1-Report on the Test

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE CURUZÚ CUATIÁ PROFESORADO DE INGLÉS FIRST VERSION

Report: On the test 5to 3ra HUM Colegio Gral. Manuel Belgrano PROFESORA: Patricia Raimondi ALUMNA: Marcela ALMEIRA

4TO AÑO R E S I D E N C I A

D O C E N T E

2.015 Date: 8th September 2.015

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE CURUZÚ CUATIÁ PROFESORADO DE INGLÉS - 4TO AÑO - RESIDENCIA DOCENTE MARCELA ALMEIRA 8th SEPTEMBER 2.015

First Version

THE TEST TEST: JOBS /PROFESSIONS AND SIMPLE PAST TENSE A. PUT THE WORDS IN ORDER. (2p.) cook E.g.: O K C O: Carol is a ……………………

1) T E R N U H: Daryl is a ……..………………………

2) V E R Y D E I L: Glenn was a pizza ……………………………

3) T E R W R I : Jorge Luis Borges was a ……………………………

4) I T S C I E N S T: Einstein was a ………………………………

5) O R A C T: Mariano Martinez is an…………………………………

B. COMPLETE THE TABLE. USE THE WORDS TO COMPLETE THE SENTENCES. There is one extra word. (3p.)

PRESENT PAST ______

DRANK.

1) Last weekend we _went _ _ _ _ _ to the cinema and _ _ _ _ _ a film.

VISIT

_______

2) Yesterday I _ _ _ _ _ _ _ go to school because it was raining.

______

STUDIED

3) Last Tuesday we _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ for the exam.

go

______

1 WENT

HAVE

_______

DON’T

DIDN’T

______

SAW

4) This morning, I _ _ _ _ _ _ breakfast with my sister.

5) My friends _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ me on holidays.

C) WRITE THE SENTENCES IN THE PAST. (5p) E.g.: You/WRITE a letter to your boss?

Did you write a letter to your boss?

1) We/(NOT) STAY at home last weekend. ………………………………………………………………………………….

2) They/WALK in the park yesterday. ……………………………………………………………………………………………

3) Emma/COOK chicken last night? ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

4) He/SEND an e-mail to his mother. ……………………………………………………………………………….......................

5) Children/(NOT) DRINK soda at the birthday party. …………………………………………………………………............................................

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE CURUZÚ CUATIÁ PROFESORADO DE INGLÉS - 4TO AÑO - RESIDENCIA DOCENTE MARCELA ALMEIRA 8th SEPTEMBER 2.015

First Version

REPORT ON THE TEST This report aims to analyse the test done at General Manuel Belgrano School by 5to 3ra HUM’s students. It took place on 27th August, during a 40-minute lesson. The test included the topics delivered so far: jobs and professions and the Simple Past tense in all its forms. 17 out of 21 students were present during the test: 11 of whom have passed the exam.

THE ACTIVITIES: RESULTS The test was formed by three parts: in the first one, worth 2 points, students had five sentences and the last word in each, the profession or job, was not ordered. In order to complete the sentences, students had to put the letters in order and form the words. They had a picture next to each sentence as to give them an idea of what the profession might be.

cook E.g.: O K C O: Carol is a …………………

POINTS (out of 2) 1 2

2 p.

8

1.6 p.

1.2 p.

1 p.

6

2

The second exercise consisted of two parts: in the first one, students had to complete a chart with either the past tense or the infinitive form of a verb. Then, using some of the verbs (in their past form) they had to complete a set of five sentences.

PRESENT

PAST

______

DRANK.

VISIT

_______

______

Go

______

POINTS (out of 3) 1

WENT _______

DON’T

DIDN’T

SAW

3 p.

3

1

STUDIED

HAVE

_ __ __

went

Last weekend we _ _ _ _ _ _ to the cinema and _ _ _ _ _ a film.

2.5 p.

3

1

2.4 p.

2 p.

1.8 p.

1.2 p.

4

3 1

1 p.

0

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE CURUZÚ CUATIÁ PROFESORADO DE INGLÉS - 4TO AÑO - RESIDENCIA DOCENTE MARCELA ALMEIRA 8th SEPTEMBER 2.015

First Version

In the third activity, which was the most difficult of the three, students had to make sentences in the Simple Past tense. They were given a verb which was the one they had to turn into its past form. In addition, they had some clues that indicated them that they had to make a negative or an interrogative sentence. In the first case, they had the word “NOT” preceding the verb, and in the second case, they had the interrogative mark at the end of the sentence (?).

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

We/(NOT) STAY at home last weekend. ……………………………………………………………………………………….

They/WALK in the park yesterday. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Emma/COOK chicken last night? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

He/SEND an e-mail to his mother. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Children/(NOT) DRINK soda at the birthday party. …………………………………………………………………

POINTS (out of 3) 1

1

5 p.

3

4.5 p.

5

4 p.

3.5 p.

3 p.

2

2 p.

1 p.

2

3

3

In the end, taking into account that their passing mark is 7, only 11 out of 17 students passed the exam, 3 of the rest got a 6 and 3 of them got a 5, and 4 were absent.

MARKS 3

2

9.5 9 3

8 7.5

2

7 1

1

6.5 6

2

3

5

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE CURUZÚ CUATIÁ PROFESORADO DE INGLÉS - 4TO AÑO - RESIDENCIA DOCENTE MARCELA ALMEIRA 8th SEPTEMBER 2.015

First Version

THE TEST: QUALITIES The test is now going to be analysed according to the qualities mentioned in “Evaluating your Students”, by Andy Baxter:

1.

2.

3.

4.

VALIDITY; RELIABILITY; PRACTICALITY; NO NEGATIVE EFFECT on the teaching programme (negative backwash).

VALIDITY: There are three main types of validity:

  

CONTENT VALIDITY: Does the test test what it is supposed to test?

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY: Does the test test what it is supposed to test and nothing else?

FACE VALIDITY: Does the test appear to test what it is trying to test?

The FIRST ACTIVITY in the test is supposed to test vocabulary, more specifically “jobs and professions” spelling. In the activity, all students have to do is order the letters in order to form the word (job/profession) only. They did not need to make the whole sentence, but just to form the word. Then, taking all this into consideration it had content validity since it tested what it was supposed to: vocabulary (jobs/professions), and construct validity, because it did not test additional topic, structure or ability.

On the other hand, ACTIVITY NUMBER TWO only had content validity: it tested meaning. Students had to complete the sentence with a suitable verb, and they were given the verbs needed; however, it lacked construct validity, because it was actually testing two things: meaning and vocabulary. Students were not given only the words they would need in the past form, but they were given in addition a chart to complete with either the infinitive or the past form before even choosing one to meaningfully complete the sentence.

THE LAST EXERCISE was supposed to test structure. Students were given an incomplete sentence and they were provided with a highlighted verb in the infinitive form. Some of the verbs were preceded by a “not” which indicated them that they should write a negative sentence; and in some, they had a question mark (?) that indicated that they had to make a question. The fact that the exercise tested structure gave it content validity. Students were given the base verb they needed for each sentence. If instead, they were asked to provide a suitable word, the exercise would be also testing vocabulary; which was not the case. Then we can say that it also had construct validity.

As regards face validity, except for the second exercise, the other activities’ instructions are rather clear, and they do appear to test what they are actually testing.

RELIABILITY:  

TEST RELIABILITY: lf it was possible to give the same person the same test at the same time, would the result be the same?

SCORER RELIABILITY: lf you gave the same test to two different people to mark, would they give the same score?

4

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE CURUZÚ CUATIÁ PROFESORADO DE INGLÉS - 4TO AÑO - RESIDENCIA DOCENTE MARCELA ALMEIRA 8th SEPTEMBER 2.015

First Version

The FIRST ACTIVITY was the one in which most students were successful. As regards test reliability, I could say it is quite reliable. And the scorer reliability is clearly seen in the results obtained (and represented in the graphics above, under the headline “The activities: results”).

In the SECOND ACTIVITY the results vary from student to student. The activity has test reliability; however, when it comes to score reliability, the results differ from one person to another, though the difference is not too wide.

The THIRD ACTIVITY of the test is the one that where even the test reliability is present, the lack of score reliability is more noticeable.

PRACTICALITY: How practical is it to administer?

The test was quite practical. It did not take too much time to prepare nor to be solved, either. In addition, as it was carried out individually, students needed space in the classroom, in order for them to sit at a fair distance from each other, and that was not a problem, because their classroom is big enough for them.

Except for the last exercise in the test, where much had to be taken into account, for they had written sentences, neither of the other two activities took long to check.

BACKWASH: It is the effect that a final test has on the teaching programme that leads to it. This is a familiar experience, and is also sometimes called teaching to the test.

I have not delivered my lessons the way I did in order to prepare my students for this exam. In fact, I had a different idea as regards how the evaluation of those contents would be. In the end, as this is the kind of tests the institution requires, I prepared one for the students and more than half of the class passed. I cannot say for sure because of the lack of evidence to support this, but I believe that either by evaluating them the way I first intended to, or by preparing them for this grammatical style of tests, the results could have been better.

Now, considering the actual results, the test did not have a dramatic backwash effect.

CONCLUSION In conclusion, as the results show, the test was delivered and completed by 17 out of 21 students. From those 17students 11 (the 65% approx.) passed it by successfully completing from the 70% (minimum passing mark) to 95% of the test exercises. The other 6 students (35% approx.) have achieved from the 50% to the 65% of the exercises, getting marks under the passing one, but not far from it.

Marcela Almeira.

08/09/15.

5