Assessment matters: Diagnostic tests | Article | Onestopenglish

Diagnostic tests are used to determine a student's proficiency level in English before they begin a course. These kinds of tests are meant to help pinpoint ... SkiptomaincontentSkiptonavigation Assessmentmatters:Designingyourowntests10Assessmentmatters:Diagnostictests1Assessmentmatters:Designingyourowntests2Assessmentmatters:Examsextra(upper-intermediatetoproficiency)3Assessmentmatters:Examsextra(elementarytointermediate)4Assessmentmatters:Self-assessmentand'Cando'statements5Assessmentmatters:Portfolios6Assessmentmatters:Assessingtasksandlessons7Assessmentmatters:Assessingyounglearners8Assessmentmatters:Preparingstudentsfortestsandexams9Assessmentmatters:Assessingskills10Assessmentmatters:Diagnostictests11Assessmentmatters:Whatisassessment? AssessingLearning Assessmentmatters:Diagnostictests ByAdrianTennant Nocomments AdrianTennantconsiders'diagnostictests',sometimesreferredtoas'leveltests'or'placementtests',comparingthemtootherformsofassessmentaswellasgivingsomepracticalsuggestions. Source:BANANASTOCK,RoyaltyFree Whatarediagnostictests? Diagnostictestsareusedtodetermineastudent'sproficiencylevelinEnglishbeforetheybeginacourse.Thesekindsoftestsaremeanttohelppinpointwhatstudentsknowanddon’tknow.Studentswithsimilarscoresinadiagnostictestwilloftenbeputtogetherinthesameclassaccordingtolanguagelevel.However,inaschoolwherestudentsaregroupedtogetheraccordingtotheirage,diagnostictestscanbeusedtohelpchoosetheappropriatecoursebookandalsohelptheteachertoknowwhattoteach. So,diagnostictestsdifferfromotherformsofassessmentintwokeyways.Firstly,theyareconductedatthestartofacourse(beforeanyteachinghastakenplaceonthatparticularcourse).Secondly,thecontentofthetestisnotbasedonwhathasbeentaughtintheprecedingclasses(asoftentherehaven’tbeenany).Theaimofdiagnostictestsisalsofundamentallydifferentastheyareoftendesignedtoencompassawiderangeoflevels,makingitpossibletogivethesametesttoallthestudentsand,fromtheresults,placethemintheappropriatelevel.  Whatisincludedinadiagnostictest? Themajorityofdiagnostictestsarequitelimitedintheirscope.Thisisgenerallybecauselanguageschoolsandotherinstitutionswanttogivequickshorttestswhichcanbemarkedeasily(i.e.objective–simplerightorwronganswers). Manydiagnostictestscontainfiftyorsomultiplechoicequestionsfocusingmainlyonvocabularyandgrammar.Asthetestsaredesignedtocoverawiderangeoflevels,thequestionswillrangefromthingsbeginnersmightbeexpectedtoknowallthewayuptowhatadvancedstudentsmightknow. Hereisatypicalexample: 1)What___yourname?    a)am b)are  c)is   2)Whereareyou_____?    a)come b)from c)live   27)Haveyou_____beentoLondon?      a)ever  b)never c)yet   28)Canyoupassmethe_____control?Iwanttochangethechannel.     a)distant  b)remote c)self   49)_____spokentoJohnearlier,I’msureeverythingwillbeOK.     a)Has b)Have c)Having   50)I’msorry,butIthinkthat’sreally____-fetched.     a)far b)high  c)long  Occasionally,diagnostictestsincludeotherlanguagesskillssuchasreading,writing,listeningandspeaking.However,theseareasofthetestcanoftenbeflawed(seethearticleonAssessingSkills).Whentheyareincludedtheygenerallytrytobeaseasytomarkaspossible.Includingareassuchasspeakingandwritingclearlyaddsalevelofsubjectivitytothetests,butforarealisticoverviewofastudent'sleveltheyareactuallyveryimportant. Arethereanyproblemswithdiagnostictests? Inmanycasestheansweris‘Yes’.Firstly,thereareoftenbigdifferencesbetweenthemethodology,contentandquestion/tasktypesemployedindiagnostictestsandthemethodologyemployedintheclassroom.Forexample,manydiagnostictestsrelypredominatelyonmultiplechoicequestionsandfocusongrammaticalaccuracy.Whereastheteachingitselffocusesonspeakingandoncommunication–‘gettingthemessageacross’–andnotworryingsomuchabouttheaccuracyofthelanguageused.Quiteclearlythereisapotentialproblemhere.Astudentmightnotscoreverywellinthediagnostictestbutmaybeverygoodatcommunicating,whereasanotherstudentmightdowellinthetestbutfindspeakingquitechallenging.Thesetwostudentsmightthenbeplacedininappropriateclassesorlevelsastheirtestscoresdon’ttrulyreflecttheirproficiencyinthetypeoflanguageandskillsbeingtaught. Secondly,manydiagnostictestsarelimitedintheirscope.Inotherwords,theydonotcontainalisteningorspeakingcomponent.Ifastudentisplacedinaclasssimplybasedontheirabilitytoanswergrammar,readingandwritingtasks,itmaywellbethattheyarestrongintheseskillsbutareweakinlisteningorspeaking.Notonlydoesthisleadtothesameproblemsasmentionedabove,butitalsogivesafalseideaofthestudent'soveralllanguageability. Thirdly,iftheendtestdoesnotmatchthediagnostictest,thenthiscanalsobeproblematicasthereisnoconsistencyorbenchmarkwithwhichtogaugeastudent'sprogress.Inmanywaysthereneedstobeasynergybetweentheentryandexittestsandwhatactuallytakesplaceduringthelessons.   Finally,amajorissuewithmostdiagnosticteststhatusemultiplechoicequestionsisthatit’sdifficulttodistinguishbetweenstudentswhoactuallyknowthecorrectanswerandthosewhosimplyguessandareluckywiththeirguess.Insomeinstancesitispossibletoeliminateoneanswerquiteeasilyandmakeguessing,andgettingtheanswercorrect,evenmorelikely.Ifmultiplechoicequestionsareused,itisimportantthatattentionispaidtopatternsinordertodiscernwhenstudentsaremerelyguessing,soifastudentgetsonlyoneoutofthreequestionsrightthatfocusonaparticularareaoflanguage,itismorethanlikelythattheonetheygotrightwasaguess.Ontheotherhand,someonewhogetsallthreequestionsrightprobablyknowsthatparticularareaofgrammar.Reliabilityisquiteclearlyoneofthemainproblemssurroundingmultiplechoicequestionsandyet,becauseoftheeaseofmarking,theyarethemostpopularwayofassessingstudentsindiagnostictests. Whatmakesagooddiagnostictest? Balance–ifyouwantadiagnostictestthatwillactuallydowhatitissupposedtodo,thenitwillbebalancedandwillmatchthetypesoftasksthatwillbepartofthelessons.Inotherwords,ifthefocusoftheclassesisonspeaking,thediagnostictestshouldfocusonspeaking. Ofcourse,itisimportantthatanydiagnostictestdoesn’ttaketoolong.Itisunlikelythatstudentswillbehappyiftheyareaskedtotakeatestthattakesthreeorfourhours.Thismeansthatcompromisesmightneedtobemadeinordertomakethetestseffective,validandreliable.Thereisalotoftalkofvalidityandreliabilityandthesearecertainlytwoimportantfactorsofanygoodtest.However,fordiagnostictests,andinfactformosttests,anotherimportantfactoristhattheyareeasytomanage(includingmarking). Howarediagnostictestsmarked? Thisbringsusontothetopicofmarkingdiagnostictests.Inthemostpartsuchtestsareobjective(onereasonwhytheyoftendon’tincludeaspokenorwrittencomponent).Themosttypicalsimplyuseaquickkey(oftenonethatcanbeplacedoverthetesttoseewhichoftheanswersarecorrect),orarecomputermarked(sometimeseventakenonacomputer)andmarkedascorrectorincorrect. Theseresultsarethen‘banded’.Inotherwordsascorerangebetweenxandyisassignedtoacertainlevel,forexample1–10=Beginner,10–20 =Elementary…50–60Upper-intermediate,etc.Ofcourse,thisisaveryarbitrarywayofmarkingatest,evenifthetestisfairlyextensiveintherangeofskills,etcthatittests.Forexample,howbigadifferenceistherebetweenastudentwhoscores49andonewhoscores51?Lessthanbetweenastudentwhoscores41andonewhoscores49.Yet,thetwowhoscoreinthe40sarelikelytoendupinthesameclasslevel,despitethegapinscorebeingwider! Furthersuggestions Don’tcompromisethevalidityorreliabilityofyourdiagnostictestsimplyforeaseofmarkingoradministration.Althoughtheselasttwofactorsareimportant,adiagnostictestthatdoesn’tactuallydothejobitissupposedtodoisworsethanuseless. Adiagnostictest(infact,alltests),shouldreflectthecontentandtasktypes inthecourse.Adiagnostictestthatdoesn’tdothiscanbeneithervalidnorreliable. Finally,thepurposeofadiagnostictestistoinformboththeteacherandstudentastothelevelofthestudentandhopefullytotheareasoflanguagethatneedtobefocusedon. Ifyoufeelthediagnostictestsdon’tmeetthecriteriaforagooddiagnostictestasoutlinedinthisarticle,thenmaybeyoushouldbelookingfor(ordesigning)abetteroption. TopicsArticleAssessingLearningProfessionalDevelopmentReferenceMaterial Nocomments Assessmentmatters:Designingyourowntests1Assessmentmatters:Designingyourowntests2Assessmentmatters:Examsextra(upper-intermediatetoproficiency)3Assessmentmatters:Examsextra(elementarytointermediate)4Assessmentmatters:Self-assessmentand'Cando'statements5Assessmentmatters:Portfolios6Assessmentmatters:Assessingtasksandlessons7Assessmentmatters:Assessingyounglearners8Assessmentmatters:Preparingstudentsfortestsandexams9Assessmentmatters:Assessingskills10CurrentlyreadingAssessmentmatters:Diagnostictests11Assessmentmatters:Whatisassessment? 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