Learning a language is not an easy task, lots of factors take place simultaneously and all of them need to be considered when planning and reflecting on the learning process. One of these factors is evaluation. The purpose of evaluation is to guide classroom instruction and improve student learning. Consequently, the type of tests and test items should be linked to the course objectives and students’ needs.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of evaluating students?

Evaluation is a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data about teaching and learning in order to make informed decisions.

According to the purpose, tests can be classified into four categories: Placement tests, which assess students’ skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) to place them in the right class; diagnostic tests which are used to identify learners’ strengths and weaknesses; progress or achievement tests which aim to establish what a student has learned in relation to a particular course or curriculum and proficiency tests which assess general language abilities acquired by the learner, independent of a course of studies.

“Whatever the purpose a test or exam has, a major factor in its success or failure as a good measuring instrument will be determined by the item types that it contains.” (Harmer, 2001:322). Items can be divided into two main categories: indirect and direct items.

Indirect tests items include multiple choice questions, cloze procedures, transformation and paraphrase and sentence reordering exercises. All these items have advantages and disadvantages that need to be considered.

Multiple choice questions can be useful when evaluating students’ knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. This type of exercise can be very easy to correct, however, multiple choice questions are difficult to design well. Cloze procedures require learners to use linguistic and contextual knowledge to reconstruct the meaning of a text. They are easy to prepare and correct, but a student’s score may depend on the particular words that are deleted rather than on his/her general English knowledge. Transformation and paraphrase items ask students to rewrite sentences in a different form retaining the meaning of the original. This type of item can be used to obtain information about the learner’s knowledge of the language but it may be difficult to use with beginners. Sentence reordering requires students to put words in the right order to make appropriate sentences, and it can give information about the student’s knowledge of syntax. This kind of exercise is easy to write, but it is not always possible to ensure only one correct answer.

The main disadvantage of indirect tests is that they do not require learners to demonstrate the language skills they would need to use to communicate in the real world.

With the use of communicative language principles, evaluation has become increasingly direct. Many of the language tests used nowadays contain tasks that require students to use the language for communicative purposes in real life situations. The type of tasks used in communicative tests include activities such as: information gap activities, role play, decision making exercises, writing e-mails, transferring information to charts, graphs, maps, etc, following directions, etc. The main disadvantage of direct tests is that they can be difficult to mark, especially if productive skills are being tested. To solve this problem, it is a good idea to have more than one scorer and also to create rubrics so as to have clear descriptors of performance.

The purpose of evaluation is to guide classroom instruction and improve student learning. Consequently, the type of tests and test items should be linked to the course objectives and students’ needs.

References

Carter, R., Nunan, D. (2001). The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex: Longman.