Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices

Chapter 1: Assessment Concepts and Issues Assessment and Testing Measurement and Evaluation Assessment and Learning Informal and Formal Assessment Formative and Summative Assessment Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Tests Types and Purposes of Assessment Achievement Tests Diagnostic Tests Placement Tests Proficiency Tests Aptitude Tests Issues in Language Assessment: Then and Now Behavioral Influences on Language Testing Integrative Approaches Communicative Language Testing Performance-based Assessment Current Hot Topics in Classroom-based Assessment Multiple Intelligences Traditional and Alternative Assessment Computer-based Testing Other Current Issues Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 2: Principles Of Language Assessment Practicality Reliability Student-Related Reliability Rater Reliability Test Administration Reliability Test Reliability Validity Content-Related Evidence Criterion-Related Evidence Construct-Related Evidence Consequential Validity (Impact) Face Validity Authenticity Washback Applying Principles to the Evaluation of Classroom Tests Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 3: Designing Classroom Language Tests Four Assessment Scenarios Determining the Purpose of a Test Designing Clear, Unambiguous Objectives Drawing Up Test Specifications Devising Test Items Designing Multiple-Choice Items Administering the Test Scoring, Grading, and Giving Feedback Scoring Grading Giving Feedback Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 4: Standards-Based Assessment The Role of Standards in Standardized Tests Standards-Based Education Designing English Language Standards Standards-Based Assessment CASAS and SCANS Teacher Standards The Consequences of Standards-Based and Standardized Testing Test Bias Test-Driven Language and Teaching Ethical Issues: Critical Language Testing Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 5: Standardized Testing Advantages and Disadvantages of Standardized Tests Developing a Standardized Test Standardized Language Proficiency Testing Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 6: Beyond Tests: Alternatives in Assessment The Dilemma of Maximizing Both Practicality and Washback Performance-Based Assessment Rubrics Portfolios Journals Conferences and Interviews Observations Self- and Peer-Assessments Types of Self- and Peer-Assessment Guidelines for Self- and peer-Assessment A Taxonomy of Self- and Peer-Assessment Tasks Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 7: Assessing Listening Integration of Skills in Language Assessment Assessing Grammar and Vocabulary Observing the Performance of the Four Skills The Importance of Listening Basic Types of Listening Micro- and Macroskills of Listening Designing Assessment Tasks: Intensive Listening Recognizing Phonological and Morphological Elements Paraphrase Recognition Designing Assessment Tasks: Responsive Listening Designing Assessment Tasks: Selective Listening Listening Cloze Information Transfer Sentence Repetition Designing Assessment Tasks: Extensive Listening Dictation Communicative Stimulus-Response Tasks Authentic Listening Tasks Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 8: Assessing Speaking Basic Types of Speaking Micro- and Macroskills of Speaking Designing Assessment Tasks: Imitative Speaking Versant (R) Designing Assessment Tasks: Intensive Speaking Directed Response Tasks Read-Aloud Tasks Sentence/Dialogue Completion Tasks and Oral Questionnaires Picture-Cued Tasks Translation (of Limited Stretches of Discourse) Designing Assessment Tasks: Responsive Speaking Question and Answer Giving Instructions and Directions Paraphrasing Test of Spoken English (TSE (R)) Designing Assessment Tasks: Interactive Speaking Interview Role Play Discussions and Conversations Games ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) Designing Assessments: Extensive Speaking Oral Presentations Picture-Cued Story-Telling Retelling a Story, News Event Translation (of Extended Prose) Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 9: Assessing Reading Genres of Reading Microskills, Macroskills, and Strategies for Reading Types of Reading Designing Assessment Tasks: Perceptive Reading Reading Aloud Written Response Multiple-Choice Picture-Cued Items Designing Assessment Tasks: Selective Reading Multiple Choice (for Form-Focused Criteria) Matching Tasks Editing Tasks Picture-Cued Tasks Gap-Filling Tasks Designing Assessment Tasks: Interactive Reading Cloze Tasks Impromptu Reading Plus Comprehension Questions Short-Answer Tasks Editing (Longer Texts) Scanning Ordering Tasks Information Transfer: Reading Charts, Maps, Graphs, Diagrams Designing Assessment Tasks: Extensive Reading Skimming Tasks Summarizing and Responding Note-Taking and Outlining Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 10: Assessing Writing Genres of Written Language Types of Writing Performance Micro- and Macroskills of Writing Designing Assessment Tasks: Imitative Writing Tasks in [Hand] Writing Letters, Words, and Punctuation Spelling Tasks and Detecting Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences Designing Assessment Tasks: Intensive (Controlled) Writing Dictation and Dicto-Comp Grammatical Transformation Tasks Picture-Cued Tasks Vocabulary Assessment Tasks Ordering Tasks Short-Answer and Sentence Completion Tasks Issues in Assessing Responsive and Extensive Writing Designing Assessment Tasks: Responsive and Extensive Writing Paraphrasing Guided Question and Answer Paragraph Construction Tasks Strategic Options Scoring Methods for Responsive and Extensive Writing Holistic Scoring Primary Trait Scoring Analytic Scoring Beyond Scoring: Responding to Extensive Writing Assessing Initial Stages of the Process of Composing Assessing Later Stages of the Process of Composing Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 11: Assessing Grammar and Vocabulary Assessing Grammar Defining Grammatical Knowledge Designing Assessment Tasks: Selected Response Multiple-Choice (MC) Tasks Discrimination Tasks Noticing Tasks or Consciousness Raising Tasks Designing Assessment Tasks: Limited Production Gap-filling Tasks Short Answer Tasks Dialogue Completion Tasks Designing Assessment Tasks: Extended Production Information-gap Tasks Role Play or Simulation Tasks Assessing Vocabulary The Nature of Vocabulary Defining Lexical Knowledge Some Considerations in Designing Assessment Tasks Designing Assessment Tasks: Receptive Vocabulary Designing Assessment Tasks: Productive Vocabulary Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 12: Grading and Student Evaluation Philosophy of Grading: What Should Grades Reflect? Guidelines for Selecting Grading Criteria Methods for Calculating Grades Teachers' Perceptions of Appropriate Grade Distributions Institutional Expectations and Constraints Cross-Cultural Factors and the Question of Difficulty What Do Letter Grades Mean? Calculating Grades Alternatives to Letter Grading Some Principles and Guidelines for Grading and Evaluation Exercises For Your Further Reading Appendix: Commercial Tests Glossary Bibliography Name Index Subject Index