Language Testing in Practice Designing and Developing Useful Language Tests

by Bachman, Lyle F.; Palmer, Adrian S.

• ISBN13: 9780194371483
• ISBN10: 0194371484
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-09-12
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The practice of testing is related here to views on communicative language teaching and testing. The book is divided into three sections: "Conceptual Bases on Language Testing," "Designing and Constructing Useful Language Tests," and "Collecting, Analyzing, and Using Information from Language Tests."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Conceptual bases of test development
Objectives and expectations	p. 3
Test usefulness: Qualities of language tests	p. 17
Describing tasks: Language use in language tests	p. 43
Describing language ability: Language use in language tests	p. 61
Language test development
Overview of test development	p. 85
Describing, identifying, and defining	p. 95
Developing a plan for the evaluation of usefulness	p. 133
Identifying, allocating, and managing resources	p. 157
Operationalization: Developing test tasks and blueprints	p. 170
Preparing effective instructions	p. 181
Scoring method	p. 193
Language test administration	p. 231
Illustrative test development projects
High-stakes selection and placement test for students entering a university writing program	p. 253
Selection/placement test for telephone company employees	p. 285
Syllabus-based diagnostic achievement test for students in an ESP program	p. 291
Exit test for students in an adult education conversation course for immigrants	p. 298
High-stakes ESP screening test for making hiring and training decisions	p. 308
Placement test for an ESL reading course	p. 317
Employment/placement/achievement test for immigrants in a government-funded vocational training ESL course	p. 325
Classroom achievement test for an introductory German course	p. 335
Classroom achievement test for the reading component of the Korean-English two-way bilingual immersion program	p. 345
Syllabus-based EFL progress test for primary school children	p. 354
References	p. 366
Index	p. 371
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