps in students' gramatical repertoires…
Writing specifications
Achievement tests
• Straightforward
Placement tests
• All the structures
Proficiency tests
Sampling
Specific structur
es
Most importa
nt structur
es
ItemsTEXT
GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT
NATURAL LANGUAGE
Corpus based examples…
Items
Techniques
Gap filling
Paraphrase
Multiple choice
CompletionProduction Production
Production
Recognition
Gap filling
• Idea:One correct answer!
Examples:
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I am going to travel to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I will take my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I will go with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We will buy one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
WILL VS. GOING TO
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
will help you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What are you going to do tomorrow? I am going to visit to my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it is going to rain.
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I will phone you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we ____ (buy) a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
WILL VS. GOING TO
• 1. Next summer, I _____ (travel) to New York. My sister lives there and she bought me a plane ticket for my birthday.
• 2. It's getting cold. I _____ (take) my coat!
• 3. Are you going to the cinema? Wait for me. I ______ (go) with you!
• 4. Those watermelons seem delicious. We______ (buy) one!
• 5. Mrs Simons, those bags seem quite heavy. I
____ (help) you carry them.
• 6. What ____ (do) tomorrow? I ___ (visit) my family.
• 7. Look at those black clouds. I think it ______ (rain).
• 8. Bye Bye Joe. I ____ (phone) you as soon as I arrive home!
• 9. I have been thinking about it and we have decided that we are going to buy a new car.
Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3135#a
Gap filling
• Two answers:Meaning has to be the same.
Example:
I bought a new house ___________ is old but it is nice.Which/that
Gap filling
• There can be just a gap or there can be a prompt for each gap, as inthe following example:
Paraphrase
Example:Testing passive, past simple form.
• It was too late when I found out that my uncle sold the bicycle.• It was too late when I found out that the bicycle __________.
“It is helpful to give part of the paraphrase to restrict the students to the grammatical structure being tested.”
CompletionIt allows the tester to elicit specific structures.
Multiple choice
• Context!
Examples:
MODAL VERBS
1) They ________________ be away. A) MayB) Can
2) You ________________ be right.C) Might D) Can
3) The exam ________________ be easy.
E) Might F) Can
4) It ________________ be true about a sauropod dinosaur living in Lake Telé in the Congo.
A) Can B) Can´t
Source:http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.may3.i.htm
MODAL VERBS
1) They ________________ be away for the weekend but I'm not sure. A) MayB) Can
2) You ________________ be right but I'm going to check anyway.C) Might D) Can
3) The exam ________________ be easy. You never know.
E) Might F) Can
4) It ________________ be true about a sauropod dinosaur living in Lake Telé in the Congo. It's impossible.
A) Can B) Can´t
Source:http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.may3.i.htm
MODAL VERBS
1) They ________________ be away for the weekend but I'm not sure. A) MayB) Can
2) You ________________ be right but I'm going to check anyway.C) Might D) Can
3) The exam ________________ be easy. You never know.
E) Might F) Can
4) It ________________ be true about a sauropod dinosaur living in Lake Telé in the Congo. It's impossible.
A) Can B) Can´t
Source:http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.may3.i.htm
MODAL VERBS
1) They ________________ be away for the weekend but I'm not sure. A) MayB) Can
2) You ________________ be right but I'm going to check anyway.C) Might D) Can
3) The exam ________________ be easy. You never know.
E) Might F) Can
4) It ________________ be true about a sauropod dinosaur living in Lake Telé in the Congo. It's impossible.
A) Can B) Can´t
Source:http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.may3.i.htm
MODAL VERBS
1) They ________________ be away for the weekend but I'm not sure. A) MayB) Can
2) You ________________ be right but I'm going to check anyway.C) Might D) Can
3) The exam ________________ be easy. You never know.
E) Might F) Can
4) It ________________ be true about a sauropod dinosaur living in Lake Telé in the Congo. It's impossible.
A) Can B) Can´t
Source:http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.may3.i.htm
Scoring production grammar test• A candidate should not be penalised for a missing third person –s
when the item is testing relative pronouns.
• In other words: Grade what you are supposed to grade!
(Feedback!)
VOCABULARY
Why vocabulary?
• Achievement tests: washback effect!
• Placement tests: lexical items as a prerequisite…
Use a published
test…
Construct one‘s own…
Why vocabulary?
• Achievement tests: washback effect!
• Placement tests: lexical items as a prerequisite…
Use a published
test…
Construct one‘s own…
Specifications
• Achievement tests:Add all the new items!
• Placement tests:Frequency!
Sampling
Frequency
Usefulne
ss
Samplin
g
Items
• Testing recognition ability:
Multiple choice questions:
Recognize synonymsRecognize definitionsRecognize appropiate word for context
Recognize synonyms
Choose an alternative (a, b, c or d)
• Gleama. b. c. d.
gather shine welcone clean
Recognize definitions
• Loathe means:
Dislike intenselyBecome seriously illSearch carefullyLook very angry
• Bill is someone I loathe:
Like very muchDislike intenselyRespectFear
Recognize appropiate word for context • Context, rather than a definition or synonym:
Example:
The strong wind _________ the man's efforts to put up the tent.
a. Disabledb. Hamperedc. Derangedd. Regaled
Items
• Testing production ability:
PicturesDefinitionsGap filling
Pictures
• Examples:
Write down the name of the picture:
_______________________________________
Write down the name of the picture:
_______________________________________
HOW IS THE STREET? CROWDED!
DESCRIBE THIS BEAR
…AWFUL?
…DELICIOUS?
IS THIS FOOD…?
HOW IS THE TANK?
EMPTY!
HOW DO THEY FEEL? RELAXED!
BABY SKIN IS…
SOFT!
IN GROUPS, MENTION AS MANY ADJECTIVES AS YOU CAN REGARDING OUR UNIVERSITY
Definitions
• This may work for a range of lexical items:
• __________ is the second of the year.• __________ is frozen water.
DefinitionsSolve a crossword…
http://www.educaplay.com/es/recursoseducativos/1242724/vocabulary.htm
Gap filling
• One or more sentences with a single word missing:
Because of the snow, the football match was _______ until the following weekend.
Because of the snow, the football match was p - - - - - - - - until the following weekend.