Language Assessment Principles Flashcards

Assessment Terminology and Concepts

• Test Usefulness: Refers to the practical application of assessments to achieve specific educational outcomes.
• Test Specifications: A comprehensive outline detailing assessment content, item types, scoring methods, and student reporting.
• Elicitation Modes: Methods in which questions or prompts are delivered during assessments (oral or written).
• Response Modes: The formats in which students reply in assessments, including oral and written responses.
• Level Check: Assessment items designed to evaluate specific educational objectives.

Assessment Item Types

• Probe: Items that assess knowledge beyond basic objectives, gauging deeper understanding.
• Warm-up/Wind-down: Non-scored questions used to ease students' anxiety before or after assessments.
• Selective Response: Test items where students choose from a list of provided responses.
• Supply: A response type requiring test-takers to select from predetermined options.

Assessment Structure

• Stem: The part of an assessment item that presents the question or prompt.
• Options/Alternatives: The potential answers in a multiple-choice format, usually labeled A, B, C, and D.
• Key: The correct answer in a multiple-choice item.
• Distractors: Incorrect answer choices designed to challenge test-takers in multiple-choice assessments.

Item Analysis

• Item Facility: Measures how easy or difficult an item is for a particular group of test-takers.
• Item Discrimination: Evaluates how well an item differentiates between high- and low-achieving students.
• Item Response Theory: Explores the relationship between abilities and responses to assessment items.

Assessment Effectiveness

• Distractor Efficiency: Assesses the effectiveness of distractors in misleading test-takers, particularly those with lower ability.
• Standards-Based Assessment: Focused procedures designed to evaluate specific competencies set in educational standards.
• Performance Levels: Criteria or standards that define expected achievement in assessments.

Assessment Standards

• Benchmarks: Established reference points or standards used to measure educational performance.

Specific Assessment Programs

• CASAS: The Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System, evaluating ESL programs across the U.S.
• SCANS: A set of workplace competencies developed by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.

Testing Impact

• High-Stakes Testing: The significant consequences that standardized tests impose on students, determining advancement or opportunity.
• Consequential Validity: The social and systemic effects resulting from a given assessment's implementation.
• Test Bias: The systematic disadvantage certain groups face due to test design or interpretation, adversely affecting students from diverse backgrounds.

Learning and Teaching Dynamics

• Test-Driven Learning: Positive motivation among students when performance on a test directly impacts their future opportunities.
• Test-Driven Teaching: Pressure on educators due to high-stakes tests, potentially leading to narrowed curricular focus.