Local language testing: design, implementation, and development

IF 1.4 2区 文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
Mutleb Alnafisah, S. Baghestani, Abdulrahman A. Alharthi
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引用次数: 17

Abstract

Throughout the language testing literature, there is a clear distinction between standardized tests, which are produced by testing companies and designed to be used across multiple institutions, and local tests, which are developed and used at a specific institution but are larger in scale than a classroom test. Local language tests are important because they can be tailored to meet the needs of the local instructional context in terms of which constructs and ability levels they assess. Nevertheless, stakeholders who are in a position to develop local language tests (e.g., language instructors and program or level coordinators) often lack formal assessment training. Local Language Testing: Design, Implementation, and Development addresses this concern by offering accessible, comprehensive guidance for non-testing experts (as well as more seasoned language testers) who are interested in developing, administering, and maintaining local language assessments at their institution. Each chapter of the book illustrates various types of constraints and challenges local language testers may face and offers solutions that can be exploited according to the available resources and expertise. In addition, one of the main objectives of this book is to draw readers’ attention to the educational benefits of local language tests. A vital characteristic of local tests which the authors emphasize throughout the book is their basis in the instructional context, a sufficient understanding of which should dictate and guide the development, administration, and maintenance of the test. For this reason, the authors bring their personal experiences with four different local tests to offer real examples and practical advice on how their local contexts shaped and affected how they approached the development of the tests. These four local contexts are namely, the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) at Purdue University, the Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff (TOEPAS) at the University of Copenhagen, the English Placement Test (EPT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Assessment of College English, International (Ace-IN) at Purdue University. The first three chapters cover foundational principles for local testing and highlight the features that differentiate it from standardized testing and classroom assessment. The first chapter is an introductory chapter, and its take-away message is the centrality of understanding the local context (i.e., the educational goals and values at a particular institution or program) for successfully developing a local test. The second chapter discusses different aspects of local instructional contexts that influence language test design, such as the status of English and preferred instructional approaches. Understanding these variations enables test developers to better define and operationalize test constructs, enhancing the quality of the assessments. The third chapter introduces the authors’ conceptual model to local test development and explicates how this model differs from other test development models. In the authors’ model, activities in local test development are overlapping and interconnected, meaning that the stages of planning and design are taking place concurrently before implementation and persist after the administration of the test. Their model offers a potentially more realistic picture of the test design process to aid local test developers in carrying out this task.
本地语言测试:设计、实现和开发
纵观语言测试文献,标准化测试和地方测试之间有着明显的区别,标准化测试是由测试公司制作的,旨在跨多个机构使用,而地方测试是在特定机构开发和使用的,但规模比课堂测试大。当地语言测试很重要,因为它们可以根据评估的结构和能力水平进行调整,以满足当地教学环境的需要。然而,能够制定当地语言测试的利益攸关方(例如,语言教员和方案或水平协调员)往往缺乏正式的评估培训。本地语言测试:设计、实现和开发通过为对开发、管理和维护本地语言评估感兴趣的非测试专家(以及更有经验的语言测试人员)提供可访问的、全面的指导来解决这个问题。本书的每一章都说明了本地语言测试人员可能面临的各种类型的限制和挑战,并根据可用的资源和专业知识提供了可以利用的解决方案。此外,本书的主要目的之一是提请读者注意当地语言考试的教育效益。作者在整本书中强调的地方测试的一个重要特征是他们在教学背景下的基础,充分理解应该决定和指导测试的开发,管理和维护。出于这个原因,作者们带来了他们在四种不同的地方测试中的个人经验,提供了真实的例子和实用的建议,说明他们的地方背景如何塑造和影响了他们开发这些测试的方式。这四种本地环境分别是普渡大学的英语口语水平测试(OEPT)、哥本哈根大学的学术人员英语口语水平测试(TOEPAS)、伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校的英语分班测试(EPT)和普渡大学的大学英语国际评估(Ace-IN)。前三章涵盖了本地测试的基本原则,并强调了将其与标准化测试和课堂评估区分开来的特征。第一章是介绍性的一章,它传达的信息是理解当地环境(即,特定机构或项目的教育目标和价值观)对于成功开发当地考试的中心意义。第二章讨论了影响语言测试设计的当地教学环境的不同方面,如英语的地位和首选的教学方法。理解这些变化使测试开发人员能够更好地定义和操作测试结构,从而提高评估的质量。第三章将作者的概念模型引入到局部测试开发中,并阐述了该模型与其他测试开发模型的区别。在作者的模型中,局部测试开发中的活动是重叠和相互联系的,这意味着计划和设计的阶段在实现之前同时发生,并且在测试管理之后持续存在。他们的模型提供了一个潜在的更现实的测试设计过程,以帮助本地测试开发人员执行这项任务。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
6.40
自引率
3.40%
发文量
22
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