In keeping with the goal of en Tron you need ito make sure deer This involves aiding dig ‘Sute that the ‘esting environment is supportive Grccureary ates s pons and assuring that test administrators exhibit an Biebensieienn aie d the test takers, Many different kinds of distractions Rien rae cuuistration of an assessment, Some of the c, such as Palen aoa from outside of the testing place itself: You can Soe thes etna might be distracting co your studenes and Boerne ni ie her befo: or after these take place. Some distractions more distracting to tar) Nihin the testing place itself and these are potentially votha ne test takers. Ifthe rest administra ‘© each other, shuffling papers, or walking can be very i abling your s abling your students to perform at their best on the Possible, and only make themselves obvious inistrative announcements or give instructions. If. you have ever taken a large-scale high-stakes assessment, or observed or helped administer one, you are probably familiar with the way test administrators in aware of the negative cavironment this creates forthe test takers. Glowering at or hovering over test takers while they are tying to concentrate and do their best has the effect of ifficule for test takers to perform at their best, While maintaining test Security or making sure that test takers do not “cheat” during the testis clearly a concern for such tests, we believe thar this can he done without creating a negative, discouraging atmosphere. Our role as test administrators is to make sure students understand what they are supposed to do and to make them feel comfortable, rather than stressed, while taking an assessment. Most classroom-based assessments are low- to medium-stakes and these are administered by teachers to their own students. Therefore, maintaining test Security is seldom a serious concern, Nevertheless, some students may feel anxious about their ability to do well on the assessment. It is thus essential for you to maintain the same supportive attitude in administering the assessment as you do while teaching. In this way, you can help reduce any anxieties your students may have and help make the assessment a positive experience for them. Communicating the instructions i is i ‘fic to each i in Chapter 10, there will be instructions that are speci , ee es ea a anne eee be general instructions for the entre test. The instructions are usually the Fist pare pidseceie your students will hear or ead. The instructions thus play aertical role in forming students’ expectations about the test and in encouraging them to perform at their best. The primary purpose of the instructions is to make sure thatAdministrative procediares and tnstrlenons Part I:Reading bee rer reads these instructions to the fot wien ete his part of the test you will be given a reading text wath six gap with sertenes | in this part of the test y AFand tay ‘missing and a list of sentences. Th from the onesiq rtence in the gan 9 Me eaEThere_ | 1 do not reed Your score willbe the number fae the reacing tom gt Teacher passes out the te vl hae sce tere ary questions” (Teacher arsvers yy centences, Her ig o the class) "You ninutes for this jou may begin now Pare 2:Writi wil vite a letter of application for this job. Yur letter should be about 100-139, wards long. Use the same format for your letter as we have studied in class jug receive scores on the structure of your paragraph, according to the Rabng Sea discussed jn class. You have 45 minutes to plete your letter” Example instructions for multiple parts tests How do you make instructions understandable? The primary purpose of the instructions is to make sure that students undenwand cxactly what they will encounter in the test and how they are expected to tapond Thus, the instructions are nor pare of the test itself. Rather, they are provided 0 enable students to perform at their best on the test. Itis therefore critical that you do everything possible to make sure that the instructions are understandable In doing this, there are two things you need to consider: the language ofthe instructions and the form of the language you will use to present the instructions Language You can presenc the instructions in either the students’ native Tanguage or the target language of the assessment, With beginning level students, making the instructions understandable can be particularly challenging, If your students all have the same native anguoge, then the instructions she uld oe presented ia their native language if there is any doubt about whedke, they could underst If your students speak many different mitié languages, ch structions in the targer language is unavoidi6le In this case, iis critical that you try to make sure that the level of language int instructions is lower than the level of language at which you are assessing:Administrative procedures and inset, Thus, for assessments of reading ts of reading and writing, the inpue will typically be written so that ls Most appropriate for the instructions alee f P d so to be presented in writing, For assessments of listening ening and speaking, the input w that the most appropriate um eed ee MP lepialy be spoken, 50 cases, it may be helpful to present the inst writing, as this may provide stu time, you need to be avvare th listen to the instructions while eae ral also be spoken. In some uctions through both speaking and dents with two ways of andciahaing Ae ame at some students may find it distracting to have to they are reading them, a Providing examples of the tasks included in the assessmer andestand whit inexpas on he aesmene The estes pace are using assessment tasks that may not be familiar toall of your students, The role of instructions is critical to making sure your students are able to perform at their best on an assessment. The more varied your students’ levels of language ability are, the more likely itis that some of them may not be able to understand sither the language or the form of the language you use to present the instructions. ‘Thus, it is very important that you try out the assessment instructions with your students before you give the assessment. This can be done by giving your students the instructions to read while you read them aloud, and then asking them if they find this helpful or not, or whether they prefer only written or only spoken instructions. How extensive do instructions need to be? You do not need co prepare instructions that are long or complex. You do want to make sure that the instructions include all the information needed and thus effectively accomplish their purpose. You also want to make sure that the instructions are efficient in that they do not rake up too much assessment time, Instructions that are both effective and efficient are: + simple enough for students to understand # short enough not ro take up too much time # detailed enough for students to know exactly what they need to do The amount of information that needs to be included in the instructions depends on the following: © how familiar the assessment tasks are ro our students @ the number and variety of differene task types used. based assessment that includes only one or two assessment tasks that ate very similar co instructional tasks, you may need to include in the instructions. For assessments covering only a minimal amount of detail i . fotos periods of instruction and larger amounts of material, and that may be administered to different groups of students, you will most likely need to include more extensive, detailed information in the instructions. ‘Thus, for a classroom-|