LANGUAGE TESTING

7. _____, arguably the most essential skill for success in all educational contexts, remains a skill of paramount importance as we create assessments of general language ability. a. Reading b. Speaking c. Grammar. a. b. c.

25. ____ constraints include rules for cohesion (e.g. pronominal reference), information management (e.g. given/new information), and interactional knowledge (e.g. hedging devices to indicate disagreement). a. Discourse b. Domain c. Knowledge. a. b. c.

10. _____ is a strategy used by all readers to find relevant information in a text. a. Skimming b. Scanning c. The main idea. a. b. c.

32. ____ words - prepositions, articles, conjunctions, and other little words are seen as belonging more to the grammar of the language than vocabulary. a. function b. empty c. verbal. a. b. c.

19. ______ writing implies successful management of all the processes and strategies of writing for all purposes, up to the length of an essay, a term paper, a major research project report, or even a thesis. a. extrinsic b. intensive c. extensive. a. b. c.

14. A communicative language teaching approach emphasizes ______ in which focus on form is implicit for perhaps most of the minutes of a classroom hour. a. test results b. students performance c. spontaneous communication. a. b. c.

37. A much more common method of calculating grades is what might be called _____, in which a teacher exercises the latitude to determine grade distributions after the performances have been observed. a. internal grading b. a posteriori relative grading c. pair and mate grading. a. b. c.

11. A popular alternative to multiple-choice questions following reading passages is the age-old short-answer format. A reading passage is presented, and the test-taker ______, usually in written form, in a sentence or two. a. reads questions that must be answered b. writes a different sheet of paper c. omits the answers and the questions. a. b. c.

11. A reader's comprehension of extensive texts may be assessed through an evaluation of a process of note-taking and/or outlining. Because of the difficulty of controlling the conditions and time frame for both these techniques, they rest firmly in the category of _____. a. effective assessment b. informal assessment c. cloze assessment. a. b. c.

23. A second method of scoring, primary trait, focuses on "how well students can write within a narrowly defined range of discourse." This type of scoring emphasizes the ____ and assigns a score based on the effectiveness of the text´s achieving that one goal. a. linguistic performance b. writing style c. task at hand. a. b. c.

6. A versant is ____. a. A commercial oral production test. b. A test for speed speaking. c. A phone call code or pin to take a test. a. b. c.

1. Although speaking is a productive skill, that can be directly and empirically observed, those observations are invariably colored by the accuracy and effectiveness of a test-taker's listening skill, which necessarily compromises the ____. a. length of the test b. reliability and validity of an oral production test c. cost and time consuming. a. b. c.

6. Another technique for targeting intensive aspects of language requires test-takers to read a dialogue in which one speaker's lines have been omitted. Test-takers are first given _____ to get its gist and to think about appropriate lines to fill in. Then as the tape, teacher, or test administrator produces one part orally, the test-taker ____. a. A sheet of paper - hands in b. Time to read through the dialogue - responds c. An example - understands. a. b. c.

3. At the intensive level, test-takers are prompted to produce short stretches of discourse (no more than a _____) through which they demonstrate linguistic ability at a specified level of language. a. word b. sentence c. paragraph. a. b. c.

39. Being cognizant of an institutional philosophy of grading is an important step toward a _____ evaluation of your students. a. consistent and fair b. erratic and unfitting c. steady and irregular. a. b. c.

25. Both morphology and _____ are concerned with the linguistic accuracy of language. a. geology b. grammar c. syntax. a. b. c.

27. By _____ to form and/or meaning, learners become aware of the existence of specific language features in English. a. missing b. attending conciously c. alternating. a. b. c.

24. Classroom evaluation of learning is best served through, analytic scoring, in which as many as ____ elements of writing are scored, thus enabling learners to hone in on weaknesses and capitalize on strengths. a. ten minor b. six major c. not single. a. b. c.

19. Collocations and idioms, and correct grammatical features up to the length of a sentence are part of the assessment of ____ writing. a. intensive controlled b. responsive c. essential mechanics of. a. b. c.

29. Dialogue-completion tasks are presented in the form of a short conversation or dialogue in which a part of the exchange or the entire exchange is _____ and the expected response is meant to be grammatically correct. a. corrected b. analyzed c. left blank. a. b. c.

28. Dichotomous scoring means that there is only _____ criterion for correctness (form or meaning), and test-takers get it either right or wrong. a. various b. none c. one. a. b. c.

17. Dictation is a widely researched genre of assessing listening comprehension. In a dictation, test-takers hear a passage, typically of 50 to 100 words, recited three times: first at normal speed; then with long pauses between phrases or natural word groups, during which time test-takers write down what they have just heard; and finally at normal speed once more so they can check their _____. a. pronunciation b. work and proofread c. syntax knowledge. a. b. c.

29. Discrimination items are used to _____ the difference between two similar areas of grammatical knowledge. a. apply b. give c. measure. a. b. c.

7. Editing for grammatical or rhetorical errors is a widely used test method for assessing ____ in reading. a. grammar b. linguistics competence c. scanning. a. b. c.

10. Every educated person must be able to comprehend charts, maps, graphs, calendars, diagrams, and the like. Converting such nonverbal input into comprehensible intake requires not only an understanding of the graphic and verbal conventions of the medium but also a ____. a. learning skill to achieve higher standards b. kinesthetic domain c. linguistics ability to interpret that information to someone else. a. b. c.

2. Extensive oral production tasks include _____ during which the opportunity for oral interaction from listeners is either highly limited (perhaps to nonverbal responses) or ruled out altogether. a. speeches, letter writing and reading aloud b. oral presentations and story writing c. speeches, oral presentations and storytelling. a. b. c.

12. Extensive reading involves somewhat longer texts such as _____ that fall into this category. The reason for placing such reading into a separate category is that reading this type of discourse almost always involves a focus on meaning using mostly top-down processing, with only occasional use of a targeted bottom-up strategy. a. Short essays, isolated sentences, main ideas b. Journal articles, longer essays, short stories, etc. c. Words in context and sigle ideas in a real context. a. b. c.

40. For many institutions around the world, the concept of letter grades is _____________. a. bizarre b. unknown c. foreign. a. b. c.

15. For full comprehension, test-takers may at the extensive level need to invoke _________ (perhaps notetaking, questioning, discussion): listening that includes all four of the above types as test-takers actively participate in discussions, debates, conversations, role plays, and pair and group work. a. interactive skills b. auditory output c. pragmatic context. a. b. c.

19. Four types of tasks are commonly addressed in academic writing courses: compare/contrast, problem/solution, pros/cons, and _______. a. short/long b. cause/effect c. technical/domestic. a. b. c.

9. If cloze testing is the most-researched procedure for assessing reading, the traditional “Read a passage and answer some questions” technique is undoubtedly the ____. a. less frequent teaching technique b. more practical testing technique c. oldest and the most common. a. b. c.

34. If oral participation is listed as one of the objectives of a course and as a factor in a final grade, the challenge to all teachers is to _____ as clearly and directly as possible. a. deny the presence b. quantify that participation c. magnify it. a. b. c.

38. If you pre-specify standards of performance on a numerical point system, you are using_____. a. relative marking b. partial grading c. absolute grading. a. b. c.

4. If your goal is to have test-takers demonstrate certain spoken_____, for example, the stimulus you design must elicit those grammatical categories in ways that prohibit the test-taker from avoiding or paraphrasing and thereby dodging production of the target form. a. grammatical categories b. loudness c. phonological levels. a. b. c.

34. If your grading system includes improvement, behavior, effort, motivation, it is important for you to recognize their subjectivity but this does not give you an excuse to avoid converting such factors into _____ results. a. observable and measurable b. hidden and measurable c. observable and undeterminable. a. b. c.

22. Imitative writing includes the ability to spell correctly and to perceive phoneme-grapheme correspondences in the English spelling system. It is a level at which learners are trying to master the _____. a. syntax of the essay b. phonetics of the language c. mechanics of writing. a. b. c.

25. In a Grammar Translation paradigm, tests consisted of the learners' ability to recite grammatical rules, provide an accurate translation of a text, or supply a grammatically accurate word. Today, the knowledge of grammar is evaluated by its correct use in _____. a. business b. communication c. religious contexts. a. b. c.

3. In directed response tasks the test administrator elicits a particular grammatical form or a transformation of a ____. a. pattern b. intonation pattern c. sentence. a. b. c.

28. In gap-filling tasks the language is presented in the form of a ______ in which a number of words are deleted. a. sentence b. essay c. book. a. b. c.

2. In imitative, a basic type of speaking, performance is the ability to simply _____ a word or phrase or possibly a sentence. a. follow b. parrot back c. listen. a. b. c.

2. In the assessment of oral production, the more ____ test tasks are, the ____ the challenge in scoring due to the freedom of choice given to test-takers. a. open-ended/less b. close-ended/greater c. open-ended/greater. a. b. c.

26. In the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, the knowledge of _____ is at the center of language use, so it isn't surprising that for many years we believed that knowing a language meant knowing the grammatical structures of that language. a. grammar b. phonetics c. reading. a. b. c.

29. Information gap tasks, more commonly known as the _____, presents the input in terms of incomplete information. a. dual gap item b. info-gap task c. blank-designed task. a. b. c.

3. Intensive tasks may also be described as limited response tasks (Madsen, 1983), mechanical tasks (Underhill, 1987), or what classroom pedagogy would label ______. a. controlled responses b. training tasks c. dichotomic items. a. b. c.

33. It is essential for all components of grading to be _____ with an institutional philosophy and/or regulations. a. consistent b. effective c. logical. a. b. c.

13. It´s important to be certain about the feasibility of assessing just ______ at a time a. One skill b. Two skills c. Various skills. a. b. c.

33. It is safe to assert that formal tests, quizzes, exercises, homework, essays, reports, presentations - all of which are usually marked in some way (with a grade, a "check" system [such as ü+, ü, or ü-] a score, or a credit/no credit notation) - are _____ as primary criteria for determining grades. a. universally accepted b. rarely found c. usually absent. a. b. c.

24. It is virtually impossible to______, perhaps with the exception of reading, without the involvement of at least one other mode of performance. Don't underestimate the power of the integration of skills in assessments designed to target a single skill area. a. Isolate any one of the four skills b. Integrate all of the skills c. Combine most of the language skills. a. b. c.

31. Knowing a word means knowing the _____ behavior associated with that word. a. phonetic b. syntactic c. etymological. a. b. c.

32. Language researchers and teachers recognize that vocabulary knowledge is _____ to overall second language ability and are now focusing on ways to teach vocabulary and also assess the knowledge of vocabulary. a. useless b. accessory c. integral. a. b. c.

8. Many of the multiple-choice tasks can be converted into gap-filling, or "fill-in-the-blank," items in which the test-taker's response is to ____. An extension of simple gap filling tasks is to create sentence completion items in which test-takers read part of a sentence and then complete it by writing a phrase. a. translate a paragraph b. pronounce a sentence c. write a word or phrase. a. b. c.

15. Minimal phonemic pair recognition is a task developed for ______ listening. a. objective b. extensive c. intensve. a. b. c.

23. Most writing specialists agree that the best way to teach writing is a hands-on approach that ____ and then generates a series of self-assessments peer-editing and revision, and teacher response and conferencing. a. neglect writing outputs b. stimulates student output c. trigger student brainstorming. a. b. c.

30. One function of the context is to indicate a specific meaning of a high frequency _____. a. word b. idea c. structure. a. b. c.

5. Question-and-answer tasks can consist of one or two questions from an interviewer or they can make up a portion of a whole battery of questions and prompts in _____. a. an oral interview b. a written conversation c. a spoken response. a. b. c.

37. Relative grading has the advantage of allowing your own interpretation and of adjusting for unpredicted ease or difficulty of a(n) _____. a. test b. objective c. skill. a. b. c.

36. Relative grading is usually accomplished by ranking students in order of performance (percentile ranks) and assigning _____ for grades. a. cut-off points b. placement standards c. rubrics. a. b. c.

12. Skimming is the process of rapid coverage of reading matter to determine _____. It is a prediction strategy used to give a reader a sense of the topic and purpose of a text, the organization of the text, the perspective or point of view of the writer, its ease or difficulty, and/or its usefulness to the reader. a. the details of the reading b. the internal structure of the writing c. its gist or main idea. a. b. c.

39. Some institutions refuse to employ either a letter grade or a numerical system of evaluation and instead offer _____ of students. This preference for more individualized evaluations is often a reaction to the overgeneralization of letter and numerical grading. a. no grades at all b. narrative evaluations c. no tests. a. b. c.

14. Sometimes the performance does not indicate ______: since many factors (such as a bad night's rest, illness, etc.), may provoke an unreliable measure of actual competence. a. professional outfit b. language performance c. true competence. a. b. c.

39. Teachers’ good nature and _____ for students predisposes them toward assigning grades that are usually higher than school standards and expectations. a. racism b. professionalism c. empathy. a. b. c.

28. Test-takers must choose the ______ for the deletion or gap based on the context in which the language is presented. a. appropriate response b. one test c. empty gap. a. b. c.

1. The _____ of speaking imply the speaker's focus on the larger elements: fluency, discourse, function, style cohesion, nonverbal communication, and strategic options. a. microskills b. macroskills c. tasks. a. b. c.

25. The advantages of the multiple-choice tasks are that they are easy to _____ and score, and the disadvantages are that they are difficult to ____, can promote guessing from test-takers, and are sometimes viewed as not being authentic language use. a. administer - create b. guess - find c. create - apply. a. b. c.

8. The assessment of reading ability does not end with the measurement of comprehension. It is also important, especially in formative classroom assessment, to assess the ______ that readers use -or fail to use- to achieve ultimate comprehension of a text. a. structure b. vocabulary c. strategies. a. b. c.

7. The exact word scoring method gives credit to _____ only if they insert the exact word that was originally deleted. a. test-takers b. the school administration c. system. a. b. c.

18. The following: Test-takers hear: "How much time did you take to do your homework?" Test-takers write or speak: How much time did you take to do your homework? Is an example of _______. a. cloze dictation b. open ended response to a question. c. information transfer. a. b. c.

17. The following example: Test-takers hear: Hello, my name's Keiko. I come from Japan. Test-takers read: A. Keiko is comfortable in Japan. B. Keiko wants to come to Japan. C. Keiko is Japanese. D. Keiko likes Japan. corresponds to _________ recognition. a. phonological b. morphological c. paraphrase. a. b. c.

4. The following example: Test-takers hear: Repeat after me: beat pause bit pause bat pause vat pause Represents a ____ task. a. completion b. repetition c. writing. a. b. c.

7. The genre of a text enables readers to apply certain ______ that assists them in extracting appropriate meaning. a. figures b. schemata c. words. a. b. c.

33. The importance of triangulation tells us that all abilities of a student may not be apparent on _____ tests and measured performances. a. diagnostic b. formative c. achievement. a. b. c.

20. The initial step in teaching paraphrasing is to ensure that learners understand the importance of paraphrasing: to say something in _____. a. one´s words b. different topics c. the same words. a. b. c.

36. The key to making an absolute grading system work is to be painstakingly clear on competencies and ____ and on tests, tasks and other assessment techniques that will figure into the formula for assigning a grade. a. letters b. objectives c. skills. a. b. c.

27. The purpose of extended production is to _____ of language from the test-taker and to allow for more creative construction therefore these tasks are likely to elicit instances of authentic language use. a. put away b. delete c. obtain larger amounts. a. b. c.

13. There is no such thing as a test of grammar or vocabulary that ______ one or more of the separate skills of listening, speaking, reading, or writing. a. Relies b. does not invoke c. trust. a. b. c.

24. These three guidelines: 1) Point out any problems with cohesive devices within and across paragraphs. 2) If appropriate, comment on documentation, citation of sources, evidence, and other support. 3) Comment on the adequacy and strength of the conclusion; should be considered when assessing _____. a. Early stages of peer teaching b. Mid stages of text understanding c. Later stages of composing. a. b. c.

15. To determine if someone is a proficient user of a language, people customarily ask, how well does the person ______. People rarely ask, "Do you understand and speak Spanish? a. speak the language b. understand the written language c. read the language. a. b. c.

21. Topic sentence writing assessment thereof consists of: 1) Specifying the writing of a topic sentence; 2) Scoring points for its presence or absence; and 3) ______. a. Including relevant conclusions on the topic b. Arranging the ideas chronologically c. Scoring and/or commenting on its effectiveness in stating the topic. a. b. c.

17. Using a fifteen minutes lecture as a stimulus, can be considered ___. a. An authentic listening task b. a faked task c. too long a task. a. b. c.

18. We can say that the following dialogue: Detective: Where were you last night at 11:00 p.m, the time of the murder? Man: Uh, let's see, well, I was just starting to see a movie. Detective: Did you go alone? Man: No, uh, well, I was with my friend, uh, Bill. Yeah, I was with Bill. Detective: What did you do after that? Man: We went out to dinner, then I dropped her off at her place. Detective: Then you went home? Man: Yeah. Detective: When did you get home? Man: A little before midnight. as a testing item, is _______. a. a little contrived b. more authentic c. artificial. a. b. c.

20. We can therefore safely say that assessing writing is virtually always _____. a. independent b. integrated c. autonomous. a. b. c.

35. We should strive in all of our grading practices to be _____ and not yield to the temptation to "bend" grades one way or another. a. explicit in our criteria b. fuzzy c. precise in the structure. a. b. c.

22. When assessing responsive writing, the tasks require learners to perform at a limited discourse level, connecting sentences into a _____ and creating a logically connected sequence of two or three paragraphs. a. paragraph b. sentence c. essay. a. b. c.

6. When setting out to design tasks, you should consider three important issues. Which of these do not belong? a. Every speaking task is capable of being isolated for the single skill of oral production. No concurrent involvement of aural comprehension, and possibly writing, is necessary. b. Eliciting the specific criterion you have designated for a task can be tricky because, beyond the word level, spoken language offers a number of productive options to test-takers. Make sure your elicitation prompt achieves its aims as closely as possible. c. Because of these two characteristics of oral production assessment, it is important to carefully specify scoring rubrics for a response so that ultimately you achieve as high a reliability index as possible. a. b. c.

16. Which of the following is not considered a basic type of listening? a. You recognize speech sounds and hold a temporary "imprint" of them in short-term memory. b. you simultaneously determine the type of speech event (monologue, interpersonal dialogue, transactional dialogue) that is being processed and attend to its context (who the speaker is, location, purpose) and the content of the message. c. Several tests that are combined to form an assessment. a. b. c.

21. Which of the following is not a macroskill of writing? a. Use cohesive devices in written discourse. b. Use the rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse. c. Appropriately accomplish the communicative functions of written texts according yo forms and purpose. a. b. c.

16. Which of the following is not considered a microskill of listening? a. I nfer situations, participants, goals using real-world knowledge. b. Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short-term memory. c. Discriminate among the distinctive sounds of English. a. b. c.

23. Which of these three is not considered an initial stage of composing? a. Comment on the introductory paragraph. b. Make general comments about the clarity of the main idea and logic or appropriateness of the organization. c. Comment on the specific clarity and strength of all main ideas and supporting ideas and on argument and logic. a. b. c.

24. Which one is an advantage of holistic scoring? a. Relatively high inter-rater reliability. b. One score masks differences across the subskills within each score. c. The scale may not apply equally well to all genres of writing. a. b. c.

1. Which one is not considered a microskill of speaking? a. Produce reduced forms of words and phrases. b. Use an adequate number of lexical units (words) to accomplish pragmatic purposes. c. Appropriately accomplish communicative functions according to situations, participants, and goals. a. b. c.

8. With an extraordinary number of _____ present in any literate culture, the reader's ability to process texts must be very sophisticated. a. genres b. writers c. tests. a. b. c.

10. “Write a summary of the text. Your summary should be about one paragraph in length (100-1 50 words) and should include your understanding of the main idea and supporting ideas.” Is an instruction for assessing ____ a. summarizing b. skimming c. scanning. a. b. c.

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13. Assessment virtually always implies a “two-way street” between the ______: A set of questions or prompts is produced by the teacher and comprehended by the test taker. a. Teacher and students b. Tests and items c. Chairman and test takers. a. b. c.

15. The micro- and macro skills provide _____ different objectives to assess in listening. a. ten b. seventeen c. seven. a. b. c.

33. AII of the components of a final grade need to be ______ in writing to students at the beginning of a term of study, with a designation of percentages or weighting figures for each component. a. expressely deleted b. dubiously written c. explicitly stated. a. b. c.