ACTION RESEARCH

 

Criteria of Good Language Test Unit III

 

A language assessment typically seeks to assess the comprehensive knowledge a student has acquired about a language, encompassing all four essential skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The examination must align with the designated syllabus and employ clear and straightforward language. The questions should strike a balance, being neither overly challenging nor overly simple. Hence, the importance of a robust language evaluation process is paramount. Achieving this necessitates a well-designed language test that incorporates all the relevant attributes.The criteria of a good language test are:

Validity:- It suggests that a test should align with its intended testing objectives. To put it simply, the validity of a test refers to how accurately it measures what it is designed to measure

Validity is of three types:

(a) Face Validity, When someone looks at the test, even at a quick glance, they should be able to recognize its relevance and connection to what has been taught during the course or learning process. In other words, the test items should reflect the knowledge and skills that were taught, making it apparent that the test is an appropriate measure of what the students were expected to learn. When there is a strong match between the test and the teaching content, the validity of the test is enhanced.

Face Validity

 Lowest level of determining validity of the test.

Degree to which a test appears to measure what it claims to measure.

Looking into the question items.

 (b) Content Validity, which means the test should contain questions on every important content in appropriate proportion so that nothing remains unchecked.

It is degree to which a test measures an indented area The other names of content validity are rational validity/logical validity/curricular /internal/intrinsic validity.

Ex.   A test  is designed to measure knowledge of biology facts would have good items validity if all the items are relevant to biology but poor sampling validity if the test items are about vertebrates only .

 

(c) Empirical Validity, also known as statistical validity, attempts to empirically validate the test by co-relating the scores of the students with their scores on the criterion test.

Reliability:- Reliability in the context of testing refers to the consistency or stability of test scores. If a test is reliable, it means that if the same individual takes the test multiple times under similar conditions, the results obtained should be highly consistent or very similar each time, regardless of any minor changes in circumstances. In other words, the test should yield reliable and reproducible outcomes.

Usability:- This aspect pertains to the pragmatic considerations of the test. Several practical factors need to be taken into account when creating a language test. For instance, the test's length should strike a balance between being neither overly long nor excessively short. It should also be designed for easy administration. Additionally, scorability is a crucial factor that demands significant attention during test preparation.

Objectivity:- test can be considered objective when each of its questions has a clear and precise answer, leaving no room for differing opinions among examiners. The efficiency of an objective test lies in its ability to ensure that the personal thoughts or biases of the examiner do not influence the evaluation or results. The evaluation process should be entirely free from subjectivity. Therefore, a test should strive to maximize its objectivity. In this context, Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) or Objective Type Questions are highly advantageous as they eliminate subjective elements in the examination process.

Comprehensiveness:- The questions asked in an examination should aim to encompass both the core content knowledge and the related qualities or skills associated with the subject being tested.This approach guarantees that all aspects of the measured or tested ability are thoroughly evaluated and nothing essential is overlooked. By covering a diverse range of relevant topics and skills, the examination can provide a more holistic view of the individual's capabilities and understanding in the given subject.

Feasibility-The test should be practical and easy to administer, considering factors such as time constraints, available resources, and the number of test takers

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SSA

NCF AND MATHEMATICS

principle of assessment

 

Determiners, Auxiliaries and Modals unit IV

 Determiners, Auxiliaries and Modals unit IV

Determiners:- Determiners are words, such as articles or possessive adjectives (a, an, the, this, that, these, those, every, each, some, any, my, his, one, two, etc.), which determine or limit the meaning of a noun or noun phrase and precede other adjectives which accompany them.

 For instance, in the phrases the new car, his young children, her old hockey sticks, girls, any clever man, the words the, his, her, both, and any are determiners. Most of the modern grammars include determiners among the parts of speech. However, in many traditional grammars, all determiners except a, an, and they have been categorized as adjectives.

Auxiliaries:- The verbs like be, am, is, was, have, do, etc., when used with ordinary verbs to make tenses, passive forms, questions and negatives, are called auxiliary verbs or auxiliaries. Auxiliary verbs are also known as helping verbs.

The auxiliary be is used

 In the formation of the continuous tenses; as, Saumyaranjan  is reading, I was playing.

 In the formation of the passive; as, The gate was opened.

Be followed by the infinitive is used

 To indicate a future plan, arrangement, or agreement; as, I am to see him tomorrow, We are to be married next month.

 To denote command; as, You are to write your name at the top of each sheet of paper, Mother says you are to go to market at once.

The auxiliary have is used

 In the formation of the perfect tenses; as, He has worked, He has been working.

 With the infinitive to indicate future obligation; as, I have to be there by five o’clock, He has to move the furniture himself.

 To express obligation in the past; as, I had to be there by five o'clock, and He had to move the furniture himself.

In negatives and questions, have to and had to are used with do, does, did; as,

They have to go -- They don’t have to go. Do they have to go?

He has to go. -- He doesn’t have to go. Does he have to go?

He had to go. -- He didn’t have to go. Did he have to go?

The auxiliary do is used

 To form the negative and interrogative of the simple present and simple past tenses of ordinary verbs; as, He doesn't work, He didn’t work, and Does he work? Did he work?

 To avoid repetition of a previous ordinary verb; as, Do you know him? Yes, I do, She sings well, Yes, she does, and You met him, didn't you? He eats fish and so do you.

 To emphasize the affirmative nature of a statement; as, You do look pale, I told him not to go, but he did go.

 In the imperative, do makes a request or invitation more persuasive; as, Do walk

carefully, Oh, do come! It's going to be such fun. In such cases do is strongly stressed.

 

 

 

Modals:- The verbs can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must, and ought are called modal verbs or modals. They are used before ordinary verbs and express meanings such as permission, possibility, certainty and necessity. Need and dare can sometimes be used like modal verbs.

Modals are often included in the group of auxiliaries. In some grammars they are called modal auxiliaries”. The modals can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, and ought are sometimes also termed Defective Verbs, because some parts are wanting in them. They have no -s in the third person singular and also no infinitive and ing forms.

Use of Can, Could, May, Might:

 Can usually expresses ability or capacity; as, I can swim across the river, Can you lift this box?

 Can and May are also used to express permission. May is rather formal; as, You can/may go now; Can/May I borrow your umbrella?

 May is used to express possibility in affirmative sentences; as, It may rain tomorrow, and He may be at home.

 Can is used in the corresponding interrogative and negative sentences; as, Can this be true? It cannot be true. Compare It cannot be true with It may not be true. Cannot denotes impossibility, while may not denotes improbability.

 In very formal English, may is used to express a wish; as, May you live happily! May success attend you!

 Could and might are used as the past equivalents of can and may; as: I could swim across the river when I was young. (Ability)

He said one might/could go. (Permission)

I thought he might be at home. (Possibility)

She wondered whether it could be true. (Possibility)

 Could, as in the first example above, expresses only ability to do an act, but not the performance of an act. In present-time contexts could and might are used as less positive versions of can and may; as:

I could attend the party. (Less positive and more hesitant than I can attend the party.)

Might/Could I borrow your bicycle? (A diffident way of saying May/Can I……’)

It might rain tomorrow. (Less positive than ‘It may rain……’)

Could you pass me the salt? (Polite request).

 Might is also used to express a degree of dissatisfaction or reproach; as, You might pay a little more attention to your appearance.

Use of Shall, Should, Will, Would:

 Shall is used in the first person and will in all persons to express pure future. However, these days, there is a growing tendency to use will in all persons and as a result I/we shall is used less commonly than I/we will; as,

I shall/will be twenty five next birthday,

We will need the money on 15th,

When shall we see you again?

You will see that I am right.

 Shall is sometimes used in the second and third persons to express a command, a promise, or threat; as,

He shall not enter my house again. (Command)

You shall have a holiday tomorrow. (Promise)

You shall be punished for this. (Threat)

 Questions with shall I/we are used to ask the will of the person addressed; as,

Shall I open the door? (i,e., Do you want me to open it?)

Which pen shall I buy? (i.e., What is your advice?)

Where shall we go? (What is your suggestion?)

Will is used to express:

 Volition; as, I will (am willing to) carry your books, I will (promise to) try to do

better next time, I will (am determined to) succeed or die in the attempt. In the last

example above, will is strong-stressed.

 Characteristic habit; as, He will talk about nothing but films; She will sit for hours listening to the wireless.

 Assumption or probability; as, This will be the chance you want, I suppose, That will be the moment, I think.

 Will you? indicates an invitation or a request; as, Will you have tea? Will you lend me your scooter?

 Should and would are used as the past equivalents of shall and will – as

I should have worked hard.

I expected that I would get a first class.

He said he would be twenty-five next birthday.

She said she would carry my books.

She would sit for hours listening to the wireless, (Past habit)

 Should is used in all persons to express duty or obligation; as, We should obey the

laws,

You should keep your promise, Children should obey their parents.

 Should and would are also used as in the examples below:

I should (or: would) like you to help her. (Here used as a polite form of ‘want’).

Would you lend me your scooter, please? (Here as more polite than ‘Will you?’).

I should have been more quick. (With perfect infinitive indicates a past obligation).

He should be in the library now. (Expresses probability)

I wish you would not chatter so much. (‘Would’ after wish expresses a strong desire).

Use of Must, Ought to:

Must is used:

 To express necessity or obligation; as, You must improve your handwriting, We

must get up early.

 

Types of Language Tests

the broad purpose of language testing is to evaluate the success or otherwise of a language teaching programme.

Testing acts as a sequel to the classroom teaching.

It provides information about the outcomes and necessary feedback for both teaching and learning.

Learners can be tested before, during, and/or, after undertaking a teaching programme. On this basis, language tests can be divided into the following types:

Ø Placement/Entrance Test: - This type of test is carried out to select students for certain language teaching programme in educational institutions at any level. 

In this type of test, students are sorted out in groups with the purpose in mind that they can start a course at approximately the same level as the other students in the class. 

This type of test aims at assessing all the four skills of language—Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening.

Examples in India are TEOFL and British Council etc. Almost all the universities in India conduct entrance tests.

Ø Aptitude Test: - This type of test aims to measure ability in respect of some specific role or task. It is designed to assess suitability or otherwise of a candidate for a special course as different people have different aptitudes for a variety of skills and disciplines. This kind of a test helps to check how much capable a person is in taking up a specific role, task or course.

Ø Diagnostic Test: - A Diagnostic Test identifies or diagnoses strengths and weaknesses of students during a course.

Its main aim is to check how much the students have learnt particular material in a particular duration of a course.

Like a doctor, a teacher must diagnose students’ weaknesses and the defects of his own teaching, if any. Consequently, a teacher should come up with appropriate remedial measures. It has been found that teacher-made tests in the classroom provide good help to plug weaknesses.

Ø Achievement Test: - This type of test is also called Summative or Attainment Test.

It is conducted at the end of a course or teaching programme to comprehensively evaluate the overall progress and competence level of students.

It is more formal in operation and is closely tied to a particular course, for instance, Mid-term, Bi-annual or Annual.

It is aimed to cover the whole prescribed syllabus of the course. As such, it is economically more demanding and involves a lot of preparation, man power and resources.

Ø Proficiency Test: This type of test is not tied to any particular syllabus or curriculum.

This tests aims at checking the learners’ ability to communicate in the future actual events of life.

Through this test, the students must show that they possess necessary competence in using language (Language Competence) appropriately in any and all situations. They should be able to create meanings by exploring the potential inherent in any language. This type of test is informal in operation and tries to assess the competence of learners in using language in social settings, situations and contexts.

TEACHING POETRY UNIT III

 

TEACHING POETRY

(“Poetry beings in delight and ends in wisdom:” – Robert frost)

S. T. Coleridge believes that ‘poetry is the best words in their best order’.

Poetry is for pleasure. To Robert Frost “Poetry beings in Delight and ends in Wisdom”. It is clear that we read poetry in order to get some pleasure and enjoy the beauty of the language. We not only appreciate the ideas and thoughts but also the way in which the thoughts and ideas have been presented.

 

The place of poetry in a second Language.

At the secondary school level, the learners can understand and enjoy poetry in their mother – tongue (e.g, odia) because they

- Know the language well,

- Are familiar with the culture, context and the experience of the poem,

But the learners cannot understand and enjoy poems in a second language (English) because they:

- Do not know the language very well,

- Are not familiar with the culture, the context and the experience of the poem.

- Have not yet developed their linguistic and communicative competence,

- Find everything foreign to them: the language, the ideas, the culture, the context, etc

 

The Importance of poetry

Despite the above arguments against teaching poetry in English at the secondary level, there are some advantages of poetry lessons which are as follows:

 

(i) Develop in the pupils a favorable attitude towards the language,

(ii) Help in teaching some idiomatic and grammatical constructions

(iii) Help in improving learner’s pronunciation.

 

Objectives of Poetry Lessons

The objectives of teaching poetry at the secondary level may be as follows:

(i) To give listening practice to the students

(ii) To give speaking practice to the learners

(iii) To enable the students to recite the poem in proper way so that they may enjoy its music and rhythm.

(iv) To enable them to understand the beauty of thought.

(v) To enable them to improve their power of imagination

(vi) To enable them to appreciate the poem by awakening in them the aesthetic qualities of appreciation.

(vii) To make them familiar with the back ground of the poem.

(viii) To develop love for English language.

 

 

The Process of Teaching the Poem can be in three Main Stages.

1. Preparation

2. Presentation

3. Discussion

 

1. Preparation:

a. Equipping the students for a quick grasp of the main out of the poem.

b. Familiarizing (not through explanation) them with the most important words and expressions.

c. Ensuring that the ideas involved in the poem are not beyond his reach.

 

The lesson should be introduced on the basis of previous knowledge.

 

 

2. Presentation

The teacher recites / reads out the poem with the proper pronunciation, intonation and facial expression (a second reading/ recital can also be done if necessary).

Afterwards, the teacher should present the Main Idea of the poem in few lines so that the students become familiar with the theme of the poem. After the Introduction and Main Idea, the teacher

should make a First Model Reading of the poem with students listening keenly and not opening their textbooks. 

After this, for a proper understanding of the poem, the teacher should make its Second Model Reading with students keeping their textbooks open.

3. Discussion-Books Open

The teacher need not explain every word or every line. She can ask simple questions to ensure whether the pupils have understood the poem. Even if a few students ask the meaning of words like catamarans, leaping wealth, she can show pictures, or pose questions to the clan and elicit the answer.

Further reading

When the whole poem has been presented and discussed this way , it may be read over by the teacher again once or twice (depending on the students need).

As a concluding part of discussion you may initiate the children.

a. To quote parallel incidents /recite poems in their mother tongue with parallel themes.

b. To draw pictures or point some beautiful scenes that appeal to their mind.

c. To enact the poem.

d. To pick out the rhyming words.

 

Teaching of Prose and Lesson Planning

 

According to Coleridge, “prose is words in their best order “

Prose is meant for learning a language. Teaching prose means teaching reading with comprehension. 

The learners are taught the skill of reading. 

Having taught the students how to read a language, the next logical step is to teach them reading with comprehension. 

Teaching prose enables the students to understand the passage, to read fluently, to enrich their vocabulary and to enjoy reading and writing. 

It enables the learners to extend their knowledge of vocabulary and structures and to become more proficient in the four language skills.

 It develops the ability of speaking English correctly and fluently.

The main aims of teaching prose are:

(i) Literary enrichment and

(ii) Content knowledge

 

To achieve these aims of the teaching of prose should be intensive as also extensive.

 

 

Aims of Teaching Prose:

Teaching of prose is the intensive study of language, structure and vocabulary. It main objective is to develop the language ability of the students. This ability makes the child understand and use English language without any problem. Thus a detailed study concentrates both on language study and comprehension of ideas or linguistic skills. The general aims are as follows.

General Aims of Teaching Prose:

To enable the students

1. To understand the passage and grasp its meaning

2. To read with correct pronunciation, stress, intonation pause and articulation of voice.

3. To understand the passage by silent reading.

4. To enrich their active and passive vocabulary.

5. To express the ideas of the passage orally and in writing.

6. To enjoy reading and writing.

7. To develop their imagination.

8. To prepare for world citizenship.

 

Specific Aims

These vary according to the subject matter depending upon whether it is a story, biography, play or an essay.

For these the specific aims are as follows;

Story

To enable the students

1. To learn a few facts through the story.

2. To teach some morals

3. To mould ones character

4. To acquaint with the style of story writing

Essay

1. To get students to grasp a few facts through the essay.

2. To make students curious about the subject of the essay.

3. To acquaint students with the style of essay – writing.

4. To enable students to arrange ideas in organized manner.

 

 

Biography

1. To get students acquainted with the lives and deeds of great men.

2. To reveal to the students the path of character building.

3. To make them aspire for better things in life.

4. To inculcate in them desirable sentiments.

 

Play

1. To provide the students with opportunities for self- expression.

2. To make them speak English in the conversational style.

3. To make them play different roles.

4. To build their character.

 

The steps involved in teaching Prose:

A prose lesson contains structures, vocabulary and ideas for comprehension. 

The students must have a mastery over the sounds, structure and vocabulary before reading the passage / lesson. 

The main objective of teaching prose is to help the students use the structures and vocabulary he can read with comprehension and write a few sentences about the lesson using the appropriate structures and content words . 

Therefore a prose lesson is not for memorizing question and answers but for learning a language. The steps for teaching of prose may be summed up as follows.

 

Introducing the prose lesson

The introduction has two purposes

i. To bring the past knowledge to consciousness.

ii. To win students attention to the new subject

English is a foreign language and India students find it difficult. So teachers should try to motivate students to study the lesson. 

All the efforts made by the teacher to attract students to learn the lesson. It includes the material aids, previous knowledge of the students and introduction.

The teacher can introduce the lesson through appropriate question or through showing pictures models etc. 

However he should not start the topic directly. The introductory question arouses curiosity among the students for the new lesson.

 Hence the teacher should first ask some question to test the previous knowledge of the students and then link that to the subject to be taught.

 

Teaching Structures:

When presenting new structural items, we should primarily achieve two things:

a. To enable the students to identify the new structures.

b. To make absolutely clear its meaning and use.

 

To achieve (a) above, the teacher must supply clear models of the structures. Some believe that plenty of examples should be given bringing the pattern out clearly .

In this connection substitution table is of great help as it highlights the elements of the pattern and their order and nature.

One of the ways of achieving (b) is to present the structures in readily understandable situation. 

This helps the students not only to understand the meaning of the new item but also its use in different contexts. Later they are provided with opportunities to use the structures themselves.

 

3. Dividing the text in to smaller units.

 

Reading passages sometimes happen to be very long making it tiresome to work though them from beginning to end. In such a case the text will have to be split up in to shorter, more manageable units or sections. This will facilitate the teacher to present the lesson before the students interestingly and efficiently.

 

Teaching Vocabulary:

The teacher selects the new words from the subtopic and exposes their meaning one after the other. To give clear ideas to students he may use an object, a model or a picture. Sometimes through situation he may explain the meaning.

The purposes of exposition are;

i. To clear the meaning of difficult words, phrases and India.

ii. To make the comprehension of the passage easy.

iii. To pave way for intensive reading.

 

5. Model reading by the Teacher:

In this step, the teacher should read out his selected passage loudly before the students. At the time of reading he/she should be very careful about the pronunciation, words phrases and intonation. Since the students learn to read through imitation the teacher should take the utmost pains to impose his / he own reading aloud.

This model reading helps the students for aural comprehension. Before doing model reading, the teacher should give instructions to students regarding postures, opening of the book and attention. While reading he should not completely absorb himself in the book.

 

6. Silent Reading by the students:

Here the teacher gives time for the students to read the passage silently such type of reading is helpful for rapid reading, learning of new words and a quick grasp of meaning. Silent reading should continue for a limited time, say for 5 or 10 minutes for a single passage.

7. Testing Comprehension

 

In this step the teacher asks some question from the present passage to the students to text to what extent the students have comprehended the meaning of the passage.

These questions should be based on the very passage taught by the teacher and they should be direct, short and objective based.

 

8. Testing Application

The main aims of application test is to evaluate to what extent the objectives of a lesson have been achieved. The question may be of oral or written type.

After the teaching of structure or vocabulary teaching to do the exercises at the end of the lesson.

 

9. Loud Reading by the students

 

Now is the time when the teacher can ask the students to read out the passage loudly one by one?

This loud reading is very much helpful to the students for clear pronunciation. It also improves the to he, rhythm and fluency. But a student should read long passage. Each student should read a few lines from the passage.

In the regard the following points can be given special consideration.

i. The errors of pronunciation must be corrected at the end of the reading.

ii. Students should be asked to keep the books 25/30 cm. away from the eyes.

iii. They should hold the book in the left hand while the right hand should be kept free.

 

The teacher will therefore need to exercise great care whenever the students are asked to read aloud. As the students have already learnt all the new words, structures and as they have also understood the text, the chances for success in reading aloud are greater than they are at the beginning.

 

10. Giving Assignment

 

After the classroom talks are completed the teacher can give some assignment which could be of the following types:

i. To remember the meaning and spelling of new words.

ii. To use the words in sentences

iii. To write the gist of the passage.

iv. To answer questions on the passage.

v. To do the exercises based on the structures taught.