Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified in Kansas? Are you interested in teaching English in Jennings, Kansas? Check out our opportunities in Jennings, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English in your community or abroad! Teflonline.net offers a wide variety of Online TESOL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Here Below you can check out the feedback (for one of our units) of one of the 16.000 students that last year took an online course with ITTT!
Unit 15 introduces the topic of evaluation and testing students’ knowledge. There are different ways of evaluating students’ levels and progress, together with some common external exams that the teacher needs to prepare the students for.
Giving continuous feedback allows students to track their own level and progress, but sometimes more formal means of feedback are neecessary, even compulsory. Students’ language level can be assessed in a number of ways: tutorials, evaluation by students, and tests. Tutorials can take place within the whole group or with individual students. It is unlikely that the teacher has enough time to conduct individual tutorials, but it would be useful to spend some time reviewing the work done, discussing the lesson and possible problems students have encountered.
Evaluation by students can be conducted by questionnaires or guided discussion, and should evaluate course, not teacher’s personality. The results can be discussed with students, which promotes genuine interaction and raises awareness of what is happening in the classroom. Moreover, it is helpful in future lesson planning.
Tests can be given at different stages in a course: placement test, diagnostic test, or a periodic progress test (formal written test, or informal group activity, even game), as well as an achievement test. Their timing is often dictated by the school. Other options include external examinations (by organizations such as Cambridge Assessment) and proficiency tests (not related to the course as they measure proficiency in English at particular levels).
Further on, each test is described in more details: placement test are designed to enable teachers to place new students into correct class according to their language ability (written and oral part). If the teacher is inexperienced, it is wise to use a course book as a guide.
Progress tests should be used periodically to assess what language has been remembered or acquired, and what has been forgotten. They show what language items need more work, and students should review and revise. These tests should include a balance of all four skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) as well as grammar and vocabulary that have been covered.
Diagnostic tests are similar to placement tests, and sometimes more extensive, given at the start of a course.
Practice tests follow the format and structure of the external examination that they are being given in preparation for, such as TOEFL (required by US universities for non-native speakers of English); IELTS (for study or work purpose) TOEIC (work-place English test popular in Japan and Korea).
Cambridge Assessment exams are the world’s leading range of certificates for learners of English, both for work and study purposes, and include a number of different categories such as General English (Key English Test, Preliminary English Test, First Certificate in English, Certificate in Advanced English, and Certificate of Proficiency in English); Skills for life; and Business English (BEC and BULATS).
