What is test? How many types of test are there?Discuss the qualities of a good test. Discuss the difference between test and assessment.

What is test? How many types of test are there?Discuss the qualities of a good test. Discuss the difference between test and assessment.

Test is an inevitable element of learning process and plays a significant role especially in language learning.  It is a reliable way by which a teacher can evaluate his or her students' knowledge of something which he/she has taught them. The students also get a chance to prove their skill or competence of what they have learnt. So it is significant for both the learner and the teacher. 

Definition of test:

The very term ‘Test’, in ELT, refers to a process of measuring learners’ knowledge or skill in a particular issue through some oral or written procedures. It is a means to show both the students and the teacher how much the learners have learnt during a course.Tests could be used to display the strength and weaknesses of the teaching process and help the teacher improve it. Now we will look into what the test is.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines test as:

“…an examination of somebody's knowledge or ability, consisting of questions for them to answer or activities for them to perform”

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary describes test as:

“…a way of discovering, by questions or practical activities, what someone knows, or what someone or something can do or is like”

Andrew Harrison in his “A Language Testing Handbook” (1983) writes:

“A test is seen as a natural extension of classroom work, providing teacher and students with useful information that can serve each as a basis for improvement.” 

Types of Test:

According to some scholars like Thompson, 2001; Hughes, 1989; Alderson, 1996; Heaton, 1990; Underhill, 1991, there are four main reasons for testing which give rise to four traditional categories of tests.

1. Placement tests:

Placement tests, as their name suggests, are intended to provide information that will help to place students at the stage of the teaching programme most appropriate to their abilities. Typically they are used to assign students to classes at different levels.The term “placement test” does not refer to what a test contains or how it is constructed, but to the purpose for which it is used. “Longman Dictionary of LTAL” defines ‘placement test as:

“…a test that is designed to place test takers at an appropriate level in a programme or course.”

Various types of test or testing procedure such as dictation, an inter-view, a grammar test can be used for placement purposes.

2.Diagnostic Tests:

Diagnostic testsareused to spot the learners’ strengths and weakness. Heaton (1990:13) compares such type of test with a diagnosis of a patient, and the teacher with a doctor who states the diagnosis. “Longman Dictionary of LTAL” defines ‘diagnostic tests’ as:

“…a test that is designed to provide information about L2 learners’ strengths and weaknesses.”

Underhill (1991:14.) adds that a diagnostic test provides the student with a variety of language elements, which will help the teacher to determine what the student knows or does not know. Thus, when the teacher identifies what the learners’ problems are, he can do something about them.

3.Progress or achievement tests:

Progress or achievement tests aim to measure what has been learnt over a longer period of time. Jeremy Harmer in his “The Practice of English Language Teaching” writes:

“These tests are designed to measure learners' language and skill progress in relation to the syllabus they have been following.”

Here the progress is significant and, therefore, is the main point which is tested.Achievement tests at the end of a term should reflect progress, not failure. They should reinforce the learning that has taken place, not go out of their way to expose weaknesses. They can also help teacher to decide on changes to future teaching programs where students do significantly worse in the test than expectation.

4. Proficiency Tests:

Proficiency tests give a general picture of a student's knowledge and ability rather than measure progress. Longman Dictionary of LTAL suggests:

“A proficiency test is not linked to a particular course of instruction, but measures the learner’s general level of language mastery.”

The examples of such tests could be the TOEFL that is used to measures the learners’ general knowledge of English in order to allow them to enter any high educational establishments or to take up a job in the USA.

Types of test item:

There are two types of test item which we are going to discuss bellow.

1. Direct test item:

A test item is direct if it asks candidates to perform the communicative skill which is being tested. Direct test items also try to “replicate real-life interaction” as much as possible. In direct test item types, candidates usually face an essay type question on such a topic which creates a “level playing field” for all. It means that all candidates have the same chance of success to answer the question such as:

“Some businesses now say that no one can smoke cigarettes in their offices. Some governments have bannedsmoking in all public places - whether outside or inside. This is a good idea but it also takes away some of our freedom. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer.”

2. Indirect test items

Indirect test items, unlike direct test item, try to measure a student's knowledge and ability by getting at what lies beneath their receptive and productive skills.Indirect items also try to find out about a student's language knowledge through more controlled items, such as multiple choice questions or grammar transformation items etc.

Discrete-point testing and integrative testing:

Whereas discrete-point testing only tests one thing at a time such as asking students to choose the correct tense of a verb, integrative test items expect students to use a variety of language at any one given time - as they will have to do when writing a composition or doing a conversational oral test.

Characteristics of Good Tests:

There are four principles should be taken into consideration in order to judge the effectiveness of any test, as follows:

1.     Reliability: This is the ability of a test to produce consistent results whatever the conditions. A test should give reliable results for students. For example, If a student takes the same test on two separate occasions, s/he should get the same marks each time. Similarly, if two students of same level of ability take the test they should get similar marks, whereas if two students of differing abilities take the test, the better student should get higher marks. Reliability is particularly important where different students take different versions of the same test.  

2.     Validity: A test is valid if it tests what it is supposed to test. Thus it is not valid, for example, to test writing ability with an essay question that requires specialist knowledge of history or biology - unless it is known that all students share this knowledge before they do the test.

There are mainly two types of ‘validity’: ‘Content Validity’ and ‘Face Validity’. The content validity means that the test should cover all the areas to be assessed in suitable proportions. The face validity means that the test should look, on its 'face', as if it is valid. If the learners feel the test unreasonable for its being too difficult or irrelevant then it loses its face validity.

3.     Practicality: A test should not be too time-consuming. It should not be too expensive to produce nor should it take too long to mark. Finally, it should not need equipment which is not usually available. Test should be set considering time, physical facilities and expense. The contents and questions of test should be kept secret at all times prior to the day of each test.

4.     Accountability: teachers should be able to provide learners parents, institutions and wider society with information about the aims of tests and what progress has been made, also about how the test results reflect students’ achievement. The teachers should be able to explain their rationales and how decisions have been made about the test content, rather than keeping the information secret. 

Hughes, A. Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1989.

Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. New York: Longman

Hicks, D. Littlejohn, A. Cambridge English for Schools (CES). Teacher’s Book. Level Two. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.1998

 This paper is prepared for you by Talim Enam, BA (Hons), MA in English.

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