Regulatory references қР 27 шілде 2007 ж. «Білім туралы»
TEST CONTROL IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
жүктеу/скачать 131,3 Kb.
|
Дуйсенбаева Дариға Орынқызы
| 3 TEST CONTROL IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
3.1 Test as a specific form of control According to many researchers, testing is the most promising way to create a control system that meets the requirements of the modern education system. Pedagogical testing occupies an important place in modern teaching methods, it is the subject of research by many specialists (B. C. Avanesov, V. I. Vasiliev, I. Ya. Lerner, A. N. Mayorov, N. N. Nokhrin, M. B. Chelyshkova, V. A. Shukhardina, etc.). It should be noted that testing has received recognition in our country and has become a generally accepted form of both current and final control, which was a natural result of the long path of development of pedagogical testing in general and linguodidactic testing in particular. The basics of linguodidactic testing are quite fully considered in the works of both Russian (S. R. Baluyan, L. V. Bankevich, V. A. Kokkota, A. A. Leontiev, O. G. Polyakov, I. A. Rapoport, M. V. Rosenkrantz, R. Selg, V. N. Simkin, I. Sotter, I. A. Tsaturov) and foreign testologists (S. J. Alderson, L. F. Bachman, M. Chalhoub-Deville, N. E. Gronlund, A. Hughes, B. Spolsky). The main methodological issues of linguodidactic testing are the criteria for selecting the content for the test, the methods of experimental testing of tests to determine the difficulty of tasks, the validity and reliability and methods for determining them, and the principles of interpreting the obtained characteristics. Currently, in most schools, the assessment of the formation of speech skills is conducted on a five-point system. However, testing as a means of control is widespread. With the help of tests and test tasks, it is possible to more accurately determine the level of formation of speech skills in a foreign language, since the teacher relies on a greater number of points, i.e. the sum of points for each of the completed tasks, since the test consists of a number of tasks. The forms of testing communication skills in different types of speech activity are determined by the nature of the activity. When testing receptive communication skills (reading and listening comprehension), preference is given to tests. Productive communication skills (speaking and writing) can be tested either by tests with a freely constructed answer and then comparing this answer with a standard, or by using communication-oriented test tasks. The level of the Standard can be considered achieved if the student correctly performs at least 60% of tests and test tasks in reading, listening and writing. Speaking tasks can be considered completed if the student solves the communication tasks set in them. During oral-speech interaction, the student may experience some difficulties, which requires the interlocutor (the teacher in the role of a native speaker) to use repetitions, paraphrasing and re-structuring statements. A response limited to one or two lines is acceptable. There may be pauses associated with finding a way to pass the desired value. In the student's speech, pronouncing, grammatical and lexical errors are allowed that do not violate the meaning of the statement. In addition to centralized final control, the school can conduct final control at the end of each year of study and intermediate control, depending on the needs. Having emerged as the name of a specific form of control of knowledge, skills and abilities, the English term " test "began to be used in foreign methods to refer to any control task, as a synonym for the concepts of" control work"," survey"," test","exam". In the extended interpretation of the term "test" by American testologists, two main groups are distinguished: objective tests and subjective ones. In objective tests, the determination of the correctness of the answer is carried out mechanically, according to the prepared key; in subjective tests, it is based on the evaluative judgment of the examiners. In the domestic methodology, the term "test" is understood as" a set of tasks prepared in accordance with certain requirements, which has passed preliminary testing ... and allows the test takers to identify the degree of their language ... and/or speech competence, the results of which can be evaluated according to pre-established criteria " (Glukhov B. A., Shchukin A. N.). This set of tasks exists in the form of a set of questions that provide unambiguous answers to the test takers. It is distinguished by the thoroughness of development in accordance with certain rules and procedures, preliminary experimental verification, and the presence of such characteristics as validity and reliability. Validity, one of the main characteristics of the effectiveness of the test, includes a wide range of concepts. In its most general form, validity shows what a test measures and how well it does it. Validity indicates the degree of suitability of the test for its use for a specific purpose. The most important aspects of this test performance indicator are content validity, or content validity, conjugate validity, predictive validity, constructive validity, and external validity. These types of validity are essentially different ways of determining it. The validity of linguodidactic tests and other forms of control is enhanced by the following parameters: 1) presentation of the material in context; 2) use of authentic materials in receptive tests; 3) creating situations that are close to real life when controlling oral-speech skills and abilities; 4) using communication tasks. Different target orientation, completeness and focused on achieving the result (speech product), especially when controlling expressive written speech; 5) group, paired forms of control. Reliability-an important quantitative indicator of the quality and effectiveness of a test-indicates how consistent and stable its results are. The evaluation of the results of a reliable test does not depend on the time and conditions of its implementation, nor on the experts who carry out the control. The available standard of answers guarantees the objectivity of the test results, which can be quantified and mathematically processed. The main difference between the test and the control work is that it always involves measurement and that it passes the standardization procedure. Therefore, the mark issued based on the results of testing is more objective than the assessment of the control work made on the basis of the personal judgment of the examiner. The test usually consists of two parts: information and operational. The information part contains clearly and simply formulated instructions and examples of the correct execution of tasks. The operational part consists of a certain number of tasks or questions. The test task is the minimum component of the test unit, which assumes a certain verbal or nonverbal reaction of the test subject. Each test task contains the basis in the form of an affirmative sentence (complete or incomplete), a question or a small text. The basis is presented in such a way that it contains a specific particular problem that requires finding a solution (answer), and, as a rule, suggests the direction of the search. A test task can be accompanied by a set of responses, also called sample responses or alternatives. Among the answers, there is one correct answer and several incorrect, inappropriate, distracting ones. The basics and choices in the test can be represented by language signs of different sizes: from a sound or a letter to a text. All choices should be approximately the same size and relate to the same level of language difficulty. Tests with many (more than 40 - 50) tasks are called complex tests or test batteries and consist of parts and subtests. The subtest is compiled for one specific test object and contains the same type of tasks. Depending on the different criteria, the following types of linguodidactic tests are distinguished. 1)For the purpose of application: general skills test, performance test, diagnostic test, "placement" test, ability determination test. 2)By the nature of the control: the test of the current and intermediate control of academic performance, the test of the final control of academic performance. 3)According to the object of control and the nature of the controlled activity: the test of linguistic competence, which measures the assimilation of language material (language skills); the test of communicative competence, which measures the formation of speech skills (pragmatic test). 4)By the direction of the test tasks: discrete test, integral or global test. 5)By reference to norms or criteria: the norm-oriented test and the criterion-oriented test. 6)By formal criteria (by the structure and method of response design): a selective test, a test with a freely constructed answer. The method of restoration (addition) is as follows. Subjects are presented with a coherent text in which individual words are intentionally omitted. The subjects must insert words that match the meaning, thus restoring the deformed text. In this case, there is a prediction of linguistic elements at the word level based on an incomplete context. When" dissecting " the text in several sentences, spaces are not made at the beginning of the text, so that the subjects can familiarize themselves with the topic. It is not recommended to use highly specialized texts and texts containing a large number of facts. The omission of words can be fixed (every nth word is removed from the text, where n ranges from 5 to 10) and not fixed (some significant or service words are removed). The choice of a particular supplement method depends on the specific goal. The test tasks (tests and test tasks) used in the process of state centralized control should be similar in form to those used in the training process. Hughes (1989:2) conceives that one of the reasons why the tests are not favoured is that they measure not exactly what they have to measure. The author of the paper supports the idea that it is impossible to evaluate someone’s true abilities by tests. An individual might be a bright student possessing a good knowledge of English, but, unfortunately, due to his/her nervousness may fail the test, or vice versa, the student might have crammed the tested material without a full comprehension of it. As a result, during the test s/he is just capable of producing what has been learnt by tremendous efforts, but not elaboration of the exact actual knowledge of the student (that, unfortunately, does not exist at all). Moreover, there could be even more disastrous case when the student has cheated and used his/her neighbour’s work. Apart from the above-mentioned there could be other factors that could influence an inadequate completion of the test (sleepless night, various personal and health problems, etc.) However, very often the test itself can provoke the failure of the students to complete it. With the respect to the linguists, such as Hughes (1989) and Alderson (1996), we are able to state that there are two main causes of the test being inaccurate: Test content and techniques; Lack of reliability. The first one means that the test’s design should response to what is being tested. First, the test must content the exact material that is to be tested. Second, the activities, or techniques, used in the test should be adequate and relevant to what is being tested. This denotes they should not frustrate the learners, but, on the contrary, facilitate and help the students write the test successfully. The next one denotes that one and the same test given at a different time must score the same points. The results should not be different because of the shift in time. For example, the test cannot be called reliable if the score gathered during the first time the test was completed by the students differs from that administered for the second time, though knowledge of the learners has not changed at all. Furthermore, reliability can fail due to the improper design of a test (unclear instructions and questions, etc.) and due to the ways it is scored. The teacher may evaluate various students differently taking different aspects into consideration (level of the students, participation, effort, and even personal preferences.) If there are two markers, then definitely there will be two different evaluations, for each marker will possess his/her own criteria of marking and evaluating one and the same work. For example, let us mention testing speaking skills. Here one of the makers will probably treat grammar as the most significant point to be evaluated, whereas the other will emphasise the fluency more. Sometimes this could lead to the arguments between the makers; nevertheless, we should never forget that still the main figure we have to deal with is the student. жүктеу/скачать 131,3 Kb. Достарыңызбен бөлісу:
|