EL 114 MIDTERM

Teaching and Assessment of the Macro Skills BSED-ENGLISH

1st Semester | 2023-2024

Topic Outline • Is a complex process that involves the understanding

I. Introduction to the Teaching of the Macro Skills of spoken data and involves receptive, interpretative,
II. Assessment of the Macro Skills or constructive cognitive processes.
III. Teaching and Assessing Listening • Listening and listening comprehension are essentially
the same.

CHAPTER 1 THREE SUBPROCESSES (Rost, 2005)

INTRODUCTION TO THE TEACHING OF THE MACRO 1. Decoding refers to attending, perceiving speech,
SKILLS recognizing words, and parsing grammar.
2. Comprehension deals with activation of schema,
representing propositions, and logical inferencing.
MACRO SKILLS 3. Interpretation refers to matching the meaning to
• Macro skills refer to the primary, key, main, and previous expectations and evaluating discourse
largest skill set relative to a particular context. It is meanings.
commonly referred to in the English language.
• The four macro skills are • Reciprocal listening involves dialogues in which the
reading, listening, original listener and speaker have alternating roles as
writing, and speaking. source and as receiver of information.
• In the context of first- • Nonreciprocal listening involves a one-way role
language acquisition, the taking as in the case of listening to monologues.
four skills are most often Nonreciprocal listening appears to be more difficult to
acquired in the order of undertake.
listening first, then speaking,
then possibly reading and writing. • Other variables that influence comprehensibility are
speech rate and metrical cadence.
The four skills can be classified in three ways: • In most English varieties, 90% of content words have
1. According to the medium, they are oral or written. their stress on the first syllable, most of which are
2. According to the role of the language user, we monosyllabic. Also, each pause unit in speech contains
speak of the encoder, the one who speaks or writes at least one prominent content item.
and the decoder, the one who listens or reads.
3. They are also classified as receptive: listening and a. Speech rate, listening generally improves as
reading, and productive: speaking and writing. speech rate is reduced to an optimum level.
b. Normal speech rate is usually from 100 to 240
Listening and reading are called receptive skills because words per minute.
learners do not need to produce language to do these, they
receive and understand it. Hinkel (2006) argued that listening pedagogy has shifted
from a more linguistically-based approach to a more-
Speaking and writing are called productive skills because schematic-based one which incorporates cultural
learners doing these need to produce language. constructs, discourse clues, pragmatic norms, and topic
familiarity.
Oral skills Literacy skills
Current listening pedagogy involves the enhancement of
Receptive skills Listening Reading metacognitive and cognitive strategies to facilitate listening
Productive comprehension.
Speaking Writing
skills
Others proposed extensive listening approach to developing
It is common for language learners to have stronger listening skills. One of them is Ridgway (2000) who
receptive than productive skills, that is they can understand advocated that when learners are exposed to ample
more than they can produce. comprehensible listening input, it will eventually lead to
automaticity.
CURRENT PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS IN THE
TEACHING OF THE MACRO SKILLS Field (2008) countered such argument saying that there are
several concerns on focusing too much on quantity without
Barrot (2016), six language macro skills as a result of any consideration to methods for improving
the proliferation of information technology. comprehension.
• PRODUCTIVE SKILLS (Speaking, Writing, And
Representing) Mendelsohn (1998) has outlined teaching strategies for a
• RECEPTIVE SKILLS (Listening, Reading, And strategy-based L2 listening. The first step is to make
Viewing) learners aware of the value of using strategies when
listening. It is followed by pre-listening activities that will
SPEAKING activate learners’ schema. Then, listeners are explained on
what they will listen to and why.
• Is a complex process that involves simultaneous
attention to content, vocabulary, discourse, Wilson (2003) proposed the discovery listening approach
information structuring, morphosyntax, sound system, which is a response to the heavy emphasis given by most
prosody, and pragmalinguistic features (Hinkel, 2006). published textbooks on practicing comprehension rather
• Formal oral communication shares similar features with than teaching learners the skills needed for an improved
written communication. performance. Discovery listening allows learners to notice
the differences between the original text and the text that
SPEAKING PROFICIENCY can be measured through they have reconstructed after a listening task. From this
fluency, comprehensibility, and accuracy. noticing of gap, the learners will try to discover the cause
of their listening difficulties. The task has three phases:
1. Oral fluency refers to the speaker’s automaticity listening, reconstructing, and discovering.
of oral production.
2. Comprehensibility which refers to the ease and Swain and Lapkin (2001) proposed that a dictogloss task
difficulty with which a listener understands L2 can be employed which will help learners focus more on
accented speech. form. It is done by allowing learners to listen to a short
3. Accuracy which relates to both grammar and passage and reconstruct it afterwards.
pronunciation.
VIEWING
LISTENING
• Refers to perceiving, examining, interpreting, and
construction meaning from visual images and is crucial

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 to improving comprehension of print and nonprint
materials. The limitation of top- down model is that it requires
• With the inclusion of viewing in the macro skills and readers to predict meaning.
proliferation of multimedia technology, it is imperative
that both speakers and listeners critically assess 3. Interactive processing which is both data- driven
audiovisual inputs and make meaning from them. and concept-driven places emphasis on the interaction
between lower-level (decoding) and higher-level
NEW FORMS OF LITERACY (inferencing and interpretation) processing. It
postulates that reading is neither exclusively top-down
1. MEDIA LITERACY nor exclusively bottom-up. Rather, reading involves the
• Refers to the ability to access, analyze, and interaction between linguistic knowledge and
evaluate media and technology information that schemata.
involves moving images and sound effects.
SCHEMA CAN BE DISTINGUISHED INTO:
• According to De Abreu (2004), developing media
literacy would help students question and critically
1. Content Schema
analyze messages provided to them via media
• Knowledge about people, culture, world, and
which facilitates critical viewing and thinking.
universe.
2. Formal/Textual Schema
2. VISUAL LITERACY
• Knowledge about text structure and rhetorical
• Refers to the power of giving meaning to and organization.
building up similar messages for visual messages • Most children have developed their textual
and the ability to construct meaning from images.
schema for the organization of narratives
• As Kang (2004), visual literacy is as important as because narratives mirror the environment
language and textual literacy. It, obliges teachers they live in.
to explore the potentials of visual and spatial
instructional strategies to better facilitate the AFFLERBACH, DAVID PEARSON, AND PARIS (2008)
learning. EXPLAINED THAT
• Visual organizers are “visual systems of using
spatial frameworks such as diagrams, maps, or Reading strategies are “deliberate, goal- directed
charts to organize and present structural attempts to control and modify the reader’s efforts to
knowledge in a content domain” decode text, understand words, and construct meaning of
text.”
FOUR GENERAL TYPES OF VISUAL ORGANIZERS
Reading skills refers to “automatic actions that result in
1. Web-Like Organizers (spider map and semantic decoding and comprehension with speed, efficiency, and
map) fluency and usually occur without awareness of the
2. Hierarchical Organizers (concept map and components or control involved”.
network tree)
3. Matrix Organizers (compare/contrast matrix) ASSESSMENT SHOULD FOCUS ON PROCESSES
4. Linear Organizers (Venn diagram, continuum, INVOLVED IN SKILLS AND STRATEGIES.
chain of events, and storyboard)
1. Strategy Assessment should be formative in
• Using visual organizers also allows learners to nature making it more informal and embedded in
actively construct and interpret information. instruction
2. Skill Assessment should be summative.
READING

• Is a complex cognitive process of decoding written WRITING

symbols. It is a “linguistic, socio-cultural, physical and
cognitive activity” which involves getting meaning from • Refers to the act of putting ideas in text whether print
and putting meaning to the printed text. or nonprint. It is a “non-linear, exploratory, and
• Chun and Plass (1997), two factors may influence generative process” as they discover ideas and
reading ability of learners: L2 language proficiency reformulate them.
and L1 reading skills. Others are topic interest and • L1-L2 writing relationship: Kobayashi and Rinnert
prior knowledge, and linguistic complexity. (2008) claimed that transfer of writing skills happen in
a bidirectional way; that is, from L1 to L2 and vice
Characteristics: versa.
1. is a language skill that can be developed through • Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000), a well-written text
systematic practice has two features that facilitate the comprehensibility of
2. is a two-way process that involves the a text.
communication between the author and the reader
3. is visual which involves the transmission of 1. Coherence relates to the pragmatic features
message via optic nerves and requires good and culturally acceptable rhetorical
eyesight organization, structure, and sequence.
4. is a productive process that has purpose whether 2. Cohesion is the linguistic consequence of
academically, personally, or professionally coherence through the use of cohesive devices
5. is the foundation of good writing. Linguists assert making it an overt feature of a text.
that one of the most effective means of developing
writing skills is to be a good reader. FIVE APPROACHES TO TEACHING WRITING:
1. Product Approach
READING PROCESS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THREE 2. Process Approach
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES: 3. Genre Approach
4. Process Genre Approach
1. Bottom-up processing is data-driven which puts 5. Post-Process Pedagogy
emphasis on textual decoding (lower- level processes)
such as letter and word recognition. It assumes that Barrot (2015) proposed a sociocognitive-
reading progresses from recognizing first the lower- transformative approach in teaching writing which
level units toward more complex ones through incorporates the use of technology into the writing process.
synthesis in which there is little or no interference by
reader’s background knowledge. Product approach focuses on what a final piece of writing
will look like and measures the product using vocabulary
2. Top- down processing is concept-driven that puts use, grammar, mechanics, content, and organization as
emphasis on schema and reader interpretation. It criteria. The procedure includes four stages: familiarization,
assumes that reading starts from making meaning in controlled writing, and free writing.
the mind of the reader which will then influence the
sampling of the text to substantiate or disprove the The last four approaches have placed grammar in the
reader’s hypothesis. In short, the reader brings her/his background in writing texts and methodology books in
background knowledge to the text.
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 which grammar checking is usually considered as post- He theorized that children learned to talk because it served
writing process (Tribble, 1996). a function for them.

Truscott (1996) argued that grammar correction in a. Cognitive psychology was interested in the
writing classes should be abandoned because it is mental processes that were involved in the
ineffective, has detrimental effects, and lacks merits. (language) learning act.
b. Information processing approach, which was
He defined grammar correction as correcting grammatical mainly concerned with the way human beings take
errors to improve students’ ability to write accurately. in information, process it and act upon it.
c. Constructivist approach, which was mainly
One possible reason that error correction failed is that it concerned with the way human beings make their
does not respect the order of acquisition by correcting own personal understanding from the experiences
students on grammatical forms for which they are not ready that surround them.
yet.
This interactionist approach to language learning accounted
The acquisition of grammatical forms is a gradual for the functions of language use in social context and
developmental process contrary to the view emphasized the quality of interaction as well as learners’
underpinning error correction of a sudden discovery. cognitive capacity in such a process.

APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE LEARNING AND

TEACHING
IV. COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO L2 TEACHING
I. THE ENVIRONMENTALIST APPROACH TO
LANGUAGE LEARNING First Model of Communicative Competence (Canale
and Swain, 1980)
Environmentalist theories of language acquisition hold that 1. Grammatical competence refers to the knowledge of
an organism's nurture, or experience, are of more the language code. It includes knowledge of
significance to development than its nature or inborn vocabulary, rules of pronunciation and spelling, word
contributions. Yet they do not completely reject the innate formation and sentence structure.
factors. 2. Sociolinguistic competence refers to the knowledge
of the sociocultural rules of use in a particular context.
Based on the evidence that many languages did not have a 3. Strategic competence involves the knowledge of how
written form and that people learnt to speak before they to use verbal and nonverbal communication strategies
learnt to read or write, structural linguists assumed that to handle breakdowns in communication.
language was primarily an oral phenomenon. 4. Discourse competence (core), the last component
of the model, is concerned with the knowledge of
Written language was a secondary representation of achieving coherence and cohesion in a spoken or
speech. written text.

II. THE INNATIST APPROACH TO LANGUAGE Late 1980s, pragmatic competence was explicitly
LEARNING considered to be a component of communicative
competence.
Linguistics saw a paradigm shift from structural
linguistics, which was based on the mere description of Bachman (1987), developed a model of communicative
surface forms of utterances, to generative linguistics, language ability in which three components were
which was concerned with both surface forms of utterances included:
as well as the abstract structures underlying sentences,
thus emphasizing the creative nature of human language. 1. Language competence is divided into two
components.
Chomsky claimed that children were innately predisposed
to acquire the language of the community into which they a. organizational competence consists of
were born because they were born with some kind of grammatical competence and textual
Language Acquisition Device (LAD) to tackle the language competence.
learning task. b. pragmatic competence is further divided
into two subcomponents:
In later work, Chomsky and his followers replaced the term • illocutionary competence, which refers
LAD by the idea of universal grammar. This was a theory of to the knowledge of the pragmatic
innate principles and rules of inferences that enable the conventions for performing acceptable
child to learn any grammar, or what Cook defined as “the language functions
black box responsible for language acquisition.” • sociolinguistic competence, which
deals with the knowledge of the
III. THE INTERACTIONIST APPROACH TO LANGUAGE sociolinguistic conventions for performing
LEARNING language functions appropriately in a
given context.

This new orientation advocated the study of both structure 2. Strategic competence, allows language users to
and function in order to understand what language was. employ the elements included within language
competence depending on the context in which
Halliday (1975) postulated a total of seven communicative communication takes place in order to negotiate
functions characterizing the child’s early communicative meaning.
development, all of which were related to aspects of social
life. These functions were: 3. Psychomotor skills or psychophysiological
mechanisms, involves the receptive or productive
1. Instrumental, which involves the use of language mode in which competence is performed through a
to get things particular type of channel: oral or visual in the case of
2. Regulatory, which involves the use of language to receptive language use, and aural or visual in the case
regulate people’s behavior of productive language use.
3. Interactional, which involves the use of language
to interact with other people WRITING THE LESSON PLAN FOR MACRO SKILLS
4. Personal, which involves the use of language to
express one’s feelings • Lesson plan is defined as a source or tool that guides
5. Heuristic, which involves the use of language to teachers through their working learning process.
explore the outside world • It is imperative for a teacher to plan his/her lessons
6. Imaginative, which involves the use of language since this has the content, method, activity, practice
to create an environment and material that the teacher will use in the
7. Representational, which involves the use of development of the class.
language to communicate information. • The practice included in the lesson plan is properly
order from the easiest to the most difficult task.
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 13. Dictation- students write down orally presented text.
Each of practices are divided in:
• Listening/speaking/reading/writing controlled practice 14. Copying- students write down text presented visually.
• Listening/speaking/reading/writing semi controlled 15. Identification- students pick out and produce/label or
practice otherwise identify a specific target form, function,
• Free Listening/speaking/reading/writing practice. definition, or other lesson-related item.

PREPARING THE LESSON PLAN 16. Recognition- students identify forms, as in

identification but without a verbal response.
• Write the generalities which include: The name of the 17. Review- teacher-led review of previous
institution, the name of the subject, the level, date, and week/month/or other period as a formal summary and
the teacher’s name. type of test of student recall performance.
• Consider writing down the unit number, content, and
target structure. 18. Testing- formal testing procedures to evaluate student
progress.
• The objectives go in infinitive form and always end with
an adverb. You can include a general objective and 19. Meaningful drill- drill activity involving responses
specific objectives. with meaningful choices, as in reference to different
• Include the estimate time that the lesson plan will last. information.
• Write down in details every single thing needed to
develop the activities included in the lesson plan. SEMI-CONTROLLED TECHNIQUES (Brown, 2001)
• The warm up or motivation is very important to break
the ice and to have student get familiar with the topic. 1. Brainstorming- a special form of preparation for the
(5, 10, or 15 mins) lesson, like Setting, which involves free, undirected
contributions by the students and teacher on a given
WARM UPS AND FILLERS topic, to generate multiple associations without linking
them; no explicit analysis or interpretation by the
1. Yesterday 13. Chain Fairytale teacher.
2. Criss-Cross 14. Draw the Picture
3. Show & Tell 2. Story telling (especially when student-
15. Categories generated)-not necessarily lesson-based, a lengthy
4. Mystery Object
5. Name Bingo
16. Who am I? presentation of story by teacher or student (may
6. Name Crossword 17. Hot Seat overlap with Warm-up or Narrative recitation). May be
7. Similarities 18. Broken Telephone used to maintain attention, motivate, or as lengthy
8. Snowball Fight 19. Tic-Tac-Toe practice.
9. Mystery Identities 20. Board Race 3. Question-answer (referential)- activity involving
10. 20 Questions 21. Object Stories prompting of responses by means of referential
11. Can't Say Yes or No questions; the questioner does not know beforehand
22. Word Association
12. Fact or Fiction the response information.
23. Secret Sentence
CONTROLLED 24. Alphabet Conversation 4. Cued narrative/ dialogue- student production of
TECHNIQUES narrative or dialogue following cues from miming, cue
cards, pictures, or other stimuli related to
1. Warm-up- Mimes, dance, songs, jokes, play. This narrative/dialogue (e.g., metalanguage requesting
activity gets the students stimulated, relaxed, functional acts).
motivated, attentive, or otherwise engaged and ready
5. Information transfer- application from one mode
for the lesson. It does not necessarily involve use of the
(e.g., visual) to another (e.g., writing), which involves
target language.
some transformation of the information. Distinguished
2. Setting- focusing in on lesson topic. Teacher directs from Identification in that the student is expected to
attention to the topic by verbal or nonverbal evocation transform and reinterpret the language or information.
of the context relevant to the lesson by questioning or
6. Information exchange- task involving two-way
miming or picture presentation, possibly by tape
communication as in information-gap exercises, when
recording of situations and people.
one or both parties (or a larger group) must share
3. Organizational- structuring of lesson or class information to achieve some goal.
activities includes disciplinary action, organization of
7. Wrap-up- brief teacher- or student-produced
class furniture and seating, general procedures for
summary of point and/or items that have been
class interaction and performance, structure and
practiced or learned.
purpose of lesson, etc.
8. Narration/ exposition- presentation of a story or
4. Content explanation- grammatical, phonological,
explanation derived from prior stimuli. Distinguished
lexical (vocabulary), sociolinguistic, pragmatic, or any
from Cued narrative because of lack of immediate
other aspects of language.
stimulus.
5. Role-play demonstration- selected students (or
9. Preparation- students do study, silent read, pair, plan,
teacher) illustrate the procedure(s) to be applied in the
rehearse, and prepare for later activity. Usually a
lesson segment to follow.
student-directed or -oriented project.
6. Dialogue/ Narrative presentation- reading or
listening passage presented for passive reception.
FREE TECHNIQUES
7. Dialogue/ Narrative recitation- reciting a
previously known or prepared text, either in unison or 1. Role-play- relatively free acting out of specified roles
individually. and functions.

8. Reading aloud- reading directly from a given text. 2. Games- various kinds of language game activity not
like other previously defined activities.
9. Checking- teacher either circulating or guiding the
correction of students' work, providing feedback as an 3. Report- report of student-prepared exposition on
activity rather than within another activity. books, experiences, project work, without immediate
stimulus, and elaborated on according to student
10. Question-answer (display)- activity involving interests.
prompting of student responses by means of display
questions. 4. Problem-solving- activity involving specified problem
and limitations of means to resolve it; requires
11. Drill- typical language activity involving fixed patterns cooperation on part of participants in small or large
of teacher prompting and student responding, usually group.
with repetition, substitution, and other mechanical
alterations. 5. Drama- planned dramatic rendition of play, skit, story,
etc.
12. Translation- student or teacher provision of L1 or L2
translations of given text.

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6. Simulation- activity involving complex interaction C. VALIDITY- the extent to which inferences made from
between groups and individuals based on simulation of assessment result are appropriate, meaningful, and
real-life actions and experiences. useful in terms of the purpose of the assessment.
7. Interview- a student is directed to get information 1. Content-Related Evidence- if a test actually
from another student or students. samples the subject matter about which conclusion
8. Discussion- debate or other form of grouped are to be drawn, and if it requires the test-takers
discussion of specified topic, with or without specified to perform the behavior that is being measured, it
sides/positions prearranged. can claim content validity.

9. Composition- as in Report (verbal), written 2. Criterion-Related Evidence- the extent to which

development of ideas, story, or other exposition. the “criterion” of the test has actually been
reached.
10. A propos- conversation or other socially oriented
interaction/speech by teacher, students, or even 3. Construct-Related Evidence- any theory,
visitors, on general real-life topics. Typically authentic hypothesis, or model that attempts to explain
and genuine. observed phenomena in our universe of
perceptions. Constructs may or may not be directly
or empirically measured-their verification often
TYPES OF LESSON PLAN requires inferential data.

1. Detailed 4. Consequential Validity- encompasses all the

2. Semi-Detailed consequences of a test, including such
3. Brief considerations as its accuracy in measuring
intended criteria, its impact on the preparation of
PARTS OF A LESSON PLAN test-takers, its effect on the learner, and the
(intended and unintended) social consequences of
a test’s interpretation and use.
❑ Objectives
❑ Contents: Topic, References, & Materials 5. Face Validity- the degree to which a test looks
❑ Procedure: right, and appears to measure the knowledge or
A. Learning Activities (Teacher’s Activity - Student’s abilities it claims to measure, based on the
Activity) subjective judgment of the examines who take it,
• Motivation the administrative personnel who decode on its
• Presentation use, and other psychometrically unsophisticated
• Discussion observers.
• Analysis
• Generalization
B. Application 2. AUTHENTICITY- the degree of correspondence of the
C. Evaluation characteristics of a given language test task to the
D. Assignment features of a target language task, and then suggest
an agenda for identifying those target language tasks
and for transforming them into valid test items.
CHAPTER 2
3. WASHBACK- refers to the effects the test has on
ASSESSMENT OF THE MACRO SKILLS
instruction in terms of how students prepare for the
test. “Cram” courses and “teaching to the test” are
PRINCIPLES AND PURPOSES OF ASSESSMENT examples of such washback.

Applying Principles to the Evaluation of Classroom

Assessment is an ongoing process that encompasses a Tests
much wider domain. It is an ongoing process to ensure that • The five principles of practicality, reliability,
the course/class objectives and goals are met. It is a validity, authenticity, and washback go a long way
process, not a product. A test is a form of assessment toward providing useful guidelines for both evaluating
(Brown). an existing assessment procedure and designing one
on your own. Quizzes, tests, final exams, and
PRINCIPLES OF ASSESSMENT standardized proficiency tests can all be scrutinized
through these five lenses.
A. PRACTICALITY - an effective test is practical. This
means that it: BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT
• Is not excessively expensive,
• Stays within appropriate time constraints, Diagnostic Assessment (pre-assessment)- a test
• Is relatively easy to administer, and which diagnoses a student's linguistic strengths and
• Has a scoring/evaluation procedure that is specific weaknesses.
and time efficient. • takes place at the beginning of a learning cycle.
1. • designed to reveal the specific strengths and needs of
B. RELIABILITY- a reliable test is consistent and a student or group of students in relation to the
dependable. upcoming learning.
• used to diagnose student difficulties and to guide
1. Student-Related Reliability- most common lesson and curriculum planning.
learner-related issue in reliability is caused by
temporary illness, fatigue, a “bad day,” anxiety, Diagnostic assessment enables a teacher to:
and other physical or psychological factors, which a. Establish students’ prior knowledge (and backgrounds)
may make an “observed” score deviate from one’s b. Identify misconceptions
“true” score. c. Make informed planning decisions.
2. Rater Reliability- human error, subjectivity, and
bias may enter the scoring process. TYPES OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS
• Inter-rater reliability- two or more scorers
• Intra-rater reliability- one scorer Assessment is integral to the teaching–learning process,
3. Test Administration Reliability- unreliability facilitating student learning, and improving instruction, and
may also result from the conditions in which the can take a variety of forms.
test is administered.
4. Test Reliability- the nature of the test itself can Three types of classroom assessment
cause measurement errors. Poorly written test
items (that are ambiguous or that have more than 1. Assessment FOR Learning (Formative
on correct answer) may be a further source of test Assessment)- is ongoing assessment that allows
unreliability. teachers to monitor students on a day-to-day basis
and modify their teaching based on what the
students need to be successful.

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 This assessment provides students with the timely,
specific feedback that they need to adjust their
learning.
2. Assessment OF Learning (Summative
Assessment)- the snapshot in time that lets the
teacher, students and their parents know how well
each student has completed the learning tasks and
activities. It provides information about student
achievement.
3. Assessment AS Learning- develops and
supports students' metacognitive skills. This is
crucial in helping students become lifelong C. Based on Orientation and The Way to Test
learners. As students engage in peer and self-
assessment, they learn to make sense of 1. Language Testing Based on Orientation
information, relate it to prior knowledge and use it a. Language Competence Test
for new learning. b. Performance Language Test

Formative Assessment- monitor student learning to 2. Language Testing Based on The Way to Test
provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors a. Direct testing is a test that the process to
to improve their teaching and by students to improve their elicit students’ competences, uses basic skill,
learning. like speaking, writing, listening, or reading.

Summative assessment- aims to evaluate student b. Indirect testing is a test that the process to
learning and academic achievement at the end of a term, elicit students’ competences does not use
year, or semester by comparing it against a universal basic skills.
standard or school benchmark.
3. Language Testing Based on Orientation and
Types of summative assessment: The Way to Test
1. Performance Task
2. Written Product a. Direct Competence Test- is a test that focus
3. Oral Product on to measure the learners’ knowledge about
4. Test language component which the elicitation uses
5. Standardized Test one of the basic skills, speaking, listening,
reading, or writing.
KINDS OF LANGUAGE TEST b. Indirect Competence Test- is a test that
Curriculum triangle: A framework for viewing the role of focus on to measure the students’ knowledge
language testing (Carroll, 1980) about language component which the
elicitation does not use one of the basic skills,
• Indicates the interactive relationship which leads to speaking, listening, reading, or writing. The
effective we of resources within a language program. elicitation in this test uses other ways, such as
multiple choice.
• When designed and implemented in this manner, the
instructional program and the testing program will work c. Performance Test- is a test that focus on to
in harmony to meet the needs of the language learners. measure the student’s skill in reading, writing,
• When this occurs, beneficial backwash results. speaking, and listening that the elicitation is
through direct communication.
GENERAL TYPES OF LANGUAGE TESTS
d. Indirect Performance Test- is a test that
focus on measure the student’s skill in reading,
A. Based on Purposes writing, speaking, and listening that the
elicitation does not use the basic skill.
1. Placement tests- are administered to make
decisions about where a student should be placed D. Based on Score Interpretation
within a language instructional program.
2. Diagnostic tests- are prepared to discover the 1. Norm-referenced Test- are designed to highlight
strengths and weaknesses of language reamers. achievement differences between and among
students to produce a dependable rank order of
3. Achievement tests- are administered to provide students across a continuum of achievement from
some indication of whether the instructional goals high achievers to low achievers; It discriminates
are being met. among students.
4. Proficiency tests- provide an opportunity to test 2. Criterion-referenced Test- determine what test
the language skills of the learners when the testing takers can do and what they know, not how they
objectives are tied not to the instructional compare to others.
objectives, but to abilities in a language regardless
of any specific instruction in it. LANGUAGE TESTING:
5. Aptitude tests- seek to provide some indication APPROACHES AND TECHNIQUES
of an individual's ability to learn a language.
FOUR MAIN APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TESTING
B. Based on Response
1. The Essay-Translation Approach- tests usually
1. Subjective Test: Subjective test is a test in which consist of essay writing, translation, and grammatical
the learner’s ability or performance are judged by analysis.
examiners’ opinion and judgment.
Strengths
2. Objective Test: Objective test is a test in which
• easy to follow because teachers will simply use
learners’ ability or performance are measured
their subjective judgment.
using specific set of answer, means there are only
• may be used for testing any level of examinee.
two possible answer, right and wrong.
The model of tester can easily be modified based
on the essentials of the tests.
Weaknesses
• Subjective judgment of teachers tends to be
biased.
• As mentioned, the tests have a heavy literary and
cultural bias.

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2. The Structuralist Approach- concerned with a • Objective test – there is only one right answer;
systematic acquisition of a set of habits. no judgment is required
• Subjective test – refers to a free composition, the
Strengths
• may objectively and surely be used by testers. scorer is not looking for any one right answer, but
rather for a series of factors (creativity, style,
• many forms of tests can be covered in the test in a
cohesion and coherence, grammar, and
short time.
• will help students find their strengths and mechanics); judgment is called for.
weaknesses in every skill they study.
Weaknesses TEST CONSTRUCTION
• tends to be a complicated job for teachers to
prepare questionnaires. Test construction is the entire process of creating & using
• considers measuring non-integrated skills more a test and begins with an initial conceptualization, design,
than integrated skills. & culminates in one or more archives test and the results
of their use.
3. The Integrative Approach- the use of cloze test,
dictation, oral interview, translation, and essay writing Test Development Stages
are included in many integrative tests
1. PLANNING- include information on content, function,
Strengths format and timing, criteria levels of performance, and
• will be very useful for students in testing. scoring procedures.
• can view students’ proficiency with a global view.
• Dictation, was regarded solely as a means of 2. WRITING- the second stage in test construction in the
measuring students’ skills of listening actual writing of test items.
comprehension.
Weaknesses Components:
• There is a need to consider the importance of a. Sampling: content of the test should be
measuring skills based on students’ need, such as representative sample of the course material.
writing only, speaking only, etc. b. Item Writing

4. The Communicative Approach- concerned primarily 3. REVIEWING- the written items need to be reviewed
with how language is used in communication. Test with respect to the accuracy and appropriateness of
content should totally be relevant for a group of content; can be done either by the test constructor or
examinees and the tasks set should relate to real-life by someone else.
situation.
a. Moderation of items
Strengths b. Moderation of the scoring key
• can measure all integrated skills of the students. c. Preparation of instructions
• face students in real life
Weaknesses
• This activity involves a detailed item by item
• Unlike the structuralist approach, this approach
analysis of the test results or technically an ITEM
does not emphasize learning structural grammar,
ANALYSIS.
yet it may be difficult to achieve communicative
competence without a considerable mastery of the
grammar of a language.
TESTING THE RECEPTIVE SKILLS
• It is possible for cultural bias to affect the reliability
of the tests being administered.
A. TESTING LISTENING- The skill of listening may be
TEST TECHNIQUES tested in two ways: through sound discrimination
and listening comprehension

1. Direct versus Indirect Testing a. Sound Discrimination - For beginners of

language learning, they can distinguish the sounds
• Direct Testing is when it requires the candidate of the language clearly to help them understand
to perform precisely the skill that test wishes to the message they hear; Task is distinguished
measure. sounds minimal pairs.
• Indirect Testing attempts to measure the b. Listening Comprehension- one's ability to
abilities that underlie the skills in which the test is comprehend spoken language at the discourse
interested. level

• Semi-Direct is in the sense that, although not B. TESTING READING

direct, they simulate direct testing. a. Skimming to identify the gist
b. Scanning to locate specific information
c. Making inferences
2. Discrete Point versus Integrative testing
d. Guessing Meanings of Unfamiliar Words through
• Discrete- would test one point or objective such Context
as testing for the meaning of a word in isolation.
• Discrete point testing- refers to the testing of TESTING THE PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
one element at a time, item by item; Diagnostic
test is discrete; INDIRECT.
A. TESTING SPEAKING- some language teachers
• Integrative testing- requires the candidate to consider testing the speaking and writing skills of
combine many language elements in the students easier to evaluate than testing their listening
completion of a task; would test more than one and reading skills.
point or objective at a time; DIRECT.
Components:
a. Testing Pronunciation
3. Norm-referenced versus Criterion-referenced b. Testing Grammar
testing c. Testing word choice
• Norm-referenced – student’s scores are d. Testing fluency/ease and Speed of the Flow of
interpreted relative to each other in a normal Speech
distribution scheme (bell curve). e. Testing comprehension
f. Testing Content and organization: not given
• Criterion-referenced – measure student ability much emphasis (Harris).
against a predetermined standard.
B. TESTING WRITING- focused primarily on evaluating
4. Objective versus Subjective Testing the student’s ability to express their ideas in writing.

Components:

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 a. Testing the content- refers to the ideas
expressed in the writing b. Find a "synonym" with which students are likely
b. Testing the form- refers to the organization to be familiar- similar concept to the one you are
of the content into a unified, coherent written about to explain can help students recognize patterns
presentation; Includes ordering ideas into and more quickly learn the new material.
logical order.
c. Testing grammar- is a test of grammatical TYPES OF LISTENING
forms and syntactic patterns. (Brown, 2010)
d. Testing syntactic pattern – is a test of the
acceptable word orders within sentences and
clauses. 1. Intensive. Listening for perception of the components
e. Testing style- style in writing requires that of a larger stretch of language; phonemes, words,
word choice should consider clarity, intonation.
appropriateness, and variety (Testing Variety
2. Responsive. Listening to a relatively short stretch of
of Structures & Testing Lexical Items).
language to make an equally short response; a
f. Testing mechanics- refers to the proper use
greeting, a question, command.
of graphic symbols such as Punctuation,
Capitalization, and Abbreviation. 3. Selective. Processing sketches of discourse such as
short monologues for several minutes to “scan” for
certain information.
CHAPTER 3
4. Extensive. ranges from listening to a lengthy lecture
TEACHING AND ASSESSING LISTENING
to listening to a conversation and deriving a
comprehensive message or purpose; Listening for the
THE NATURE OF LISTENING gist, for the main idea, and making inferences.

• Listening is the Cinderella skill in second language TASK TYPES

learning. It has been overlooked by its elder sister -
speaking. Some of the main skills involved in listening:
• Listening and reading are therefore secondary skills - 1. Listening for the main idea – Students listen to
means to other ends, rather than ends in themselves. identify the overall ideas expressed in the whole
• Krashen's work, based on the belief that a second recording.
language is learned most effectively in the early stages
if the pressure for production is taken off the learners. 2. Listening for details – Students listen for groups of
• emphasized the role of comprehensible input, listening words and phrases at sentence level.
is vital in the language classroom because it provides 3. Listening for specific information – Students listen
input for the learner. for information at word level.
• Without understanding input at the right level, any
learning simply cannot begin. Listening is thus 4. Predicting – Students try to guess key information
fundamental to speaking. contained in the recording before they listen.
5. Inferring meaning – Students listen to identify the
A. Bottom-Up Processing difference between what the speaker says and what
• Model assumes that listening is a process of they mean.
decoding the sounds that one hears in a linear
fashion, from the smallest meaningful units 6. Identifying emotion – Students listen to identify the
(phonemes) to complete texts. mood of certain speakers.
• The process is a linear one, in which meaning 7. Listening for opinions – Students listen to identify
itself is derived as the last step in the process. the attitude of certain speakers.
• Anderson and Lynch (1988) call this the
8. Inferring relationships – Students listen to identify
‘listener as tape recorder view' of listening
who the people are in the recording and what the
because it assumes that the listener takes in
relationship is between them.
and stores messages sequentially, in much the
same way as a tape recorder. 9. Recognizing context – Students listen to aural and
contextual clues to identify where the conversation
B. Top-Down Processing takes place, who is speaking, etc.
• Suggests that the listener actively constructs
(or, more accurately, reconstructs) the original
RECIPROCAL VS NONRECIPROCAL
meaning of the speaker using incoming sounds
as clues. a. Reciprocal listening is between people.
• In reconstruction process, the listener uses
prior knowledge of the context and situation b. Non-reciprocal listening is like listening we’re
within which the listening takes place to make familiar with from language classes.
sense of what he or she hears
LISTENING STRATEGIES (Buck, 2001)
C. Schema Theory
• A schema/scheme, refer to our abstract
concepts proposed by J. Piaget to. Schemas 1. COGNITIVE STRATEGIES
(or schemata) are units of understanding that
Mental activities related to comprehending and storing
can be hierarchically categorized as well as
input in working memory or long-term memory for later
webbed into complex relationships with one
retrieval
another.
• The more we know, the bigger and more • Comprehension processes: Associated with the
complex our schemas become. However, the processing of linguistic and nonlinguistic input
more we know, the easier it is to remember
• Storing and memory processes: Associated
new information related to the schema -
with the storing of linguistic and nonlinguistic input
because there is more pre-existing information
in working memory or long-term memory
in our heads that we can relate - and thus
attach - it to. • Using and retrieval processes: Associated with
accessing memory, to be readied for output
Ways to make students conscious of their schema:

a. Use advance organizers- refers to activities done 2. METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES

prior to introducing new material that help students Those conscious or unconscious mental activities that
organize - and perhaps prepare to re-organize - their perform an executive function in the management of
thinking. These can take multiple forms: cognitive strategies
• Review previous lessons or material
• Ask students what they know • Assessing the situation: Taking stock of
conditions surrounding a language task by
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 assessing one’s own knowledge, one’s available
internal and external resources, and the A Summary of Major Interactive Listening
constraints of the situation before engaging in a Strategies
task By Farrell and Mallard’s (2006)
• Monitoring: Determining the effectiveness of Strategy Description
one’s own or another’s performance while engaged
in a task Continual Signal Listener requests no elaboration or
repetition and indicates status of
• Self-evaluating: Determining the effectiveness of understanding with an overt
one’s own or another’s performance after engaging statement or a nonverbal gesture.
in the activity
a. Uptaking Listener uses kinesics, verbal, or
• Self-testing: Testing oneself to determine the other nonverbal signals to indicate
effectiveness of one’s own language use or the lack to the interlocutor to continue, that
thereof he or she understands. This includes
minimum responses such as “Uh-
huh”.
Goh (1997, 1998) shows how the metacognitive activities
of planning, monitoring, and evaluating can be applied to b. Faking Listener sends uptaking signals or
the teaching of listening: noncommittal responses in order to
1. Planning- is a strategy for determining learning avoid seeking clarification and
objectives and deciding how the objectives can be admitting to the interlocutor that he
achieved. or she has not understood.
2. Monitoring- is a strategy for checking on the Hypothesis Listener asks specific questions
progress while learning or carrying out a learning Testing about facts in the preceding
task. utterance to verify that he or she
has understood and/or what he or
3. Evaluating- is a strategy for determining the
she is expected to do.
success of the outcome of an attempt to learn or
complete a learning task. Forward inference Listener overtly indicates currently
understanding by asking a question
Steps in guided metacognitive sequence in a listening using established information given
lesson (Goh and Yusnita, 2006) by the interlocutor.
Global reprise Listener asks for outright repetition
1. Pre-listening activity- in pairs, students predict or simplification of preceding
the possible words and phrases that they might utterances, using L1, L2 or kinesics.
hear. They write down their predictions. They may
write some words in their first language. Local/Specific Listener asks a question referring to
reprise a specific word, term or fragment
2. First listen- as they are listening to the text, that was not understood in the
students underline or circle those words or phrases previous utterance.
(including first-language equivalents) that they
have predicted correctly. They also write down new a. Lexical Listener asks a question about a
information they hear. reprise specific word; may include
repetition of a word with a
3. Pair process-based discussion- in pairs, questioning intonation.
students compare what they have understood so
far and explain how they arrived at the b. Fragment Listener asks a question referring to
understanding. They identify the parts that caused reprise a specific part of the preceding
confusion and disagreement and make a note of utterance, in which the listener does
the parts of the text that will require special not identify a specific lexical item.
attention in the second listen.
c. Lexical Listener asks a question about a
4. Second listen- students listen to those parts that gap specific word or term that has been
have caused confusion or disagreement areas and used previously, usually a request to
make notes of any new information they hear. repeat a term that the listener
cannot recall.
5. Whole-class process-based discussion- the
teacher leads a discussion to confirm d. Positional Listener refers to a position in the
comprehension before discussing with students the reprise preceding utterance, not to a
strategies that they reported using. specific word.
Kinesics Listener indicates a need for
SEGMENTAL VERSUS SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES clarification by means of kinesics
and/or paralanguage.

SUPRASEGMENTAL (NONSEGMENTAL) Recalling Listener repeats or mumbles the

• Refers to a phonological property of more than one preceding utterances to reconstruct
sound segment meaningful interpretation.
• Functions that are "over” vowels and consonants Non- Listener uses verbal or nonverbal
• Often regarded as the "musical" aspects of speech. understanding signals to inform the interlocutor
• An obvious suprasegmental is intonation, less that he or she does not understand.
obvious is stress.

SEGMENTAL Three steps required for implementing interactive

• Spoke language are the vowels and the consonants listening:
which combine to produce syllables, words, and 1. learners are asked to listen for comprehensions
sentences. 2. they discuss the content to fulfill productive
• In phonetics, the smallest perceptible segment is a activities
phone. 3. they give oral presentations in pairs.
• Segmental phonemes of sign formally called
“cheremer” are visual movement of hands, face, TOOLS FOR INTERACTIVE LISTENING
and body. STRATEGIES

TEACHING INTERACTIVE LISTENING Backward Orientation

• aim at signaling non-understanding of previously
given information thus serve to handle
Interactive listening takes place in a communicative
situation, in which the listener, taking an active role, listens comprehension breakdowns.
and gives responses such as signaling comprehension, Forward Orientation
requesting clarifications, negotiating meanings, etc.

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 • they help move the conversation forward through Language assessment field ideally has a stockpile of
acknowledgement of comprehension and listening test types which are cognitively demanding,
consequently sustain conversation. communicative, and authentic, not to mention interactive
by means of an integration with speaking.
EXTENSIVE AND INTENSIVE LISTENING
Authentic Listening Tasks:
1. Note-taking of classroom lectures
Intensive listening 2. Editing (test-takers read, test-takers, test- takers
• focuses primarily on brief listening exercises. mark any words, phrases, facts, or opinions).
• focuses mostly on form 3. Interpretive tasks (song lyrics, recited poetry,
• you are paying most attention to pronunciation, radio/television news reports, and an oral account
grammar, and vocabulary, rather than overall of an experience).
meaning 4. Retelling a story or news listened before by the
test-takers.
Extensive listening
Assessing Types of Listening and Micro and Macro
• focuses on longer activities. skills
• focuses on overall understanding.
1. Intensive listening tasks
• you do not have to translate each word or focus on
• Distinguishing phonemic pairs e.g. grass-
grammar rules
glass; leave-live
• helps students understand spoken language in • Distinguishing morphological pairs e.g. miss-
real-world contexts. missed
• Paraphrase recognition e.g. I come from
How to design assessment task in Listening? Taiwan; I’m Taiwanese
• begins with the specification of objectives, or • Repetition (s repeat a word) e.g. major major
criteria.
2. Responsive listening task
FOUR COMMON TYPES OF LISTENING • Question e.g. What time is it? –Multiple choice
PERFORMANCE responses
• Question e.g. What time is it? --- open ended
response
1. Intensive is listening for perception of the components • Simple discourse sequences e.g. Hello, nice
(phonemes, words, intonation, discourse markers, weather. Tough test
etc.) of a larger stretch of language.
3. Selective Listening Task
2. Responsive is listening to a relatively short stretch of • Listening cloze (students fill in the blanks)
language to make an equally short response. • Verbal information transfer (students give MC
verbal response)
3. Selective is processing stretches of discourse such as • Picture cued information transfer (students
short monologues for several minutes in order to “scan choose a picture)
“for certain information. Its doesn’t necessarily look for • Chart completion (student feel in a grid)
global or general meanings, but to comprehend • Sentence repetition (students repeat stimulus
designated information in a context of longer stretches sentence)
of spoken language
4. Extensive listening task
4. Extensive is listening for developing a top-down, • Dictation (students listen usually 3 times and
global understanding of spoken language. write a paragraph)
• Dialogue (students hear dialogue—MC
TWO PARTS OF LISTENING COMPREHENSION comprehension questions)
(RICHARDS, 1983) • Dialogue (students hear dialogue—open-
ended response)
1. Micro skills- attending to the smaller bits and chunks • Lecture (student take notes, summarize, list
of language, in more of a bottom-up process. main points, etc)
• Interpretive task (students hear a poem—
2. Macro skills- focusing on the larger elements involved interpret meaning)
in a top-down approach to a listening task. • Stories, narrative (students retell a story)

FACTORS THAT MAKE LISTENING DIFFICULT

1. Clustering (attending to appropriate “chunks” of

language –phrases, clauses, constituents)
2. Redundancy (recognizing the kinds of repetitions,
rephrasing, elaborations, and insertions that
unrehearsed spoken language often contains, and
benefiting from that recognition)
3. Reduced forms (understanding the reduced forms
that may not have been a part of an english learner’s
past learning experiences in classes where only formal
“textbook” language has been presented)
4. Performance variables (being able to “weed out”
hesitations, false starts, pauses, and corrections in
natural speech)
5. Colloquial language (comprehending idioms, slang,
reduced forms, shared cultural knowledge)
6. Rate of delivery (keeping up with the speed of
delivery, processing automatically as the speaker
continues)
7. Stress, rhythm and intonation (correctly
understanding prosodic elements of spoken language)
8. Interaction (managing the interactive flow of
language from listening to speaking to listening, etc.).

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