TYPES OF TEST

TYPES OF TEST 

1. Aptitude Tests : 

               Measure students' aptitude for a particular course or programme. For example they may test a student's aptitude for second or foreign language learning. They may predict the probable performance of the learners and identify those learners who are most likely to succed in such a course. In the context of languge education the aptitude tests whether he students have a special aptitude for learning a new language. They can predict whether learners will experience difficulty in identifying sounds or the grammatical structure of a new language.

Thus an aptitude test for language will include tests on :

1. Ability to identify and remember new sounds in the target language.
2. Ability to identify grammatical functions of different parts of sentences.
3. Ability to guess and identify meanings from the context in the new language.
4. Ability to remember words, rules etc in a new language.

2. Diagnostic Tests: 

               Can include Progress, Achievement and Proficiency tests, enabling teachers to identify specific weaknesses/difficulties so that an appropriate remedial programme can be planned. Diagnostic Tests are primarily designed to assess students' knowledge & skills in particular areas before a course of study is begun.

               Diagnostic testing often requires more detailed information about the very specific areas in which students have strengths and weaknesses. The purpose is to help students and their teachers to focus their efforts where they will be most effective. The most effective use of a diagnostic test is to report the performance level on each objective (in a percentage) to each student so that he or she can decide how and where to invest time and energy most profitably. They are designed to determine the degree to which the specific objectives of the course have been accomplished as well as to assess students' strengths and weaknesses to correct individual deficiencies before it's too late. These tests aim at fostering achievement by promoting strengths and eliminating weaknesses of students. In other words, the purpose of this type of tests is to diagnose students' problems during the learning process

3. Placement Tests: 

are necessary as a tool of educational administration. They are used to divide new students into suitable teaching groups at the start of a course so that they are approximately at the same level as others when they start. They are concerned with present General ability rather than specific points of learning. Placement Tests are fairly brief as they have to be marked quickly and their results are needed quickly for administrative purpose. Thus a placement test is designed and given in order to use the information of the students' present language ability or knowledge for putting the students into groups according to their level of the language. The basic reason for using such tests is that high achievers and low achievers can not be grouped together. The teacher would not know whom to address. If he focuses on high achievers, the average students will be left behind. On the other hand if he focuses on low achievers the brilliant students will get bored and lose interest in the process of learning. In our schools also students are placed into A/ B/ C etc divisions according to their previous performance.

          Progress and achievement tests are intended to measure the progress that the students are making. They contribute to formative assessment.

4. Achievement/Attainment tests: 

          are usually more formal. They are designed to test the mastery of a particular syllabus (e.g. end-of-year tests, school-leaving exams, public service xams like MPSC etc) They are similar to progress tests. But progress tests are often designed by classroom teachers while achievement tests are rarely constructed by classroom teacher. They are designed primarily to measure individual progress rather than as a means of motivating or reinforcing language. Achievement tests are mainly given at definite times of the school year e.g. mid-semester, semester/term end, yearend etc. Moreover, some of them could be extremely crucial for the students. They are intended either to make the students pass or fail the test and whether he goes to the next class or remains in the same class.

               They may be written and administered by ministries of education, official examining boards, or by members of teaching institutions. The content of these tests must be related to the courses with which they are concerned.

5. Progress Tests: 

               Most classroom tests take this form. They assess progress of students in mastering material taught in the classroom. They are often given to motivate students. If the students are doing well they will be happy and feel like doing even better next time. If they are not doing well they will put in more efforts to perform better. They will show the degree of success of teaching/learning and help to identify areas of weakness and difficulty. Progress tests can also be diagnostic to some degree.

6. Proficiency test :

               Proficiency test is a test, which measures how much of a language a person knows or has learnt. It is not bound to any curriculum or syllabus, but is intended to check the learners' language competence. The examples of such tests could be the American Testing of English as Foreign Language test (further in the text TOEFL) that is used to measures the learners' general knowledge of English in order to allow them to enter any high educational establishments or to take up a job in the USA. Proficiency test is used to assess the general knowledge or skill commonly required for entry into a course or job situation. Because of the general nature of proficiency decisions, a proficiency test must be designed so that the general abilities and skills of students are reflected in the scores obtained through it.