Week 9:
Testing Grammar & Vocabulary knowledge
1. Testing Grammar Knowledge
A. Why test grammar?
* Most proficiency tests which are administered on a large scale still retain a grammar section. (However 'communicative' their approach, many institutions teach some grammar in some guise.)
* It has to be accepted that grammatical ability sets limits to what can be achieved in the way of skills performance.
Reasons:
1) the ease with which large number of items can be administered and scored within a short period of time.
2) the question of content validity - If we decide to test writing ability directly, then we are severely limited in the number of topics, styles of writing, and 'operation'(=the task that candidates have to be able to carry out)
- We cannot be completely confident that the sample chosen is truly representative of all possibilities.
- We cannot be sure that a (proficiency) grammar test includes a good sample of all possible grammatical elements.
3) But the very fact that there can be so many items does put the grammar test at an advantage.
B. Writing Items
1. Many testing handbooks encourage the testing of grammar by means of multiple choice items, often to the exclusion of just about any other method.
- However, for the weaknesses of MC, excessive use of MC should be avoided.
2. Other techniques:
1) paraphrase:
- It requires the student to write a sentence equivalent in meaning to one that is given.
- It is helpful to give part of the paraphrase in order to restrict the students to the grammatical structure being tested.
e.g. (testing passive, past continuous form.)
When we arrived, a policeman was questioning the bank clerk.
When we arrived, the bank clerk .
2) completion
e.g. DIRECTION--Complete sentences by writing a form of the verb given in parentheses
Mary (live) I New York since 1960.
3) modified cloze
e.g. Testing prepositions of place
4) Sentence interpretation (multiple-choice)
e.g. An old friend of John's family brought him news of his uncle last night.
him refers to
A. an old friend B. the uncle C. John
5) Scrambled sentence (multiple-choice)
- for the testing of word order, good for beginners
6) Conversion (supply type)
e.g. changing from present to past tense.
from active to passive, from singular to plural
C. Advice on Item Writing
1) The language of the dialogues should read like spoken English
x e.g. "John got a very poor grade on the test."
" , this would not have happened."
A. he had studied B. Had he studied C. He studied D. he was studying
2) The second part of the dialogue should sound like a natural response to the first part.
x e.g. "Can the girls read French? "No, Mary can't read French and ."
A. neither can Jane B. Jane either can;'t C. so can't jane D. Jane can't too
o e.g. "Mary can't read French." "And ."
A. neither can Jane B. Jane either can't C. so can't Jane D. Jane can't, too.
3) Care must be taken not to present regional or social variants of English as “wrong" answers.
e.g. be different from, be different than
4) No distractors should include "errors" which would appear in writing but not in speech.
x e.g. "Do you drink coffee?" "Not any more, but I ."
A. used to B. am used to C. use to D. used to do (A and C similar in pronunciation --> spelling problem)
D. Scoring production grammar tests
1. Should be clear about what each item is testing, and to award points for that only.
2. For valid and reliable scoring of grammar items, careful preparation of the scoring key is necessary.
2. Testing Vocabulary
A. Why test vocabulary?
- clearly knowledge of vocabulary is essential to the development and demonstration of linguistic skills. But that does not necessarily mean that it should be tested separately.
B. Selection of test words
- Which one should be tested? - productive or receptive vocabulary (Three criteria: usefulness, frequency, learnability)
C. Item types:
1) Definition (multiple-choice) e.g. nap
A. a brief sleep B. a happy song C. a sharp rock D. a short meeting
e.g. a brief, light sleep
A. nap B. yawn C. stroll D. hug
2) Completion (multiple-choice)
e.g. The old woman was too to push open the heavy door.
A. feeble B. sincere C. deaf D. harsh
3) Paraphrase (multiple-choice)
e.g. John was astounded to hear her answer.
A. greatly amused B. greatly relieved C. greatly surprised D. greatly angered
4) Paraphrase (supply-type)
5) Pictures (objective)- measured with pictures for children who have not reached reading stage yet)
6) Verbal analogy:
e.g. Food is to hunger as sleep is to .
A. health B. dream C. rest D. night E. weariness
D. Advice on Writing
1) definition should be expressed in simple words readily comprehensible to all examinees.
x e.g. to inflict great anguish
A. precede B. resent C. adorn D. torment
2) All the alternatives should be on approximately the same level of difficulty.
3) Whenever possible, all choices should be related to the same general area or kind of activity.
e.g. a small branch A. twig B. Frog C. doom D. plum
4) The choices in each item should be of approximately the same length or be paired by length.
5) Items should be kept free of extraneous spelling problems.
i.e., No attempt should be made to mislead examinees with distractors which look or sound like possible right answers.
x e.g. to cook by exposing to direct heat.
A. roost B. strew C. fray D. broil
☞ Excessive trickiness is simply not necessary in language testing!!!
<Appendix>
중고등학교 영어시험 문제 분석
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15. 다음 보기 중 문법상 옳은 대화 하나를 고르시오.
① A : What a cool picture. Is she your grandmother?
B : Yeah, I am resembling her so much.
② A : You look bad. What's up?
B : I'm a little worried about my trip.
In case it rains this Saturday, my trip will be delayed.
③ A : How long has it been raining?
B : It is raining since yesterday.
④ A : No sooner he had arrived in Rome than he fell in love with her.
B : Wow, it's so romantic.
⑤ A : Who's that woman by the door?
B : Ah~ She is my neighbor. I've introduced myself to her three days ago.
24. 다음 글의 빈칸(A), (B)에 들어갈 말로 가장 적절한 것은?
When two plants are bred together to form new plant, that new plant is called a hybrid. Scientists breed a hybrid that will meet the needs of people.
(A)____________, some oranges taste sweeter than others. The skin of other oranges is easy to remove. Scientists will try to breed these together.
So, they will form a new orange that is both sweet and whose skin is easy to remove. This new type of orange is called a hybrid.
(B)_____________, two animals can be bred to produce a new hybrid which has the good qualities of both of its parents.
(A) (B)
① For instance In the same way
② In other words By the way
③ For example Furthermore
④ In short In the same way
⑤ Besides Furthermore
31. 다음 글의 요지로 가장 적당한 것을 고르시오.
--- In pre-digital times, the end of a relationship might have been marked by the burning of letters or the returning of everything that partners received from each other. The ex would have been cut out of photographs, and records that had become too painful to listen to would be thrown into a garbage can.
Or maybe everything would have been put in a shoebox under the bed. But modern life means that the things that remind us of past relationships are on our computers. And they can be erased from the hard drive by just pressing a button. While the Internet has sped up modern dating and made all the records about our love lives more readily available, the ability to quickly erase everything allows the end of a relationship to be nearly painless: Now the sad and lonely can simply delete away the sorrow. Some argue that real letters and love poems have more value than Internet text messages, blogs, electronic greeting cards and cell phone. But the ease of sending electronic memories to the virtual trash seems to be changing the ways people recover from unhappy endings.
--- (1) Development of technology enables people to remember memories very easily.
(2) Development of relationship enables people to change memories very easily.
(3) Development of technology enables people to remove memories very easily.
(4) Development of relationship enables people to memories very easily.
(5) Development of Internet enables people to remember memories very easily.
30. 다음 글의 요지를 고르시오.
--- We use sprays to get rid of bugs. But the bugs are still with us. Now scientists are using bugs to fight bugs! Insects called gypsy moths attacked our woods. Rangers sprayed the gypsy moths, but still they came in great numbers. Then scientists brought from Europe hundreds of thousands of special small flies. These flies ate eggs of the gypsy moths and they helped save the woods. In Florida, the blackfly attacked the fruit trees in some areas.
Scientists brought beetles from Asia and Australia. The beetles attacked the blackfly and the fruit trees were saved.
--- (1) Using strong chemicals, we can get rid of harmful bugs.
(2) Using special sprays, we can get rid of harmful bugs.
(3) Using nature's own way, we can get rid of harmful bugs.
(4) Using foreign technology, we can get rid of harmful bugs.
(5) Using well-trained rangers, we can get rid of harmful bugs.
31. 다음 글의 요지로 가장 적당한 것을 고르시오.(3.1점)
---
In pre-digital times, the end of a relationship might have been marked by the burning of letters or the returning of everything that partners received from each other. The ex would have been cut out of photographs, and records that had become too painful to listen to would be thrown into a garbage can.
Or maybe everything would have been put in a shoebox under the bed. But
modern life means that the things that remind us of past relationships are on our computers. And they can be erased from the hard drive by just pressing a button. While the Internet has sped up modern dating and made all the records about our love lives more readily available, the ability to quickly erase everything allows the end of a relationship to be nearly painless: Now the sad and lonely can simply delete away the sorrow. Some argue that real letters and love poems have more value than Internet text messages, blogs, electronic greeting cards and cell phone. But the ease of sending electronic memories to the virtual trash seems to be changing the ways people recover from unhappy endings.
--- (1) Development of technology enables people to remember memories very easily.
(2) Development of relationship enables people to change memories very easily.
(3) Development of technology enables people to remove memories very easily.
(4) Development of relationship enables people to memories very easily.
(5) Development of Internet enables people to remember memories very easily.
5. 다음 중 문법적으로 어색한 문장을 고르시오.(4점) ① How are you?
② Fine, thanks.
③ I'm O.K.
④ I have Mom, Dad, and a brother.
⑤ How old your brother is?
8. ⓒ를 가지고 문장을 완성하려고 할 때, 바르게 나열한 것을 고르시오. (3점) ---
ⓒ (is, he, student, elementary, school, an).
---
① Is he an elementary school student.
② He is an school elementary student.
③ He is elementary an school student.
④ He is an elementary school student.
⑤ He is an elementary student school.
12. 단어의 성격이 다른 하나를 고르시오.(4점)
① cute ② pretty ③ ugly ④ fat ⑤ favorite
16. 생김새를 묻는 적절한 표현을 고르시오.(4점) ① What do she look like?
② What does she look like?
③ What do she looks like?
④ What does she looks like?
⑤ What is she looks like?
19. 다음 중 올바르지 않은 문장을 고르시오. (3점)
① She plays the piano.
② She stays at home on weekends.
③ She studys English everyday.
④ She sits next to me.
⑤ She never cries.
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8. 다음 질문에 대한 답으로 적절하지 않은 것을 고르시오.(3점) ---
Can he play the guitar?
---
① Yes, he can.
② No, he can not.
③ Of course, he can.
④ I am not sure.
⑤ No, he don't.
26. 다음 중 대화가 어색한 것을 고르시오.(3점)
① A: Thank you for coming.
B: My pleasure.
② A: Help yourself!
B: The food is so delicious.
③ A: I have an idea.
B: What? What is it?
④ A: What are you doing?
B: No, I am not. I am dancing.
⑤ A: What a nice party!
B: The food is delicious, too.
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7. 다음 중 성격이 다른 낱말을 찾으시오.(3점)
① post office ② fire station ③ museum
④ hospital ⑤ famous
19. 다음 A의 말을 듣고 이어질 B의 응답으로 알맞은 것을 고르시오. (4점) A: She won first prize in the math contest.
B: .
① She must be sick. ② She must be rich. ③ She must be tired
④ She must be smart. ⑤ She must be sad.
30. 다음 중에서 짝지어진 대화의 내용이 어색한 것을 고르시오. (3점)
① A: I made a new friend.
B: Good for you.
② A: I got a 100 on the test.
B: That's too bad.
③ A: I'm often late for class. What should I do?
B: In my opinion, you should buy an alarm clock.
④ A: My friend doesn't want to talk to me. What should I do?
B: Why don't you write her a letter?
⑤ A: I lost my dog.
B: I'm sorry to hear that.
4. 다음 빈칸에 현재진행형으로 삽입할 수 있는 단어를 두 개 고르시오.(4점) --- It was really hot yesterday, but it's now.
---
① cold ② rain ③ cloud ④ snow ⑤ wind
5. 다음 중 밑줄 친 단어가 ‘동명사’로 쓰이지 않은 것을 고르시오.(4점)
① She is watching TV.
② I like drawing dogs.
③ His hobby is listening to musjc.
④ They like skating.
⑤ Do you like taking pictures?
9. 아래 그림을 잘못 설명하고 있는 문장을 고르시오.(3점)
① The pet shop is next to the bank.
② The bank is next to the library.
③ The post office is near the park.
④ The gas station is next to the restaurant.
⑤ The school is next to the park.
23. 다음 중 잘못된 표현은?
1. I usually make them.
2. She is always smiling.
3. He never plays a guitar.
4. Mike always gets up early.
5. Jane sometimes get a bad grade.