Designing an english achievement test for the english majors at phan boi chau specialising high school in nghe an

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

Phan chÝ nghÜa

DESIGNING AN ENGLISH ACHIEVEMENT TEST
FOR THE ENGLISH MAJORS AT PHAN BOI CHAU
SPECIALISING HIGH SCHOOL IN NGHE AN
(ThiÕt kÕ bµi kiĨm tra häc kú cho học sinh chuyên Anh trờng
THPT chuyên Phan Bội Châu, TØnh NghÖ An)

Master Thesis in Education

Vinh, 2011
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

Phan chÝ nghÜa
1

DESIGNING AN ENGLISH ACHIEVEMENT TEST


TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

5

1. Rationale of the Study

5

2. Aims of the study

8

3. Scope of the study

8

4. Methods of study

9

5. Organization of the study

9

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

11

2.1. Basic concepts of testing

11

2.2. Roles of testing

12

2.2.1. The relationship between testing and teaching

12

2.2.2. The relationship between testing and learners

13

2.3. Types of tests and testing

14

2.3.1. Proficiency Tests

14

2.3.2. Achievement Tests

15

2.3.3. Diagnostic Tests

16

2.3.4. Placement tests

17

2.3.5. Direct versus Indirect Tests

17

2.3.6. Discrete point verse Integrative Testing

19

2.3.7. Norm-Referenced versus Criterion-Referenced Testing

19

2.3.8. Objective Testing versus Subjective Testing

20

2.3.9. Communicative Language Testing

20

2.4. Characteristics of a good test

21

2.4.1 Validity

21

2.4.1.1 Construct validity

21

2.4.1.2. Content validity

22
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2.4.1.3. Face validity

22

2.4.1.4. Backwash validity

23

2.4.1.5. Criterion-related validity

24

2.4.2. Reliability

24

2.4.3. Discrimination

25

2.4.4. Practicability

25

2.5. Test items for reading skill, writing skill, grammar, and vocabulary

26

2.5.1. Test items

26

2.5.2. Language components and language skills

27

2.5.3. The test item types used to evaluate languages components and

28

language skills.
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

30

3.1. Setting of the study

30

3.1.1. The subjects and the current English teaching, learning and

30

testing situations at Phan Boi Chau Speacialising High School

3.1.1.1. The situation of teaching English to English major pupils at Phan

30

Boi Chau Specialising High School
3.1.1.1.1. The community
3.1.1.1.2. The school
3.1.1.1.3. The course
3.1.1.1.4. The teachers
3.1.1.1.5. The pupils
3.1.1.1.6. The teaching materials
3.1.1.1.6.1. The general description of the teaching materials used for

30
32
34
35
35
37
37

English major pupils at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School
38
3.1.1.6.2. The good points of of teaching materials when used for English
major pupils at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School
3


3.1.1.6.3. The drawbacks of of teaching materials when used for English

39

major pupils at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School
3.1.2. The current testing situation at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High

42

School
3.2. Methods of the study

44

3.3. Research design

45

3.3.1. Sample and sampling

45

3.3.2. Instruments

45

3.3.3. Data collection

48

3.3.4. Data analysis

49

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

50

4.1. Data collection and interpreting test scores and items

50

4.1.1. Interpretation and test score analysis

50

4.1.1.1. The frequency distribution

50

4.1.1.2. The central tendency

54

4.1.1.3. The dispersion

55

4.1.2. Test items evaluation

57

4.1.2.1. The item difficulty

57

4.1.2.2. The item discrimination

60

4.1.3. Estimating reliability

63

4.2. Evaluation of validity

64

4.2.1. Face validity

64

4.2.2. Suggestions by teachers to improve the tests’ face validity

65

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

68

5.1. Summary of the study

68

5.2. Suggestions on improvements of designing the final achievment test

69

for English major pupils at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School.

69

4


5.2.1 Reliability

69

5.2.1.1. Test length

70

5.2.1.2. Item qualities

71

4.2.2. Face validity

71

5.2.3. Some other suggestions

74

5.3. Limitations

74

5.4. Suggestions for further study

76

BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2
APPENDIX 3

5


DECLARATION
I certify that the thesis entitled “Designing an English achievement test for the English

majors at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School in Nghe An ” is submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts is the result of my own work, except
where otherwise acknowledge and that this thesis or any part of the same had not been submitted
for a higher degree to any other universities or institution.

Vinh, November 2011

Phan Chi Nghia

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
6


To carry out this MA coursework I am indebted to many people for their
encouragement, cooperation, and advice.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Assoc.
Prof. & Ph.d. Ngo Dinh Phuong, my supervisor for his useful advice, insightful
ideas, and dutiful supervision.
I also would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to all the
colleagues in the English section in Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School for
their help in answering questions in surveys, direct interviews, for their
constructive suggestions about this research.
I would like to give my special thanks to the English major pupils at Phan Boi
Chau Specialising High School who have actively participated in doing the sample
test, the surveys and responding to my interviews.
Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my family, my classmates, my
friends, especially my wife who encouraged me to carry out the thesis.

ABSTRACT
7


Testing plays a very important role in teaching process which helps teachers
to assess their teaching as well as their students’ learning. Evaluating a test in
terms of its qualities such as reliability and validity is very necessary as to ensure
the usefulness of this assessment instrument. However, this issue receives little
considerations from teachers at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School. Thus, this
study was designed to evaluate two qualities, reliability and validity of the sample

achievement tests for the English major pupils at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High
School.
The MA thesis entitled “Designing an English achievement test for the English
majors at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School in Nghe An” deals with the
problems of the current testing situation in the school. On doing the study the
author attempts to study the possible reasons for the low reliability and validity,…
of the achievement test for the English major pupils and propose some ways to
improve them.
The study is based on both the analysis of the English course including the
subjects, the syllabus and the sample test and the analysis and interpretation of
the test scores and test items of the suggested test. As a result, major findings
were drawn. Firstly, the reliability of the test was low. Secondly, the test had
incompletely face validity. On the basis of these findings and valuable ideas from
teachers of English section, some suggestions for improvements were proposed to
better the test’s quality. It is hoped that this research study will help teachers at
Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School have an insight into their test’s quality from
which an awareness of the test design will be raised and better and more accurate
assessment devices will be produced.

8


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

TABLE
Table 2.5.3.1: Test item types for Reading and Writing skills and Grammar
Vocabulary
Table 3.3.2.1: The Paper Specification Grids for The 2 nd Term Achievement Test
for Grades 10, 11, 12 of English Major Pupils at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High
School

Table 4.1.1.1.1: Frequency distribution in the final achievement test for English
major pupils of grade 10
Table 4.1.1.1.1: Frequency distribution in the final achievement test for English
major pupils of grade 10
Table 4.1.1.1.2: Frequency distribution in the final achievement test for English
major pupils of grade 11
Table 4.1.1.1.3: Frequency distribution in the final achievement test for English
major pupils of grade 12
Table 4.1.2.1.1: The interpretation of the item difficulty of the final achievement
test for English major pupils of grade 10
Table 4.1.2.1.2: The interpretation of the item difficulty of the final achievement
test for English major pupils of grade 11
Table 4.1.2.1.3: The interpretation of the item difficulty of the final achievement
test for English major pupils of grade 12
Table 4.1.2.2.1: The result of item discrimination of the final achievement test for
English major pupils of grade 10
Table 4.1.2.2.2: The result of item discrimination of the final achievement test for
English major pupils of grade 11
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Table 4.1.2.2.3: The result of item discrimination of the final achievement test for
English major pupils of grade 12
FIGURES
Figure 4.1.1.1.1: Histogram of score distribution in the final achievement test for
English major pupils of grade 10
Figure 4.1.1.1.2: Histogram of score distribution in the final achievement test for
English major pupils of grade 11
Figure 4.1.1.1.3: Histogram of score distribution in the final achievement test for

English major pupils of grade 12

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
The importance of language testing is recognized by virtually all professionals
in the field of language education. It is of special importance in educational system
that is highly competitive. It is because testing is not only an indirect stimulus to
learning, but also plays a crucial role in determining the success or failure of an
individual's career with direct implications for his future earning power. “Thus,
testing is an important tool in educational research and for programme evaluation,
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and may even throw light on both the nature of language proficiency and language
learning” (Lauwerys and Seanlon, 1969).
Likewise, in the teaching and learning foreign language process, testing takes a very
important role. Language testing is one of the most important ways to evaluate how

students acquire when they learn a foreign language. Through tests teachers know not
only the success or failure of learners but also how well the learners use what they
have been taught. Moreover, the learners know what they gain, what they can apply,
and what they cannot. Moore (1992, p.138) states: “Evaluation is an essential tool for teachers because it gives them
feedback concerning what the students have learned and indicates what should be done next in the learning process. Evaluation helps you to better
understand students, their abilities, interests, attitudes and needs in order to better teach and motivate them.” Nga

same conclusion: “Tests

(1997, p.1) reaches the

are assumed to be powerful determiners-of what happens in classroom and it is commonly

claimed that they affect teaching and learning activities both directly and indirectly.”

Therefore, testing is an important part of the teaching and learning process; but
has it been given adequate attention and careful study yet? Test researchers (Hughes,
1989; Brown, 1995; Read, 1982; Hai, 1999; Tuyet, 1999) in general claim that
unfortunately tests have got a bad rap in recent years and not without reason. More
often than not, tests are seen by learners “as dark clouds hanging over their heads,
upsetting them with thunderous anxiety as they anticipate the lightning bolts of
questions they do not know and worst of all a flood of disappointment if they do not
make the grade” (Brown, 1994a: p.373). Hughes (1989, p.1) makes another comment
on recent language testing: “It cannot be denied that a great deal of language testing is
of very poor quality. Too often language tests have a harmful effect on teaching and
learning and too often they fail to measure accurately whatevaer it is they are
intended to measure.” This coupled with the fact that teachers frequently lack formal
training in educational measurement techniques and they tend to be alienated from the
testing process. They regard it as a necessary evil, an intrusion on their regular
instructional activities.
At present, English tests at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High school have the
following characteristics:
- It has not been given appropriate attention and careful study.
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- Its role in teaching and learning has not been fully recognized.
- Most language teachers think that teachers should be responsible for making tests
because testing is one part of teaching and learning activities that pupils have to pass.
- There has been a tendency using commercial (ready-made) tests rather than teacher
self-made tests since commercial tests are very convenient and do not take much time

to construct. Thus these selected tests may not be relevant to the objectives of the course.
- Test content is sometimes found to be unrelated to the objectives of the course and
very often many test items in some tests have not been dealt with classes.
- Pupils have complained that there is still a big gap between what is taught and what
is tested. An instance for this would be the case when some tests designed for preintermediate level are given to students of elementary level. They are so difficult that
only few students can accomplish. Therefore, such tests are not valid and reliable.
- Using tests exclusively for grading, there is no feedback about the tests.
- There has been no discarding of bad tests or bad items. Some items are found to be
so difficult that few testees could do whereas there are test items, which are so easy
that all testees can obtain the correct answers. Such items should be discarded or
replaced.
- Moreover, due to the fact that most of the writing and reading comprehension tests
at the school are totally designed with multiple choice techniques so students can
easily cheat by asking and copying answers from their classmates.
- Apart from those carefully designed tests, some others are still of low and poor
quality and these do not accurately measure the students' real ability. Perhaps the test
writer only pays attention to the fulfillment of his/her duty, which is to give tests,
rather than to the effectiveness of the tests. Those tests often fail to measure
accurately whatever they are intended to measure.
- Finally, the last testing problem at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High school is that
some of the tests may have low reliability because they are not pre-tested anywhere
else for the sake of confidentiality. Truly, for the sake of "confidentiality" test
designers are often informed to write tests at short notice, just some time before it is
12


administered. In such circumstances who can say for sure that the required standards,
criteria will be met by the test writers?
Therefore, a well-designed test is necessary for every language level especially
for college level since it is the elementary level, which aims at acquiring survival

English and diagnosing students’ aptitudes in the course and what they have to study
to improve both their knowledge and skills. In this thesis, the author bases himself on
the knowledge of testing and testing situation to propose a sample achievement test
for English major pupils of grades 10, 11, and 12 who have been taught the student’s
books Tiếng Anh 10 Nâng cao, Tiếng Anh 11 Nâng cao and Tiếng Anh 12 Nâng cao
respectively.

2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
The aim of the study is to examine the current testing situations and language
tests for English majors at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School with high
emphasis on analyzing the result of the Sample test, the teachers’ and pupils’
comments on the test and their suggestion for its improvement. The specific aims
of the study are:
1. To investigate the Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School teachers’
evaluation and pupils' evaluation of the Sample test concerning its content, time
allowance and its format.
2. To investigate the teachers’ suggestions and pupils’ suggestions for
improving testing situations and language tests at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High
School.
3. To propose an achievement test construction for the 10th, 11 th and 12 th forms
at Phan Boi Chau Specialising High School and 6 sample tests will be designed
based on the proposed test construction.
4. To offer some practical recommendations for improvement of testing at Phan

Boi Chau Specialising High School.

3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
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The scope of the study focuses on the existing situation at Phan Boi Chau
Specialising High School in Nghe An. Due to the characteristics of the level and the
situation background of our school, I design a Sample test only on writing and
reading skills focusing on grammar, vocabulary, and phonology. The study provides
investigated and analyzed data of the achievement test for the 10th , 11 th and 12 th
grades of English major pupils. Moreover, the teachers’ and pupils’ comments on
the test and their suggestion for its improvement will be presented in this thesis.

4. METHODS OF STUDY
In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims, the study has been carried out
with the following methods.
First, the author based himself both on the theory and principles of Language
Testing, major characteristics of a good test, especially test validity and reliability,
achievement test and statistic methods used in interpreting test results. From critical
reading gathered, the author analyzed the results of the sample test, and the survey
questionnaire done on 6 English teachers of the English major students at Phan Boi
Chau Specializing High School.
Then, quantitative method was used to collect and analyze data. After
collecting data, the author employed statistic software to interpret it and to present
suggested findings. Many other methods, such as interviews, informal discussion with
students, teachers, and classroom testing observation were also employed to get more
needed information.
Research questions:
This study is implemented to find answers to the following research questions:
1. What should be done to improve the English testing situation for the English
major pupils of grades 10, 11, and 12 at Phan Boi Chau Specializing High School?
2. Which test components are considered appropriate for the English
Achievement test construction at Phan Boi Chau Specializing High School?

14

5. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The thesis is organized into 4 chapters:
Chapter 1 is the introduction consisting of the rationale, the aims, the
method, the research questions and the design of the study.
Chapter 2 presents the literature review on the basic concepts of testing,
types of tests and characteristics of good tests, the test items of language
components and language skills, which consist of test item types, test items, on
language components and language skills.
Chapter 3, which is the main part of the study, shows the analysis of the
finding of test designing, some brief comments of teachers and test takers, some
suggestions for the test improvement
Chapter 4 deals with the research summary, the limitations of the research
and some suggestions for futher study.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The theoretical background of the study will be fully developed later in the
thesis. This chapter attempts to present the theoretical background related to test
design. It consists of three main sections: an overview of ESP, materials design and
network-based language teaching: concepts and practice.

2.1. BASIC CONCEPTS OF TESTING
According to Brown (1994:252), “A test, in plain or ordinary words, is a
method of measuring a person's ability or knowledge in a given area.” Moore
(1992:138) proposes that evaluation is an essential tool for teachers because it
gives them feedback concerning what the students have learned and indicates what

should be done next in the learning process. Evaluation helps us to better
understand students, their abilities, interests, attitudes, and needs in order to better
teach and motivate them. However, in the book of Brown (1994:373) he stresses
that tests are seen by learners as dark clouds hanging over their heads, upsetting
them with thunderous anxiety as they anticipate the lightning bolts of questions
they do not know and worst of all a flood of disappointed if they do not make the
grade. Read (1983:3) shares the idea says a language test is a sample of linguistic
performance or a demonstration of language proficiency. In other words, a test is
not simply a set of items that can be objectively marked; it can also involve a
'subject' educational of spoken and written performance with the assistance of a
checklist, a rating scale, or a set of performance criteria. Nga (1999:2) also
confirms that tests commonly refer to a set of items or questions designed to be
presented to one or more students under specified conditions. Harrison (1986:1)
notices that a natural extension of classroom work, providing teachers and students
with useful information that can serve each as a basis for improvement and a test is
necessary but unpleasant imposition from outside the classroom. That means test is
a useful tool to measure learners' ability in a certain situation especially in

16


classroom.

2.2. ROLES OF TESTING
2.2.1. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TESTING AND TEACHING
The effect of testing on teaching and learning is known as backwash.
According to Hughes (1990:1), "Backwash can be harmful or beneficial.'' Hughes
(1990: 2) also refers that if testing always had a beneficial backwash on teaching, it
would have a much better reputation amongst teachers. Heaton (1988:5) stresses
that both testing and teaching are so closely interrelated that it is virtually

impossible to work either field without being constantly concerned with the other. If
teachers only teach but give test, they will not know how well the learners acquire.
Test result will give information for both teachers and learners for their future
action, such as improving knowledge and skills, revising knowledge, or apply a new
teaching method. Brown (1994:375) shares the idea that "what teachers measure or
judge learners' competence all the time and, ideally, learners measure and judge
themselves." Davies (1968: 5) also points out "a good test is an obedient servant
since it follows and apes the teaching that has taken place, whereas teaching is often
geared to the test."
To sum up, it is clearly that testing is an integrative part of teaching and is
not significantly separated from the programme or from the course goals.
Furthermore testing may bring about positive or negative impact on teaching. Thus,
it can be understood that testing may also influence teaching. The relationship
between testing and teaching is concerned much about by a number of test
specialists, Broughton (1978), Carroll and Hall (1985), Heaton (1980) and Read
(1983). They share the ideas as follows, testing provides the teachers with
information on how effective his teaching has been or in other words. It provides
feedback on what the students have learned as the result of the teachers' lessons.
Testing helps teachers find out about solution to increase teaching effectiveness
through discovering the weak areas in their pupils' knowledge and skills and seeking
17


ways to improve them. Testing enables teachers to identify the pupils' strength and
weakness through the tests results in order to plan a future teaching programme.
Testing helps teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of the used syllabus or its
contents, objectives, methods, testing helps teachers to identify and locate the
difficult areas that their pupils are being confronted with in learning, both as a group
and as an individual learner.

2.2.2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TESTING AND LEARNERS
This part shows the relationship between testing and learning. Testing has a
close relation with learners as testing is laid out on learners, otherwise it helps
teachers a lot, and a good test can be beneficial both to pupils and teachers. Thus,
Read (1983:2) points out: “a test can help both teachers and learners to clarify
what the learners really need to know assuming that it is unrealistic to expect them
to master everything they are presented with during a particular course.” The result
of tests shows teachers not all but part of learners' ability, which helps teachers to
improve ways of teaching or revise knowledge.

According to Heaton (1989:7), "A well-constructed classroom test will provide
the students with an opportunity to their ability to perform certain tasks in the
language and the students should be able to learn from their weakness", which means
a good test gives learners the opportunity to know what they can apply and what they
cannot so that they have future plan for improvement.
It is clear that not only the teacher but also learners may gain the following
benefits. The learners are motivated to use what they have learned. The feedback
learners get from the test results may add to their motivation. The learners may avoid
the mistakes or errors that they have made. The learners know how far they have
achieved the object of the course so that they can upgrade their level or they have to
learn more. In addition, "a good test can sustain or enhance class morale and aid
learning." (Madsen, (1983:3)

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2.3. TYPES OF TESTS AND TESTING
2.3.1. PROFICIENCY TESTS
According to Hughes (1990:9), "Proficiency tests are designed to measure
people's ability in a language regardless of any training they may have had in that

language." That it is to say the content of a proficiency test is not based on the
content or objectives of any language course test takers may have followed. It is
rather based on a specification of what they have to be able to do in the language to
meet the requirement of their future aims.
Other test specialists, such as Carroll and Hall (1985), Harrison (1986) and
Henning (1987) share the same view that proficiency test helps both teachers and
learners know whether the learners can be able to follow a particular course or they
have to take some pre-departure training to some other popular tests such as TOEFL,
GMAT, IELTS, which are used to measure foreign students who want to study in
some English speaking countries. In Vietnam proficiency tests are of different levels
namely A, B, C for workers, engineers, teachers, architects, etc.

2.3.2. ACHIEVEMENT TESTS
As it has been mentioned above, not many teachers are interested in
proficiency tests since it does not base on any particular course book. “In contrast
to proficiency test, achievement tests are directly related to language courses, their
purpose being to establish how successful individual students, groups of students,
or the courses themselves have been in achieving objectives.” (Hughes, 1990:10)
Achievement tests are usually carried out after a course on a group of learners who
take the course. Sharing the idea about achievement tests with Hughes, Brown
(1994:259) suggests, “An achievement test is related directly to classroom lessons,
units or even total curriculum.” Achievement tests, in his opinion, “are limited to a
particular material covered in a curriculum within a particular time frame.” Another
useful comment on achievement tests offered by Finocchiaro and Sako (1983: 15) is
that achievement types or attainment tests are widely employed in any language
teaching institutions. They are used to measure the amount of degree of control of

19

discrete language and cultural items and of integrated language skills acquired by
the students within a specific period of instruction in a specific course." In his
book, Harrison (1983:7) shows "an achievement test looks back over a longer
period of learning than the diagnostic test, for example, a year's work, or the whole
course, or even a variety of different courses." He also points out that achievement
tests are intended to show the standard, which the pupils have reached in relation to
other pupils at the same level.

There are two kinds of achievement tests: final achievement tests and progress
achievement tests.

Final achievement tests are those administered at the end of a course of study.
They may be written and administered by ministries of education, official examining
boards, or by members of teaching institutions. Clearly, the content of these tests
must be related to the courses with which they are concerned, but the nature of this
relationship is a matter of disagreement amongst language testers.
According to some testing experts, the content of a final achievement test
should be based directly on a detailed course syllabus on the books and other
materials used. This has been referred to as the syllabus-content approach. It has an
obvious appearance, since the test only contains what it is thought that the pupils
have actually encountered, and thus can be considered, in this respect at least, a fair
test. The disadvantage of this type is that if the syllabus is badly designed, or the
books and other materials are badly chosen, then the results of a test can be very
misleading. Successful performance on the test may not truly indicate successful
achievement of course objectives.

The alternative approach is to design the test content directly on the objectives
of the course, which has a number of advantages. Firstly, it forces course designers
to elicit about course objectives. Secondly, pupils on the test show how far they have
achieved those objectives. This in turn puts pressure on those who are responsible

for the syllabus and for the selection of books and materials to ensure that these are
consistent with the course objectives. Tests based on course objectives work against
the perpetuation of poor teaching practice, a kind of course-content-based test,
20


almost as if part of a conspiracy fail to do. It is the author's belief that test content
based on course objectives is much preferable, which provides more accurate
information about individual and group achievement, and is likely to promote a more
beneficial backwash effect on teaching.
Progress achievement tests, as the name suggests, are intended to measure the
progress that pupils are making. Since 'progress' in achieving course objectives,
these tests should be related to objectives. These should make a clear progression
towards the final achievement test based on course objectives. Then if the syllabus
and teaching methods are appropriate to these objectives, progress tests based on
short-term objectives will fit well with what has been taught. If not, there will be
pressure to create a better fit. If it is the syllabus that is at fault, it is the tester's
responsibility to make clear that it is there, that change is needed, not in the tests.
In addition, more formal achievement tests require careful preparation; teachers
could feel free to set their own ways to make a rough check on pupils ’ progress to
keep pupils on their toes. Since such tests will not form part of formal assessment
procedures, their construction and scoring need not be purely towards the intermediate
objectives on which a more formal progress achievement tests are based. However, they
can reflect a particular 'route' that an individual teacher is taking towards the
achievement of objectives.

2.3.3. DIAGNOSTIC TESTS
According to Hughes (1990:13), “'Diagnostic tests are used to identify students’
strengths and weaknesses. They are intended primarily to ascertain what further
teaching is necessary.”

Brown (1994:259) proposes, "A diagnostic test is designed to diagnose a particular
aspect of a particular language." Harrison (1983) remarks that this kind of tests is
used at the ends of a unit in the course book or after a lesson designed to teach one
particular point. This kind of test is reasonably straight-forward to find out what
skills are applied well or badly by the learners. Otherwise, this explores
disadvantage, as it is not so easy to obtain a detailed analysis of a learner's command
21


of grammatical structures. In order to be sure of this, we would need a number of
examples of the choice the student made between the two structures in every
different context on which we thought was significantly different and important
enough to warrant obtaining information. Tests of this kind still need a tremendous
amount of work to produce. Whether or not they become generally available will
depend on the willingness of individuals to write them and of publishers to distribute
them.

2.3.4. PLACEMENT TESTS
"Placement tests are intended to provide information which will help to place
students at the stage of the teaching programme most appropriate to their abilities.
Typically, they are used to assign students to classes at different levels." (Hughes,
1990:14) In other words, we use placement tests to place pupils into classes
according to their ability so that they can start a course approximately at the same
level as the other pupils in the group.

2.3.5. DIRECT VERSUS INDIRECT TESTS
It is pointed out by Hughes (1990:15) that direct testing requires the candidate to
perform precisely the skills that we wish to measure. If we want to know how well
the candidate can write compositions, we get them to write compositions. If we want

to know how well they pronounce words, we get them speak. The tasks, and the
texts which are used, should be as authentic as possible. The fact that the tasks
cannot be really authentic. Nevertheless, the effort is to make them as realistic as
possible. Direct testing is easier to carry out when it is intended to measure the
productive skills of speaking and writing since the very acts of speaking and writing
provide us with information about the candidate's ability. With listening and reading
it is necessary to get candidates not only to listen or read but also to demonstrate that
they have done this successfully. He also indicates several attractions of direct
testing. Firstly, if teachers want to assess pupils' ability, it is relatively
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straightforward to create the conditions, which will elicit the behavior of which
based on judgments. Secondly, in his opinion at least in the case of the productive
skills, the assessment and interpretation of students' performance is quite straightforward. Thirdly, there is likely to be a helpful backwash effect since practice for the
test involves the practice of the skills that we want to encourage.
By contrast, indirect testing tries to measure the abilities that "underlie" the
skills in which we are interested (Hughes, 1990:15). One section of the TOEFL is
considered an indirect measure of writing ability where the candidate has to identify
which of the underlined elements is erroneous or inappropriate in formal Standard
English. Another example of indirect testing is Lado's (1961) proposed methods of
testing pronunciation ability by a paper and pencil test in which the candidate has to
identify pairs of words, which rhyme with each other. The main problem with
indirect tests is that the relationship between language performance and skill
performance in which we are usually interested tends to be rather weak in strength
and uncertain in nature. We do not know enough about the component parts of
composition writing to predict accurate composition writing ability from scores on
tests that measure the abilities, which we believe underlie it. We may construct tests
of grammar, vocabulary, discourse markers, handwriting, and punctuation. Still we
will not be able to predict accurately scores on compositions even if we make sure of

the representativeness of the composition scores by taking many samples.

2.3.6. DISCRETE POINT VERSE INTEGRATIVE TESTING
According to Hughes (1990:16), "Discrete point testing refers to the testing of
one element at a time, item by item," which means the test involves a series of items
each testing a particular grammatical structure. On the contrary, integrative testing
requires the candidate to combine many language elements in the completion of a
task involving writing a composition, taking notes while listening to a lecture, taking
a dictation, or completing a cloze passage. Henning (1987) shares with Hughes the
idea that discrete point tests will usually be indirect, while integrative tests will tent
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to be direct. However, some integrative testing methods, such as the cloze procedure,
are indirect. Similarly, he stresses that the distinction between discrete point and
integrative was originated by John and Carroll (1961). Discrete point tests are
designed to measure knowledge or performance in very restricted area of the target
language. On the other hand, integrative tests are said to tap a greater variety of language
abilities. Moreover, Henning (1987) offers examples of integrative tests such as random
cloze dictation, oral interview, and oral imitation tasks.

2.3.7.

NORM-REFERENCED

VERSUS

CRITERION-REFERENCED

TESTING

Imagine that a reading test is administered to an individual pupil. When
teachers use questions to see how the pupils perform the test, they may be given two
kinds of answers. The first kind would be that the pupil obtained a score that placed
her or him in the top ten per cent of candidates who have taken that test, or in the
bottom five percent; or that she or he did better than sixty percent of those who took
it. Hughes (1990:17) defines, "A test which is designed to give this kind of
information is said to be norm-referenced." According to Henning (1987), a normreferenced test must have been administered to a large sample of people. For the
purpose of language testing and testing in general, norm-reference tests also have
strengths and weaknesses. Positively, the comparison can easily be made with the
performance or achievement of a large population of students. Negatively, normreferenced tests are usually valid only with the population on which they have been
normed.

Criterion-referenced tests are not without their share of weaknesses. The
objectives of criterion-referenced tests are often too limited and restrictive (Henning,
1987: 7). The purpose of criterion-referenced tests is to classify people according to
the fact that whether or not they are able to perform some task or set of tasks
satisfactorily. Moreover, the test must match teaching objectives perfectly, so that
any tendency of the field of language measurement, criterion tests possesses two
positive virtues: they are helpful in clarifying objectives, and they motivate students
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to a setting standard in terms of what they can do.

2.3.8. OBJECTIVE TESTING VERSUS SUBJECTIVE TESTING
The difference between objective testing and subjective testing is of methods of
scoring. If no judgment is required on the part of the scorer, then the scoring is
objective. A multiple-choice item test, with the correct responses unambiguously
identified, would be a case to point. If judgment is called for, the scoring is said to be

subjective. There are different degrees of subjectivity in testing. The impressionistic
scoring of a composition may be considered more subjective than the scaring of short
answers in response to questions on a reading. In Oiler's point of view (1979), many
tests, such as cloze tests, "lie somewhere between subjectivity and objectivity." As a
result, many testers are seeking after objectivity in scoring not only for the sake of
objectivity itself, but also for the great reliability it brings.

2.3.9. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TESTING
Morrow (1979) and Canale and Swain (1980) argue that communicative
language testing as well as being concerned with what the learner knows about the
form of the language and about how to use it appropriately in contexts of use
(competence), must also deal with the extent to which the learner is actually able to
demonstrate the knowledge in a meaningful communicative situation, i.e., what he
can do with the language, or as Read (1984:4) puts it, "his ability to communicate
with ease an effect in specified socio-linguistic settings."

2.4. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEST
In order to make a well-designed test, teachers have to take into consideration
the various factors such as the purpose of a test, the content of the syllabus, the
pupils' background and so on. In addition to these factors, test characteristics play a
very important role in constructing a good test. According to a number of leading
scholars in testing as Valette (1977), Harrison (1983), Weir (1990), Carroll and Hall
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