Testing Vocabulary Miss.Mona AL-Kahtani. The purpose of testing vocabulary: to measure the comprehension and the production of words used in speaking

Testing Vocabulary

Miss.Mona AL-Kahtani

The purpose of testing vocabulary:

to measure the comprehension and the production of words used in speaking and writing.


What words to test??

Sources: Course Syllabus Record words the students misuse. Textbook, reader, and exercise manual.


How do we test vocabulary?

It is related to the how we teach it.

=================================

Checking vocabulary mastery can be adjusted to match your emphasis on oral or written skills.


Informal evaluation

a. Homework exercises

b. Classroom practice

It can be used as a progress tests. It has positive backwash effect. Why ??


Types of vocabulary tests


Write down as many questions to test

vocabulary as possible?Group-work activity


How can we test vocabulary for

beginners/children?


Limited Response

((Physical response + visual aids))


a. Individual testing

Ask the students to perform certain tasks.

E.g.

“Go to ….”

“ Show me your …”


Yes/no questions+ visual aids.

e.g. The teacher shows the student a green book and asks , “Is this book green?”


b. Group Testing

Give commands + pictures

e.g.Draw a circle around the girl.


Clock

e.g.

Draw the hands on the clock showing that it is 4:40


Match the sentence with the picture.

e.g.Circle the picture that matches “My friend is eating”


Target students:

Children

Beginning level adults


It can be used with advanced students. How?


Advantage of limited response

It causes less stress than other types of tests. (positive backwash effect)

It avoids skills that have not been mastered yet (i.e. reading and writing)

It can be scored easily and objectively


Limitation of limited response

It takes long time when it is done individually.

It is difficult to test abstract words.

Sketches can be ambiguous.


TAKE A MINUTE AND CONSTRUCT A VOCABULARY TEST ITEM FOR KIDS/ BEGINNERS TO TEST THEIR

KNOWLEDGE OF “COLORS.”


Activity sheet 3 – Part TWO . Q.4

Multiple-choice completion

)they have to choose the correct answer(


She quickly ______ her lunch.

a. drank

b. ate

c. drove

d. slept


How do we construct such question? Select the word to be tested.

Write an appropriate stem

Choose distracters.

Prepare clear and simple instructions


Vocabulary choice

Passive vocabulary. Content words Function words

be careful of bias (content, culture, sex)


Context preparation (stem) Provide a clear context.

“Human beings ……………..in many ways”

a. interrogate

b. philosophy

c. communicate*

d. investigate


Some people ………………..disapproval by holding their nose between their thumb and the forefinger.”

a. interrogate

b. philosophy

c. communicate*

d. investigate


“Frank is certainly very superstitious”

؟؟؟

Frank is very ____; he says, ‘Break a mirror, and you will have a bad luck.”

a. ambitious

b. superstitious

c. courteous

d. optimistic


The stem should not be too difficult

“Present an analogy which implies the concept you wish to convey”

؟؟

”he did not actually say so, but he implied that you lied.”


Distractor preparation

Source:

a. Experience

b. Students’ errors


She had to help the ____ old man up the stairs.

a. weak*

b. slowly

c. wisdom

d. try


Distractors should have the same form

She needed to get up earlier so she bought an ___ clock.

a. timeb. alarm*c. watchd. bell


Don’t give away the right answer through grammatical cues.

They needed lots of training to operate such ____ equipment.

a. easyb. sophisticated*c. blued. wise


Disctractors should be about the same level of difficulty.

She sent the ____ yesterday.

a. letter*

b. gift

c. food

d. books


There should be only one correct answer.

Instruction preparation

It should be brief.

It should be clear.

“Circle the letter of the word that best complete each sentence”


Alternative forms of multiple-choice completion

Multiple-choice cloze


Target students:

Those who can read in the foreign language.

Why?


WORKSHEET 4 – Q.1

Q.1. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES

OF USING MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION TO TEST

VOCABULARY?


Advantages of multiple-choice completion It helps students to see the full meaning of

words. Why???*

Discourage word list memorization.

Scoring is easy and consistent.

It is a sensitive measure of achievement.


Limitations of multiple-choice completion It is difficult to prepare.

It is easy for the students to cheat.


ACTIVITY SHEET 4 – Q.2

TAKE A MINUTE AND PREPARE A MULTIPLE

COMPLETION TEST ITEM FOR THE WORD “PATIENT” AS AN

ADJ.


Multiple-choice Paraphrase)They have to choose the best synonym or

paraphrase(


Q. Circle the word which is closet in the meaning of the underlined word.

He was irate when he heard about the new plans.

a. interestedb. surprisesc. angry*d. sad


Sometimes, we can not find an equivalent for some words.

??

Definition“My brother is a pilot. He can ……a. help sick peopleb. make clothesc. fly an airplane.*d. teaches students at school.


So, we shift to multiple choice completion . item

Distractors preparation Choose words that are related to the

subject covered.

“He just hit his shin”

a. leg Xb. cousin

c. fender

d. fruit


Avoid antonyms**

”He plans to purchase some candy for his mother.”

a. make

b. buy*

c. sell

d. steal


Remember! You do not have to worry whether these options fit the context or not because we are looking for a SYNONYM of the underlined word.

Avoid synonyms

“His remorse was great indeed.”

a. wealth

b. sadness*

c. strength X

d. power X


Avoid tricky items with close spelling or sound contrast.*

“They crossed the ocean on a liner”

a. sheep

b. streamer

c. bolt

d. vessel*


Distractors should be of the same length.

”That boy is very unusual; he is genius.

a. can see the future

b. has received much money

c. has usual mental, inventive, and creative ability*

d. has a terrible illness.


Advantage of multiple-choice paraphrase Context preparation is easy

Scoring is easy and consistent.

It is a sensitive measurement of achievement.


Limitation of multiple-choice paraphrase It is difficult to find good synonyms.

It is easy for the students to cheat.


WORKSHEET 4, Q.3

TAKE A MINUTE AND PREPARE A MULTIPLE

PARAPHRASE TEST ITEM FOR THE WORD “RAPIDLY”


Simple Completion

)Fill in the missing parts of words that appear in sentences(


How to construct this type of questions?

No distractors List the prefixes and suffixes that you have

taught your students. Match these to content words they have

studied. Prepare a sentence that clarify the

meaning of this word. Write clear, and simple instructions


Q. Complete the following sentences with the missing prefix if necessary.

“My teach___ is very helpful.”

“Did she teach____ you anything?”


Vocabulary choice

From what the students have studied.


Context preparation**

“ He was a very nerv___ person”

???

“That was a care___ answer.”

???


Provide enough context.

So,

“Yesterday he got on the wrong bus. So today he was care___ to find the right one.”


Instruction preparation

“Complete the words in these sentences. When nothing is needed, put an X in the blank.”


Alternative forms of simple- completion Items.

Stem- first procedure.

“(beauty) she has a ______ new dress.

Phrasal context.

“An ____ convenient delay.”“


Compounds

“He found the bedroom, but he could not open the door to the clothes _____”

Inflectional cloze


Advantages of the simple completion:

It is faster and easier to construct.

Limitation of the simple completion: Fewer words can be tested this way.

There is some difficulty in avoiding ambiguous context.


TAKE A MINUTE AND PREPARE A SIMPLE

COMPLETION TEST ITEM TO TEST “-NESS”


Assignment

Check the word document in my websitehttp://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/mona/default.aspx


Documents

Testing Vocabulary Miss.Mona AL-Kahtani. The purpose of testing vocabulary: to measure the comprehension and the production of words used in speaking