APPLIED LINGUISTICS for BA Students in English
EVALUATION
Assessing receptive skills (reading and listening)
The most widely used task types
Dual choice is a discrete point technique, in which there are two options, one of which is correct. The most traditional are true/false items, in which the candidates have to decide if the statements are true or false according to the (written or recorded) text. There can be variations which add one more question ‘not stated’, or require the candidate to correct the false statement, thus trying to reduce the 50% chance of getting the right answer.
Multiple choice
It is one of the most common discrete-point task types, because it is easy and quick to score even with a computer. There can be three or four statements (options) given, one of which is correct. However, in listening comprehension it can be more demanding for the test takers as they are required to keep all the options in their mind while listening to the passage.
Matching task
It is a relatively new objective technique, which can be a good alternative to multiple choice items mainly to test reading comprehension. In the task candidates have to match questions on one list to answers on another list. A more exciting variation is multiple matching, which means that there may be more than one matching answer to each question. The multiple matching technique offers a wide choice of reading tasks: matching labels to numbers on a diagram (simple matching), arranging events in a process, matching items to an appropriate heading, matching phrases or sentences to gaps in a text, matching opinions to people identified in the text, sequencing paragraphs to form a text, matching headlines to different texts, etc.
Information transfer
It is an integrative objective technique, which can be used both in reading and listening comprehension tasks. Test takers have to transfer the verbal information from written or recorded the text in the form of a visual display on to a chart, table, form, a map, for example fill in a table or a chart with the read or heard information, label a picture, sequence pictures/statements or follow a route on the map. Information transfer is a preferred technique, because these tasks are similar to real life activities and still can be scored objectively, because they require only minimal writing of the test takers to show successful completion of the tasks.
Dictation
It is an integrative objective task, which involves listening and writing as well.
Gap filling
This technique requires some writing and is more preferable in testing reading. The candidates are to fill in the blanks with a word or a short phrase after reading the text. There is an extension of this task which is called ‘summary cloze,’ in which there is a summary of the reading passage written by the tester with gaps which the test taker has to fill in after reading the passage. In another version the candidates have to fill in the blank spaces in a reading text.
Cloze procedure (traditional cloze) was originally used as a test of reading comprehension. It is similar to a gap-filling test, but the words are deleted systematically.
Open-ended questions
This is the technique which requires the most writing, which makes scoring subjective. To reduce subjectivity the length of the required answers is to be limited. It is advisable that the questions should elicit one correct answer. Short answer questions can be used for testing listening, too, but the questions have to be very short and straightforward and should require a unique, short, obvious answer.
Translation
It is a preferred technique in bilingual Hungarian language examinations, and it requires as much writing as reading, so although it provides assessment of both the reading process and the product of reading, it is better to assess it as a piece of written production, and not as a test of reading. Naturally, it is a subjective, integrative task from the point of view of scoring.
