The answers of the fourth task!
1. What is reading?
Reading is a complex cognitive process of constructing linguistic meaning from written symbols.
2. How should we assess reading?
• A student read out loud with the teacher making notes of the mistakes he or she makes. The teacher also listens to how the student orally structures the sentences he or she is reading to see if the reading is fluent.
• Another reading assessment evaluates the student, level of comprehension.
3. Find some example of reading assessment?
Example of reading assessment: by asking questions about a text or by having the student perform actions described in a text, evaluating texts for structure or meaning, developing interpretations of literary texts and linking them to other texts or real-word events, or finding underlying meanings such as irony or humor.
4. What is writing?
Writing is an activity in which a person express this idea, though, expression, and feelings which is used for communicating to the readers in the form of written words.
5. How should we assess writing?
Usually to assess writing there are five components, they are:
• Content refers to substance of writing, the experience of main idea
• Organization refers to the logical organization of the content
• Vocabulary refers to the selection of words those are suitable with the content
• Language uses refer to the use of the correct grammatical and syntactic pattern
• Mechanic refers to the use graphic conventional of language
6. Find some example of writing assessment?
In scoring criteria of the narrative text. The can used in writing includes five aspect of writing.
7. What is alternative assessment?
Alternative assessment is activities that reveal what students can do with language, emphasizing their strengths instead of their weaknesses, because alternative assessment is performance based, it helps instructors emphasize that the point of language learning is communication for meaningful purposes.
8. Why is alternative assessment needed?
Because alternative assessment are based on the idea that students can evaluate their own learning and learn from evaluation process. These methods give learners opportunities to reflect on both their linguistic development and their learning processes (what helps them learn and what might help them learn better).
9. What is alternative assessment are available?
10. Find some example of checklist and rubric?
Checklist :
• using resource list provided by the instructor, students contact and interview a native speaker of the language they are studying, then report back to the class. In the report they are to briefly describe the interviewee (gender, place of birth, occupation, family), explain when and why the interviewee came to the united States, describe a challenge the person has faced as an immigrant, describe how the person maintains a connection with his/her heritage.
• A checklist for assessing students’ completion of the task is shown in the popup window.
Rubrics :
a. Holistic Rubrics
The example: The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTHL) Proficiency Guidelines (1986). The ACTHL guidelines are not appropriate for classroom use, because they are intended for large scale assessment of overall proficiency and are not designed necessarily to align with curricular objectives or classroom instruction.
b. Analytic Rubrics
For example, dimensions for writing performance might include content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. Each dimension is scored separately, than dimension scores are to determine an overall score.
c. Primary trait rubrics
For example, consider a task that requires that a student write a persuasive letter to an editor of the school newspaper.
d. Multi trait rubrics
For example, on an information – gap speaking task where students are asked to describe a picture in enough detail for listener to choose it from a set of similar pictures, a multi trait rubric would include dimensions such as quality of description, fluency, and language control, as the example in the popup window shows.
Rabu, 12 Mei 2010
the answer of the third task language testing
1. Find more information about standardized based assessment
1). Standard based assessment,
The standard based learning movement bringing forth a movement for standard based assessment an approach that compares student performances to the standards. With standards based assessment, the students are graded on how well they learned and achieved the standards. There are 4 advantages of standard based assessment: 1) students are compared to a standard that all can reach, rather than artificially ranked into a bell curve where some students must be called, and only a few are allowed to success. 2) a criterion based test is a test worth teaching to, unlike a multiple choice test. 3) students will no longer be created by passing them on to the next grade without obtaining what every child at the grade level must be able to know and do. 4) No longer will schools produced graduates who can not read their own diplomas.
2. Find this material listening and how to used in the class!
Listening is a demanding process involving the listener (listener is an active participant in a conversation and they must concentration), the speaker (speaker is someone who give the material, a speaker`s rate of delivery may be too fast, too slow, or may have many hesitations for a listener to follow ), the content of the message ( content is familiar is easier), and any accompanying visual support (visual support for example: the actual tool, a video, pictures, diagrams, gestures, facial expression, and body language ).
The uses of listening in the class are:
• Pupils listen attentively for short bursts of time. They use non-verbal gestures to respond to greetings and questions about themselves, and they follow simple instructions based on the routines of the classroom.
• Pupils understand simple conversational English. They listen and respond to the gist of general explanations by the teacher where language is supported by non-verbal, including illustrations.
3. Find some example of listening assessment!
• The teacher gives out a choppy of worksheets.
• She/ He explain to the children that they are going to hear a story about clothes. They have to colour the clothes according to what they hear.
• The teacher tells the story below.
It is winter. Anna and Simon are playing in the yard. They are having a snow-fight. Anna’s red coat is quite wet already, but her brown boots and blue trousers are warm, and she doesn’t want to go into the room. Simon and Anna start making a snowman. They want to dress a snowman with Simon’s green scarf and Anna’s pink hat. The snowman looks beautiful, but the children start feeling cold, and they are running to the house. Later Anna finds out that she has lost her yellow scarf and forgotten her pink hat outside.
• The teacher tells the story again and asks the children to check or complete their work.
FEEDBACK
• The teacher puts an enlarged copy of the worksheet up on the board with the clothing coloured according to the story.
• He/ She goes round checking that the children have coloured the clothes correctly.
ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME
• One point for each correctly coloured clothing item. If the children do not know the colour they can put a tick on the clothing item and score half a point for getting the clothing. Also they should get half points if they identify the correct clothing item but colour in the wrong colour.
4. Find speaking material and how to use in the class!
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specifics points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected patterns of specific discourse situations. In language classroom, a teacher can select activities from a variety of tasks. They are: Imitative, Intensive, Responsive, Transactional, Interpersonal, and Extensive.
The uses of speaking in the class are:
a. Preparation; choosing appropriate topics for small talk.
b. Presentation; Present several video clips of small talk in casual situation.
c. Practice; give learners specifics information about the participants and the setting of a scenario where small talk will take place.
d. Evaluation; give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based their scenario from. Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both.
e. Extension; learners go individually or in a small groups into various contexts in the community and record the conversations they hear. Ask them to report their findings, and then have the class discuss the findings.
5. Find some example of speaking assessment!
Example of speaking assessment:
There are two methods that used by the teacher in speaking assessment, they are:
a. In the observational approach, the student`s behavior is observed and assessed unobtrusively.
b. In the structural approach, the student is asked to perform one or more specific oral communication tasks.
1). Standard based assessment,
The standard based learning movement bringing forth a movement for standard based assessment an approach that compares student performances to the standards. With standards based assessment, the students are graded on how well they learned and achieved the standards. There are 4 advantages of standard based assessment: 1) students are compared to a standard that all can reach, rather than artificially ranked into a bell curve where some students must be called, and only a few are allowed to success. 2) a criterion based test is a test worth teaching to, unlike a multiple choice test. 3) students will no longer be created by passing them on to the next grade without obtaining what every child at the grade level must be able to know and do. 4) No longer will schools produced graduates who can not read their own diplomas.
2. Find this material listening and how to used in the class!
Listening is a demanding process involving the listener (listener is an active participant in a conversation and they must concentration), the speaker (speaker is someone who give the material, a speaker`s rate of delivery may be too fast, too slow, or may have many hesitations for a listener to follow ), the content of the message ( content is familiar is easier), and any accompanying visual support (visual support for example: the actual tool, a video, pictures, diagrams, gestures, facial expression, and body language ).
The uses of listening in the class are:
• Pupils listen attentively for short bursts of time. They use non-verbal gestures to respond to greetings and questions about themselves, and they follow simple instructions based on the routines of the classroom.
• Pupils understand simple conversational English. They listen and respond to the gist of general explanations by the teacher where language is supported by non-verbal, including illustrations.
3. Find some example of listening assessment!
• The teacher gives out a choppy of worksheets.
• She/ He explain to the children that they are going to hear a story about clothes. They have to colour the clothes according to what they hear.
• The teacher tells the story below.
It is winter. Anna and Simon are playing in the yard. They are having a snow-fight. Anna’s red coat is quite wet already, but her brown boots and blue trousers are warm, and she doesn’t want to go into the room. Simon and Anna start making a snowman. They want to dress a snowman with Simon’s green scarf and Anna’s pink hat. The snowman looks beautiful, but the children start feeling cold, and they are running to the house. Later Anna finds out that she has lost her yellow scarf and forgotten her pink hat outside.
• The teacher tells the story again and asks the children to check or complete their work.
FEEDBACK
• The teacher puts an enlarged copy of the worksheet up on the board with the clothing coloured according to the story.
• He/ She goes round checking that the children have coloured the clothes correctly.
ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME
• One point for each correctly coloured clothing item. If the children do not know the colour they can put a tick on the clothing item and score half a point for getting the clothing. Also they should get half points if they identify the correct clothing item but colour in the wrong colour.
4. Find speaking material and how to use in the class!
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specifics points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected patterns of specific discourse situations. In language classroom, a teacher can select activities from a variety of tasks. They are: Imitative, Intensive, Responsive, Transactional, Interpersonal, and Extensive.
The uses of speaking in the class are:
a. Preparation; choosing appropriate topics for small talk.
b. Presentation; Present several video clips of small talk in casual situation.
c. Practice; give learners specifics information about the participants and the setting of a scenario where small talk will take place.
d. Evaluation; give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based their scenario from. Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both.
e. Extension; learners go individually or in a small groups into various contexts in the community and record the conversations they hear. Ask them to report their findings, and then have the class discuss the findings.
5. Find some example of speaking assessment!
Example of speaking assessment:
There are two methods that used by the teacher in speaking assessment, they are:
a. In the observational approach, the student`s behavior is observed and assessed unobtrusively.
b. In the structural approach, the student is asked to perform one or more specific oral communication tasks.
Rabu, 28 April 2010
the second answer of language testing
The answers of 2nd task!
1. Five kinds of principles of language
1) Practicality is a practical test
• Is not excessively expensive
• Stays within appropriate time constraints
• Is relatively easy to administer, and
• Has a scoring/ evaluation procedure that is specific and time efficient test
2) Reliability
Reliable test is consistent and dependable. The issue of reliability of a test may best be addressed by considering a number of factors that may contribute to the unreliability of a test. Consider following possibilities : fluctuations
• In the students
• In scoring
• In test administration
• In the test it self
3) Validity
Validity is the most important principle. The extent to which the assessment requires students to perform tasks that were included in the previous classroom lessons. The validity of a test established is there is no final, absolute measure of validity, but several different kinds of evidence may be invoked in support: in some case, in other case, still in some other cases, other concerns about a test’s validity
4) Authenticity
In an authentic test
• The language is as natural as possible,
• Items are as contextualized as possible,
• Topics and situations are interesting, enjoyable, and/or humorous
• Some thematic organization, such as through a story line or episode is provided,
• Test represent real-world tasks’
Reading passages or selected from real-world courses that test-takers are likely to have encountered or will encounter ,
Listening comprehension section feature natural language with hesitations, and interruptions.
More and more test over items that are “episodic” in that they are sequenced to form meaningful units, paragraphs, or stories.
5) Wash back
Wash back includes the effect of an assessment on teaching and learning prior to the assessment itself, that is, on preparation for the assessment
• Informal performance assessment is by nature more likely to have build-in Wash back effects because the teacher is usually providing interactive feedback
• Formal tests can also have positive wash back, but they provide no wash back if the student receive a simple letter grade or a single overall numerical score.
• Classroom tests should serve as learning devices through which washback in achieved .
• Student’s incorrect responses can become windows of insight into further work.
• There correct responses need to be praised, especially when they represent accomplishment in a student’s inter language.
• Washback enhances a number of basic principles of language acquisition: intrinsic motivation, autonomy self confidence, language ego, interlanguage, strategic investment among others.
• One way to enhance washback is to comment generously and specifically on test performance.
• Washback implies that students have ready access to the teacher to discuss the feedback and evaluation he has given.
• Teachers can raise the washback potential by asking students to use test results as a guide to setting goals for their future effort
2. a. language aptitude test
• A language aptitude test is designed to measure capacity or general ability to learn a foreign language.
• Task in MALT includes: number learning, phonetics script, spelling clues, word in sentence, and repaired associates.
• There’s no unequivocal evidence that language aptitude test predict communicative success in a language.
• Any test that claims to predict success in learning a language is undoubtedly flawed
b. proficiency test
• A proficiency test is not limited to any one course, curriculum, or single skill in the language; rather, it test overall ability.
• It includes: standardized multiple choice items on grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and aural comprehension.
• Proficiency test are almost always summative and norm-referenced
• They are usually not equipped to provide diagnostic feedback.
• Their role is to accept or to deny someone’s passage into the text stage of a journey
c. placement test
• The ultimate objective of a placement test is to correctly place a student into a course or level.
• A placement test usually includes a sampling of the material to be covered in the various courses in a curriculum.
• In a placement test, a student should find the test material neither too easy nor too difficult but appropriately challenging.
• The English as a second language placement test ( ESLPT ) at san Francisco state at university has three parts, 1: student read a short articles and then write a summary essay. Part 2 : student write a composition in response to an article. Part 3 : multiple choice; students read an essay and identify grammar errors in it.
d. diagnostic test
• A Diagnostic test is designed to diagnose specified aspects of a language.
• A diagnostic test can help a student become aware of errors and encourage the adoption of appropriate compensatory strategies.
• A typical diagnostics test of oral production was created by Clifford Prator ( 1972 ) to accompany manual of English pronunciation
Test-takers are directed to read 150-word passage while they are tape recorded.
The test administrator then refers to an inventory of phonological items for analyzing a learner’s production.
After multiple listening, the administrator produces a checklist for errors in five separate categories.
Stress and rhythm.
Intonation.
Vowels.
Consonants, and
Other factors
e. achievements test
• An achievement test is related directly to classroom lesson, units, or even a total curriculum.
• Achievement tests should be limited to particular material addressed in a curriculum within a particular time frame and should be offered after a course has focused on the objective in question.
• The primary role of an achievement test is to determine whether course objectives has been meet – end of a period of instruction .
• Achievement test range from five –or ten-minutes quizzes to three hour final examination, with an almost infinite variety of item types and formats.
• Some practical steps is constructing classroom test:
Assessing Clear; Unambiguous Objective.
Drawing Up Test Specification.
1. Five kinds of principles of language
1) Practicality is a practical test
• Is not excessively expensive
• Stays within appropriate time constraints
• Is relatively easy to administer, and
• Has a scoring/ evaluation procedure that is specific and time efficient test
2) Reliability
Reliable test is consistent and dependable. The issue of reliability of a test may best be addressed by considering a number of factors that may contribute to the unreliability of a test. Consider following possibilities : fluctuations
• In the students
• In scoring
• In test administration
• In the test it self
3) Validity
Validity is the most important principle. The extent to which the assessment requires students to perform tasks that were included in the previous classroom lessons. The validity of a test established is there is no final, absolute measure of validity, but several different kinds of evidence may be invoked in support: in some case, in other case, still in some other cases, other concerns about a test’s validity
4) Authenticity
In an authentic test
• The language is as natural as possible,
• Items are as contextualized as possible,
• Topics and situations are interesting, enjoyable, and/or humorous
• Some thematic organization, such as through a story line or episode is provided,
• Test represent real-world tasks’
Reading passages or selected from real-world courses that test-takers are likely to have encountered or will encounter ,
Listening comprehension section feature natural language with hesitations, and interruptions.
More and more test over items that are “episodic” in that they are sequenced to form meaningful units, paragraphs, or stories.
5) Wash back
Wash back includes the effect of an assessment on teaching and learning prior to the assessment itself, that is, on preparation for the assessment
• Informal performance assessment is by nature more likely to have build-in Wash back effects because the teacher is usually providing interactive feedback
• Formal tests can also have positive wash back, but they provide no wash back if the student receive a simple letter grade or a single overall numerical score.
• Classroom tests should serve as learning devices through which washback in achieved .
• Student’s incorrect responses can become windows of insight into further work.
• There correct responses need to be praised, especially when they represent accomplishment in a student’s inter language.
• Washback enhances a number of basic principles of language acquisition: intrinsic motivation, autonomy self confidence, language ego, interlanguage, strategic investment among others.
• One way to enhance washback is to comment generously and specifically on test performance.
• Washback implies that students have ready access to the teacher to discuss the feedback and evaluation he has given.
• Teachers can raise the washback potential by asking students to use test results as a guide to setting goals for their future effort
2. a. language aptitude test
• A language aptitude test is designed to measure capacity or general ability to learn a foreign language.
• Task in MALT includes: number learning, phonetics script, spelling clues, word in sentence, and repaired associates.
• There’s no unequivocal evidence that language aptitude test predict communicative success in a language.
• Any test that claims to predict success in learning a language is undoubtedly flawed
b. proficiency test
• A proficiency test is not limited to any one course, curriculum, or single skill in the language; rather, it test overall ability.
• It includes: standardized multiple choice items on grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and aural comprehension.
• Proficiency test are almost always summative and norm-referenced
• They are usually not equipped to provide diagnostic feedback.
• Their role is to accept or to deny someone’s passage into the text stage of a journey
c. placement test
• The ultimate objective of a placement test is to correctly place a student into a course or level.
• A placement test usually includes a sampling of the material to be covered in the various courses in a curriculum.
• In a placement test, a student should find the test material neither too easy nor too difficult but appropriately challenging.
• The English as a second language placement test ( ESLPT ) at san Francisco state at university has three parts, 1: student read a short articles and then write a summary essay. Part 2 : student write a composition in response to an article. Part 3 : multiple choice; students read an essay and identify grammar errors in it.
d. diagnostic test
• A Diagnostic test is designed to diagnose specified aspects of a language.
• A diagnostic test can help a student become aware of errors and encourage the adoption of appropriate compensatory strategies.
• A typical diagnostics test of oral production was created by Clifford Prator ( 1972 ) to accompany manual of English pronunciation
Test-takers are directed to read 150-word passage while they are tape recorded.
The test administrator then refers to an inventory of phonological items for analyzing a learner’s production.
After multiple listening, the administrator produces a checklist for errors in five separate categories.
Stress and rhythm.
Intonation.
Vowels.
Consonants, and
Other factors
e. achievements test
• An achievement test is related directly to classroom lesson, units, or even a total curriculum.
• Achievement tests should be limited to particular material addressed in a curriculum within a particular time frame and should be offered after a course has focused on the objective in question.
• The primary role of an achievement test is to determine whether course objectives has been meet – end of a period of instruction .
• Achievement test range from five –or ten-minutes quizzes to three hour final examination, with an almost infinite variety of item types and formats.
• Some practical steps is constructing classroom test:
Assessing Clear; Unambiguous Objective.
Drawing Up Test Specification.
Jumat, 09 April 2010
the answer of language testing
1. Teaching is the activities of educating or instructing or teaching : activities that impart knowledge or skill.
2. There are teacher and student
3. My sequence in teaching are:
• Give greeting to student
• Check student list
• Give some question to the student about material but the student do not know that question have connection with the material I will teach
• Give the material
• Ask the student of the materials they understand or not
• Give them home work
• Some time give exercise
• Closing
4. My experience in teaching I felt very nervous, when the first time I thought the student, but It was enjoyed when I passed it.
5. Assessment is the systematic collection of information about student learning, including activities and function that support, such learning both directly and directly, and the use of that information to create and a continuing cycle of improved teaching and learning at the Institutional , program and course levels.
6. Assessment are important because
a. To find out what the student know (knowledge)
b. To find out what the student can do and how well they can do it(skill: performance)
c. To find out how students about the task of doing their work (process)
d. To find out how students feel about their work (motivation: effort)
7. The functions of assessment are
a. Diagnostic: tells us what the student needs to learn
b. Formative: tells us how well the student is doing as work progresses
c. Summative: tells us how well the student did at the end of a unit/task
8. What should asses
a. Student work at all stages of development, but particularly at the end
b. Student process
c. Acquisition of knowledge and skills
d. Development of shophistication and complexity in student work
9. We should asses
a. Day-to-day observation
b. Test and quizzes
c. Rubrics
d. Rating scales
e. Project work
f. Portfolios
10. With the information from our assessment we should do
a. Use it to improve the focus of our teaching (diagnosis)
b. Use it to focus the student attention on strength and weakness (motivation)
c. Use it to improve program planning (program assessment)
d. Use it for reporting to parents.
11. A test according to Allen Philips (1979: 1-2) is commonly defined as a tool or instrument of measurement that is used to obtain data about a specific trait or characteristic of an individual or group
12. The differences between assessment and test
a. Assessment is a process that a more general process of gathering data to evaluate an examine
b. A test is the think or product that measures a particular behavior or set of objectives
13. Types of are:
a. Multiple- choice testy
Ex: teacher assesses students’ mastery of many topics on an hour exam.
b. True-false tests
Ex: the teacher use it add an explain column in which students write one/two sentences justifying their response
c. Matching test
Ex: Teacher formats the question and the students recognition of the relationships between word and definition,
d. Essay test
Ex: teacher gives the essay tests intellectually flawed answers for the students to edit, correct, expand, refute. That ever discussed with students before in class
e. Short –answer test
Ex: teacher asks the students to express their thought in a short answer
f. Problem sets
Ex: teacher asks the students to do the exercise in 8 minutes
g. Oral exam
Ex: teacher ask the students to make conversation and practice it in front of the class
h. Performance tests
Ex: teacher asks the students to performance their assignment/exercise
i. Create-a-game exam
The teacher ask the students to make a game about the lesson that have explained by the teacher
14. My experience of taking a test is I felt nervous, and I didn’t confident with the result
2. There are teacher and student
3. My sequence in teaching are:
• Give greeting to student
• Check student list
• Give some question to the student about material but the student do not know that question have connection with the material I will teach
• Give the material
• Ask the student of the materials they understand or not
• Give them home work
• Some time give exercise
• Closing
4. My experience in teaching I felt very nervous, when the first time I thought the student, but It was enjoyed when I passed it.
5. Assessment is the systematic collection of information about student learning, including activities and function that support, such learning both directly and directly, and the use of that information to create and a continuing cycle of improved teaching and learning at the Institutional , program and course levels.
6. Assessment are important because
a. To find out what the student know (knowledge)
b. To find out what the student can do and how well they can do it(skill: performance)
c. To find out how students about the task of doing their work (process)
d. To find out how students feel about their work (motivation: effort)
7. The functions of assessment are
a. Diagnostic: tells us what the student needs to learn
b. Formative: tells us how well the student is doing as work progresses
c. Summative: tells us how well the student did at the end of a unit/task
8. What should asses
a. Student work at all stages of development, but particularly at the end
b. Student process
c. Acquisition of knowledge and skills
d. Development of shophistication and complexity in student work
9. We should asses
a. Day-to-day observation
b. Test and quizzes
c. Rubrics
d. Rating scales
e. Project work
f. Portfolios
10. With the information from our assessment we should do
a. Use it to improve the focus of our teaching (diagnosis)
b. Use it to focus the student attention on strength and weakness (motivation)
c. Use it to improve program planning (program assessment)
d. Use it for reporting to parents.
11. A test according to Allen Philips (1979: 1-2) is commonly defined as a tool or instrument of measurement that is used to obtain data about a specific trait or characteristic of an individual or group
12. The differences between assessment and test
a. Assessment is a process that a more general process of gathering data to evaluate an examine
b. A test is the think or product that measures a particular behavior or set of objectives
13. Types of are:
a. Multiple- choice testy
Ex: teacher assesses students’ mastery of many topics on an hour exam.
b. True-false tests
Ex: the teacher use it add an explain column in which students write one/two sentences justifying their response
c. Matching test
Ex: Teacher formats the question and the students recognition of the relationships between word and definition,
d. Essay test
Ex: teacher gives the essay tests intellectually flawed answers for the students to edit, correct, expand, refute. That ever discussed with students before in class
e. Short –answer test
Ex: teacher asks the students to express their thought in a short answer
f. Problem sets
Ex: teacher asks the students to do the exercise in 8 minutes
g. Oral exam
Ex: teacher ask the students to make conversation and practice it in front of the class
h. Performance tests
Ex: teacher asks the students to performance their assignment/exercise
i. Create-a-game exam
The teacher ask the students to make a game about the lesson that have explained by the teacher
14. My experience of taking a test is I felt nervous, and I didn’t confident with the result
language testing
ASSESSING SPEAKING
Communicative and whole language instructional approaches promote integration of speaking, listening, reading and writing in ways that reflect natural language use. But opportunities for speaking and listening require structure and planning if they are to support language development. This digest describes what speaking involves and what good speakers do in the process of expressing themselves. It presents an outline for creating an effective speaking lesson and for assessing learners’ speaking skills.
What speaking is?
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving. However, speech is not always unpredictable. Language functions (or patterns) that tend to occur in certain discourse situations (example: declining an invitation or requesting time off from work), can be identified and charted (Burns & Joyce, 1997). For example, when a salesperson asks, “May I help you?” the expected discourse sequence includes a statement of need, response to the need, offer of appreciation, acknowledgement of the appreciation, and a leave-taking exchange.
Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). Finally, speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions different from written language (Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995; Cohen, 1996). A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to succeed in a given speech act.
What a good speaker does?
A speaker’s skills and speech habits have an impact on the success of any exchange (Van Duzer, 1997). Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected patterns of specific discourse situations. They must also manage discrete elements such as turn-taking, rephrasing, providing feedback, or redirecting (Burns & Joyce, 1997). For example, a learner involved in the exchange with 2 the salesperson described previously must know the usual pattern that such an interaction follows and access that knowledge as the exchange progresses. The learner must also choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought, rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the description if the clerk does not understand, and use appropriate facial expressions to indicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service.
Other skills and knowledge that instruction might address include the following:
Producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the language, using grammar structures accurately, assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or differences in perspectives, selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs, applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension, using gestures or body language and paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize listener comprehension and involvement (Brown, 1994).
Teachers should monitor learners’ speech production to determine what skills and knowledge they already have and what areas need development. Bailey and Savage’s New Ways in Teaching Speaking (1994), and Lewis’s New Ways in Teaching Adults (1997) offer suggestions for activities that can address different skills.
General outline of a speaking lesson
Speaking lessons can follow the usual pattern of preparation, presentation, practice, evaluation, and extension. The teacher can use the preparation step to establish a context for the speaking task (where, when , why, and with whom it will occur) and to initiate awareness of the speaking skill to be target (asking for clarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words). In presentation, the teacher can provide learners with a preproduction model that furthers learner comprehension and helps them become more attentive observers of language use. Practice involves learners in reproducing the targeted structure, usually in a controlled or highly supported manner. Evaluation involves directing attention to the skill being examined and asking learners to monitor and assess their own progress. Finally, extension consists of activities that ask learners to use the strategy or skill in a different context of authentic communicative situation, or to integrate use of the new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995).
In-class speaking tasks
Although dialogues and conversations are the most obvious and most often used speaking activities in language classrooms, a teacher can select activities from a variety of tasks. Brown (1994) lists six possible task categories:
Imitative
Drills in which the learner simply repeats a phrase or structure (example: “Excuse me.” or “Can you help me?”) for clarity and accuracy;
Intensive
Drills or repetitions focusing on specific phonological or grammatical points, such as minimal pairs or repetition of a series of imperative sentences;
Responsive
Short replies to teacher or learner questions or comments, such as a series of answers to yes/no questions;
Transactional
Dialogues conducted for the purpose of information exchange, such as information- gathering interviews, role plays, or debates;
Interpersonal
Dialogues to establish or maintain social relationships, such as personal interviews or causal conversation role plays; and
Extensive
Extended monologues such as short speeches, oral reports, or oral summaries.
These tasks are not sequential. Each can be used independently or they can be integrated with one another, depending on learners’ needs. For example, if learners are not using appropriate sentence intonations when participating in a transactional activity that focuses on the skill of politely interrupting to make a point, the teacher might decide to follow up with a brief imitative lesson targeting this feature.
Example of a speaking lesson: Choosing appropriate topics for small talk
1. Preparation. Show the learners a picture of two people conversing in a familiar casual setting. (The setting will be determined by a prior needs assessment.) Ask them to brainstorm what the people might be discussing (i.e., topics, vocabulary, typical phrases).
2. Presentation. Present several video clips of small talk in casual situations. Have learners complete a worksheet in which they describe or list the topics discussed, the context in which the speech is occurring, and any phrases that seem to typify small talk. Follow up with a discussion of the kinds of topics that are appropriate for small talk, the factors in the specific situations that affect topic selection (e.g., relationships of participants, physical setting), and typical phrases used in small talk. Chart this information.
3. Practice. Give learners specific information about the participants and the setting of a scenario where small talk will take place. In pairs, have them list topics that might be discussed by the participants and simple phrases they might use. Learners then engage in improvised dialogues based on these simple phrases.
4. Evaluation. Give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based on their scenario from. Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both.
5. Extension. Have learners go individually or in small groups into various contexts in the community (work, school, church, bus stop) and record the conversations they hear. Ask them to report their findings back to the class, and then have the class discuss the findings.
HOW ARE SPEAKING SKILLS ASSESSED
Two methods are used for assessing speaking skills:
1. In the observational approach, the student's behavior is observed and assessed unobtrusively.
2. In the structured approach, the student is asked to perform one or more specific oral communication tasks. His or her performance on the task is then evaluated. The task can be administered in a one-on-one setting with the test administrator and one student or in a group or class setting. In either setting, students should feel that they are communicating meaningful content to a real audience. Tasks should focus on topics that all students can easily talk about, or, if they do not include such a focus, students should be given an opportunity to collect information on the topic.
Conclusion
Speaking is a key to communication. By considering what good speakers do, what speaking tasks can be used in class, and what specific needs learners report, teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall oral competency.
Communicative and whole language instructional approaches promote integration of speaking, listening, reading and writing in ways that reflect natural language use. But opportunities for speaking and listening require structure and planning if they are to support language development. This digest describes what speaking involves and what good speakers do in the process of expressing themselves. It presents an outline for creating an effective speaking lesson and for assessing learners’ speaking skills.
What speaking is?
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving. However, speech is not always unpredictable. Language functions (or patterns) that tend to occur in certain discourse situations (example: declining an invitation or requesting time off from work), can be identified and charted (Burns & Joyce, 1997). For example, when a salesperson asks, “May I help you?” the expected discourse sequence includes a statement of need, response to the need, offer of appreciation, acknowledgement of the appreciation, and a leave-taking exchange.
Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). Finally, speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions different from written language (Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995; Cohen, 1996). A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to succeed in a given speech act.
What a good speaker does?
A speaker’s skills and speech habits have an impact on the success of any exchange (Van Duzer, 1997). Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected patterns of specific discourse situations. They must also manage discrete elements such as turn-taking, rephrasing, providing feedback, or redirecting (Burns & Joyce, 1997). For example, a learner involved in the exchange with 2 the salesperson described previously must know the usual pattern that such an interaction follows and access that knowledge as the exchange progresses. The learner must also choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought, rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the description if the clerk does not understand, and use appropriate facial expressions to indicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service.
Other skills and knowledge that instruction might address include the following:
Producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the language, using grammar structures accurately, assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or differences in perspectives, selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs, applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension, using gestures or body language and paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize listener comprehension and involvement (Brown, 1994).
Teachers should monitor learners’ speech production to determine what skills and knowledge they already have and what areas need development. Bailey and Savage’s New Ways in Teaching Speaking (1994), and Lewis’s New Ways in Teaching Adults (1997) offer suggestions for activities that can address different skills.
General outline of a speaking lesson
Speaking lessons can follow the usual pattern of preparation, presentation, practice, evaluation, and extension. The teacher can use the preparation step to establish a context for the speaking task (where, when , why, and with whom it will occur) and to initiate awareness of the speaking skill to be target (asking for clarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words). In presentation, the teacher can provide learners with a preproduction model that furthers learner comprehension and helps them become more attentive observers of language use. Practice involves learners in reproducing the targeted structure, usually in a controlled or highly supported manner. Evaluation involves directing attention to the skill being examined and asking learners to monitor and assess their own progress. Finally, extension consists of activities that ask learners to use the strategy or skill in a different context of authentic communicative situation, or to integrate use of the new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995).
In-class speaking tasks
Although dialogues and conversations are the most obvious and most often used speaking activities in language classrooms, a teacher can select activities from a variety of tasks. Brown (1994) lists six possible task categories:
Imitative
Drills in which the learner simply repeats a phrase or structure (example: “Excuse me.” or “Can you help me?”) for clarity and accuracy;
Intensive
Drills or repetitions focusing on specific phonological or grammatical points, such as minimal pairs or repetition of a series of imperative sentences;
Responsive
Short replies to teacher or learner questions or comments, such as a series of answers to yes/no questions;
Transactional
Dialogues conducted for the purpose of information exchange, such as information- gathering interviews, role plays, or debates;
Interpersonal
Dialogues to establish or maintain social relationships, such as personal interviews or causal conversation role plays; and
Extensive
Extended monologues such as short speeches, oral reports, or oral summaries.
These tasks are not sequential. Each can be used independently or they can be integrated with one another, depending on learners’ needs. For example, if learners are not using appropriate sentence intonations when participating in a transactional activity that focuses on the skill of politely interrupting to make a point, the teacher might decide to follow up with a brief imitative lesson targeting this feature.
Example of a speaking lesson: Choosing appropriate topics for small talk
1. Preparation. Show the learners a picture of two people conversing in a familiar casual setting. (The setting will be determined by a prior needs assessment.) Ask them to brainstorm what the people might be discussing (i.e., topics, vocabulary, typical phrases).
2. Presentation. Present several video clips of small talk in casual situations. Have learners complete a worksheet in which they describe or list the topics discussed, the context in which the speech is occurring, and any phrases that seem to typify small talk. Follow up with a discussion of the kinds of topics that are appropriate for small talk, the factors in the specific situations that affect topic selection (e.g., relationships of participants, physical setting), and typical phrases used in small talk. Chart this information.
3. Practice. Give learners specific information about the participants and the setting of a scenario where small talk will take place. In pairs, have them list topics that might be discussed by the participants and simple phrases they might use. Learners then engage in improvised dialogues based on these simple phrases.
4. Evaluation. Give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based on their scenario from. Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both.
5. Extension. Have learners go individually or in small groups into various contexts in the community (work, school, church, bus stop) and record the conversations they hear. Ask them to report their findings back to the class, and then have the class discuss the findings.
HOW ARE SPEAKING SKILLS ASSESSED
Two methods are used for assessing speaking skills:
1. In the observational approach, the student's behavior is observed and assessed unobtrusively.
2. In the structured approach, the student is asked to perform one or more specific oral communication tasks. His or her performance on the task is then evaluated. The task can be administered in a one-on-one setting with the test administrator and one student or in a group or class setting. In either setting, students should feel that they are communicating meaningful content to a real audience. Tasks should focus on topics that all students can easily talk about, or, if they do not include such a focus, students should be given an opportunity to collect information on the topic.
Conclusion
Speaking is a key to communication. By considering what good speakers do, what speaking tasks can be used in class, and what specific needs learners report, teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall oral competency.
Senin, 05 April 2010
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