Teacher development and assessment literacy

Appendix C:

Assessment Literacy Test for High School Foreign Language Teachers

Part 1:
Terminology		 Part 2:
Procedures		 Part 3:
Test Interpretation		 Part 4:
Assessment Ethics

PART IV. Assessment Ethics

(A) Multiple choice questions

INSTRUCTIONS: elect the choice (A) - (D) that best answers each question. Note that some items have more than one "correct" possible response. Some questions in this section might also have no entirely correct response.

45. Which of the following is NOT an ethical means of helping students prepare for a test?


46. A teacher wants her students to get their test results as quickly as possible. She places their
scored tests on a chair outside of her room immediately after school. What problem(s) are there
with this procedure?


47. A teacher notices an error in her school entrance exam after the exam was administered.
One multiple choice question had two possible correct answers. What should the teacher do?


48. In a classroom exam administered to fifty of your students, you noticed that none of them
answered one question that was in the exam correctly. What should you do?


49. Shortly after the start of a 30-item midterm test in your class, you notice that two
students glancing at each others papers. What should you do?


50. You have 100 student essays to grade. You notice how your severity has changed in the course
of the rating process. You had a tendency to rate the essays harshly at first, but gradually
as you saw how lousy most of the writing actually was, you became more lenient. Assuming
that you do not have access to multiple raters, what should you do?


51. A teacher at one school has received consistently lower student ratings for a number of years. That teacher is
well-respected by the faculty and a good researcher. What action should be taken?

52. Your school has decided to stream incoming freshman English majors according to their English ability.
What would be the best way to do that?


53. Two star baseball players in a required EFL class are unable to make it to first base as far as English is concerned.
They cannot do the tasks that 8th graders are supposed to be able to do. What should you do?

54. One student in your required freshman English 101 class is clearly far ahead of other students.
This student spent two years in Australia and knows most of the material being taught already.
However, since she doesn't want to seem too bright or stand out too much, recently she has
started "playing dumb" in class because students tease her for knowing too much. What should you do?

55. When reporting test scores to students, which of the following is/are unethical?

56. One teacher in your department grades in a way that's much more lenient than other faculty.
She consistently awards A grades to over half her students, and the only students who fail are those
with insufficient attendance. What should be done?

[ p. 72 ]

(B) Open questions

57. Your EFL students don't speak. To encourage them to speak up more, you decide to award token
cards to students who raise their hands and speak. Student grades will be based
mainly on how many token cards they receive. Mention at least three
problems with this type of grading system.
(1)
(2)
(3)

58. At one school all student evaluations of teachers are made public and posted in the school
library in the name of transparency. Mention at least two problems
with this policy.
(1)
(2)

59. One teacher is using a 2-minute oral interview test with a class of 40 students based on a choice
of 4 possible topic prompt cards. Mention at least one concern about this procedure.


60. Look at this grading policy from a "Business English" course syllabus on the right. Mention at least two
concerns about this grading scheme.
(1)
(2) 		Grading Criteria


61. In one class students are required to pass a given English test. Immediately after the test is complete,
students receive a copy of the test with all of the correct answers. Students who failed the test the first
time are then required to retake the exact same test a second time a week later, and keep on retaking
the test until they obtain a passing score. The teacher claims this policy encourages beneficial washback
by insisting on a minimum level of student performance. Mention at least one problem with the validity
of this procedure.


62. At one school teachers are required to conduct student evaluations of one of their classes each semester.
Teachers can select which class will be evaluated. They also administer the evaluations themselves and
then hand the envelopes with the evaluations to a school secretary who compiles the subsequent statistical data.
Mention at least two concerns about the validity of this procedure.
(1)
(2)

63. A student in a basic research class was conducting a survey about the reading patterns of her peers.
Her survey included the following question with this continuum-line response:
Q: How often do you read English newspapers? (circle your answer) Every day 1x a week 2x a week 3or more times a week Not at all

Mention at least one problem with the construction of this survey item and suggest a better response format.
(1) Problem:
(2) Better Design:

64. Mention one concern about having a semester final exam of grammar consisting of just ten items.


65. Mention one concern about having a 500 item multiple-choice test of English vocabulary.


66. Mention at least two good ways to increase the internal consistency reliability of a 30-item
multiple choice general English listening test.
(1)
(2)

67. Mention at least two good ways to increase the content validity of the same test.
(1)
(2)

69. During your semester final exam one student experiences acute anxiety and is unable
to complex the test. What would the most appropriate intervention be?


70. One teacher uses a Gaussian curve to calculate her class grades, awarding those who are +2 SDs above the mean
with an A, those who are +1 SD above with mean with a B, those within the mean with a C, and those who are -
1SD below the mean with a C-, and those who are +2 SDs below the mean with a failure. Her typical class
size is about 40. Mention at least one ethical concern about this grading procedure.


NOTE: This test is still under development. If you have any suggested revisions or wish to use the material in some manner, please contact Tim Newfields at timothy *at* toyonet *dot* toyo *dot* ac *dot* jp.


Main Article Appendix A: I   II   III   IV Appendix B Appendix C: I   II   III   IV

2006 Pan SIG-Proceedings: Topic Index Author Index Page Index Title Index Main Index
Complete Pan SIG-Proceedings: Topic Index Author Index Page Index Title Index Main Index

[ p. 73 ]
Last Next