Language Testing

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Language Testing

• Topic 9. Testing Grammar

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9.1 Grammar in language teaching

• What is grammar? Grammar, knowledge, skill,
  culture and content in language teaching
• Competence or communicative competence (For the
  definition, please refer to Fundamental
  Considerations in Language Testing, pp81108.)
• Why test grammar? Easy to test? Clearing the
  ground

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9.2 What grammar should/can we test?

• 1. Prescriptive or descriptive
• 2. Usage or use
• 3. Sampling

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9.3 Most frequent test types of grammar items

• 1. Multiple choice items (Liu, 121)
• 2. Error-recognition items (Liu, 129)
• 3. Completion items (Hughes, 143) (Liu, 130)
• 4. Transformation items (Liu, 131)

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• 5. Pairing and matching items
• 6. Paraphrase (Hughes, 143)
• 7. Modified Cloze (Hughes, 144)
• 8. Rearrangement items
• e.g. Everyones forgotten
• A. cup B. he C. which D. used
• The best way to prepare ________________
• /is/yourself/past papers/timed
  practice/for the paper/to give/in doing
• ( CABD 2516473))

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• 9. Combination and addition items
• e.g. You finish the paper. Then check your
  answers carefully. (AFTER)
• Have you answered all the questions?
• A. still B. yet C. occasional
• 10. Items involving the changing of words
• e.g. Researchers (1)to convince that a drug
  (1)__
• they (2)to test can improve the memory and
  that (2)__
• it (3)to be the forerunner of other drugs
  which (3)__
• eventually (4)to improve mental ability.
  (4)__

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9.4 Advice on Item Writing

• 1. The language of the dialogues should read like
  spoken English.
• 2. The second part of the dialogue like a natural
  response to the first part.
• 3. All distracters should be definitely
  non-English not to present regional or social
  variants of English as wrong answers.

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• 4. No distracters should include errors which
  would appear in writing but not in speech.
• 5. Compare the following two items.
• ____ a pen and a piece of paper.
• a. I like b. Ill like c. Id like d.
  Im liking
• (2) Can I get you anything?
• ____ a pen and a piece of paper, please.
• a. I like b. Ill like c. Id like d.
  Im liking

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9.5 Group Work Construct 5 items to test any 5
grammar items with directions.

• (e.g. although tooto whose
• was ing, when need)