Chapter 6: Listening comprehension tests pptx

Chapter 6: Listening comprehension tests I. General  Careful selected practice material  an effective way of developing listening skill  used for testing listening comprehension  an awareness of ways in which the spoken language differs from the written language is crucially important in testing listening comprehension skills  some conventional features such as repetition, hesitation and grammatical patterns are essential for the understanding of spoken English  the tape recorder is the only way of ensuring compete uniformity of presentation and thus a high degree of reliability  auditory tests are divided into two broad categories: (i) tests of phoneme discrimination and of sensitivity to stress and intonation, and (ii) tests of listening comprehension II. Phoneme discrimination tests  Type 1: The test consists of a picture, accompanied by three or four words spoken by the examiner in person or tape.  Type 2: The testees hear three sentences and have to indicate which are the same and which are different.  Type 3: Testees are required to choose the written word which corresponds to the spoken word. Notes  These items  used for diagnostic testing purposes, enabling the teacher to concentrate later on specific pronunciation  They  useful when candidates having the same L1 background & when a contrastive analysis of L1 & L2 can be used.  The ability to discriminate between certain phonemes  very difficult for native speakers. III. Tests of stress and intonation Tests of stress and intonation: less satisfactory than the phoneme discrimination tests b/c of # reasons:  Most tests are impure as they test other skills at the same time.  These items are artificial as they test rarer but more testable features. IV. Statements and dialogues These tests designed to measure:  how well students can understand short samples of speech  how well they deal with a variety of signals on lexical and grammatical levels of phonology TYPE 1  included in a grammar test, reading test or listening test , depending on whether the item is written or spoken  testing ability to understand both the grammatical and lexical features of a short utterance. (Candidates hear a statement and choose the best option from the four ones) TYPE 2  These items are an attempt to simulate speech situations (so they are more satisfactory that those of type 1)  Testees listen to a short question and have to select the correct response from a choice of four printed ones. (part II, TOEIC) V. Testing comprehension through visual materials  These item types  more appropriate for the elementary stages of learning English.  Pictures, maps and diagrams  used effectively for testing.  Testees’ performance: less dependent on other skills like reading & speaking and vocabulary [...]... appropriate picture being described (page 72) TYPE 3 used in a number of listening tests  testees see a set of three or four pictures  they hear a statement & choose the most appropriate picture being described (page 73) TYPE 4  Simple diagrams (lines, squares, rectangles, circles & triangles) used in a test of elementary comprehension  Candidates look at each of the 4 diagrams and then hear a series . Chapter 6: Listening comprehension tests I. General  Careful selected practice material  an effective way of developing listening skill  used for testing listening comprehension  an. reliability  auditory tests are divided into two broad categories: (i) tests of phoneme discrimination and of sensitivity to stress and intonation, and (ii) tests of listening comprehension II native speakers. III. Tests of stress and intonation Tests of stress and intonation: less satisfactory than the phoneme discrimination tests b/c of # reasons:  Most tests are impure as they