ADMINISTERING ASSESSIMENT

By S.Glaston

When we decide to travel and tour around interesting cities it´s  necessary to have clear information about the places, the streets, museums and buildings.  Moreover a serious consideration of the history of your touristic destiny will avoid incidents a misunderstanding.

As it is evident, teachers should carry their pupils to that point of preparation when they about to administer a test. Students should be able to do well, because of a prior consideration of several factors such as:

A.      SCHEDULING TESTNFORMATION TO STUDENTS

  Test should schedule at a comfortable time for students.

  It should not coincide with special events or when teacher will be away.

B.      PROVIDING INFORMATION TO STUDENTS

  Know when they should arrive and departure. If dictionaries are allowed.

  If dictionaries are allowed.

  What they may and may not bring into the exam, such as:

•   Food
•   Drink
•   Calculator
•   Electronic translator
•   ID card
•   Pens
•   Pencils
•   Sharpener  Eraser

C.      ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Describe to students your expectation of what is accepted and unaccepted from the very beginning.  Discuss school policies, procedures and penalties for academic dishonesty   (cheating, plagiarism and impermissible collaboration).

D.      PHYSICAL SETTING

Correspond to the atmosphere in which the test will administer. The ideal setting is every other seat and every other row. Room should be free of noise, interruptions and have good ventilation.

E.       TEST ASSEMBLY

Test should be typed, well formatted and free typos.

F.       ANSWER SHEETS

Use answering sheets to decrease the amount of time to mark the test.

G.     SUPPLIES

 Have extra supplies for last minute typo problems or that if students forget their own supplies. Have extra copies of the exam in case you discover a test with missing parts.

Things to remember about administrating a test.

TEST ADMINISTRATION	GRADING	ISSUES IN TEST ADMINISTRATION
TIME How long test will be. Give announcement throughout the exam. Collect papers promptly at the end of the test. Check that students write their names correctly on each sheet of the test.	LETTERS A: represent the highest in the  common grade system, then B,C,D  and   F: represent the lowest in the common grade system.	SURPRISE TESTS / POP QUIZZES They aren’t allowed in the assessment program because student should always know when they will be tested. Test and quizzes should not be applied as a punishment or to discipline unruly students.
ADMINISTRATOR’S ROLE Be friendly. For test security remind students the penalty for cheating.	NUMERICAL They are common and usually expressed in percentage form.	LATECOMERS When students arrive late they should not allowed to take it. Inform student the date and time of the make-up test. If they do poorly they will complain that his/her tardiness is the reason.
TEST SECURITY Hand each student his or her own copy. Remind students about test conditions: no talking, no cell phone nether texting and finally use correct procedure to ask question.	PASS/ FAIL:  it is also a grade system. CONTRACT: It is a type of grade system in which students agree to complete work at certain time for a set of grade.	INCIDENT REPORT Record and report unusual behavior or events that occur during the test administration.
	AVAILABILITY AND EXPECTATION Stress the importance of fairness and accountability. If teacher plan to use part of the test again, test should keep it secure.	ACCOMMODATION POLICY Have an accommodations policy for students with medical problems or are physically challenged

STUDENT TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES

 By Shanny Glaston

Visiting places and touring around interesting countries with friends or families should always be a joyfully activity, even though, there are situations that produce stress and fear. Not knowing the language of the country is one of the most common fears for travellers, because it produces anxiety to take a transportation and get lost.

 These are similar feelings students have when they are about to take a test, nervousness or lack of confidence in their capacities to overcome are basically students fear.

 These are some strategies could be followed before taking another test:

1.     Prepare for the test with test-strategies.   
2.     Make a good use of the time. 
3.     Develop practical study habits, which should be constantly. 
4.     Review at home, topics previously seen in class using techniques for it not to be boring. 
5.     Have a specific place and time to study. 
6.     Attend class regularly, missing class involves a great lack of information. 
7.     Get familiar with instructions and test formats, to do exactly what it is supposed to be done. 
8.     Ask for help from teachers.

ASSESSING SPEAKING

By Shanny Glaston

Hours after we are at the hotel  thinking about  our  trip.  We have the reservation and the clerk is very nice, by having a conversation and  filling out the registation card we wil accomodate rapidly in our room. All this situation were able, thnaks to use of communication abilities.

Speaking is an important channel of communication.  ESL programs should stimulate real activities to engage free conversation between students.  According to the topics developed in the CONARE´S course, teachers should take in acount the following aspects to ensure valid and reliable of their speaking assessments:

• Start with a warm up activity to reduce ansiety.
• Conduct test  with another teacher, one an interlocutor and the other as assessor.
• Choose appropriate techniques.
• Personalize test by using student´s names.
• Never mark the test in front of the student.

CLASSROOM SPEAKING ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES

• Oral Presentation: It designed to get students talking about familiar topics.

• Debates on a Controversial Topic: formal speaking activity between to groups that will argue about a topic.
• Reading Aloud: Read aloud to practice pronunciation 
• Retelling Stories:  make a report of a given  topic.
• Verbal Essay. students speak for three to five minutes about a prepared topic.
• Extemporaneous Speaking: Prepare to speak about topic .

SPEAKING ASSESSMENT RUBRICS:
Speaking assessment rubrics should carry the following categories:

• Grammar: Refers to the communication of ideas.
• Vocabulary: Selection of words and idioms.
• Fluency: No hesitationts at all.
• Pronunciation: clear communication and a native-like pronunciation.

Here there is an example of reading aloud assessment technique.

Assessing listening

          

September 22nd, 2011 

Meanwhile travellers are waiting for their transportation they sit into the boarding room. Listen carefully to the hour for each flight departure and number of gate. At this point travellers need to pay much attention mostly when they at another country with a different language.

In an ESL classroom students require to learn how to listen and understand what is heard before he or she can speak. For that reason there are fundamental aspects to consider:

1. Model Listening.

a- Bottom-up processing which stands for the comprehension listener obtains from braking down information.

b- Top-down listening: in this process listener uses personal background knowledge of a specific situation to make sense what is heard.

         2.Approaches to Listening Assessment

A- Discrete point approach: listen information and carry it down to components, assess it separately

B- Integrative approach: Assess listener ability to use several components same time.  

C- Communicative approach: Assess listener ability to comprehend and use components in a specific context.

 Consideration in Designing Listening Task

A. Background Knowledge.Listener´s prior knowledge.

B. Test Content. Specification of the Test.

C. Texts. Convert script in oral material.

D. Vocabulary. List of words to understand a text.

E. Test Structure. The outset of the test.

F. Formats. Teach the situation then introduce it in the test.

G. Items Writing. Refer to formats and text to be included 
in a test. 

H. Timing. Length of the test includes pre-reading. 

I. Skill Contamination. Use of other language skills 
to answer question.