Course Units

From this page, you will be able to download, on pdf format, the materials for each of the seven course units.

Unit 1: Key Terms in the Fields of FL/SL Assessment

Unit 2: Purposes of Language Tests and the Relation of Language Test Type and the Purpose of Assessment

Unit 3: Test Essential Requirements. The Issues of Validity, Reliability, and Practicality

Unit 4: Principles of Language Test Design

Unit 5: Direct and Indirect Testing. Cloze and Multiple-Choice Tests. Advantages and Disadvantages

Unit 6: Historical Perspectives. Integrative, Discrete-Item, and Communicative Testing

1. Standardized testing
2. Test task typology

3. Test types and purposes of language tests (Supplement for Unit 2 above):

3.1. What is an APTITUDE TEST and what is its main purpose?

An instrument to measure the extent to which an individual possesses specific language learning ability. Such tests are usually used for selection and diagnosis and for prediction of language learning success. Research is somewhat unclear on the existence of a general aptitude variable and the tests that exist normally claim to predict success only in terms of defined learning outcomes or distinct methodologies.
Data from major aptitude tests suggest that phonetic coding ability (sound discrimination and memory), grammatical sensitivity (recognising the grammatical function of words), rote learning ability for new sound and meaning associations and inductive learning ability for language patterns are components of language aptitude. Experimental results indicate that also important to language aptitude are: language processing ability, ability to make sense of and learn from decontextualised data, and experience of early language learning in the mother tongue. Other variables which are said to influence language aptitude are grammatical knowledge, listening ability, range of (mother tongue) vocabulary and motivation.
From: Davies, A. et al. 1999. Studies in language testing 7. Dictionary of language testing. Cambridge: C.U.P.

3.2. What is an ACHIEVEMENT TEST and what is its main purpose?

Achievement refers to the mastery of what has been learnt, what has been taught or was is in the syllabus, textbook, materials, etc.
An achievement test therefore is an instrument designed to measure what a person has learnt within or up to a given time. It is based on a clear and public indication of the instruction that has been given. The content of achievement tests is a sample of what has been in the syllabus during the time under scrutiny and as such they have been called parasitic on the syllabus.
An achievement test may be distinguished both from a proficiency test and from an aptitude test by their uses. A set of grammar test items have been part of the learner’s syllabus; as a proficiency test if adequate performance on these items is required for some real word performance; and as an aptitude test if they provide the means of puzzling out the grammar of an unknown language so as to indicate language learning ability.
The view that an achievement test should measure success on ultimate course objectives rather than on course content is not widely held, largely because such an approach removes the achievement-proficiency distinction.
Because achievements tests are typically used at the end of a period of learning, a school year or a whole school or college career, their results are often used for decision making purposes, notably selection.
From: Davies, A. et al. 1999. Studies in language testing 7. Dictionary of language testing. Cambridge: C.U.P.

3.3. What is a PROGRESS TEST and what is its main purpose?

A test intended to measure the progress that students are making towards defined goals. As such tests are commonly intended to measure progress during a course, their content is generally related to the course objectives, and are likely to be narrower or more detailed in focus than in an end-of-course achievement test. While such tests are generally teacher-made, many course books include progress tests to be administered on a regular basis.
From: Davies, A. et al. 1999. Studies in language testing 7. Dictionary of language testing. Cambridge: C.U.P.

3.4. What is a PROFICIENCY TEST and what is its main purpose?

A test which measures how much of a language someone has learned. Unlike an achievement test , a proficiency test is not based on a particular course of instruction. A proficiency test often measures what the candidate has learned relative to a specific real world purpose, for example, does he/she know enough of the target language to follow a lecture, train as an engineer or work as a ski instructor in that medium, or to translate to the requisite standard out of that language. Some proficiency tests have been standardized for worldwide use, such as the American TOEFL test which is used to measure the English language proficiency of foreign college students who wish to study in the USA; or the British-Australian IELTS test designed for those who wish to study in the UK or Australia. In spite of their worldwide standardization, proficiency tests normally have a particular situation in mind. TOEFL is primarily relevant to those who wish to study in the USA and its use of American English is therefore justifiable.
Established proficiency tests such as the TOEFL of the Cambridge examinations tend to generate a washback effect o instruction (preparatory courses and textbooks which are oriented towards the test) and hence come more and more to be used as achievement tests. This achievement-proficiency dynamic rightly leads to new proficiency tests being designed.
From: Davies, A. et al. 1999. Studies in language testing 7. Dictionary of language testing. Cambridge: C.U.P.

3.5. What is a DIAGNOSTIC TEST and what is its main purpose?

It is used to identify test taker’s strengths and weaknesses, by testing what they know or do not know in a language, or what skills they have or do not have. Information obtained from such tests is useful at the beginning of a language course, for example, for placement purposes (assigning students to appropriate classes), for selection (deciding which students to admit to a particular course), for planning of courses of instruction or for identifying areas where remedial instruction is necessary. It is common for educational institutions (e.g. universities) to administer diagnosis language tests to incoming students, in order to establish whether or not they need or would benefit from support in the language of instruction used.
From: Davies, A. et al. 1999. Studies in language testing 7. Dictionary of language testing. Cambridge: C.U.P.

3.6. What is a PLACEMENT TEST and what is its main purpose?

A test intended to provide information which will help place students in appropriate classes. To be most effective, placement tests should reflect the features of the teaching context (such as the proficiency level of the classes, the methodology or the syllabus type). A grammar placement test, for example, may not be the most suitable placement test where the syllabus is task-oriented. Where large student intakes are the norm, efficiency in administration and marking is often a key consideration in the development of placement procedures. As it is relatively easy to rectify mistakes made on the basis of test results, e.g. students placed wrongly, issues of reliability and validity may be considered less crucial in the development or choosing of a placement test than in high stakes tests where outcomes are serious and irreversible (selection or screening tests, for example).
Placement tests often serve a double function of both placement and diagnosis. Where this is the case, teachers are able to use the information provided by the test on individual students to inform their course planning.
From: Davies, A. et al. 1999. Studies in language testing 7. Dictionary of language testing. Cambridge: C.U.P.