WRITING TESTS
INTRODUCTION
There are many kinds of writing tests.
The reason for this is fairly simple: a wide variety of writing tests is needed
to tests the many kinds of writing tasks that we engage in. for one thing,
there are usually distinct stage of instruction in writing, such as
pre-writing, guide writing, and free writing. (The stage of instruction in writing can be categorized differently
from those presented here. See Ann Raimes, techniques
in teaching writing [in this series] for discussion of types of writing and their applications.)
Each
stage tends to require different types of evaluation. Test variety also stems
from the various applications of
writing. These range from school uses such as note taking and class reports to
common personal needs such as letter writing and filling out forms. Besides
these, there are specialized advanced applications: the attorney’s legal brief
of summary, translation, secretarial uses, advertising, research reports,
journalism, and literature. Such different writing applications also often call
for different test applications.
Another reason for the variety of
writing test in use is the great number of factors that can be evaluated:
mechanics (including spelling and punctuation), vocabulary, grammar,
appropriate content, diction (or word selection), rhetorical matters of various
kinds (organization, cohesion, unity; appropriateness to the audience, topic,
and occasion); as well as sophisticated concerns such as logic and style. The
list is enough to boggle the mind.
Fortunately we
can narrow down the number of tests needed for most ESL classroom purposes.
Beginning skill involving penmanship and use of the Roman alphabet can be evaluated
informally in class exercises. Very advance concerns such as evaluating logic
and style are beyond the scope of most ESL courses. It is wise to look at
writing applications, but we will not
discuss specialized, advances matters like translation and evaluating
literature, instead, we will consider more common things like testing letter
writing and reports. Our discussion will present techniques for evaluating
writing in its various stages, from pre-writing to free writing. The emphasis,
however, will be on guide writing including techniques such as dictation.
A. Techniques for evaluating pre-writing
As we have
indicated, formal tests are not needed for teaching the alphabet or cursive
writing. Vocabulary and grammar, however, need attention much longer, and so
both need to be evaluated. Chapters 2 and 3 can be reviewed in the planning of
such tests.
Growing out of
grammar instruction are pre-writing activities such as sentence combining,
expansion or contraction of sentence element, copying, and oral cloze. These
are only a few of the techniques that can be employed at this stage. The
examples that follow illustrate each of these five procedures.
1. Sentence combining
A common pre-writing task, takes
many forms, we will look at just two of them: combining by adding a connective
and combining by putting one sentence inside the other.
When combining sentences by adding a
connective, students can demonstrates their understanding of what various
connective that indicate addition (and, moreover, furthermore), contrast (but,
however, nevertheless), and result (so, consequently, therefore), you can
provide simple completion contexts that require each one.
Example:
He likes ice cream but
he won’t eat any
She didn’t feel well today so she didn’t go to work
Students will have learned that words
like and and moreover are not always interchangeable. We can use this approach
not only with sentence connectors but also with subordinators-for example,
those expressing time (since, because).
Combining sentence by having students
make internal changes in the grammar also requires considerable proficiency on
the part of students. Often the subordinators and conjunctions are provided as
in this example:
Some people come late. They will not
get good seats. (That)
(Answer
people that come late will not get
good seats)
I am surprised. Nobody likes her.
(it____that)
(Answer
it surprised me that nobody likes her.)
2. Sentence expansion
Another kind of
pre-writing evaluation. This can involve simply adding words such as adjectives
and adverbs. Or it can require adding phrases and clauses.
The ( ) man hurried ( ) to the (
) horse.
(Answer the old man
hurried out to the frightened horse.)
3. Sentence reduction
Still another procedure used in
evaluating pre-writing proficiency, often provides a cue word (as in the
following example) to show how to begin phrase:
He told us about a man who had a
wooden leg. (With)
(Answer
he told us about a man with a wooden leg.)
4. Copying
(Sometimes timed) can make students
more aware of extended discourse and also of mechanics (especially punctuation
and spelling). One type of copying task uses an early audio lingual technique,
the substitution table:
5. Oral cloze
Combine
dictation with selected cloze using high frequency deletion. Difficult content
words or grammar not covered yet can be left intact. Here is part of an oral cloze test. The
students hear the text at the left. They read the part at the right.
At each pause,
he feels in the missing words. Slashes indicate word.
B. Technique for Evaluate Beginning Writing
in the following
section we will look at several procedures that can be used with beginning
writers. Among the limited-response techniques is the task of simply changing
question to statement, thus “writing” a paragraph. Several multiple-choice
items are introduced to test mechanics ( such as spelling and capitalization).
Easy dictation passage can be given on material such as dialogue that students
are ready familiar with. Pictures can also be used to cue the writing of short,
easy paragraphs. For illustration of this procedures, see the following
sections on guided writing and dictation.
Advantages of limited-response items
1.
These are generally quite easy to construct
2.
These are suitable for students with limited ability in
English
3.
Except for the opened-ended variety, these are rather
objective for a writing related task
Limitation of
Limited-Response Items
1.
These do not measure actual writing skill
2.
These can be rather slow to correct-especially the
open-ended variety
C. GUIDE WRITING
The objective in guided-writing tests is
to check students’ ability to handle controlled or directed writing tasks. One
way is to make certain kind of change in a story (text manipulation). Another
is to expand the outline of an article. Dictation, a third technique, will
receive a separate explanation in the next section of the chapter. But before
discussing these techniques, we will look at specialized skills tested in
writing classes.
1. Testing Specialized Skills
Specialized areas often evaluated in
writing classes include mechanics and larger element such as unity and
organization. Mechanics cover such things as spelling, punctuation, and
capitalization.
An old but still acceptable way of
checking spelling is to dictate problem words orally. Another way to check
spelling is to use a multiple-choice arrangement:
Direction:
in each of the following groups of four words, one word is spelled incorrectly,
the other there are spelled correctly. Find which word is spelled wrong. Then
circle the letter of that word.
A. Believe B. All right C. Because *D.
Mariage
Unpunctuated sentences such as the
following can be used to check both punctuation and capitalization:
On
December 25 1980 doctor adams died in an automobile accident nevertheless his
kind deeds will live on for a long time
(Answer: On December 25, 1980, Dr. Adams
died in the an automobile accident; nevertheless, his kind deeds will live on
for a long time.)
Multiple
choice sentences also can be used, but they slower to prepare, and only one
thing can be checked in each item.
Direction: the following
sentences contain errors in mechanics. But there are no spelling errors. Find
the part of the sentence where the mistake occurs. Then circle the letter of
that part.
A B C D
We sent for /
repairman to take / a look at the/ telephone. In the office where I work.
*A B C D
The doctor told/the young soldier/to
drive south through the valley/for supplies at the nearest city.
The error occurs in the part “D”,
“in the office where I work” is riot a complete sentence; this sentence
“fragment” need to be joined to the main sentence. In the second sentence the
error occurs in the part “A”; the word “doctor” should not be capitalized
unless used with a person’s name (Dr. Adams), and then it would be abbreviated.
2. Changing a Passage
Probably no kind of guided-writing test
is used more often than that of changing a written passage. The advantage for
the student is that he does not have to supply the subject matter. In addition,
there are build-in guides to grammatical structure as well.
One technique begins with an artificial
paragraph. When the sentences are changed as directed, we have a properly
written story. Evaluation concentrates on the grammatical accuracy of the
rewritten account. In the example bellow, the student cues are at the left. At
the right we see what the student writes.
Artificial
text (student
guided-writing text)
Is
it twelve o’clock noon? It
is twelve o’clock noon.
Is
Elizabeth sitting in a Elisabeth
is sitting in a
Comfortable
blue seat comfortable
blue seat?
3. Building from a paragraph outline
One kind of paragraph outline used for
testing writing control the content and the grammar. It takes the following
form:
I/buy/new white swimsuit/I
forgot/bring/I/mad/Becky/mother/take/we/shop/Monday night/ I/find/pretty
blue/not expensive. /I start/pay/ wallet/gone/ I / borrow/ money/ Becky/
mother/ I / certainly / upset.
The
student paragraph might read:
I bought a new white swimsuit, and then
I forgot to bring it. I was really mad. But Becky’s mother took us shopping
Monday night, and I found a pretty blue one. It was not very expensive. I
started to pay for it, and my wallet was gone! I borrow some money from Becky’s
mother, but I was certainly upset.
The next form of guided-essay tests
relaxes the grammar control a little more, although this particular sample
promotes the present perfect tense. Students are two write a paragraph,
beginning with this topic sentence: “several things have contributed to my
being an educated person. “They are told to consider (but not limit themselves
to) the following sentences:
·
I have lived in ______ (countries)
·
I have travelled in _____ (places)
·
I have read ____ (give an account of reading
that has given you special insights.)
·
I have talked to ______ (tell about people from
whom you have learned a lot.)
·
My parents have taught me _____
Our final example of a
guided-writing test controls the content of the writing but not necessarily
grammar:
Direction:
write a paragraph about seventy-five words describing a store or business that
you know very well. Base your paragraph on answers to the following question:
1. What
is it called?
2. When
did it start to do business?
3. How
many employees does it have?
4. What
do the employees have to do?
5. Does
it have a lot of customers/clients? Why (not)?
6. Why
do you choose to go there rather than somewhere else?
7. Is
it good example of what such a store/business should be?
In my
neighborhood there is a…..
(Note:
these illustrations of guided writing have been drawn from a number of recent
ESL texts.)
It is one thing to get students to
write. It is quite another matter to grade their writing. As mentioned earlier,
you need to decide ahead of time what to evaluate: such as the use of complete
sentences, agreement of subject and verb, proper inflection (including tense),
and basic mechanics, it is good to limit these to only a few criteria. (see
dictation and free composition sections for the discussion of grading.)
Advantages
of Guided-Writing Tests
1.
Guided-writing tests are rather quick and easy to
construct.
2.
Because they require an active rather than a passive
response, guided testing techniques give the appearance of being an affective
measure of writing.
3.
Guided-writing tests provide appropriate control for
those students who are not ready to write on their own.
Limitations of guided-writing
tests
1.
Guided-writing test do not measure ingredients such as
organization found in extended writing.
2.
Guided-writing of the paragraph-outline variety is
difficult to score with real consistency.
D. DICTATION
Another guided-writing test is
dictation. Most teachers know about this technique, but few handle it properly.
Actually, this is one of the easiest tests to use, and it gives very good
information on the student’s language ability. But this is true only if you prepare
it right, present it right, and score it right. You can get good results from
dictation if you follow the steps listed below.
1. Prepare a dictation test
First, choose a story or article that isn’t too
difficult for your students. You can pick a selection from the reader that you
use in the class. Event better would be a selection from the reader on the
slightly lower level. The length of the dictation depends on whether it is used
alone or with other language measures. If it a part of largest test, you can
use a dictation 75 to 100 words long. If it’s used by itself, you will want a
passage about 125 to 200 words long. (These are of course rather general
guidelines.)
Be careful to choose something
that is unified and able to stand alone. In order for your students to do their
best, they must understand the meaning of whole thing. You may event want to
read your selection ahead of time to a native speaker or to another English
teacher to see if he understands it. One way of helping to provide needed unity
for a dictation taken from a longer passage is to write an introductory
sentence or two. Here you can summarize what precede the part that you are
using. If necessary, you can also add a summary sentence or two at the end.
2.
Administering
the dictation test
To help students to their best,
be sure they know how to take a dictation. You can help assure that they do by
giving a practice dictation during the regular class period. When administering
dictation as a test, make sure everyone has lined paper and something to write
with. Write out on the blackboard any unusual name or expression from the
dictation passage that you think could possibly confuse your students. It is
also helpful to explain the scoring procedure, if you haven’t done this
earlier. Then tell them that dictation will be read aloud three times.
When you read it orally the first
time, do not pause during the passage. Students must not write anything at this
time. They should simply listen carefully so they can understand what the
entire thing is about. The second time, pause after every five to ten words, as
previously marked. During each pause, the students are to write down what they
have just heard. If they haven’t studied much about punctuation yet, you can
provide punctuation for them. Don’t repeat any words or phrases. Be sure to
make you pauses long enough so that everyone has time to write down what he has
heard. Nothing is gained by having pauses that are very short. In fact, you
should watch students to make sure that everyone has had an opportunity to
finish writing, before you continue with the next phrase. The third reading,
without pauses at normal speed, provides an opportunity for quick proof
reading. But again, no repetition of words or phrases is permitted.
3.
Scoring the
dictation test
The best way to score a dictation
test is to deduct one point for each error. We recommended this event if you
are counting off spelling and punctuation errors. If might seem to take several
points off for serious errors and fewer points off for less serious errors. But
much practical experience with class dictions has shown this to be time
consuming, frustrating, and unreliable. For accurate, fast, reliable scoring,
simply take off one point for each error. This includes omitted or added words,
inverted word order, grammatical errors-everything. (one exception is to take
off one point for the first time a word is misspelled but not for repeated
misspelling of the same word. Also, unless there is a need to check student
mastery of mechanics, it is all right to ignore error in punctuation or
spelling for beginning to intermediate students.)
If you use dictation and one
other measure such as a grammar test or reading comprehension exam, you can
allow 50 points for the dictation. Suppose you found paper with the following
numbers of errors: 108, 73, 28, 19, and 12. You could divide each by 2 and
subtract from 50. The first person would lose 54 points. But since minus scores
are not used, he would simply receive 0 on the dictation. (if you want to avoid
zero score for the first paper, you could divided the number of errors on all
tests by 3 and subtract each of these from 50.)
Example:
(Original
excerpt) (Dictation
test)
Have
you ever been to have you ever seen the
west coast of
Norway? Over a million people Norway?
Go to see the fjords of Norway here mountain with their
green forest
every year. /
rise right out the sea.
E.
Free Writing
Few teachers have students write without
giving them a specific topic. One reason this is that the skills used in
telling a story are quite different from those used in making analogies or
refuting arguments. We need to make sure that we’re testing what we have
taught. Also we need to be certain that each student is performing the same
kind of task. Otherwise, we cannot make a fair comparison of their writing. For
these reasons, we have to provide clear and rather detailed guidelines for
writing-event for advanced students.
1. Guidelines for Writing Task
At upper intermediate to advance
levels the aim in a writing test is generally to evaluate the effectiveness of
the total composition including sentence level accuracy, larger rhetorical
matters such as unity, coherence, and organization, as well as effectiveness in
conveying ideas to the intended audience-including socially appropriate
language and appropriate porting details.
While the main aim at advanced
stage is not to control grammar, we need to keep in mind that the subject can
influence grammatical content: “how to use a pay telephone” will produce the
imperative (pick up the receiver); “a typical day at my school” will produce
the present tense and expression of time (in the morning / after lunch). Having
students write directions will produce adverbial expression of place (across
from, down, close to). A conversation task will require knowledge of
specialized punctuation (“come in,” she said). When preparing a topic for a
writing test, we need to be careful, then, to match the assignment to our
students’ level of training.
References
NCTE, English for Today, Book Two: The World We
Live In, 2nd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1973) p.
151.
Adapted from
Paul Pimsleur, Donald Berger, and Beverly Pimsleur, Encounters: A Basic Reader, 2nd ed. (New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, Inc, 1980), p. 38.
Doty and
Rose, Language and Life in the U.S.A., p.
234.
Mary Hines,
ed., New English 900: Teacher’s Book 2 (New
York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1978) p. 62.
Adapted from Alexandra Sheedy, “how Can
Mom and Dad Do this to Me?” Seventeen
Magazine, August 1977.
Willard D. Sheeler, Welcome to English Book, Book 2 (New York: Oxpord University Press,
1976) p. 200.
William E. Rutherford, Modern English, Vol. 1, 2d ed. (New
York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975) p. 278.
NCTE, English for
Today, Book Two: The World We Live In, pp. 139-140.
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