Language Testing and Assessment

Evaluating language ability and helping learners ace those tests

Grant Trew

 

The first step in helping learners improve their scores on standardized tests such as the TOEIC, TOEFL or EIKEN is understanding the challenges such tests present. This knowledge is essential not only in planning and running lessons, but also in helping to select the course materials you will use in your classes.

The main things that learners need can be broken down into two main categories --- test taking skills and linguistic skills.

Test-taking skills
Testing skills (also known as test taking strategies) are often seen as a sneaky shortcut learners can use to get around their lack of English. However, on a well-designed standardized test it's actually not possible to spoof your way into a score significantly higher than your actual ability.
That being said, I do believe test taking skills are a valid and important part of an effective exam preparation course.
The reason for this is that language ability is not the only challenge learners face when taking a standardized test. The design and format of the test, the way the information is presented, and especially the timed nature of the questions all present additional difficulties for learners. In fact, after several decades of being involved with testing and test preparation, I am convinced that these factors cause a very large percentage of test takers to significantly underperform relative to their actual language knowledge and ability.
So what are test taking skills? In a nutshell test taking skills are nothing more than effective language skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) that are chosen to overcome challenges related to specific aspects of the test design or timing.
These include:

• Familiarity with the test format, instructions and question types – Although on most standardized tests the instructions are printed and exemplified at the start of each test part, familiarity with these will help the test taker avoid confusion on exam day.

• Time management – The tight timings found on most standardized tests are one of the most challenging factors for many learners. Those not accustomed to dealing with a lot of language in a short time often have difficulty completing all the questions. Encouraging learners to monitor their time carefully and teaching skills such as skimming (quick reading to get a general idea) and scanning (quick reading to pick out specific details) can help learners budget their time effectively and allow them to allocate more time to those places with the best potential score payoff.

• Efficiency of information processing – The lengthy listening and reading passages commonly found on standardized tests make it essential that learners are able to read and listen efficiently within the allotted time. This can include (where possible) previewing the questions and answer choices before listening/reading to allow them to predict what they will hear/see. Pre-reading the questions also allows them to focus their attention only on what is needed to answer the question.

• Awareness of features that can make incorrect answer choices attractive – With any multiple-choice test, incorrect answer choices are designed so as to be in some way attractive. Being aware of the common forms these ‘distracters’ take will enable learners to avoid them and choose the correct answer.

Developing test taking skills maximizes the chances that learners will be able to fully demonstrate the extent of their English ability. Time spent working on these areas can result in significant gains in a reasonably short time, especially with learners unfamiliar with the test format. For example, with inexperienced test takers, score increases of up to 100 points on the TOEIC are not unusual within the span of a typical 20 hour course.

Linguistic skills
Although significant short-term gains can be made by focusing on test taking skills, once a learner has become familiar with the test format and the related approaches to deal with its challenges, further significant progress requires a major increase in overall language competence.
Key areas for linguistic development include:

• Understanding language in use (conversational English) – The English used in standardized tests like the TOEIC, TOEFL and EIKEN reflects everyday usage as encountered in offices, on the street, or (in the case of the TOEFL) in academic situations. An important element of this is understanding the ways native speakers appropriately handle such common functional situations as requests, complaints, suggestions, etc. For example in Part 2 of the TOEIC we may hear a question based around a conversation like this:
Q - "Can you help me fill out this form?”
A - “Sure, it's actually pretty simple.”
In this example there are no clear grammatical or lexical links between the initial question and the (most appropriate) response. In order to do well on questions like this, learners must be familiar with the common ways that native speakers make and respond to requests, and other high-frequency language functions.

• Familiarity with different native speaking accents – The listening sections of the TOEIC and TOEFL tests include US, Canadian, British, and Australian speakers. Due to their past learning experiences many learners develop a bias for a given style of English and have difficulty understanding speakers of other dialects. To overcome this it is important that learners be exposed to English from a variety of English-speaking countries.

• Awareness of the sound changes that occur in natural English speech – Many learners are unaware that the sound of words spoken in natural conversation can differ dramatically from words spoken in isolation (e.g. ‘going to’ often sounds like ‘gonna’ in natural spoken English).
In the past, learners may have had instructors who shielded them from exposure to such natural language on the grounds that it was only suitable for advanced learners, or even that it was representative of slang or ‘lazy’ English. This has led to many learners finding it very hard to follow natural conversation. Helping learners become aware of the ways that sounds are combined, dropped and changed in natural speech can significantly improve their listening comprehension on standardized tests.

• Vocabulary and grammatical understanding – Vocabulary is arguably the single most significant factor in doing well on standardized tests, both in terms of individual words, and multiword groups such as stock phrases and expressions. Any effective study program should include an organized system for noting and reviewing words and phrases that learners encounter as they study. Grammar, though of course an important aspect of language, has tended in the past to be somewhat over emphasized in test preparation courses. Because the current trends in standardized testing are moving away from an overt focus on accuracy, I generally devote little class time to discrete grammar study.

The bottom line on helping learners improve their scores on standardized tests is that there is no single ideal approach. In order to make significant gains learners must work on a number of separate but highly interrelated areas.

• What learners need to score well on standardized tests
• Testing and assessment: Why should we care?

• What learners need to score well on standardized tests
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• Testing and assessment: Why should we care?
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