called gap-filling, is based on the deletion of words connected with the
topic the teacher wants or intends to check. At this time the teacher
controls the procedure more than it is in the pseudo-random test discussed
above. Moreover, s/he tries to delete every fifth or sixth word, but does
it rather carefully not to distort the meaning and mislead the learner.
Besides, a significant factor in this type of testing is that the teacher
removes exactly the main words that are supposed to be checked, i.e.:
Britain…….a deceptively large island and ……surrounded by some very
beautiful coastline. The south of England has popular sandy beaches,
especially in the west. But the coast in the south west Wales…..a unique
coastal National Park. Its beaches…… great for sunbathing and the rock
pools and cliffs ……..havens for wildlife. Up in Scotland, the striking
white beaches of the west coast and islands……excellent places for
explorative walks.
(Discovering Britain, Pavlockij B. M., 2000)
It is evident that the teacher’s aim by the help of the rational cloze
test is to check the students’ knowledge of the Present simple of the verb
“to be”. Thereof, the cloze tests could be successfully used for testing
grammar, as well.
We have come again to the point when we are going to mention the
advantages and disadvantages of cloze and gap-filling testing coined by
Weir. Regarding Weir, there are more disadvantages than advantages in
applying the cloze tests. He says that to design a cloze test is fairly
easy, and they are easy to evaluate, and it is the best means to check
reading comprehension. Concerning the drawbacks, we can emphasise that
randomly removed words usually will act as distractors and will not be of
true importance for the students to comprehend a message if, for example,
it is a reading task.
Compared to the cloze test, gap filling is more material based, for
it checks the students’ knowledge of a particular topic. Therefore, we can
speak about the first advantage that is the learners will know exactly what
they should insert. Moreover, the selectively deleted items allow focusing
exactly on them and do not confuse the student.
The last what could be said about gap filling tests is that this
technique limits us to check only a certain language skill, e.g. a
vocabulary on different topics.
5.4 C-Tests
It is worth mentioning that in the 80s German school introduced an
alternative to cloze test another type of testing – C-Tests. This test was
based on the cloze test system; however, every second word there was
deleted. It could seem quite a complicated type, though it is not.
According to Weir (1990:47) in this type every deleted word is partially
preserved. Thus, the students, if they possess a fairly good knowledge of
the language and can activate their schemata, or background knowledge of a
topic or the world, they will succeed in completing the test. Such test
format could look as follows:
Cats ha…. always been surro………by superstitions. In anc……Egypt
ca….were cons……. sacred, but in medi…..Europe ma….. people beli…… cats we….
witches in disgu…… A popular supers……... about ca…. is that a blac…cat,
cros… your pa… from left to rig…., will bri… you bad lu…. However, in some
cult….. a black ca… is thought to be a go… omen rat… than a ba… one.
(First certificate Star, Luke
Prodromou, p.134)
Definitely there are advantages and disadvantages of the following
test format. According to Weir, due to the frequency of the deleted items
there is a great possibility to include more tested items in the test.
Moreover, this test is economical. However, despite all the advantages, the
test can mislead the students as it is fragmented. The examples are
deprived from the context that could be very helpful for the students’
guessing of the missing parts.
5.5 True/False items
This test format is familiar for all the teachers and students. Each
reading task will always be followed with true/false activities that will
intend to check the students’ comprehension of a text. The students will be
offered a set of statements some of which are true and some are wrong,
e.g.:
1. People went to see ‘Cats’ because of the story. T F
2. Lloyd Webber’s father helped his career. T F
3. Lloyd Webber comes from a musical family. T F
( Famous Britons, Michael
Dean)
They usually should be ticked, and in order to tick the correct variants
the students have to be able to employ various guessing strategies.
According to Weir (1990:48), the advantage of such test is found in
its applicability and suitability. One can write more true/false statements
for a test and use them to check the students’ progress or achievement.
Furthermore, the current sort of testing could be more motivating for the
students than a multiple-choice test. It will not make the students
confused offering just one possibility than a multiple-choice test, which
typically proposes more than one option to choose from. Moreover, it is
easy to answer for the students and check for the teachers.
5.6 Dictation
Another test format that could be applied in the language classroom is
dictation. We commonly use dictations to check spelling; nevertheless, it
could be applied to test listening comprehension, as well. It is obvious
that to dictate something we have either to speak or read. It means that
while writing a dictation the student has to be able to perceive the spoken
language efficiently enough to produce in on paper. For this purpose the
student will require a variety of techniques such as schemata and its
application, predictions, guessing and context clues, etc. Further, it also
is constrained that dictation help the students develop their abilities to
distinguish between phonemes, separate words and intonation. Besides,
dictations function in spoken language; thereof the students have an
opportunity to learn to understand the language through listening. To
conclude what has been mentioned above we can agree with Weir (1990:49)
that dictations will force the students to use the variety of skills:
listening, reading, speaking and writing skills.
Heaton (1990:28) advises that to enable the students comprehend
successfully, the teacher need to read carefully and clearly, however
avoiding slow, word for word reading. Moreover, to allow the students to
check what they have written the repetition will be required. The author of
the paper when giving dictations to her students had encountered the need
for repetition for a number of times. The following could be explained by
many factors, such as the students are not able to perceive spoken speech
through listening; they are not able to elaborate various guessing,
inferring of the meaning techniques or their pace of writing is simply
rather slow. Thus, we entirely support the next statement claimed by Heaton
that it is wise after the first reading of a dictation to ask a set of
comprehension questions to make the students aware of the general idea of a
text. It will simplify the process of the understanding.
Notwithstanding, even an ideal variant will definitely contain some
drawbacks. The same could be applied to dictations. First, to write a
dictation, the student requires a good memory. S/he has to retain
information they have heard in order to display it later; moreover, the
information should be identical to the original. Therefore, we can claim
that the student has to recognize at least seventy-eighty per cent of what
has been dictated. In that case we short-term memory should be well
developed.
Apart from memory, scoring could be problematic, as well. Weir
(1990:50) believes that is difficult to decide what to pay attention to:
whether to evaluate spelling and grammar, or just perceived information.
Thus, the teacher has to work out a certain set of criteria, as we have
already mentioned that in Chapter 1, the criteria s/he will be operating
with. Besides, the students should be acquainted with it, as well.
In addition, Weir (ibid.) says that dictating is more efficient if it
is recorded on the tape and is delivered by a native speaker. It could mean
that the students will have a chance to fell themselves in the real-life
situation; for this is the actual purpose they learn the language for. The
following has been expanded by Heaton (ibid.) that speaking face to face
with a speaker is even more beneficial, for we can compensate the lack of
understanding by his/her facial expression, gestures and movements.
Listening to a cassette does not provide us with such a chance, and
therefore, it is more challenging and requires more developed skills to
understand a recorded message.
5.7 Listening Recall
This test format is specifically applied to testing listening skills.
It differs from a dictation that it supplies the students with a printed
text. However, the text is given not as the complete script of the tape.
Certain words that carry the meaning load are deleted from a passage, and
the students after listening to the tape are supposed to insert them.
Hence, it could be related to a gap-filling test. Here the cassette is
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