Techniques for Assessing Listening

Assessing listening requires understanding the construct or ability being measured and then identifying the different techniques or test task formats used to assess the defined ability. A number of listening test task formats (i.e., formats of input and expected responses) are used to assess responsive, selective, intensive and extensive listening ability. In selecting the appropriate test task formats a number of issues relevant to specifically listening such as the use of authentic oral input, visuals, and discrete or integrated skills need to be considered. In each of the test task formats the two response types (selection and construction) can be scored using dichotomous or partial credit scoring.