Writing English Language Tests Longman - ipinjhon

3
C7
117 Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers J. B. Heaton New Edition
Consultant editors: Jeremy Harmon and Rey
Kingsbury
London and New York
11 1
.ongman Group LIK Limited
ongman House, Burnt Mill, Harlow,
ssex CM202JE, England
rid Associated Companies throughout the world.
ublished in the United States of America
v Longman Inc., New York
Longman Group UK Limited 1988
It rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, r transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, ,-otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the Publishers.
=first published 1975
hird impression 1990
RITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA
eaton, J. B.
Writing English language tests. - New ed. - (Longman handbooks for
language teachers).
1. English language - Study and teaching - Foreign speakers 2. English
language -
Ability testing
1. Title
428.2'4'076 PE1128.A2
.SBN 0-552-00237-0 IBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA
eaton, J. B. (John Brian)
Writing English language tests.
(Longman handbooks for language teachers)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. English language - Study and teaching - Foreign speakers. 2.
English language -
xaminations - Authorship. 3. English language - Ability testing. I.
Title. II. Series.
1128.A2H394 1988 428.076 87-5273
;-in Times Roman
-oduced by Longman Group (FE) Ltd.
-inted in Hong Kong
iustrated by David Parkins
.CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
e are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright
material:
he author, John Bright and the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate for
n extract from his critique on specimen examination questions; Harper &
Row Publishers
for a table from p. 140 `ESL Composition Profile' from Teaching ESL
Compositi on by
ene B. Hughey. Deanna R. Wormuth. V. Faye Hartfield and Holly L. Jacobs
(Newbury
-louse) Copyright © 1983 by Newbury House Publishers Inc; the author,
Rosalind Hawkins,
Thief Examiner for UCLES Preliminary English Test and the University of
Cambridge Local
xaminations Syndicate for extracts from sample test materials; Hong
Kong Education
?epartment for extracts from the Hong Kong English School Certificate
Examination 1968
nd the Hong Kong Secondary Schools Entrance Examination 1968; Longman
Group UK Ltd
)r extracts from Composition Through Pictures by J. B. Heaton, Studying
in English by J. B.
caton and Writing Through Pictures by J. B. Heaton; The author, Anthony
Tucker for an
Street from his article in The Guardian 5th September 1969; and the
following examination oards for permission to reproduce questions from
past examination papers: Joint
.tatriculation Board; North West Regional Examinations Board; The Royal
Society of Arts xaminations Board: University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate; University of ")xford Delegacy of Local
Examinations and the Arels Examinations Trust. o dents
1 Introduction to language testing 5
1. 1 Testing and teaching 5
1.2 Why test? 6
1 3 What should be tested and to
what standard? 7
1.4 Testing the language skills 8
1.5 Testing language areas 9
1 6 Language skills and language
elements 10
1 7 Recognition and production 11
1 8 Problems of sampling 12
1 9 Avoiding traps for the students 14 5 2 Approaches to language testing 15
2.1 Background 15
2.2 The essay-translation approach 15
2. 3 The structuralist approach 15
2.4 The integrative approach 16
2.5 The communicative approach 19 3 Objective testing 25 6
3.1 Subjective and objective testing 25
3.2 Objective tests 26
3.3 Multiple-choice items: general 27
3.4 Multiple-choice items: the stem/
the correct option/the distractors 30
3.5 Writing the test 33 4 Tests of grammar and usage 34
4.1 Introduction 34
4.2 Multiple-choice grammar items: 7
item types 34
4.3 Constructing multiple-choice items 37
4.4 Constructing error-recognition
multiple-choice items 39
4.5 Constructing rearrangement items 41
4.6 Constructing completion items 42
4.7 Constructing transformation items 46
4.8 Constructing items involving the
changing of words 48
4.9 Constructing 'broken sentence' items 49
4.10 Constructing pairing and
matching items 49
4.11 Constructing combination and
addition items 50 Testing vocabulary 51
5.1 Selection of items 51
5.2 Multiple-choice items (A) 52
5.3 Multiple-choice items (B) --56
5.4 Sets (associated words) 58
5.5 Matching items 58
5.6 More objective items 60
5.7 Completion items 62 Listening comprehension tests 64
6.1 General 64
6.2 Phoneme discrimination tests 65
6.3 Tests of stress and intonation 68
6.4 Statements and dialogues 69
6.5 Testing comprehension through
visual materia;s 7?
6.6 Understanding talks and
lectures 82 Oral production tests 88
7.1 Some difficulties in testing the
speaking skills 88
7.2 Reading aloud 89
7.3 Conversational exchanges 90
7 4 Using pictures for assessing oral
production
7 5 The oral interview
7 6 Some other techniques for oral
examining 8 Testing reading comprehension
8 1 The nature of the reading skills
8 2 Initial stages of reading:
matching tests
8.3 Intermediate and advanced-----
stages of reading: matching tests 8.4 True/false reading tests
8.5 Multiple-choice items (A): short
texts
8.6 Multiple-choice items (B):
longer texts
8.7 Completion items
8.8 Rearrangement items
8.9 Cloze procedure
8. 10 Open-ended and miscellaneous
items
8.11 Cursorv-reading " 9 Testing the writing skills
9.1 The writing skills
9.2 Testing composition writing
9.3 Setting the composition
9.4 Grading the composition
9.5 Treatment of written errors
9.6 Objective tests: mechanics
9.7 Objective tests: style and
register
9.8 Controlled writing 4 10 Criteria and types of tests 159
92 10.1 Validity 159
96 10.2 Reliability 162
10.3 Reliability versus validity 164
102 10.4 Discrimination 165
10.5 Administration 167
105 10.6 Test instructions to the
105 candidate 168
10.7 Backwash effects 170
107 10.8 Types of tests 171 110 11 Interpreting test scores 174
113 11.1 Frequency distribution 174
11.2 Measures of central tendency 175
116 1 1 .3 Measures of dispersion 176
11.4 Item analysis 178
117 11.5 Moderating 185
124 11.6 Item cards and banks 185
129
131 Selected bibliography 1 88
Index 1 91
133
133 135
135
136
138
144
149
150 152
154 Introduction to language testing
1.1 Testing and A large number of examinations in
the past have encouraged a tendency ti
teaching separate testing from teaching. Both
testing and teaching are so closely
interrelated that it is virtually
impossible to work in either
field without
being constantly concerned with
the other. Tests may be
constructed
primarily as devices to reinforce
learning and to motivate the
student or
primarily as a means of assessing
the student's performance in the
language. In the former case, the
test is geared to the teaching
that has
taken place, whereas in the