Teach English in Jinhaihu Diqu - Beijing

Evaluation and testing student testing is a complex and controversial subject among many professionals. While some question the reliability of tests to indicate ability, others see testing as completely necessary. In addition, fairness with testing has long been an issue with students (Alderson, Banarjee 215); however, what constitutes fair and unfair is not a simple matter. This paper will address ethics surrounding language testing as well as the different types of tests. It will also address the different forms and functions of evaluations. All testing requires a judgment on value and thus begs the question: whose values are being represented and served (215)? Researcher Dr. Elana Shohamy argues that tests which contain content or employ methods that are not fair to all the students are not ethical (216). Along with ethical testing, Shohamy is also concerned with the washback of the tests; in other words, how they influence what and how the teacher teaches (214). It can be concluded that esl teachers creating their own tests will need to take extra care in developing fair (and thus ethical) questions and standards for testing a multilingual group in order to adjust the methods and content of their class accordingly. The form a test takes may be anything from international tests (TOEFL, TWE, IELTS) to daily tests created by the teacher. LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) tests are also note-worthy as there is a growing need for language certificates to guarantee education and employment mobility (219). LSP tests typically fall on the continuum between general purpose tests and those for a specific occupation/profession. They often have real life tasks and background knowledge is an imperative part of what is being tested (not just the language ability) (222). Regardless of the test, computer-based testing continues to grow in popularity. Types of computerized tests also vary. They may be as simple as multiple-choice or as complex as computer-adaptive tests in which questions change depending on the student?s accuracy. Because the technology is relatively young and rapidly changing, there is still a need for more research to address the challenges, opportunities and ethical fairness that arise from computer-based testing (227). Having addressed ethical consideration with testing and different types of tests, it is now important to look also at evaluations. Tests are not the only factor used in ranking a student?s ability. ?Evaluation involves making a judgment about the quality, value, or worth of a response, product or performance based on established criteria? (Todd 4). The evaluations themselves may be either summative, in which the results are used as evidence of how well the students learned, or formative in which feedback is provided on an ongoing basis (10). The major purpose of evaluations is to improve student learning (13). The types of evaluations depend on what ability the teacher is measuring. Evaluations can therefore asses the student?s participation, attitude, progress, or performance. In evaluating a student?s progress, the teacher will hopefully keep the students believing that relevant and important targets are within reach (14). Regarding the argument of ethics, it is also imperative for teachers to consider student diversity. The teacher should assess cognitive skills in the case of achievement and behaviors in the case of attitudes and adapt the evaluation where necessary (18). Using test scores along with summative and formative evaluations, teachers should be able to relate the results to their teaching methods. From this, they may continually improve and modify their class accordingly. As previously stated, this is all the more necessary in a multilingual situation as the ethnic and cultural needs generally vary greatly from class to class. This doesn?t exclude monolingual classes however as ability, gender, special needs, motivation and socio-economic factors also play a role (Todd 25). As demonstrated, there are just as many types of tests and evaluations as there are types of students. A teacher therefore has a moral responsibility to create ethical tests and evaluation practices to promote a positive and successful learning environment. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Alderson, Charles J. and Javanti Banerjee. ?Language testing and assessment (Part 1).? Lancaster Eprints. 2001: 213-236, 26 Sept. 2011 2. Todd, Dr. W., ?Effective student Assessment and Evaluation in the classroom.? Alberta Education. 2006: 1-27, 20 September 2011