Background and Goals - part 5
For example (See Appendix A), in Test 1.2 (a test of understanding instructions and circling the correct object or animal on a printed page) in the instructions were the following:
..... Do not say that this is a test. Just present it as another activity. To avoid copying, perhaps you can say that the best will get a prize. In this way those who feel that they know the answer will not show their friends!
Thus great lengths were taken to prevent the children becoming anxious. We will examine in the results of the teacher's questionnaire whether or not all these precautions were necessary and to what extent they worked.
This model should be applicable to any first year program of spoken English to children of similar ages to assess the success of different steps of learning and to attain the success of the program itself.
2. The need to get fuller samples of conversational English The children are too young and their language knowledge and experience too little (first months of spoken English) to be able to carry out interviews, role play, group discussions or any such sophisticated technique that would be applicable to older and more advanced students. Most of the tests involve carrying out instructions with pencil and paper, or saying simple words in team games. Also elicitation pictures were used as a way of getting the children to show their command of conversational English.
Method
If we look at Bachman's model (1990) for test methods, we see that in that which concerns the facets of testing environment:
- the place of the testing was the normal classroom which was familiar and expected "to be less threatening than an unfamiliar one." (Bachman, 1990).
- the person giving the testing was the familiar class teacher,
- the time of testing was the morning. It might have been interesting to examine if the children did better on tests given earlier in the morning than those given late in the morning.
- no special attention was given to physical conditions such as temperature or seating.
Concerning test rubric, as far as test organization is concerned, each test was an activity which was complete in itself. The tests of aural comprehension were pen and paper tests, each divided into 10 questions with answers to be drawn or circled. The tests of oral production were either team games or a very short individual interview about a picture coloured. The sequence and relative importance of parts was not a relevant factor as all of the tests were all given on separate occasions. Time allocation is also not a factor as the nature of the tests is so that all the students had ample time to answer each question.
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 1
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 2
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 3
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 4
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 5
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 6
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 7
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 8
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 9
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 10
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 11
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 12
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 13
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 14
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 15