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1. KINDS OF TESTS
Khansa AL-Qudaimi

2. WHAT ARE TESTS?

3. Tests are …
tools
used to check students’ knowledge or
comprehension
the main instrument used to evaluate
learning by most educational institutions
should suit the purpose

4. WHAT ARE LANGUAGE TESTS?

5. listening
writing
Language
skills
Reading
speaking

6. Continuum of linguistic units
Word
Phonology
& orthography
discourse
Sentence

7. Oral production
tests
• overall conversational fluency
• pronunciation of a particular subset of
phonology
Listeningcomprehension
tests
• concentrate on a particular feature of
language
• overall listening for general meaning
Reading tests
• cover the range of language units
• test comprehension of long or short
passages, sentences, phrases & words
Writing tests
• open-ended form with free composition
• spelling
• discourse-level competence

8. aptitude
placement
purpose
proficiency
diagnostic
Kinds of tests
achievement
approach
directness
characteristics
scoring
methods
presentation
reference
provider

9. Kinds of tests depending on the purpose
Aptitude test
• It is designed to measure a person's capacity or
general ability to learn a FL.
• They are independent of a particular foreign
language.
• Tasks: learning numbers, listening, detecting
spelling clues and grammatical patterns, and
memorizing

10. Kinds of tests depending on the purpose
Placement test
• It is designed to place a student in a particular
level or section of a language curriculum or
school.
E.g. language schools
• Content: material to be covered in the curriculum

11. Kinds of tests depending on the purpose
Proficiency test
• It is designed to test the learner’s level in relation
to the general standards.
E.g. TOEFL, IELTS & TOEIC
• Content: not to be limited to any one course,
curriculum, or single skill in the language
• Tasks: standardized MCQ on grammar,
vocabulary, reading comprehension, aural
comprehension, and sometimes of a sample of
writing

12. Kinds of tests depending on the purpose
Diagnostic test
• It is designed to diagnose a particular aspect of a
particular language.
E.g. Prator's (1972) Diagnostic Passage
• Proficiency tests and diagnostic tests
• Achievement tests and diagnostic tests

13. Kinds of tests depending on the purpose
Achievement/ Progress test
• It is designed to measure the students’
improvement in relation to their syllabus
E.g. midterm exam & the final exam
• Content: limited to particular material covered in
a curriculum

14. Kinds of tests depending on the purpose
Achievement/ Progress test
Types
Short-term
progress test
Long-term
progress test

15. Kinds of tests depending on the purpose
Achievement/ Progress test
Quizzes
Team
form

16. Kinds of tests depending on the purpose
Achievement/ Progress test
• Achievement test and multiple
intelligences
• Achievement test and differing learning
styles

17. aptitude
placement
purpose
proficiency
diagnostic
Kinds of tests
achievement
approach
directness
characteristics
scoring
methods
presentation
reference
provider

18. Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics
Approaches to language testing
Discrete-point testing
• Language can be
Integrative testing
• Language competence
broken down into its
component parts and
those parts can be
tested successfully.
is a unified set of
interacting abilities that
cannot be tested
separately.
Proficiency test
E.g. dictation

19. Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics
Directness
Direct testing
• The student performs
precisely the skill
needed to be
measured.
Indirect testing
• It measures the sub-
skill which underlies
the skill.
E.g. writing an
 E.g. writing an
essay to measure
writing
essay to measure
conjunctions

20. Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics
Scoring methods
Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics
Types
objective
Subjective
combination

21. Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics
Presentation of the test
Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics
Paper and
pencil tests
Computer
adaptive
tests

22. Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics
Reference
Norm-referenced/
Standardized tests
• score is interpreted in
relation to a mean,
median, standard
deviation, and/or
percentile rank in order to
place students along a
mathematical continuum
in rank order.
• Scores are usually
reported in the form of a
numerical score.
E.g. TOEFL
Criterion-referenced tests
• A student's performance
is measured against a
standard.
• They are designed to
give students feedback
in the form of grades, on
specific course or lesson
objectives.
E.g. course tests

23. Kinds of tests depending on the characteristics
Provider
internal
external
Tests are given by the
institution where the learner
is taking the course.
Tests are given by an
outside body.
E.g. TOEFL, IELTS

24. References
Bengoa, M. (2008, February 18)
Approaches to testing: Direct and
indirect testing [Weblog]. Retrieved
from
http://miguelbengoa.com/elt/?p=696
Cardozo, R. & Magdalena. J. (2009)
Testing and test construction
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
www.slideshare.com
Doyon, P. (2012) Testing for language
teachers [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from www.slideshare.com
Education Oasis (2011) Types of
tests [Weblog]. Retrieved from
http://www.educationoasis.com/curricu
lum/assessment/typestests.htm
Ince, T. (2013) Language testing and
assessment [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from www.slideshare.com
Ludescher, F. (2012) Testing and
assessing [Weblog]. Retrieved from
http://www2.vobs.at/ludescher/testing/
Munday, J. (n.d) Kinds of tests
[Weblog]. Retrieved from
http://www.hishelpinschool.com/testin
g/test2.html
Ritzenthaler, G.(2007) Assessment
[PDF document]. Retrieved from
(http://plaza.ufl.edu/gritz/projects/6930
/assessment_cheatsheet1.pdf
Subagyo, H. (2011) Understanding
language testing [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from www.slideshare.com
Thanks for listening