Testing Grammar

                                                     TESTING GRAMMAR

INTRODUCTION

A.Background

Grammar tests are designed to measure student proficiency in matters ranging from inflections (bottle-bottles, bake-baked) to syntax.Syntax involves the relationship of words in a sentence, including matters such as word order, use of negative, question forms, and connectives.   Control of grammatical structures was seen as the very core of language ability and it would be unthinkable not to test it. There has been a shift towards the view that since it is language skills that are usually of interest, and then it is these which should be tested directly, not the abilities that seem to underlie it.  Whether or not grammar has an important place in an institution’s teaching, it has to be accepted that grammatical ability, or rather the lack of it, sets limits to what can be achieved in the way of skills performance.  It would be very useful to have diagnostic tests of grammar which could tell us – for individual learners and groups – what gaps exist in their grammatical repertoire.  It would be important for the test to be linked in some way or other to learning materials.   There is a reason to believe that we may be on the point of having computer based test of grammar that will be able to provide such information.

 

B. The Reasons Why Teacher Candidates And Readers Need to Understand Testing Grammer

Help students view their study progress. Yet, designing an innovative and practical test is considered a laborious work. It requires a number of procedures prior to administering the actual test, such as careful test design, trial, evaluation and revision. To illustrate the procedures, this paper presents a proto test for grammar and discusses its process which includes the test design, the trial, the discussion of the results, and the revisions. Designing such grammar test is believed to contribute a significant role in language teaching, especially for the intended students in the department of primary school teacher education in Gorontalo. Tomlinson (2005) argues that a useful grammar test should provide an opportunity for students to reflect on the knowledge they have learnt and to recognise whether or not they are able to use the knowledge for communicative purposes. Therefore, this test is expected to enable the intended students to reflect on their learning progress and to predict how they can deal with teaching English in primary schools in the future. In sum, this progress test measures a range of grammatical features, such as S-V agreement, prepositions and interrogatives. It consists of four parts, ranging from selected response tasks to extended-production tasks. Part one and three test the students' grammatical knowledge through discourse activity completion and errors identification, whereas part two and four require the students to demonstrate their grammatical ability through writing. The selection of these four parts or tasks is due to the fact that the students may teach English to primary school students in the future. Thus, having good understanding on grammatical knowledge and ability is essential in order to meet their prospective primary school students' needs.

There was a time when controlling of grammatical structures was seen as the very core of language ability and it was unthinkable not to test it. and find the perfect words to express From grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly helps you eliminate errors yourself. Inasmuch as it can generally be assumed that the native speaker of the language has mastered a grammatical system largely or wholly acceptable for informal discourse,1 “grammar” tests at least on the high school and college levels have usually concentrated on matters of style and

diction appropriate for rather formal written English. On the other hand, structure tests for foreign students will have as their purpose the testing of control of the basic grammatical patterns of the spoken language. Such tests would constitute no challenge for native speakers of standard English, who, except for carelessness, would be expected to make perfect scores. Only for the most advanced foreign learners are tests of formal style and diction at all meaningful, and

then they are better treated as tests of writing ability and kept quite separate from the tests of structure. Now whether or not grammar has an important place in an institution’s teaching, it has to be accepted that grammatical ability, or rather the lack of it, sets limits to what can be achieved in the way of skills performance.

The successful writing of academic assignments, for example, must depend to some extent on the command of elementary grammatical structures. The diagnostic tests of grammar are very useful for the individual and the group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                               

 

 

 

                                       

 

      Testing GrammarDISCUSSION

A.Definition Of Testing Grammer

The testing of grammar is one of the mainstays of language testing. While such tests test the ability to either recognize or produce correct grammar and usage, they do not test the ability to use the language to express meaning. However, it can be argued that a basic knowledge of grammar underlies the ability to use language to express meaning, and so grammar tests do have an important part to play in language programs.  For achievement tests where teaching objectives or the syllabus list the grammatical structures to be taught, specification of content should be quite straightforward.Specifications for a placement test will normally include all of the structures identified in this way, as well as, perhaps, those structures of command of which is taken for granted in even the lowest classes. For proficiency and diagnostic tests, the van Ek and Trim publications referred to in the Further reading section, which are based on a notional-functional approach, are especially useful, as are grammars like the Cobuild English Usage.

B.Principle Of Testing Grammer

principles and parameters (Generative Linguistics), constraints Testing Grammar; Optimality Theory; Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar), texts (Systemic Functional Linguistics), constructions (Cognitive Linguistics; Construction Grammar), patterned sequences (Corpus Linguistics; Pattern Grammar), and so forth. The lesson in all this is that it is important to be clear about what is meant when one is making claims about grammar. Thus, following this introduction, a definition of a pedagogical grammar  will be proposed, one that is broad enough to draw on many of these linguistic theories for their insights, yet sufficiently focused to fulfill its teaching and testing functions. Then, too, as with any subject, an understanding of grammar teaching and assessment is better served by knowing how the subject is learned or acquired. Indeed, it was this awareness that drew many language teachers to investigate the learning of grammar, which in turn led to the establishment of SLA as a separate area of inquiry in the early 1970s. Much work has been done since then, and many SLA researchers still take the explanandum to be a mental grammar  Obviously, though, a comprehensive review.

 

 

C.Types and Example Of  testing Grammer

Multiple Choice

 Tests Probably t e most common way of testing grammatical knowledge is the multiple choice test. These tests have the advantage of being easy to grade and being able to cover a lot of grammatical points quickly. The most common type of multiple choice grammatical item is one in which the test maker gives the testee a sentence with a blank and four or five choices of a word or phrase which completes the sentence correctly. For example, Because my mother was sick, I a) had b) have c) has d) hadn't to go home last week. To give slightly more context, this type of question sometimes makes use of a short dialogue, with one person saying something and the other person responding. A way of testing short mswers and responses is to give the testees and utterance, and have them decide which of four or five utterances is an appropriate response. This can be either a test of comprehension or a test of grammar.

 For example:

 "I think that tuition is much too high here."

a) I do so.

 b) Do I so.

c) I so do.

 d) So do I.

 Another way to test grammatical knowledge using multiple choice items is to give testees a sentence and ask them to choose which of four or five alternatives has the same meaning.

"The school should have expelled him."

 a) The school didn't expel him, which was wrong.

b) The school expelled him, because it was necessary.

 c) The school might have expelled him, if it had known.

d) The school will probably expel him in the near future. Again this is a test of reading comprehension as well as grammar, but in order to understand the meaning of the sentence, the reader does have to understand the grammar. The test maker must fmd a balance between giving enough context and giving too much. One way to give more context and make the language more natural is to give the items in the form of a short reading passage rather than individual sentences. This gives the testees more context and, if the passage is chosen carefully, is also much more interesting than reading individual, uncontextualized sentences. However, it may be more difficult to test a range of grammatical points, since the grammatical points are restricted by the content of the passage. A variation on this idea is to use a piece of prose written by a nonnative English speaker. This is particularly useful for making a grammar test for testees who are all of the same language group, since the errors made by the writer can be used as distracters.

Error Correction

 Error correction items are also useful for testing grammar. An error correction item is one in which the testee is given a sentence with an error. Four words or phrases in the sentence marked with letters, and the testee needs to decide which of the words or phrases has the error.

 For example:

Most of students   believe that they should be getting better grades  than they are.

             A                        B                                            C                                                 D

The teacher may also mix in some sentences that have no errors, and students are required to indicate that there is no error. In addition, the students might be required to correct the error. Errors from students' actual writing are a good source of ideas for this type of exercise.

 Items to Test Knowledge of Word/Sentence Order

 Other types of items can be used to test testees' knowledge of word order. The traditional way is to present the testee with four alternative word orders.

For example:

 I wonder how she knows

 a) how it costs much.

 b) how much it costs.

 c) it costs how much.

d) it how much costs.

 Another possibility is to give testees the four words and ask them to put the words in order.

For example, I wonder how she knows

 A. how

B. it

 C. much

 D. costs / / / / /

This can also be done in a way that actually requires the writer to do some writing.

For example, I wonder how she knows how……………….. / it /much / costs

 Understanding of appropriate sentence order can also be tested in a similar way by giving testees several sentences and asking them to put them in order. This type of test tests knowledge of references, cohesive devices, etc.

Completion Items

 Completion items are items in which the testees are asked to fill in blanks in sentences.

For example, Give the book to………… woman in the blue dress

 For the purpose of a grammar test, the words which fit in the blanks should be function words, such as articles and prepositions. (Completion items intended to test reading ability or vocabulary knowledge, in contrast, use content words.) The advantage of completion items is that they test production, not just recognition. The disadvantage is that they need to be marked by hand and there will be some cases where the marker needs to make judgements about whether a response is correct. It is not always easy to write items for with there is only one possible answer. Using a piece of continuous prose rather than disconnected sentences is one way of cutting down on possible different interpretations of what goes into a particular blank, but it is probably impossible to entirely eliminate the possibility of different answers.

 Also, it is possible to require a phrase instead of a word in each blank. However, while this method presents a more realistic situation, it does become more difficult to mark. While it is probably not realistic for largescale testing situations, it is something that is useful for classroom teachers who want to help their students develop an ability to produce appropriate grammatical forms in context.

Transformation Items

Another type of grammar item makes use of transformations. In this type of item, testees are given a sentence and the first few words of another sentence to change the original sentence without changing the meaning.

 For example,

 1. Jim hasn't been home in a long time. It's been a long time……………….

 2. I don't need to go to the grocery store this week. It isn't…………………

 3. It is difficult to study when it is so noisy. Studying…………………

There are variations on these this type of item in which the word which starts the transformed sentence is underlined, or the testee is given one word to use in the new sentence.

 For example,

I don't need to go to the grocery store this week. (necessary) Again, this type of test is difficult to grade because the teacher has to be aware of the variety of possible answers. Another problem is that it does not in any way test the testees' knowledge of when each of the possible transformations would be most appropriate. For example, the testee might be perfectly able to transform an active sentence to a passive sentence but not know when to use passive rather than active. However, it is useful still sometimes a useful test of grammatical knowledge.

Word Changing Items

Another type of item is one in which the testees are given a sentence and a word which they need to fit into the sentence by changing the form of the word.

 For example,

 1. I have never……. to Australia. (be)

 2. I will be with you …….. (moment)

This type of grammar test item tests students' knowledge of different word forms and how they are used in sentences.

 Sentence Combining

 Exercises Sentence combining exercises can play a part in testing grammar as well as its more traditional use as part of composition testing and training.

 For example,

 testees might be instructed to combine the following sentences using a relative pronoun.

I met a man.

The man went to the same high school I did.

 (I met a man who went to the same high school I did.)

D. Procdedures Of Testing Grammer

•      Use prose passages like a paragraph, an essay, a story

•      Context is important to fill in the gaps loze Procedure

 

Cloze tests are prose passages, usually a paragraph or more in length, from which words have been deleted.  The students rely on the context in order to supply the missing words. It is easy to prepare and easy to score. The cloze is simply a story or essay from which a number of words have been deleted. In this test, the overall meaning and surrounding grammar help to replace the missing parts.

Sentence-completion vocabulary and grammar items are similar in a way to cloze tests. Cloze passages simply have much larger contexts.

 

E.Scoring Of Testing Grammer

Gap filling and multiple choice items are easy to score. The important thing when scoring other types of item is to be clear about what each item is testing, and to reward points for that only.

There should be one element, such as subject-pronoun-verb inversion, and all available points should be awarded for that. If two elements are being tested in an item, then points should be assigned to each of them. In this case both elements have to be correct for any points to be rewarded. 

 

The important thing when scoring other types of item is to be clear about what each item is resting, and to award points for that only.

  There may be just one element and all available points should be awarded for that; nothing should be deducted for non-grammatical errors, or for errors in elements of grammar which are not being tested by the item.   

 Ex. A candidate missed a third person –s when the item is testing relative pronouns and he misspelled opened to “-opend” (the candidate should not be penalized)

  If two elements are being tested in an item, then points may be assigned to each of them.

2 ways to score the cloze tests

1-Give credit only to the exact word for the gap

2-Give full credit for equivalent words as well = BE CAREFUL natives can decide the equivalent not non-natives = if there is no native around, please use the exact word choice to score

•      Problems and solutions

•      1- misspelling???

No clear agreement on how to take off the half a point or give no grade

-any kind of spelling mistake

•      - Problems and solutions

•      2- bad handwriting???

•      - Agreement is on no recognizable word no score

•      3-using two or more words in a gap???

•      Even though both perfectly fit for the gap, NO CREDIT should be given because instructions tell them only one word is acceptable for each gap

•      BUT I BELIEVE that teachers should use their discretion (takdir /sağduyu) to assess.

TESTING SPEAKING AND LISTENING

https://www.linkrita.com/Testing Speaking and Listening

TESTING SPEAKING AND LISTENING

TEST

Definition

          A test is a method of measuring of person ability,knowledge or performance in a given domain.

Test-Taking Strategies

Before Test

1)    Give students all information you can about the test.

2)    Encourage students to do a systematic review of material,

3)    Give them practice tests or excercises,if available

4)    Facilitate formation of a study group,if possible

5)    Caution students to get a good night’s rest before the test

6)    Remind students to get to the classroom early.

During the test

1)    After the test is distributed,tell students to look over the whole test quickly in order to get a good grasp of it diferent parts

2)    Remind them to mentally figure out how much time they will need for each part

3)    Advise them to concentrate as carefully as possible

4)    Warm students a few minutes before the end of the class period so that they can finish on time,proofread their answers,and catch careless errors.

After the test

1)    When you return the test,include feedback on specific things the student did well,what he or she didn’t do well,nd,if possible,the reason for your comments

2)    Advise students to pay careful attention in class to whatever you say about the test result

3)    Encourage questions from students

4)    Advise students to pay special attention in the future to points on which they are weak

          The principle of languange assesment :

·        Practicality

·        Validity

·        Authenticity

·        Wash back

·        Direc and indirect testing

·        Formative

TESTING SPEAKING AND LISTENING

            From a pragmatic view of languange performance,listening and speaking ar almost always closely interrelated.

SPEAKING

Definition

          Speaking is an act of making vocal sounds.We can say that speaking means to converse,or expressing ones thoughts and feelings in spoken languange.To speak often implies conveying information.It may be form an informal remark to a scholarly presentation to a formal adess.Speaking is the production skills in the oral mode.It,like the other skills,is more complicated than it seems as first involves more than just pronouncing words.

Speaking Skills :

Ø  Speaking skills are the skills that give us the ability to communicate effectively

Ø  These skills allow the speaker,to convey his message in a passionate,thoughtful,and convicing manner.

Ø  Speaking skills also help to assure that one won’t be misunderstood by those who are listening

Basic Types of Speaking

1)    Imitative,the ability to simply parrot back a word or phrase or possibly a sentence

2)    Intensive,the production of short stretchs of oral languange designed to demonstrated competence in a narrow band of grammatical,phrasal,lexical,or phonological realtuonship

3)    Responsive,Include interaction and test comprehension but at the somewhat limited level of very short conversation,standart greetings and small talk.

4)    Interactive,the length and complexy of the interaction,which is sometimes includes multiple exchanges.

5)    Extensive,Include speeches,oral presentation,and story telling,during which the opportunity for oral interaction from listener is limited.

Testing Speaking

          Testing speaking is the method used to test one’s speaking ability.How well they able to master vocabulary,determine intonation,etc.

            Testing Speaking is probably the most difficult skill to test. It involves a combination of skills that may have no correlation with each other, and which do not lend themselves well to objective testing. There are not yet good answers to questions about the criteria for testing these skills and the weighting of these factors.Success in speaking depends to a great extent on the listener. Comprehension of spoken material depends, among other factors, on the degree to which the listener is familiar with the speaker's accent and the degree to which they share background knowledge, and so what is a problem for one listener may not be a problem for another listener. Another difficulty is separating the listening skill from the speaking skill.

            The following content specification for the TSE represent the discourse and pragmatic content specifications for the TSE represent the discourse and pragmatic context assesed in each adminitration :

1)      Decribe something physical

2)      Narrate from presented material

3)      Summarize information of the speakers’ own choice

4)      Give intructions

5)      Give an opinion

6)      Compare/Contrast

7)      Hypothesize

8)      Function

9)      Define

           

THE WAY TO DO SPEAKING TEST

1.Reading Aloud

            One of the best effective ways is testing students by having them read something aloud. It offers several advantages and some significant disadvantages. This technique provides good control. All your students respond in the same way, and so we can make comparisons quite simply. Tests of this kind are generally easy to prepare and to administer, and they avoid our having to find a suitable topic for students to discuss. Besides checking pronunciation, we can see how well our students have mastered the sound – symbol relationships in the English

language.

2. Conversational Exchanges

            Type 1

            Students are asked to construct a sentence following a certain pattern using the information that they are given. They are usually given two or three examples first.

For example:

Tom has been working at the same job for ten years. He is tired of his job and would like to do some thing more interesting.(He wishes he could find a more interesting job.)

            Type 2

             In another type of conversational exchange test, a situation is given but no guidance is given as to how to answer, and the student can respond freely.

 For instance: A friend of yours has been tired a lot recently. What do you say to her? You have been served coffee in a restaurant but you haven't been given any cream or sugar, and you would like some. What do you say to the server? (Could I have some cream and sugar.)

            Type 3

            In another type of text, the student is given a stimulus sentence and can respond in any appropriate way. This type of test usually depends on conventional responses, such as responses to requests, invitations and etc. Could I borrow your book ?(Sure, go ahead./ Sorry, I'm using it.) Hey, how are you doing?(Just fine, how are you?)

             This may also be done as part of a longer dialogue, where there are pauses for the tester’s responses to questions on a tape. The problem with this sort of test is that the dialogue on the tape keeps going along, no matter what the tester says, whether the next line on the tape is appropriate or not. In addition, it is testing listening at least as much as it is testing speaking. However, this type of test does make it possible to test large numbers of people at the same time in away that is at least somewhat communicative.

3.Oral Interviews

            Oral interviews are testing situations in which the tester and the testers carry on a conversation. The tester generally has a list of questions to ask the tester, and someone--either the interviewer or another person but preferably another person--assesses the language proficiency of the tester. The advantage of an interview is that it attempts to approximate a conversation situation, but the knowledge that it is a test and the constraints of the roles in the interview make it difficult to have a real natural conversation.

4.Role Play Test

             Another type of test is a role play. In a role play the testee and a confederate are given information on which to base a role play, and the testees are evaluated on their ability to carry out the task in the role play. For example, the role play might be getting information about course requirements. Role plays require the testee to use various functions tha the/she might need in real communication.

5.Group or Pair Activities

             To avoid the types of problems associated with oral interviews, sometimes students are put together in pairs or groups that are given some task, such as the ones mentioned above in the section on using visual materials. They might also be given a quiz to work on together, a puzzle to work out, or a task. The point of these is not to find the "right" answer but to stimulate speech for the tester to evaluate. This is intended to be a less inhibiting situation than an interview test, but it also has the problem of lack of control. How the activity goes depends to a great extent on the mix of testees that are put together. If their level of English proficiency is widely different, or if one testee is particularly dominant, this will influence the interaction. A well-trained interviewer can provide similar environments from one interview to another, but this is not possible in testing a group of testees in a group activity. In addition, successful group discussions depend on factors other than speaking, including active listening and eliciting the opinions of all of the group members.

LISTENING

Definition

            Listening is the first of the four languange skils,which are : Listening,Speaking,Reading,Writing.In our own languange,listening is usually the first languange skill that we learn.

            To become a fluent speaker in English,you need to develop strong listening skills.Listening skills not only help you to understand what people are saying to you.It also helps you to speak clearly to other people.It helps you learn how to pronounce words properly,how to use intonation,and where to place stress in words and sentences.This makes your speech easier for other people listening to you to understand.

The Basic Types

1)      Intensive,listening for perception of the components (phonemes,words,intonation,discourse markers,etc)

2)      Responsive,Listening to a relatively short strech of languange (a greeting,question,command,comprehension check,etc.)

3)      Selective,processing streches of discourse such as short monologues for several minutes in order to “scan” for certain information.

4)      Extensive,Listening to develop a top down,global understanding of spoken languange.

The basic Structure

          Good listening lessons go beyond the listening task itself with related activities before and after the listening. Here is the basic structure:

Before Listening

          Prepare your learners by introducing the topic and finding out what they already know about it. A good way to do this is to have a brainstorming session and some discussion questions related to the topic. Then provide any necessary background information and new vocabulary they will need for the listening activity.

During Listening

          Be specific about what students need to listen for. They can listen for selective details or general content, or for an emotional tone such as happy, surprised, or angry. If they are not marking answers or otherwise responding while listening, tell them ahead of time what will be required afterward.

After Listening

          Finish with an activity to extend the topic and help students remember new vocabulary. This could be a discussion group, craft project, writing task, game, etc.

The following ideas will help make your listening activities successful.

1.Noise

          Reduce distractions and noise during the listening segment. You may need to close doors or windows or ask children in the room to be quiet for a few minutes.

2.Equipment

          If you are using a cassette player, make sure it produces acceptable sound quality. A counter on the machine will aid tremendously in cueing up tapes. Bring extra batteries or an extension cord with you.

3.Repetition

          Read or play the text a total of 2-3 times. Tell students in advance you will repeat it. This will reduce their anxiety about not catching it all the first time. You can also ask them to listen for different information each time through.

4.Content

          Unless your text is merely a list of items, talk about the content as well as specific language used. The material should be interesting and appropriate for your class level in topic, speed, and vocabulary. You may need to explain reductions (like 'gonna' for 'going to') and fillers (like 'um' or 'uh-huh').

5.Recording Your Own Tape

          Write appropriate text (or use something from your textbook) and have another English speaker read it onto tape. Copy the recording three times so you don't need to rewind. The reader should not simply read three times, because students want to hear exact repetition of the pronunciation, intonation, and pace, not just the words.

6.Video

          You can play a video clip with the sound off and ask students to make predictions about what dialog is taking place. Then play it again with sound and discuss why they were right or wrong in their predictions. You can also play the sound without the video first, and show the video after students have guessed what is going on.

7.Homework

          Give students a listening task to do between classes. Encourage them to listen to public announcements in airports, bus stations, supermarkets, etc. and try to write down what they heard. Tell them the telephone number of a cinema and ask them to write down the playing times of a specific movie. Give them a tape recording of yourself with questions, dictation, or a worksheet to complete.

General Listening Types:

The two main types of listening - the foundations of all listening sub-types are:

1.      Discriminative Listening

2.      Comprehensive Listening

A.Discriminative Listening

            Discriminative listening is first developed at a very early age – perhaps even before birth, in the womb.  This is the most basic form of listening and does not involve the understanding of the meaning of words or phrases but merely the different sounds that are produced.  In early childhood, for example, a distinction is made between the sounds of the voices of the parents – the voice of the father sounds different to that of the mother.

B.Comprehensive Listening

            Comprehensive listening involves understanding the message or messages that are being communicated.  Like discriminative listening, comprehensive listening is fundamental to all listening sub-types.

In order to be able use comprehensive listening and therefore gain understanding the listener first needs appropriate vocabulary and language skills. Using overly complicated language or technical jargon, therefore, can be a barrier to comprehensive listening.

C.Testing Listening Comprehension

            Given the complexity of the listening construct—as described in the first of this series of articles, in which I described the listening construct—it is crucial to use listening comprehension texts that allow valid assessment of that construct. At the very least, this means that texts have the characteristics of real spoken language and are structured in such a way that they allow item writers to write items that target important comprehension skills.

TESTING LISTENING

The practical implications of this for test development are as follows:

Good Texts for Testing Listening:

1.      are well recorded, clear with limited noise;

2.      have the linguistic characteristics of equivalent real-world texts; and

3.      are structured so they support good items.

The most common test items are designed to test the listeners’ comprehension.

They are the process approach and the product approach of testing listening :

1. The Process Approach

            The first of these, the process approach, attempts to identify the various sub-skills or processes used in listening and then tries to assess whether the testee has mastered these or not. This is not so easy, as we have already seen that the process of listening is complex and can vary according to the world knowledge and interests of the listener. However, we do know that both listeners and readers use their linguistic and world knowledge to generate hypotheses about the language they are comprehending. They do not need to get all the information (either graphic or acoustic) contained in a message in order to comprehend, because the language contains more information than is necessary. It is, in other words, highly redundant, and we can use that fact to test language comprehension. We can give the students a passage in which some of the information is missing (words or parts of words) and reasonably expect them to understand it. And if they understand it, we can also reasonably expect them to be able to replace the missing information.

a.       Listening Cloze Tests

Some test makers have used listening cloze tests, in which the students usually get a written passage from which certain words have been replaced by blanks, as in the standard written cloze test, and then they listen to a recording of the passage and try to fill in the blanks from what they have heard. There are a number of problems with this technique. One is that students can often treat the passage as a normal cloze test, and fill in the blanks even if they didn't hear the passage very well, in which case it is no longer a listening test at all. One way around this is to put the blanks on high-information content words, which tend to be more difficult to guess from linguistic knowledge (Henning, Gary, & Gary , 1983). But even then it doesn't make a very satisfactory listening test, as students usually find themselves simply listening for individual words rather than trying to understand and interpret a passage. In many cases such a test would be little different from a word recognition test. In terms of washback on the classroom the objections to the noise test seem to be equally applicable to the listening cloze.

b.      Dictation

One test type which is in many ways related to the reduced redundancy tests and which has been very widely used is the dictation. This was criticized by Lado (1961, p. 34) as being little more than a test of spelling, but work in the 1970s has indicated that dictation can be a good measure of general language proficiency (Oller, 1979; Oakeshott-Taylor, 1977). Basically, the general idea is that although a passage may be redundant for first language users, it will be much less so for second language users. Thus, the extent to which second language users can utilize the redundancy in the language is a good measure of their language ability. For those who don't know the technique, dictation usually involves hearing a passage twice. The first time the passage is played straight through, and students just listen and try to understand. The second time they hear it, the passage is broken into a n~mber of short sections with a pause between each section. During that pause students have to write down what they have just heard.

2. The Product Approach

            As we can now see, the main problem with testing the process of listening comprehension is that we don't really know enough about it. An obvious alternative approach is to test the product of listening. We can give students a passage to listen to and then see if they understood it. The drawback with this approach is that the product of the listening comprehension process is not easily available for inspection. It lies inside the student and we cannot record it, or take it home for grading. Assessing listening ability is an indirect process. We have to give students some task which we think is dependent on comprehending a piece of language, and then try to infer from that whether we think they understood the language or not. The task most commonly given to students is answering questions, but it could also be filling in a grid, or marking a place on a map or chart. Picture identification tasks are also sometimes used. Naturally, it is important that completing the task is dependent on understanding the text. Care should be taken that task completion really does require comprehension of the text. It is surprising how often a good guess can be made at the right answer without even hearing the actual text.

a.       A Purpose for Listening

In "real life, " when we listen to anything, we virtually always listen with some purpose, even if the purpose is something as vague as general interest. If we want to replicate real-life listening, it is very important to give students a purpose for listening. This also relieves them from the necessity of trying to remember all the information in the passage, which is a very unnatural thing to do (and generally impossible), although it is quite common for students to try to do so in important testing situations. There are a number of ways the listening purpose can be set up, but perhaps the simplest is just to give students the questions before they hear the passage. A somewhat more interesting alternative is to give specific instructions about the listening situation and the purpose of their listening, a sort of listening role-play, and then allow students to select the relevant information for themselves.

b.      Authenticity

Another important consideration is the nature of the texts used. There is currently a very strong trend in language teaching to provide

students with "authentic" language. While it is often difficult to be specific about exactly what we mean by authentic (Besse, 1981), the trend is an admirable one. Obviously, if we want our students to learn a language, we must give them realistic language to learn, and have them engage in realistic language activities with it. Of course, in one sense, the language learning classroom itself is not really an authentic situation, and the testing situation is even less an authentic communicative situation than the classroom. Whatever we try to get our students to do, however much we try to set up authentic situations, our students' prime concern will be to get high marks on the test. Nevertheless, given the tremendous washback effect of the test on the classroom, test makers owe it to teachers and students to use texts which are as authentic as possible, in order to encourage students to study authentic texts in the classroom.

c.       Making Multiple Choice Tests

In most standardized tests, such as the TOEFL or TOEIC, it is normal to use mUltiple choice questions to test comprehension. These are very convenient to score with modern high-speed marking machines, but making them, however, is not so easy. Not only do we have to write a sensible question and provide the correct answer, but we must think of three distractors, or alternative answers, which must look like attractive possibilities to those who did not understand the text, but which are clearly wrong to those who did. This is extremely difficult to do. Multiple choice items are very complex, and it is often difficult to tell how they are going to work by just looking at them. Therefore it is necessary to pre-test them on students similar to those who are to take the test, and then subject the results to statistical analysis in order to find out which items are good and which are not. Bad questions, or distractors which are not distracting any of the students, can then be rewritten; and it may often be necessary to reject or rewrite large numbers of the items. Using such a method, it is quite possible to produce tests which have very satisfactory statistical properties. However, pre-testing important entrance examination questions in Japan is generally considered impossible, which suggests that test makers should avoid using multiple choice questions.