Theoretical Framework

TESTING TECHNIQUES
ordering parts of a text

Ø  ·         Order by chronological events

Ø  ·         Logical events

Ø  ·         By context

Ø  Advantages

Ø  ·         Understand the main idea

Ø  ·         Identifying order

Ø  ·         Recognizing parts of speech

Ø  ·         Guessing meaning from context

Ø  ·         Inferring meaning

Ø  ·         Identifying order

FILLING THE GAPS

Ø  Context

Ø  Longer text

Ø  Higher level 

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Ø  identify

Ø  Scoring easy

Ø  Rapid and Economical

Ø  Disvantages:

Ø  Cheating is facilitated

Ø  Knowledge

GUESSING WORD MEANING FROM CONTEXT

Ø  Encourage readers to make and test predictions.

Ø  it is very useful

Ø  Focussed mostly on evidende

Theoretical Framework

Testing Technique

Unique-answer item

Items in which the rest taker has to provide a short answer are common, particularly in listening and reading test.

Example:  

·         What does it in the last sentence refer to?

·         How old was Hannibal when he started eating human beings?

·         Why did Hannibal enjoy eating brain so much?

                                                                                                           

Advantages over multiple choices are that:

Ø  Guessing will (or should)contribute less to rest scores

Ø  The technique is not restricted by the need for distracters (though there have to be potential alternative response)

Ø  Cheating is likely to be more difficult

Ø  Though great care must still be taken, items should be easier to write.

Disadvantages are:

Ø  Responses may take longer and so reduce the possible number of items.

Ø  The test taker has to produce language in order to respond.

Ø  Scoring may be invalid or unreliable, if judgment is required

Ø   Scoring may take longer

Strategies

1.       Efficient reading

Teacher has to know what the objective for the reading is and what kind of material he can use.

2.       Word attack skills

Teacher has to know how students can infer meaning of new words.

3.      Reading for plain sense: Text attack skills

Students have to understand the ideas of the text depending on the sentences.

4.      Understanding discourse

Students have to underline relevant ideas about the text which could help them.

Reading Phases

·         Pre-Reading

1.       To introduce and arouse interest in the topic

2.       To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading

3.      To provide some languages preparation for the text

·         While-Reading

1.       To help understanding of the writer’s purpose

2.       To help understanding of the text structure

3.      To clarify text content

·         Post-Reading

1.       To consolidate or reflect upon what has been read

2.       To relate the text to the learner’s own knowledge, interests, or views.

Subskills (Reading)

Reading Sub-skills

·         Recognising words and phrase in English script.

·         Using one’s own knowledge of the outside world to make predictions about and interpret a text.

·         Retrieving information stated in the passage.

·         Distinguishing the main ideas from subsidiary information.

·         Deducing the meaning and use of unknown words; ignoring unknown words/phrases that are redundant, i.e.; that contribute nothing to interpretation

·         Understanding the meaning and implications of grammatical structures, e.g. cause, result, purpose, reference in time (e.g. verb tenses; compare: “He could swim well” past, “He could come at 10 a.m.” future).

·         Recognising discourse markers: e.g. therefore + conclusions, however + contrast, that is + paraphrase, e.g. + example.

·         Recognising the function of sentences even when not introduced by discourse markers: e.g. example, definition, paraphrase, conclusion, warning.

·         Understanding relations within the sentences and the text (words that refer back to a thing or a person mentioned earlier in the sentence or the text, e.g. which, who, it).

·         Extracting specific information for summary or note taking.

·         Skimming to obtain the gist, and recognise the organisation of ideas within the text.

·         Understanding implied information and attitudes.

·         Knowing how to use an index, a table of contents, etc.

·         Understanding layout, use of heading, etc.

Ø  Jane Willis

Skills and sub-skills (Reading)

·         Reading for gist

·         Reading to extract specific information

·         Reading for detailed understanding

·         Reading for information transfer, etc.

Ø  Jeremy Harmer

Models of Reading

Reading is a process which you are going to analyze a text and what is the meaning of it, depending on your goals. It could be fast or thoroughly.

Bottom-up: It is about how reader infers the meaning of the text with their previous knowledge and experiences.

Top-down: It is about how reader stars to analyze the text with principal ideas.

Interactive: Reader has previous knowledge about the topic and he uses key words for comprehension.

Reading Process is how reader analyzes the text for understanding it. (Underlining principal ideas)