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Vietnam National University –HCMC

University of Social Sciences & Humanities
Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature

Purpose of testing
and assessment

Le Hoang Dung, PhD

Your concern?
“Why do I need the
test I am using?”

“What (types of)

test items should
be included in
my test?”
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Group discussion
(1) What guides you when designing
test items? (Gr. 2+Gr. 3)

(2) Can we use a particular test item

for different purposes? (Gr. 4+Gr.5)

(3) Why do we need to standardize

tests and testing? (Gr. 6)
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Questions to be asked when

designing a test
• WHY to test?
• WHAT to test?
• WHAT kinds of test?
• HOW to score?
(validity/ reliability/ test
administration…)
• WHAT approach?

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Why do we test/ assess?

Pls. choose the appropriate purpose
Identify problems areas
for remedial attention
Give each student a
course grade
Assess the T’s own
effectiveness
Check the general
progress & obtain
feedback
Evaluate
course/syllabus
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Prepare for public
exams
Measure what a
student knows
Identify levels of the
later group-work
Reinforce learning and
student motivation
Others: ????
5

Why do we test?
• “The purpose of language testing is
always to render information to aid in
making intelligent decisions about
possible courses of action” (Fulcher,
2010)

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Purposes of testing
• To measure language proficiency regardless of
any language courses that candidates may
have followed
• To discover how far students have achieved the
objectives of a course of study
• To diagnose students’ strengths and
weaknesses, to identify what they know and
what they do not
• To assist placement of students by identifying
the stage or part of a teaching programme most
appropriate to their ability (Hughes, 1992)
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From teaching & learning

to testing & assessing

• What are the reasons for/ objectives of

the test?
• How far is it possible to predict student
success in language learning?

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Primary purposes of testing

Testing is essentially a
Check the progress constructive and practical
teaching strategy giving the
and reinforce the Ss’ learners useful opportunities
learning for discussion of language
choice.

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Discuss

Do you agree/disagree with the statement?

Why or Why not?
• “Both testing and teaching are so clearly
interrelated that it is virtually impossible to
work in either field without being
constantly concerned with the other.”
(Heaton, 1991, Writing English Tests,
Longman).
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Role of the objective(s) of your test?

• The best basis for setting valid tests is to ask

questions at every stage, but especially at the
beginning of test development process, so that
specification (to be discussed on S4) is as
clear a statement as possible of
– why assessment is being made,
– what it will contain and
– the consequences for teaching, learning and
administration.
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Approaches to
language
testing

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A Brief Overview of 4 Learning Theories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACowHxGEAUg
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A brief history
Teaching methodology  Language testing trends
- 1950s: behaviorism + contrastive analysis  test
on language elements (phonological, grammatical,
lexical contrasts)
- 1970s  1980s: Communicative theories 
integrative view of testing.
- Today: a quest for more authentic, valid
instruments  real world interaction.
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(Clark, 1983 & Brown, 2003)14

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TWO PARADIGMS in Language testing

1. Norm- referenced testing
Purpose:
individuals are compared to each other. The
meaning of the score on a test derived from the
position of an individual in relation to others. 
high stakes tests.
Example:
The university entrance tests
 the high – scoring test takers are offered
places at the most prestigious institutions. while
those on lower scores may not be so fortunate.
(Fulcher, 2010)

Example -NRT
• Each student's performance is interpreted relative
to the performances of the other students in the
norm group.
• NRT scores are sometimes expressed with no
reference to the actual number of test questions
answered correctly.
– E.g.: a student scored in the 84th percentile, which
means that the student scored better than 84 out of 100
students in the group as a whole (and by extension,
worse than 16 out of 100 students).
– How many questions did the student answer correctly?
We have no way of knowing because a percentile score
only expresses the student's position relative to the other
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students.
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TWO PARADIGMS in Language testing

2. Criterion – referenced testing
Purpose:
to make a decision about whether an individual
test taker has achieved a pre-specified criterion,
or standard, that is required for a particular
decision context.
Example:
Driver’s license tests
 not to select the best speakers of English but
to establish a criterion by which an individual can
be classified as ‘operationally proficient’ 
mastery tests.
(Fulcher, 2010)

Example -CRT
• Criterion: refers to the standard, also called
a criterion level or cut-point against which
each student's performance is judged.
– Ex: if the cut-point for passing a CRT is set at
70%
– CRT score interpretation: a student scored 85%,
which means that the student knew 85% of the
material.
– Notice that no reference is made to the
performances of other students in that score
interpretation.
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Two major “families” of tests

26/07/62 Brown, J.D. 2005, p. 3) 19

Brown, 2005, p. 7)

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Approaches to language
testing
• Essay-Translation approach
• Structuralist approach
• Integrative approach
• Communicative approach
(Brown, 2004; 2010)

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What approach to take in language

testing?
• Relate language testing to language teaching and
language use
• Design your tests so as to encourage and enable
test takers to perform at their highest level of ability
• Build considerations of fairness into test design
• Humanize the testing process:
– Seek ways in which to involve test takers more directly in
the testing process
– Treat test takers as responsible individuals
– Provide them with as complete information about the
entire testing procedure as possible
(Bachman & Palmer, 1996, p.13)
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• Demand accountability for test use: hold

yourself as well as any others who use your
test, accountable for the way your test is
used
• Recognize that decisions based on test
scores are fraught with dilemmas, and that
there are no universal answers to these
(Bachman & Palmer, 1996, p.13)

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Assessing
of learning &
IMPLICATION
for learning

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Group discussion (15’)

(1) When planning instruction for a new group
of students, what kind of information about
them is useful for your planning? How do you
collect this information? (Gr. 2 )
(2) Who do you provide with assessment
information? What kinds of assessment
information do you provide them? (Gr. 3 & 4)
(3) At the end of a course or year’s instruction,
how do you know if you have attained your
instructional objectives? What do you do if you
feel you have not? (Gr. 5 & 6)
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HOW to look for

evidence of
learning from
perspective of
lesson planning

7/26/2019 Figure 4 Concept map for learning outcomes-based assessment 26

(Crespo & Najjar et.al., 2010)

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TYPES OF
TESTS

From Approaches to Types of language testing

Discrete-Point and
Integrative Testing

Communicative
Language Testing

Performance-
Based Assessment
(Brown, 2003)

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Different categories of ESL tests

Knowledge tests Performance tests

Subjective tests Objective tests

Productive tests Receptive tests

Language sub-skill test Communication skills test

Norm-referenced tests Criterion-referenced tests

Discrete point tests Integrative tests

Proficiency tests Achievement tests

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Proficiency Test
• Measures a candidate's overall ability in a language,
it isn't related to a specific course (They rarely take
into account the syllabus that students have
followed)
• Measure students' achievements in relation to a
specific task which they are later required to perform
– (e.g. follow a university course in the English medium; do
a particular job).
• Reference forward to particular application of
language acquired: future performance rather than
past achievement.
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Achievement/Progress tests
• Most classroom tests take this form
• Test the students' knowledge of the material
that has been taught on a course.
• Designed to show mastery of a particular
syllabus (e.g. end-of-year tests, school-
leaving exams, public tests) though similar
(re-syllabus) to progress tests.
• Designed primarily to measure individual
progress rather than as a means of
motivating or reinforcing language.
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Diagnostic Tests
• Can include Progress, Achievement and
Proficiency tests
• Enable teachers to identify specific
weaknesses/difficulties so that an
appropriate remedial programme can be
planned
• Primarily designed to assess students'
knowledge & skills in particular areas before
a course of study is begun. (Reference back
to class-work, motivation, remedial work.)
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Placement Tests
• Sort new students into teaching groups so
that they are approx. the same level as
others when they start.
• Test the present standing, general ability
rather than specific points of learning.
• Variety of tests necessary
• Reference forward to future learning. Results
of Placement Tests are needed quickly.
Administrative load.
• *A prognostic test attempts to predict how a
student will perform on a course.
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Discrete-point tests
Advantages:
• Yield data which is easily quantifiable
• Can be accurately and objectively marked even by
mechanical scanning methods
Disadvantages:
• Correct/Incorrect judgements depend on context e.g. certain
communities exist where "I be" and "I were" are accepted
forms.
• De-contextualised sentences are a tenuous basis for
judgements about a person's mastery of language.
• Cannot be pragmatic (no ordinary discourse situation and
no normal language use context where a learner might be
asked to listen and distinguish between "ship" & "sheep" or
perform active to passive transformations)

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Objective tests vs. Subjective tests

Objective tests:
• Ss may produce no language at all, e.g.
multiple choice, they only select alternatives.
• Ability to recognise appropriate forms is
deemed sufficient.
• Scored quickly & consistently
Subjective tests:
• The ability to produce the language is crucial
• Scores are not consistent
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Integrative Tests
• Attempt to assess a learner's capacity to use
many bits all at the same time.
• Are often pragmatic, since
– They set tasks which cause the learner to
process sequences of elements in a language
that conform to the normal contextual constraints
of that language,
– They require the learner to relate sequences of
linguistic elements via pragmatic mappings to
extralinguistic context
• Naturalness criteria: Integrative tests are
often pragmatic
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Formal Tests vs. Informal tests

Formal tests Informal tests
• Standardized • Do not have a set of
• Designed to be given standard directions.
according to a standard • Have great flexibility in
set of circumstances, how they are
(with time limits and administered.
sets of directions/ • Constructed by
instructions to be teachers and have
strictly followed). unknown validity and
• Ex.: TOEFL, IELTS, reliability.
SAT • Ex.: Review games;
Quizzes
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Static (Summative) Tests

• Measures what the student has learned.
• Examples: End-of-chapter tests; Final
examinations; Standardized state tests
Dynamic (Formative) Tests
• Measures the students' grasp of material that
is currently being taught; measure readiness.
Formative tests help guide and inform
instruction and learning.
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Examples: Quizzes; Homework; Portfolios 38

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Alternative assessment (S8)

• Is any type of assessment in which students
create a response to a question or task.
• Is opposite traditional assessments, i.e.
students choose a response from a given list,
such as multiple-choice, true/false, or
matching.
• can include short-answer questions, essays,
performance assessment, oral presentations,
demonstrations, exhibitions, and portfolios.

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Passive vs. Active assessment

(HongKong University)

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A big question?
How many types of
tests are there?

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In summary,
• Tests may be defined/classified
basing on
– their purposes,
– how their results are to be used,
– how they are to be scored,
– when they are administered,
– Etc.
• What purpose the test has is
the most important thing to be
considered by the test designer
when preparing a test.
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References
• Bachman, L. F. & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language testing in Practice: design and
developing useful language tests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Brown, H. D. (2003). Language Assessment -Principles and Classroom Practices.
London: Longman.
• Brown, J. D. (2005). Testing in language programs –A comprehensive guide to
English Language Assessment. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
• Fulcher, G. (2010). Practical language testing. London: Hodder Education.
• Hubbard, P., Jones, H., Thornton, B. & Wheeler, R. (1991) A Training Course for
TEFL. Oxford University Press.
• Hughes, A. (1992). Testing for language teachers. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
• Heaton, J. B. (1988). Writing English Language Tests: Longman Handbook for
Language Teachers (New Edition). London: Longman Group UK Ltd.
• Madsen, H. S. (1983). Techniques in testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• McNamara, T. (2000). Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/assessment/typestests.htm, retrieved
Sep. 28, 2009
• http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/test-question-types, retrieved Sep.
28, 2009

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