Técnicas y Procedimientos de Evaluación del Aprendizaje del Inglés en el Aula (2008/09)

CURSO/YEAR: 5º
CUATRIMESTRE/SEMESTER: 1º
CRÉDITOS (T/P)/CREDITS (T/P): 3 T + 3 P
TIPO/TYPE (Troncal; Obligatoria; Optativa): Optativa / Optional
PROFESOR/LECTURER: Dra. Lourdes Cerezo / Profª Gema Alcaraz

Estudio de los procedimientos y técnicas de evaluación aplicados al aprendizaje del inglés en contextos de aula, así como a los materiales para su enseñanza.

Introducción/Introduction

The goal of this course is to provide the students with a framework (both theoretical and practical) for foreign language learning assessment, which they will hopefully be able to apply in their future career as English language teachers.
On the theoretical side, students will familiarize themselves with key concepts in the area of FL/SL assessment. On the practical side, the framework mainly involves the handling of ready-made language assessment tools for analysis and evaluation, and the production by the students of their own language assessment tools.
It goes without saying that, for the building of this framework, the students will need to read relevant up-to-date literature on language learning assessment issues and reflect on their personal experience as foreign language learners.

Objetivos teóricos/Theory objectives

On completion of this course, students will have

- become familiarized with the terminology used in the field of FL/SL learning assessment. This terminology will enable the student both to participate in theoretical discussions and to undertake practical analysis of assessment methods and problems.
- acquired explicit knowledge on key FL/SL assessment issues.
- developed a critical perspective on the relevant literature presented (as part of in-class explanations and discussions and out-of-class assigned readings) on each of the units that make up the course syllabus. This critical perspective will allow the would-be language teachers to justify when necessary their decisions concerning the methods of assessment they choose in any given teaching situation and/or context.

Objetivos prácticos/Practice objectives

On completion of this course, students will have developed the ability to apply the knowledge acquired to the following tasks:

- analyzing language tests;
- deciding on the suitability of given methods of language learning assessment, and
- developing the rudiments of test-making for SL/FL language learning assessment.

Metodología/Methodology

To achieve these aims, this course will be organized around a number of contact hours that include a) lectures and b) seminars over a period of 15 weeks.

Lectures and seminars will be organized around a number of teaching units (see the Contents section below). The development of these units will include:
a) Teacher-led and student-led presentations of the relevant aspects of each unit. The students are expected to have worked on the assigned readings before each lecture/seminar and discussion is to be hold during these lessons between the students and the instructor on the issues presented. b) Practicals in which students are expected to put into practice the theoretical knowledge acquired in the lectures and from the assigned readings.

Teóricos

1. Key terms in SL/FL learning assessment. 2. Purposes of language tests and the relation of language test type and purpose of assessment. 3. Test essential requirements: the issues of validity, reliability and practicality. 4. Principles of language test design. 5. Assessing the receptive skills: methods and techniques for assessing listening and reading. 6. Assessing the productive skills: methods and techniques for assessing speaking and writing. 7. Assessing the language system: methods and techniques for assessing grammar and vocabulary. 8. Cloze procedures and multiple-choice tests. Advantages and disadvantages. 9. Integrative tests and discrete item tests. Communicative tests. 10. Basic statistical values used in the analysis and interpretation of test results.

Prácticos

Practicals will be organized as follows:
- Analyses of different types of existing tests for English language learning assessment.
- Production of different types of tests for English language learning assessment by the students themselves.
- Assessment of students’ performance.
- Critical commentaries/summaries/questions on extracts from the assigned readings.

Coursework: 50%.
The type, contents and timing (hand-in deadlines) of the practicals and the related assignments will be specified on the first day of classes, during the course presentation.Only the students who have handed in a minimum of 75% of the course practicals in due time and format will be allowed to sit the final exam.
Students must bear in mind that a) assignments will only be supervised during the course (i.e. from September to January) and b) attendance at the seminars is compulsory (as agreed by the Department).

Final exam: 50%. There are 2 parts to this final exam:
- Part 1 (40%): a multiple-choice test with a number of questions on issues studied during the course. Pass: 25%.
- Part 2 (10%): two questions on the theory contents of the course. Pass: 6%.

Students who sit the final exam must pass both Part 1 and Part 2 to obtain a pass grade in this course.

Alderson, J. C., C. Clapham & D. Wall. 1995. Language test construction and evaluation. Cambridge: CUP.
Alderson, C. 2000. Assessing reading. New York: CUP.
Bachman, L. 1990. Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: OUP.
Bachman, L. & A. Palmer. 1996. Language Testing in Practice. New York: OUP.
Baker, D. 1989. Language testing. A critical survey and practical guide. London: Edward Arnold.
Buck, G. 2001. Assessing listening. New York: CUP.
Council of Europe. 2001. Common European framework of reference for language learning, teaching and assessment. Cambridge: CUP.
Davies, A. 1990. Principles of language testing. Oxford: Blackwell.
Heaton, J.B. 1975. Writing English language tests. London: Longman.
Hughes, A. 1989. Testing for language teachers. Cambridge: CUP.
Lado, R. 1961. Language testing. London: Longman.
Luoma, S. 2004. Assessing speaking. Cambridge: CUP.
O’Malley, J.M. & L. Valdez-Pierce. 1996. Authentic assessment for English language learners. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Purpura, J.E. 2004. Assessing grammar. Cambridge: CUP.
Read, J. 2000. Assessing vocabulary. New York: CUP.
Underhill, N. 1990. Testing spoken language. Cambridge: CUP.
Weigle, S. 2002. Assessing writing. New York: CUP.