Teach english new edition r

Conclusions I 
In this chapter we have:
■ discussed the different reasons that students take tests, and detailed the differences 
between placement tests, progress tests, achievement tests, public examinations and 
proficiency tests.
■ said that good tests are both valid and reliable - and that face validity (‘looking 
good’) is also important.
■ mentioned the fact that test design may be influenced by physical constraints (e.g. 
time and money).
■ talked about the washback effect which can sometimes persuade teachers to work 
only on exam preparation with their students while ignoring general language 
development. We have said this is not usually a good thing. We talked about the 
effect of success or failure in tests on students’ motivation.
■ looked at examples of different test types and items including discrete test items (one 
thing at a time) and integrative test items (where students use a variety of language 
and skills); direct test items (where students are asked to do things with the language
- e.g. writing a report) and indirect test items (where they are tested about the 
language - e.g. grammar tests).
■ discussed the issue of subjectivity when it comes to marking tests and shown how 
marking scales can counter such subjectivity - though if they are over-detailed they 
may become cumbersome.
■ said that when preparing tests, we need to decide what we want to test and how 
important each part of a test is in relation to the other parts. We said that teachers 
should show their tests to colleagues and try them out before using them ‘for real’.
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What if?