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2022

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 Diagnostic Assessment
General Guidelines

For a satisfactory level of diagnosis of the nature

of learning problems among high school students
(Common Core, 1st-year Bac & 2nd-year Bac Classes
-all streams) in Beni Mellal-Khenifra Academy

Foreword
For Thorndike and Hagen (1970), a diagnostic test should provide a detailed picture of the
strengths and weaknesses of a learner in a particular area at a specific stage of learning.
Correctly implemented, a diagnostic test should help teachers identify the status of students at
the end of a particular lesson, unit, or course of learning. It also helps them locate the specific
teaching and learning elements that have been properly covered and grasped and stimulate their
reflection on defectuous areas. The aim, of course, is to elaborate appropriate remediation and
corrective instructional schemes to overcome these learning shortcomings.
It is true that every achievement test has some diagnostic aspects in it and vice versa. However,
diagnostic tests differ from any other assessment tools in the way test items are sampled. In
achievement tests, for example, sampling test items does not necessarily cover every learning
point whereas in a diagnostic test, content coverage and exhaustiveness is a requisite.
Appropriate diagnostic tests, therefore, require a careful diagnosis of the content and a
thoughtful sampling of questions in order to get a clear idea about students’ level of proficiency
in different language components and skills.

The construction of a diagnostic test

It took us a long time at the Regional Supervision Coordination to decide whether diagnostic
tests should be unified /standardized (at least region wide) or teacher-made. We eventually
opted for the second alternative for different reasons, namely that teacher-made tests are
bottom-up, more economical, and more effective. Teachers can design their own diagnostic
testing tools in compliance with students’ learning environments and specific needs.
For a well-informed and well-grounded elaboration of valid and reliable diagnostic assessment,
we deem it beneficial to provide a few considerations and guidelines that may be useful in
planning diagnostic tests, administering them, and exploiting the results they will yield.

Stages to follow while framing a diagnostic test

✓ Planning: This includes a clear specification of the contents and competencies to be
gauged, the test types to be deployed, the techniques to be adopted, and the time volume
to be allotted.
✓ Writing test items: The formulation of the items should take into account the factors of
age, level, and interest. Besides, the items have to be worded in clear and familiar
language and embedded in meaningful contexts. Needless to mention how essential are

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 the acts of reviewing and proofreading the first draft of the test to avoid inadvertent
errors or typos.
✓ Preparing the answer key and marking scale
✓ Administering the test
✓ Marking and interpreting the results: Transcoding students’ scores into clear statistical
data (using graphs and percentages) is essential in identifying students’ deficiencies and
gaining a clear picture of where students are in terms of learning.
✓ Elaboration of a remediation scheme: This is based on the conclusions and implications
derived from the analysis of the diagnostic test.
The following tips should be kept in view before test administration:

▪ Diagnostic assessment is not an end in itself. It is a means to measure how well learners
have mastered the contents covered previously and what learning gaps need to be
remediated before they embark on a novel learning experience. It is, therefore, an
essential instructional procedure that should be given the attention and care it is due.
▪ Diagnostic assessment should be followed by a meticulous analysis of learners’
individual and collective performance. This should ultimately lead to informed
remediation decisions.
▪ For motivational purposes, the students should be reassured that the test is to help them
improve their learning rather than for deciding who is to pass or fail.
▪ Create a relaxed, anxiety-free environment for students: have them seated comfortably,
seek clarification in case something is not clear.
▪ Range of difficulty: Diagnostic tests must include items which sample basic (already
learnt) competencies and which you deem essential for a good start of the new syllabus.
▪ Time allocation and weighting: It is up to the teachers to decide on the amount of time
and weights to be allotted to the test(s) depending on the test type adopted, number of
exercises, and number of items.
▪ Time scheduled for the test should not be enforced strictly. Allow a little more time if
needed.
▪ The test must provide a series of easily interpretable scores, each representing
performance in a specific language component or skill.
▪ Teachers may opt for a holistic global test format, including reading, language, and
writing. They may also choose to gauge different skills and language components
separately to gain a better insight into learners’ gaps and deficiencies.

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 Level 1: Common Core Classes (all streams)

Part 1: Reading/Listening Comprehension

Objective to gauge learners’ ability to locate information in simple written or spoken texts with a
familiar context and text type
Text types short texts, dialogues, pictures, labels, posters, menus, postcards, etc.
Topics School, Family, food/drinks, House, Body and Clothes, Entertainment, Environment, etc.
Sub-skills skimming or reading for the gist, scanning or finding details and specific information, etc.
Techniques Wh questions, matching, multiple choice, gap filling, true/false statements, etc.

Part 2: Speaking & Writing

Speaking
Objective to gauge learners’ ability to
sustain speech for adequate
time
Sub-skills initiating talk, taking turns, etc.
Techniques describing (things, places,
people, pictures), sharing
personal information,
comparing objects, role play,
etc.
Format interviewing, short oral
presentations, interactive tasks
Scoring task fulfillment, fluency,
Criteria pronunciation, vocabulary/
grammar range and accuracy
Writing
to gauge learners’ ability to construct sentences and write
short simple texts (paragraphs, emails, letters, etc.)
spelling words correctly, constructing sentences, planning and
organizing ideas to write simple paragraphs, using
punctuation and capitalization, etc.
putting words in order to make correct sentences, completing
the sentences using simple linking words, writing short
messages, letters, or emails, etc.
short written messages, short paragraph, short letter or email,
etc.
relevance to the task, organization, appropriateness of
vocabulary, grammar accuracy, etc.

Part 3: Language
Vocabulary Grammar Functions
Objective to gauge learners’ ability to recognize and use language learnt in 3 year middle school level
rd

• Grammar items should be contextualized.

• Vocabulary items should measure learners’ ability to guess meaning from context and to
use words meaningfully and purposefully.
Contents vocabulary related to Subject pronouns, introducing oneself and others, exchanging
these themes: ‘Be’ present simple, personal information, accepting and refusing
School, Family, possessive adjectives, offers, making suggestions, etc.
food/drinks, House, Present continuous,
Body and Clothes, “going to” for future
Entertainment, plans. etc.
Environment, etc.
Techniques matching, gap-filling, joining parts of a sentence, correcting errors, completing dialogues,
responding to situations, etc.
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 Level 2: 1st year Baccalaureate (all streams)
Part 1 : Reading/Listening Comprehension
Objective to gauge learners’ ability to locate information in simple written or spoken texts with a familiar
context and text type
Text types texts designed for reading should be of appropriate level of difficulty and should target
stimulating issues related to the topics mentioned in the syllabus ( see topics below) .This include
: Short texts, emails, letters, dialogues, pictures, labels, posters, menus, postcards ,etc.
Topics topical /thematic content should be related to Personal Relations and to the fields of Education,
Food, Shopping , Recreation , Health & Welfare , Arts, Science & technology , Environment &
Ecology , Economy.
Sub-skills identifying main idea, finding details and specific information, making inferences, inferring word
meaning from context, locating referents, transferring information from text to chart, identifying
logical order of ideas in the text, etc.
Techniques Wh-questions, true/false statements, MCQs, gap filling, information transfer, ordering, extracting
information

Part 2: Speaking & Writing

Speaking
Objective to gauge learners’ ability to
sustain speech for adequate
time
Sub-skills active listening, initiating
conversations, responding,
turn taking, etc.
Techniques describing (things, places,
people, pictures), sharing
personal information,
comparing objects, role
playing, simulations, etc.
Format interviewing, short oral
presentations, interactive
tasks
Scoring task fulfillment, fluency,
Criteria pronunciation, vocabulary/
grammar range and accuracy
Writing
to gauge learners’ ability to construct sentences and write short
simple texts (paragraphs, emails, letters, etc.)
using appropriate text structure, using adequate & relevant
content, incorporating simple cohesive devices, using mechanics
appropriately
ordering words /messages/sentences to make correct sentences/
communicative exchanges/coherent paragraphs, completing
sentences, using simple linking words, writing short messages,
letters, or emails, etc.
short written messages, short paragraph, book review, personal
letters or emails, etc.
relevance of content, paragraph organization, appropriateness
and variety of vocabulary, grammar accuracy, mechanics (
spelling, punctuation, capitalization).

Part 3: Language
Vocabulary Grammar Functions
Objective To gauge learners’ ability to recognize and use the language learnt in Common Core level
accurately and appropriately ..
• Grammar items should be contextualized.

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Vocabulary items should measure learners’ ability to guess words meaning from context
and to use them meaningfully and purposefully.
Content Vocabulary test Grammar test items Functions to be targeted at this level mostly
items should be should be meaningful & communicative: introducing oneself and
related to topics contextualized. They others, exchanging personal information,
dealt with in the must relate to the expressing likes & dislikes- accepting and
syllabus (Personal following grammar refusing offers, agreeing & disagreeing
relations, points: simple present-
Education, Food, present continuous,
Shopping, simple past,
Recreation, Health, comparatives
Arts, Technology, &Superlatives,
Environment, prepositions, Quantifiers
Economy …
Techniques tense form transformation, sentence completion, gap-filling, matching-multiple choice, cloze-
error correction, responding to situations, dialogue completion…

Level 3: 2nd year Baccalaureate (all streams)

Part 1 : Reading & Listening Comprehension

Reading Listening
Objective to gauge learners’ ability to deploy different strategies or sub-skills to understand written or
aural texts
Text types articles, encyclopedia entires, monologues, dialogues, phone calls, songs, speeches,
reports, graghs, poems, news radio programs, news programs, recorded debates or
bulletins, biographies, etc. interviews, etc.
Topics • Our cultural heritage • Health/ welfare
• Society and social problems • Media
• Education • Ecology
• Travel • Leisure/entertainment

Sub-skills • identifying the main idea of
paragraphs or the whole text
• scanning for specific
information
• skimming for gist
• making informational,
explanatory, prepositional and
pragmatic inferences
• recognizing referents
• identifying the topic of an aural text
• identifying the main ideas
• distinguishing the main idea from supporting details
• responding to referential questions based on an aural text
• responding to inferential questions based on an aural text
• distinguishing implicit information from explicit
information
• deducing the meaning of words from the context of an
aural text
• transfering information to fill in forms, tables, graphs
etc…

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deducing the meaning of
unfamiliar words using
contextual clues
Techniques matching, multiple-choice items, gap filling, true/false statements, sentence completion, etc.

Part 2: Speaking & Writing

Speaking
Objective to gauge learners’ ability to sustain
speech for adequate time
Sub-skills initiating talk, taking turns, etc.
Techniques • describing (things, places,
people, pictures)
• sharing personal information,
role playing
• taking part in debates and
discussions
• interviewing etc.
Format interviewing, giving oral
presentations, performing
interactive tasks
Scoring task fulfillment, fluency,
Criteria pronunciation, vocabulary/
grammar range and accuracy
Writing
to gauge learners’ ability to construct sentences and write
different types of texts (paragraphs, emails, letters, etc.)
spelling words correctly, planning and organizing ideas to
write paragraphs, using punctuation and capitalization
appropriately, etc.
• build paragraphs using a topic sentence and supporting
details
• develop a text using an outline
• use the appropriate cohesive devices where necessary
• organize short essays to support or reject a point of
view (an idea, an attitude etc…)
• trans-code information from a diagram, chart, map,
etc. into written text
• use capital letters and punctuation correctly
revise, edit and rewrite own work
writing written messages, short paragraphs, short letters or
emails, etc.
relevance to the task, organization, appropriateness of
vocabulary, grammar accuracy, etc.

Part 3: Language
Vocabulary Grammar Functions
Objective To gauge learners’ mastery of language structures, vocabulary and functions learnt in 3rd year
middle school level
• Grammar items should be contextualized.
• Vocabulary items should measure learners’ ability to guess meaning from context and to
use words meaningfully and purposefully
For functions, focus should be on exponent recognition and use according to context.
Contents vocabulary related to these • Simple present & • Expressing belief or opinion
themes: continuous • Seeking and giving advice
• Our cultural heritage • Simple past & Past • Asking for and expressing
• Society and social continuous feelings, emotions and
problems • Present perfect (simple attitude
• Education and continuous) • Expressing promises

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 • Travel • Passive voice (with • Expressing surprise
• Health/ welfare simple present, simple • Expressing interest
• Media past, modals) • Making apologies
• Ecology • Modal auxiliaries • Making suggestions
• Leisure/entertainment • Future: will/going to • Expressing possibility
• Celebrations • Used to
• Human rights • Prepositions
• Articles
• Relative pronouns
• Enough vs too
• Reflexive pronouns
Techniques defining, matching multiple-choice items, giving role playing, completing one-
antonyms or synonyms, the correct forms of verbs, sided dialogues, matching, etc.
gap filling, multiple- matching, sentence rewriting,
choice items, word etc.
formation, categorizing,
etc.
References ‫المراجع‬
✓ The English Baccalaureate Exam Specifications 2014 (All Streams)
✓ English Language Guidelines for Secondary Schools: Common core, First
year, and Second year Baccalaureate (November 2007)
✓ 2022‫ يونيو‬28 ‫ بتاريخ‬011/22 ‫مقرر وزير التربية الوطنية والتعليم األولي والرياضة رقم‬
2023/2022 ‫بشأن تنظيم السنة الدراسية‬
✓ Circular number 61/22 issued on the 19th of July 2022