Testing Testing ReadingReading

Prepared byALYSSA MARIE L.

MIJARES

Testingreceptive skillsis difficult because they do not usually manifestthemselves directly in overt behavior.

CLASSROOM-BASED ASSESSMENTS:

1. Must help children learn more effectively2. Must help teachers teach more effectively3. Must help teachers articulate their under-

standings of their students to external audiences

4. Must be efficient so that they interrupt teaching and learning as little as possible

GENERAL FRAMEWORKS

Content

Criterial Levels of Performance

CONTENT• Operation• Type of Text• Addressees• Topics

Operation• Scanning• Skimming• Identifying stages of argument• Identifying examples presented in support

of an argument• Identifying referents of pronouns• Understanding context for word meaning• Understanding relationsof parts of text• Grammatical and lexical skills

Types of Text• textbook• novel• magazine• newspaper (tabloid or quality)• academic journal• letter• timetable• poem

Addressees

• must obviously be related to text types(example: textbooks are for school children or university students)

Topic

• must consider the range of topics included in the course or period

CRITERIAL LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE

VSVS..

norm-referencednorm-referenced

criterion-referencedcriterion-referenced

CRITERIAL LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE

VSVS..

norm-referencednorm-referenced

criterion-referencedcriterion-referenced

SETTING THE TASK

Selecting Text• Keep specifications and select as representative a

sample.• Choose text of appropriate length• For reliability, include as many passages as possible.• To test scanning, consider passages which obtain

plenty of discrete pieces of information.• Choose texts which will interest the candidate.• AVOID: Passages with information known to the

candidate• AVOID: Texts which are culturally laden.• AVOID: Texts which students have already read

Writing Items

The aim must be to write items:which will measure the abilities in which

we are interestedwhich will elicit reliable behavior from

candidateswhich will permit highly reliable scoring

Alderson on the need for diversity in techniques for testing reading

It is now generally accepted that it is inadequate to measure the understanding of text by only one method, and that objective methods can usefully be supplemented by more subjectively evaluated techniques. Good reading tests are likely to employ a number of different techniques, possibly even on the same text, but certainly across the range of texts tested. This makes good sense since in real-life reading, readers typically respond to texts in a variety of different ways. (2000: 206)

Writing Items

Possible techniques: Multiple choice Unique answer Short answer Guided short answers Summary cloze Information transfer Identifying order of events, topics, or arguments Identifying referents Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words in the

context

II MULTIPLE CHOICE

II UNIQUE ANSWER-only one possible correct response-might be a single word, number, or something slightly longer

II SHORT ANSWER-when unique answer items are not possible

II GUIDED SHORT ANSWERS

-In short answer questions, a student who has the answer in his or her mind after reading the passage may not be able to express it well.

-done by framing the item so that the candidates have only to complete the sentences presented to them

Short-answer questionShort-answer question

Guided short answer questionGuided short answer question

II SUMMARY CLOZE

-The passage or text is summarized by the tester -the gaps are left in the summary for completion by the candidate

-an extension of the guided short answer technique

-permits the setting of several reliable but relevant items on a short passage

Original Original passagepassage

Summarized Summarized passage with gapspassage with gaps

II INFORMATION TRANSFER

II IDENTIFYING ORDER OF EVENTS, TOPICS, ARGUMENTS

II IDENTIFYING REFERENTS

II GUESSING THE MEANING OF UNFAMILIAR WORDS IN THE CONTEXT

-in order to guess the meaning of a word in the context, the context itself has to be understood.

Procedures for writing items

careful reading of the text and having specified operations in mind

consider main points, interesting pieces of information, stages, etc.

determine what task is reasonable to expect candidates to perform

write the draftpresent items to colleagues for

moderationmofify the test upon review

Scoring

In reading test (or a listening test), errors of grammar, spelling, or punctuation should not be penalised, provided that it is clear that the candidate has successfully performed the reading task which the item set

Scoring

The function of reading is to test reading ability.

To test productive skills at the same time simply makes the measurement of reading ability less accurate.

Reading Skills and strategies

Urquhart and Weir (1998) offer the following descriptions of their skills and strategies:

• Skimming – reading for gist. The reader asks: ‘What is this text as a whole about?’ while avoiding anything that looks like detail.

• Search reading – locating information on predetermined topics. The reader wants information to answer set questions or to provide data for example in completing assignments.

• Scanning – reading selectively, to achieve very specific reading goals, e.g., finding the number in a directory, finding the capital of Bavaria.

• Careful reading – this is the kind of reading favoured by many educationalists and psychologists to the exclusion of all other types. It is associated with reading to learn, hence with the reading of textbooks. In careful reading, the process can be sequentially bottom-up, from letters to words and from words to sentences and finally to texts.

As shown in Figure 7.1, the components of Goalsetter and Monitor can be viewed as metacognitive mechanisms that mediate among different processing skills and knowledge sources available to a reader.

When looking through a window, we often find a bit of reflection of ourselves bouncing back. It is the same with these assessment windows.As we generate information about our students,we also generate information about our teaching and our-selves. For example, when we review the artifacts collected in our students’portfolios (treasuries),we can reflect on what we have taught during the year,what received the most attention, and possibly what was missing.

-Serafini (2010)

Sources of Information

In order to understand the variety of In order to understand the variety of assessment windows we might utilize assessment windows we might utilize to gener ate information,we first need to gener ate information,we first need to consider the types of information to consider the types of information that are available to the classroom that are available to the classroom teacher.teacher.

What will we observe?

Where and when will we make our observations?

What information is of value?

How does this information present itself?

The three main sources of information we may draw upon to understand students’ literate abilities are:

1. Artifacts:

-the products students create when they read and respond to what is being read.Anything tangible that can be collected and put in a portfolio is an artifact. For example, literature response notebook entries, charts, response activities, or book reviews are all types of artifacts.

2. Observations:

-the notes we create by watching students engage in literate activities. For example, observations of students’responses during whole- group Read Alouds, notes taken during a literature discussion, general obser- vational notes about students’reading preferences or selection of books, and notes taken when listening to a student read aloud all fall into this category.

3. Interactions:

-the discussions and communications we have with students on a daily basis. Unlike observations, interactions require the teacher to interact with the student, rather than passively observe.This type of information is generated by asking particular questions from an interview protocol, or con- ducting daily“check-in conferences”with students.

These sources of information These sources of information are found in a variety of settings are found in a variety of settings and provide the classroom teacher and provide the classroom teacher with the information necessary to with the information necessary to make more effective decisions make more effective decisions regarding instructional regarding instructional approaches, learning experiences, approaches, learning experiences, and interventions.and interventions.

The following includes some The following includes some examples of the types of questions examples of the types of questions teachers can ask about readers teachers can ask about readers before, during, and after students before, during, and after students read a text. read a text.

Observational Records

• Observational records are sometimes referred to as field notes or anecdotal records.They are brief notes that teachers construct based on their observations made during the reading workshop, or any other part of the day.

Each teacher needs to design a system for generating observational records that is simple and easy to manage,and fits within the structures and procedures of her or his classroom.The best system is the one that doesn’t get in your way,allows you to gen- erate data on all of your students,and requires little effort to keep these records organized.

There are numerous ways to go about the organization of observational records. Some teachers keep class journals where they write on individual pages about each individual student.Other teachers use a laptop computer to organize their observations.

Benefits and Challenges with Observational Records

• Observational records may capture information that other assessments do not.They are flexible across content areas and contexts,they are easily completed,and they provide data across the whole school year. If we use computer labels, they are easy to record and require no special forms, equipment, or procedures.

• However, observational records can be hard to create when you are in the act of teaching.They sometimes require teachers to remember what occurred after the event has ended,can be overly biased if not done correctly,and are sometimes difficult to or- ganize across all students and subjects.

Observational Checklists

• Observational checklists are guides constructed by teachers,and sometimes for teach- ers, to help them attend to particular events, behaviors, dispositions, and learning ex- periences in their classrooms.

• .The most effective observational checklists are ones that classroom teachers create for themselves, drawing on standards documents and cur- riculum outlines to help them attend to things they may not pay attention to on their own.

Benefits and Challenges with Observational Checklists

• Checklists are quick snapshots of what is occurring in a student’s reading life at a par- ticular time.They can be used to help teachers remember what to pay attention to,and they can be readily shared with parents and other teachers.

• However,the information provided on a checklist is minimal.For example,simply checking off the “Likes to Read”column does not explain much about a reader’s pref- erences. One challenge is to not let these checklists become static, unchanging docu- ments.They need to evolve and grow as teachers’knowledge evolves and expands.

Oral Reading Analyses

• The three most common forms of oral reading analyses are informal reading inventories, running records, and miscue analysis. After a brief look at informal reading inventories, I will focus on running records and miscue analysis because I believe they provide a more extensive picture of the strategies a reader uses than informal reading inventories.

Informal Reading Inventories • Informal reading inventories (IRIs) are a

collection of word lists and leveled passages that are used to provide a quick snapshot of students’reading abilities.They are often used to determine where in a commercial reading series students should begin.IRIs utilize leveled sentences and passages to determine a child’s reading level,and they focus primarily on literal recall as a means to assess comprehension.