Language Test Analysis
1. Purpose of the test
Was to expand the skills of professionals who will in turn impart this knowledge to speakers of second languages and form a basis for professionalism in language teaching as well as evaluate their as understanding of English language in a classroom situation. At the end of the test, the learner should have been able to construct future classroom tests for the assessment of linguistic competence (grammar and vocabulary) and the four language skills.
My two tested subjects were a middle-aged Irish woman with O-Level education from her native Belfast High School and a 50-year old Jamaican immigrant who had lived in London for the better part of his life.
2. Content of the test
There were 5 sections:
Question 1 – Reading Passage
The aim was to show a grasp in the gist of a written text and its thematic concerns, key ideas, even if there were new words, and choosing its main points. They were sourced from a non-fiction text.
Question 2 – Grammar
Using English at the word or sentence level, including use of correct structural words and forms; correct and appropriate words and sentences; tense in form of a modified cloze.
Question 3 - Listening
Selecting specific information from a spoken text, recognizing speaker’s tone and mood differentiating main points from minor (hesitations, examples, etc) from a simulated recording sourced a conversation.
Question 4 - Writing
Included writing a specified 250-word paragraph using prompts from two texts. In this context, the candidate should be able to express his thought or arguments according to the instructions issued in the paper, thus, adhere to all instructions given.
Question 5 - Speaking
To measure fluency, the test subject was a...
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...rther, my diagnosis was the language test did not cater for revision, which meant I had to develop better assessments. It is also important that we provide for educational communication and Technologies facilitates faculty assessment to support various tools to develop online or in-class tests.
A diagnostic listening testing should be taken alongside or prior to the test to ascertain a student’s listening aptitude. This test may assess more than just recognition of spoken words. It may be marked according to the exact words (including the exact punctuation and spelling), the accuracy of certain phrases, or simply according to meaning.
References
Fulcher, G. A data-based approaching to rating scale construction, n.d. p. 10: University of
Surrey. Retrieved 27 May, 2011 from
http://languagetesting.info/articles/store/FulcherThickDescription.pdf
The topic for today’s reading was, Interpreting the Language Assessment. In one of the assigned readings, Interpreting the Behavioral Language Assessment, emphasized that the purpose of the behavioral assessment is to provide the tester with enough information to design an individualized language intervention program for a specific child. Therefore, to establish an effective intervention program for particular child the tester must identify the most appropriate starting point for initial training. The tester should review each skill in relation to the entire set of skills identified in the assessment. It is usually best to focus on the development of a few key language areas at one time, even though the child may have weaknesses in several of the areas reviewed by the assessment. Also, it is important that the tester not simply pick the areas with the lowest scores and recommend training begin in those areas, because is very important to ensure that the instructor is able to observe the learner acquiring skills relatively short period of time, in order to maintain his motivation to continue conducting language training activities. Only a few areas are selected for the initial intervention, and the focus of the intervention will be continuously changed as the student acquires new skills. Finally, the language intervention program develops the child’s skills such that he could score at least a five on each of the areas of the assessment. This score of five in a specific area may indicate that a particular skill area may not require as intensive intervention as those skills with a lower score. Furthermore, for the second reading, The Benefits of Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior for Children with Autism, stated t...
Dillon, Naomi. “LANGUAGE TEST. (cover story).” American School Board Journal 192.8 (2005): 10. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 18 Feb. 2001.
The assessment meets the stated purpose remarkably because of its directness, clear wording, cultural appropriateness, and because it is based on research and user feedback. As with any assessment, biases can appear; however, because the assessment was administered by the teacher, biases such as low literacy, cultural and language differences, and impaired mental functioning do not exist.
Choose one of the following topics and write a well-organized essay with evidence supporting the statements you set forth. Your response should be two pages, double spaced with a 12 font in Times New Roman:
...e into consideration the characteristics of young English language learners and their language development, the learning conditions that are most effective for these learners, and the kinds of instruction that best meet their needs.
In Terry’s Eagleton’s book, “How to Read Literature,” Eagleton divided his book into five different chapters titled: “Openings,” “Character,” “Narrative,” “Interpretations,” and “Value.” Throughout the book, Eagleton mentioned many famous authors and many well-known books. Not only does he mentioned them, he often quoted them to give examples on how readers should analyze the words and the message of the work itself.
The Beck Anxiety Inventory was designed by Aaron T. Beck and is self report scale that consists of 21 items. The items are short and straightforward, making it easy to read and comprehend. All items are related to anxiety and describe a symptom of anxiety that is rate on a four point likert scale according to severity. The answers range from 0-3 and the responses range from “not at all” to “severely; I could barely stand it” and all items are added for a total score. The instructions on the test ask for the respondent to “indicate how much you have been bothered by each symptom during the past week, including today, by placing an X in the corresponding space in the column next to each symptom” (Dowd, 2008). The assessment is intended for adolescents and adults and can be administered individually or in a group setting. An additional copy of the inventory test is also available in Spanish. It was originally created from a sample of 810 outpatients of that were predominately affected by mood and anxiety disorders and research on the original development is described as informative and thorough.
Meyer, Michael, ed. Thinking and Writing About Literature. Second Edition. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.
reader creates “supplementary meaning” to the text by unconsciously setting up tension, also called binary opposition. Culler describes this process in his statement “The process of thematic interpretation requires us to move from facts towards values, so we can develop each thematic complex, retaining the opposition between them” (294). Though supplementary meaning created within the text can take many forms, within V...
of the interpretation and the central character of the aspects of the work being interpreted.
The purpose of this assignment is to explain the impact of English language learners in the classroom. As a foreign student, English language learner in the United States faces multiple challenges for achieving academic success. To successfully complete a task, they need to master both English as a language and how it is used in core content classes especially when they are an adult. When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation,
Richards, J. C., Platt, J., & Plat, H. (2000). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
The ability to test a student’s language skills is essential to have as a teacher. Over the years, classrooms have become much more diverse with a wide variety of impairments being presented on a daily basis. Often, these disabilities contain a language impairment that appears as a side effect of the main disability. Unfortunately, assessing language is not as easy as one may think because it is not clearly defined and understood. Kuder (2008) writes that “…language is not a unitary phenomenon- it is ‘multidimensional, complex, and dynamic; it involves many interrelated processes and abilities; and it changes from situation to situation” (pg. 274). Language also develops at different times for different individuals, thus making language assessment an even harder task for test administrators to grade and evaluate. In order to further understand the language impairment that students present, teachers need to be aware of appropriate language tests that could be administered. In order to assure that the best language test is being issued to a student, several various tests exist to choose from. To test a student’s overall language capability, a comprehensive language test, such as the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) or the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS), could be administered. If a teacher wanted to test a specific language skill such as pragmatics, phonology, syntax, or semantics, the teacher would need to find the best test for the student’s unique situation.
Long, M, H. & Doughty, C, J. ( Eds.).(2009). The Handbook of Language Teaching. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
In most institutions of learning today, the classes are made up of students from different ethnic backgrounds. These have different traditions and also speak different languages. In a typical classroom, the majority of the students will speak the same language. The teacher must then employ strategies which will accommodate all the students in the class. This will ensure that every learner gets the best quality of education. This will enable them to be better prepared for career and expressing themselves. In this paper, strategies to assist learners of the English language in their literal development for third grade learners. In the paper, three strategies that can be used by the teacher will be discussed. New strategies and research that will help the English language learners to gain in depth mastery of the language will also be discussed. Due to the widespread learning of the English language in most schools, addressing issues of the language learners is of vital importance. Teachers should have the understanding that cultures are what give someone identity and therefore no student should leave their culture for another. Instead, there should be the blending of different cultures so that students can appreciate and learn from each other.