Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices

Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices is designed to offer a comprehensive survey of essential principles and tools for second language assessment. Its first and second editions have been successfully used in teacher-training courses, teacher certification curricula, and TESOL master of arts programs. As the third in a trilogy of teacher education textbooks, it is designed to follow H. Douglas Brown’s other two books, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (sixth edition, Pearson Education, 2014) and Teaching by Principles(fourth edition, Pearson Education, 2015). References to those two books are made throughout the current book. Language Assessment features uncomplicated prose and a systematic, spiraling organization. Concepts are introduced with practical examples, understandable explanations, and succinct references to supportive research. The research literature on language assessment can be quite complex and assume that readers have technical knowledge and experience in testing. By the end of Language Assessment, however, readers will have gained access to this not-so-frightening field. They will have a working knowledge of a number of useful, fundamental principles of assessment and will have applied those principles to practical classroom contexts. They will also have acquired a storehouse of useful tools for evaluating and designing practical, effective assessment techniques for their classrooms.

Table of Contents:
Preface Text Credits 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 Traditional and Alternative Assessment Performance-Based Assessment Current “Hot Topics” in Language Assessment Dynamic Assessment Assessing Pragmatics Use of Technology in Testing 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 Classroom Testing Are the Test Procedures Practical? Is the Test Itself Reliable? Can You Ensure Rater Reliability? Does the Procedure Demonstrate Content Validity? Has the Impact of the Test Been Carefully Accounted for? Are the Test Tasks as Authentic as Possible? Does the Test Offer Beneficial Washback to the Learner? Maximizing Both Practicality and Washback Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 3 Designing Classroom Language Tests Four Assessment Scenarios Scenario 1: Reading Quiz Scenario 2: Grammar Unit Test Scenario 3: Midterm Essay Scenario 4: Listening/Speaking Final Exam Determining the Purpose of a Test Test Usefulness Reading Quiz Defining Abilities to be Assessed Grammar Unit Test Drawing up Test Specifications Grammar Unit Test Midterm Essay Devising Test Items Midterm Essay Listening/Speaking Final Exam Designing Multiple-Choice Items Design Each Item to Measure a Single Objective State Both Stem and Options as Simply and Directly as Possible Make Certain That the Intended Answer Is Clearly Only the Correct One Use Item Indices to Accept, Discard, or Revise Items (Optional) Listening/Speaking Final Exam 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 Consequences of Standards-Based Assessment and Standardized Testing Test Bias Test-Driven Learning 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 Step 1: Determine the Purpose and Objectives of the Test Step 2: Design Test Specifications Step 3: Design, Select, and Arrange Test Tasks/Items Step 4: Make Appropriate Evaluations of Different Kinds of Items Step 5: Specify Scoring Procedures and Reporting Formats Step 6: Perform Ongoing Construct Validation Studies Standardized Language Proficiency Testing Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 6 Assessing Listening Cautionary Observations on Assessing Language Skills Separately Integration of Skills in Language Assessment Assessing Grammar and Vocabulary Observing the Performance of the Four Skills 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 7 Assessing Speaking Basic Types of Speaking Imitative Intensive Responsive Interactive Extensive (Monologue) Microskills and Macroskills of Speaking Designing Assessment Tasks: Imitative Speaking Versant® 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 Designing Assessment Tasks: Interactive Speaking Interview Role Play Discussions and Conversations Games ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview Designing Assessments: Extensive Speaking Oral Presentations Picture-Cued Storytelling Retelling a Story, News Event Translation (of Extended Prose) Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 8 Assessing Reading Genres of Reading Microskills, Macroskills, and Strategies for Reading Types of Reading Perceptive Selective Interactive Extensive 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 Sequencing Information Transfer: Reading Charts, Maps, Graphs, Diagrams Designing Assessment Tasks: Extensive Reading Skimming Tasks Summarizing and Responding Notetaking and Outlining Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 9 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 Standardized Tests of Responsive Writing Scoring Methods for Responsive and Extensive Writing Holistic Scoring Analytic Scoring Primary Trait 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 10 Assessing Grammar and Vocabulary Understanding Form-Focused Assessment Assessing Grammar Defining Grammatical Knowledge Designing Assessment Tasks: Selected Response Designing Assessment Tasks: Limited Production Designing Assessment Tasks: Extended Production 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 11 Grading and Student Evaluation The Philosophy of Grading: What Should Grades Reflect? Guidelines for Selecting Grading Criteria Calculating Grades: Absolute and Relative Grading Teachers' Perceptions of Appropriate Grade Distributions Institutional Expectations and Constraints Cultural Norms and the Question of Difficulty What Do Letter Grades “Mean”? Scoring and Grading Tests and Assignments Scoring Methods Scoring Open-Ended Responses Developing a Rubric Guidelines for Grading and Evaluation Exercises For Your Further Reading Chapter 12 Beyond Letter Grading Self- and Peer Assessment Advantages of Self- and Peer Assessment Types of Self- and Peer Assessment Guidelines for Self- and Peer Assessment A Taxonomy of Self- and Peer Assessment Tasks Portfolios 130 Clear Purpose Specific Guidelines Transparent Assessment Criteria Designated Time Allocated Scheduled Review and Conferencing Designated Location Positive Final Assessments Narrative Evaluations Checklist Evaluations Exercises For Your Further Reading Appendix: Commercially Produced Tests of English as a Second/Foreign Language Glossary Bibliography n