TEACHING METHODOLOGY 402

Answer the following questions based on what you have learned.

1. What is a syllabus? What are some common kinds of syllabuses? How does a teacher use
a syllabus?
2. How does a teacher use a course book? What are the advantages and disadvantages of
using a course book?
3. What are some kinds of supplementary materials that you have known? Why does a
teacher have to use some of them sometimes? Please elaborate with examples.
4. How has language testing changed?
5. What are some kinds of language test and testing that you have learned? Describe them
briefly.
6. What should a teacher do to help students develop a more positive view about tests?
7. Briefly describe test development process and the 5 qualities needed for the consideration
of test design.
8. What are some of the testing methods you have learned? What are some of their
advantages and disadvantages? Describe them briefly.

Answer

1. Syllabus is a document which consists of a list of language points and items that the
teachers are supposed to teach. Some common kinds of syllabuses are grammatical,
lexical, grammatical-lexical, situational, topic-based, notional, functional-notional,
mixed, procedural, and process.
There are many ways that a teacher can use a syllabus:
-A teacher can use the syllabus all the time when planning lesson and teaching.
-A teacher can ignore the syllabus altogether, and he or she can create activity and
material based on the students’ needs.
-A teacher can follow the course book guideline instead of the syllabus.
-A teacher can use the syllabus occasionally mixing their own activity and material
with the syllabus activity and material.
-A teacher can use the course book or the syllabus activity and material exclusively if
most of the students do not possess the course book.

2. Teachers can use the course book in its entirety, but they need to think of several
factors to use the course book effectively.
-They need to consider about which part should be omitted or which part that they
should include based on the difficulty of the part or language point.
-They need to consider about the level of interest of the part in the course book. If the
students can not relate or find it boring, the teacher should include extra material that
relate or is exciting for the students to learn.
-They need to consider about the course book coverage. Does the book cover the
language point or objective of the course? If no, the course book should not be used.
 The advantages of using a course book are framework, syllabus, ready-made texts
and tasks, economy, convenience, guidance, and autonomy.
The disadvantages of using a course book are inadequacy, irrelevance, limitation,
homogeneity, and over-easiness.

3. The kind of supplementary materials that I have known are computers, books,
overhead projectors, video equipment, audio equipment, posters, pictures, and games.
Teachers have to use some of them because the materials can help facilitate the class
effectively, and sometimes students need a variety of option to learn the language.
They can be engaged in learning with different materials. For example, supposed we
teach a grammar class. If we use books every day to teach grammar, the students will
lose interest in the class really quickly. Therefore, we can use games and posters from
time to time to teach them grammar and keep them engaged in the subject.

4. This is the trends of language testing.

1. Discrete to integrative: Testing in the past involved more single items task such as
MCQ and T/F statements. Nowadays, testing is often centered around
communicative competence. Popular contemporary test may include writing
letters, speaking test…etc.
2. Indirect to direct: In the past, the test takers were presented tasks that did not
necessarily represent real life usage of the language. Nowadays, task in tests often
represent real life task and usage more than the past.
3. Knowledge to performance: In the past, tests were often used to determine the
learners’ knowledge in the language. Nowadays, tests are often used to determine
learners’ ability to use the language in realistic setting. Contemporary test may
have a lot more authentic writing and speaking task.

5. I have learned about these following test:

-Proficiency tests are designed to measure people ability in a language regardless of
any training that they have had in language. For example, there is a proficiency test
each year in IFL that test the students’ knowledge in English. The test items and the
language points of the tests are not related to any of the institute course book or
syllabus all.
-Achievement tests are directly related to language courses; their purpose being to
establish how successful students have been in achieving objectives. There are two
types of achievement tests: final achievement test and progress achievement test.
-Diagnostic tests are used to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses. Upon
finding the strengths and weaknesses, the teacher can use the result to create better
lesson plans that help the students learn better in class.
-Placement tests are intended to provide information which will help to place students
at the stage of the teaching programme most appropriate to their abilities. Placement
tests are often conducted when the students first enroll to the institute.

I have learnt about the following language testing:

 -Direct testing requires the candidate to perform precisely the skill which the teacher
wish to measure. Direct testing is intended to measure productive skills of speaking
and writing.
-Indirect testing attempts to measure the abilities which underlie the skills in which
the teacher is interested. Tasks in indirect testing do not necessarily represent real life
usage of the language.
-Discrete point testing refers to the testing of one element at a time, item by item.
This kind of testing involves more single items task such as MCQ and T/F
statements.
-Integrative testing requires the candidate to combine many language elements in the
completion of a task. This kind of testing may include writing letters, speaking test…
etc.
-Norm-referenced testing determines the ranking of students in a particular
population of students. It relates one candidate’s performance to that of other
candidates.
-Criterion-referenced testing classifies people according to whether or not they are
able to perform some task or set of task satisfactorily. The tasks are set, and those
who perform them satisfactorily ‘pass’; those who don’t ‘fail’.
-Objective testing is relating to the nature of the scoring and the test items. Objective
testing must have unambiguous items that requires no judgment from the scorer.
There is only right and wrong answer in objective testing.
-Subjective testing is relating to the nature of the scoring and the test items.
Subjective testing has ambiguous answer that requires judgment from the scorer.
There is no right or wrong answer in subjective testing.
-Communicative language testing measure the ability to take part in acts of
communication. This kind of testing may include testing task such as writing letters,
speaking test…etc.

6. Teachers should do the following to help students develop a more positive view about
tests:
-Teachers should test the skill directly. Students come to a language school mostly to
learn to communicate with other people who speak the target language. The students
would not think of the class and test positively if they cannot use what they have
learnt to communicate in real life situation. Therefore, teachers should use more
direct testing to test students’ ability to communicate rather than asking them to do
indirect or discreet task that they would never do in real life. They will feel more
positive in the test and more confident to communicate.
-Teachers should ask students to give them feedback on the quality of the test. Most
teachers try their best to create test that reflect the objective of the course or the
students’ ability. However, everyone is not perfect. The teachers can still make
mistakes, so it is better to get feedback as much as possible. They can get the
feedbacks from their colleagues or the students directly. Also, when they ask students
to give them feedback on the quality of the test, the students will feel important
because they get to participate in the test making process.
 -Teachers should familiarize the students with the testing method. We cannot force
the students to suddenly complete task that they have never seen before. We have to
slowly integrate the task in the regular class and familiarize the students with the task
before assigning the task for the official test. Because the students get to be familiar
to the task, they will do better. Therefore, they will view the test in a more positive
light.

7. Describe test development process:

1. Assess the constraints and resources: Test developers should make sure that all
resources necessary for developing and administrating the test are available for use.
2. Determine the purpose of the test: The test developer must make sure that the
purpose of the test must be congruent or consistent with the purpose of students’
learning and the teachers’ teaching.
3. Determine the objectives of the test: After the test purpose has been identified, test
objectives need to be specified. The test objectives should be the same as the course
or ‘teaching objectives’.
4. Define the content area of the test: There are two approaches to select the content
of achievement test: Syllabus-content approach and Objective based approach. The
content of the former is based directly on the course syllabus or material used during
the instruction while the content of the latter is based on the objectives of the course.
5. Determine the relative weights of all objectives and different parts of the test: The
weights assigned depend entirely on the teacher and should preferably correspond to
the time spent and emphasis given to each of the objectives and content area during
instruction.
6. Determine test methods and procedures: Test developers needs to determine how
the students’ assessment can be undertaken in order to tap the objectives and content
previously defined.
7. Write test items and tasks, assemble them and directions: In this stage, the test
developers need to decide which item and task types should be included. Moreover,
they have to decide on the balance of the objective testing and subjective testing
whose sole difference is terms of methods of scoring.
8. Review and revise the test: Test items need to be reviewed and revised in order to
ensure the test is valid, reliable, authentic, though not always, and has a positive
impact on teaching and the examinees and other individuals mentioned above.
9. Develop scoring methods: scoring method is chosen based on the type of testing.
Objective testing tend to be straight forward while subjective testing is the opposite.

the 5 qualities needed for the consideration of test design are:

-Reliability refers to the consistency of test results or measurement in different testing

situations.
 -Validity needs the test to have high reliability. A valid test is a test which measures
what it is intended to measure and not something else. There are 3 types of validity:
construct validity, content validity, and face validity.
-Authenticity refers to the degree of correspondence between the characteristics of a
given language task to the features of a target language use task.
-Impact refers to the direct or indirect influence on individuals such as test takers,
teachers, stake-holders, and on ‘society and educational systems’, that effect may be
beneficial or harmful.
-Practicality refers to the quality of the test that is likely to succeed or be effective
when administered. To determine the practicality of a test, the test developers need to
consider the relationship between the resources required for the design, construction,
and administration of the test and the resources available for these activities.

8. The testing methods that I have learned are:

-MCQ

+Advantages:
-Students can answer in a short space of time.
-It can cover a good deal of the subject area.
-Items are easy to mark.
-The marking is objective since the answer can only be right or wrong
-When standardized, such tests can provide a good deal of comparative
information about the students.
-Multiple choice tests have high reliability
-They can be set for any level of ability.
+Disadvantages:
-It is very easy to construct poor multiple choice items and hence a poor multiple
choice test.
-The construction of a thoroughly valid and reliable item takes a long time.
-Only a simple act of recognition and recall is expected of the candidate. There is
no demand for reasoning or explanation.
-Students can become too familiar with the techniques and may be influenced in
their learning methods, looking for facts rather than seeking a deeper understanding.
-Multiple choice test results can be distorted by candidates guessing the answers.
-The technique severely restricts what can be tested.
-Backwash may be harmful.
-Cheating may be facilitated.

-Paired statements:

+Advantages:
-Students can answer in a short space of time.
 -It can cover a good deal of the subject area.
-Items are easy to mark.
-The marking is objective since the answer can only be right or wrong
-When standardized, such tests can provide a good deal of comparative
information about the students.
-Paired statements have high reliability

+Disadvantages:
-The construction of a thoroughly valid and reliable item takes a long time.
-Paired statements test results can be distorted by candidates guessing the answers.
-The technique severely restricts what can be tested.
-Backwash may be harmful.
-Cheating may be facilitated.

-True/False Items:

+Advantages:
-Students can answer in a short space of time.
-Items are easy to mark.
-The marking is objective since the answer can only be right or wrong
-When standardized, such tests can provide a good deal of comparative
information about the students.
-True/false items have high reliability

+Disadvantages:
-It is difficult to write statements which are unequivocally true or false.
-It is difficult for an examiner to distinguish in the pupils’ responses; between
unfortunate guessing and misinterpretation of the questions.
-Backwash may be harmful.
-Cheating may be facilitated.

-Short-Answer Items:

+Advantages:
-It requires more than just recognition and recall
-It demands a certain amount of coherence in the answer
-It is marked more objectively than an essay question
-It embraces a greater subject area than an essay
-It is marked more quickly than an essay
-It is less time-consuming to construct than a good multiple-choice item
-It does not provide as much opportunity for guessing as a multiple choice item

+Disadvantages:
 -It may penalize high ability students by providing insufficient scope for them, and
may help the less able in not allowing them an opportunity to display their weaknesses.
-It makes less demand on the students as regards concentration and application than
does an essay.
-It is not suitable for certain answers, for example answers to questions on literary
appreciation.

-Matching:

+Advantages:
-Students can answer in a short space of time.
-Items are easy to mark.
-The marking is objective since the answer can only be right or wrong
-Matching tests have high reliability
-They can be set for any level of ability.
-It is easy to make.
+Disadvantages:
-Only a simple act of recognition and recall is expected of the candidate. There is no
demand for reasoning or explanation.
-Students can become too familiar with the techniques and may be influenced in their
learning methods, looking for the definition rather than seeking the usage.
-Matching test results can be distorted by candidates guessing the answers.
-The technique severely restricts what can be tested.
-Backwash may be harmful.
-Cheating may be facilitated.

-Cloze Procedures:

+Advantages:
-Students have to understand the context to fill in the blank
-The marking is quite difficult because there may be more than one answer
-It is challenging and great for upper intermediate or advanced learners.
+Disadvantages:
-It can be too difficult for some students.
-Students’ ability to spell can affect their final results adversely.
-Cheating may be facilitated.

0000000000000000……………0.0.0.0.0.0.-The C-Test:

+Advantages:
- Only one exact scoring is necessary
 (native speakers effectively scoring 100 per cent).
-Shorter (and so more) passages are possible, which means that a wider range of
topics, styles and levels of ability is possible.
-The deletion of elements less than the word is said to result in a representative
sample of parts of speech being so affected.
-If compared with cloze, a C-Test of 100 items takes little space and not nearly so
much time to complete (candidates do not need to read so much text).
+Disadvantages:
- It is harder to read than a cloze passage.
-Correct responses can often be found in the surrounding text.
Thus the candidate who adopts the right puzzle-solving strategy may be at an
advantage over a candidate of similar foreign language ability.

-Dictation:

+Advantages:
-It tests the ability to identify words from context. This ability distinguishes between
learners at different levels.
-Dictations tests give similar results similar to those obtained from cloze tests.
-It is easy to create, relatively easy to administer.

+Disadvantages:
-It may not prove a useful technique where estimates of overall ability are needed.

-Transformation and Paraphrases:

+Advantages:
-It requires more than just recognition and recall
-It demands a certain amount of coherence in the answer
-It is less time-consuming to construct than other kind of test item
-It does not provide as much opportunity for guessing as a multiple choice item

+Disadvantages:
-It makes less demand on the students as regards concentration and application than
does a short answer question or an essay.

- Sentence reordering

+ Advantages:
-Getting students to put words in the right order to make appropriate sentences tells us
 quite a lot about their underlying knowledge of syntax and lexico-grammatical elements.
-Re-ordering exercises are fairly easy to write, though it is not always possible to ensure
only one correct order.
- It is easy for the teacher to mark the test.

+Disadvantages:
-It may not prove a useful technique where estimates of overall ability are needed.

-Essay- Open-Ended Questions

+Advantages:
-Students get to demonstrate their command of knowledge and power of analysis
-Students get to demonstrate discrimination in the choice of evidence
-Students get to demonstrate their argumentative skills.

+Disadvantages:
-There is little or no structure is provided for the respondent
-It takes the teacher longer to mark an essay than a short answer question
-It is hard to make the meaning explicit, without discouraging at the same time a variety of
open-ended responses.

-Prepared Essay

+Advantages:
-It can be said that an essay question is relatively simple to set.
-It is also a good measure of power of expression in a situation where the writer is not
limited by a set of specific requirements and can, in consequence, develop ideas and
respond to the question in any way he may wish.

+Disadvantages:
-It is time-consuming for the students and covers a relatively small area of the subject being
studied.
-The marking is very subjective.
-A single essay does not provide an acceptable measure of ability of the writer at length or
to sustain an argument or to analyze any views, or indeed any of the skills for which it is
deemed an appropriate measure.

-Open-Book Examinations

+Advantages:
-It is best suited to English literature, or to subjects which make use of a wider range of
 printed material.
-It is a form of examination which is best suited to the more able students.

+Disadvantages:
-There may be problems over the use of standards works of famous authors, such as
Shakespeare, which usually contain difficult language which make it difficult to make good
questions.
-It can also be prone to cheating.