Giáo trình How to teach English - Chương 6: Listening comprehension tests

Nội dung text: Giáo trình How to teach English - Chương 6: Listening comprehension tests

1. Chapter 6: Listening comprehension tests
2. I. General  Careful selected practice material an effective way of developing listening skill used for testing listening comprehension  an awareness of ways in which the spoken language differs from the written language is crucially important in testing listening comprehension skills
3.  some conventional features such as repetition, hesitation and grammatical patterns are essential for the understanding of spoken English  the tape recorder is the only way of ensuring compete uniformity of presentation and thus a high degree of reliability  auditory tests are divided into two broad categories: (i) tests of phoneme discrimination and of sensitivity to stress and intonation, and (ii) tests of listening comprehension
4. II. Phoneme discrimination tests  Type 1: The test consists of a picture, accompanied by three or four words spoken by the examiner in person or tape.  Type 2: The testees hear three sentences and have to indicate which are the same and which are different.  Type 3: Testees are required to choose the written word which corresponds to the spoken word.
5. Notes These items used for diagnostic testing purposes, enabling the teacher to concentrate later on specific pronunciation  They useful when candidates having the same L1 background & when a contrastive analysis of L1 & L2 can be used. The ability to discriminate between certain phonemes very difficult for native speakers.
6. III. Tests of stress and intonation Tests of stress and intonation: less satisfactory than the phoneme discrimination tests b/c of # reasons:  Most tests are impure as they test other skills at the same time.  These items are artificial as they test rarer but more testable features.
7. IV. Statements and dialogues These tests designed to measure: how well students can understand short samples of speech how well they deal with a variety of signals on lexical and grammatical levels of phonology
8. TYPE 1  included in a grammar test, reading test or listening test , depending on whether the item is written or spoken  testing ability to understand both the grammatical and lexical features of a short utterance. (Candidates hear a statement and choose the best option from the four ones)
9. TYPE 2 These items are an attempt to simulate speech situations (so they are more satisfactory that those of type 1)  Testees listen to a short question and have to select the correct response from a choice of four printed ones. (part II, TOEIC)
10. V. Testing comprehension through visual materials These item types more appropriate for the elementary stages of learning English. Pictures, maps and diagrams used effectively for testing. Testees’ performance: less dependent on other skills like reading & speaking and vocabulary
11. TYPE 1 a picture is used in conjunction with spoken statements. testees listen & pick out true & false statements. (page 71)
12. TYPE 2  there are five pictures in front of testees; they listen to 4 statements & they’re required to choose the appropriate picture being described (page 72)
13. TYPE 3 used in a number of listening tests testees see a set of three or four pictures they hear a statement & choose the most appropriate picture being described (page 73)
14. TYPE 4 Simple diagrams (lines, squares, rectangles, circles & triangles) used in a test of elementary comprehension Candidates look at each of the 4 diagrams and then hear a series of statements about each diagram (page 73)
15. TYPE 5 used to access testees’ ability to understand instruction e.g. Tasks in C4 Interactions I maps can be used or adapted for testing (p.74-75)
16. TYPE 8 & 9 used to test students’ ability to identify and classify information (see example on p.81) simple paper-folding and drawing can also be used to measure learners’ ability to understand instruction Useful for ordinary classroom purposes, but difficult to administer in public exams
17. VI. Understanding talks and lectures Items of this type very common & used to test students’ ability to understand both informal talks and formal lectures –an important skill  English learners at intermediate and advanced levels
18. TYPE 1 & 2  Testees listen to a short talk & select the correct answer about the talk  Testees listen to a short talk & read a summary containing blanks; then they must complete the blanks (pages 82-83)
19. TYPE 3&4  Hearing a short talk or lecture & answering questions on it e.g. multiple – choice items, true/false items & incomplete sentences  the content of the text itself determine the type of item
20. Notes (1) Completion not recommended as testees facing with the tasks of listening, reading and writing simultaneously- an extremely difficult task even for native speakers
21. Notes (2) Multiple – choice items may cause confusion because testees have to listen while reading all options carefully to make their selection
22. Notes (3) It’s best to use true/false items since this reduces the amount of reading and selection to be made.