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Evaluation and testing.
Giving ongoing feedback and especially making this feedback procedure overt, provides students with the information to evaluate their own level and progress.
Ways to assess a student’s language level:
1. Tutorials. This can be done as a whole group or individually
2. Evaluation by students in the form of a questionnaire or guided discussion. When planning future lessons, we can use students’ comments. The process promotes genuine interaction, develops a greater awareness among students of what is happening in the classroom and helps the teacher understand how students react to what they do. Can be done in students’ mother tongue if their English level is not high enough to do it in English.
3. Tests
There are many different kinds of tests:
A. Placement tests
Designed to enable teachers to place new student into the correct class according to their language level. Usually in the form of a writing test and a spoken interview. Usually the test starts fairly simple and becomes progressively more difficult so the teacher can gauge the language level of the student.
B. Progress tests
Used periodically to gauge what language has been remembered or acquired and which has been forgotten. These tests are useful to let both the teacher and the student know what language items need more work. They also tend to encourage students to review and revise.
They should only include language items already covered within the prescribed period and also offer a balance of all four skills as well as grammar and vocabulary.
C. Diagnostic tests
Similar in content to placement tests and are sometimes more extensive. They are given at the start of a course to see what students already know and to help the teacher prepare the lessons and materials that will enable students to work on the areas of difficulty identified by the test.
D. Practice tests
Should follow the format and structure of the external examination that they are being given in preparation for. Some of the most common external examinations are:
- General external examinations: TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), IELTS (International English Language Testing System), TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication)
- Cambridge Assessment:
General English, including KET (Key English Test), PET (Preliminary English Test), FCE (First Certificate in English, CAE (Certificate in Advanced English) and CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English).
The Cambridge Assessment also includes ESOL Skills for life and Business English certificates BEC (Business English Certificates) and BULATS (Business Language Testing Service)
This unit shows me I am giving the right kind of tests to my students: I often design my own progress tests based on the course book, including all 4 skills, vocabulary and grammar to show my students how they are doing and to see how much they retained. I also have my own placement test for new students (different tests for adults or young learners and based on the use of a course book). I provide ongoing feedback and I also have a questionnaire for my students (and their parents) to evaluate the classes.
