Chapter # 1 The Process of Developing Assessment

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by Lcda. Sylvia Johnson Smith

During the process of observation that frequently teachers go through every day, assessment has an important role, in other words, it covers a range of activities that takes into consideration student’s performance in class to large-scale standardized exams.

Assessments include the phases of planning, development, administration, analysis, feedback and reflection.   Teachers at times can be working in several different phases.

Assessment dills with series of process that will enhance the learning of both teachers and students who are engage in the second language acquisition.  The following processes are:

v Planning:  here you need to decide on the purpose of assessment taking into considerations the abilities, resources and target language use.

v Specifications: they provide a common set of criteria for development and evaluation.

v Constructing the Assessment: write your tests in a way that anybody can understand it, permit that your colleagues carefully examined items you wrote as you have scrutinized theirs.

v Preparing students:  students need accurate information about assessment, developing good test-taking skills, also, what they will cover in terms of skills and materials, how much the assessment are worth, and when students can reasonably get their results.

v Assessment in the Larger Cycle:  here it is important to schedule time for analysis, feedback, and reflection.

 

THE CORNERSTONE OF TESTING

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USEFULNESS;

Bachman and Palmer (1996), thinks that the most important consideration in the design and devlopment of a language test, is the use for which it is intended. This " usefulness " to them is a very important quality or cornerstone of testing.

VALIDITY;

This term refers to the extent to which a test measures what it says it measures. For instance, test what you teach, and how you teach it. Types of the ( validity ), include content, construct, and face. For classroom teachers, this means that the test assesses the course content and outcomes using familiar formats that students are alredy aquainted with. The construction of it means to " fit " between the underlying theories and metodology of language learning and the type of assessment.
Examples of the matchings are:
Communicative language learning approach equals communicative language testing.
Face validity equals test measures what it is supposed to measure.
for both students and administrators, this is equaly important.

FUNDAMENTALS OF LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT;
It is important that we be clear about what we want to assess and be sure that we are assessing that and not something else. Making sure that clear assessment objectives are met is of primary importance in achieving test validity. The best way to ensure validity is to produce tests to specifications. Students for the most part are usally the best ones to judge when issues are not clear to them towards a test, they would simply send up a noise to have the teacher's attention according to test setting and it's content, if  non-familiar elements are discovered therein. 

RELIABILITY;
Reliability refers to the consistency of test scores. It simply means that a test would give similar results if it were given at another time. For example, if the same test were to be administered to the same group of students at two different times, in two different settings, it should not make any difference to the test taker whether he/she takes the test on one occasion and in one setting or the other. Similarly, if we develop two forms of a test that are intended to be used interchangeably, it should not make any difference to the test taker which form or version of the test he/she takes. The student should obtain about the same score on either form or version of the test.
Three important factors affect test reliability. Test factors such as the formats and content of the questions and the length of the exam must be consistent. For example, testing research shows that longer exams produce more reliable results than very brief quizzes. In general, the more items on a test, the more reliable it is considered to be. Administrative factors are also important for reliability. These include the classroom setting (lighting, seating arrangements, acoustics, lack of intrusive noise etc.) and how the teacher manages the exam administration. Affective factors in the response of individual students can also affect reliability. Test anxiety can be allayed by coaching students in good test-taking strategies