TASK 4
TESTING LISTENING
"Because it is a receptive skill, the testing of listening parallels in most ways the testing of reading." (Arthur Hughes, 1992)
- Is it possible to test listening without considering speaking? Why?
- What microskills are you including in your test?
- What type of texts are you going to use?
- Which techniques do you consider most appropriate for the level you are designing your test?
We continue working with the same bibliography.
Do not forget to include the references of extra materials you are using.
Do not forget to include the references of extra materials you are using.
I think both skills are linked because in everyday life there is an exchange of ideas among people. However, as Huges (1992) states, there are some situations in which listening can be separated from speaking for example when listening to the radio, that’s why I agree with the idea that listening can be tested without speaking
ReplyDeleteIn the test we created the macro-skill we included was obtaining factual information since students are asked to listen exactly what the audio says .According to Huges (1992) the skill of obtaining factual information corresponds to the informal operations and our audios have this characteristic.
The type of texts we are used are designed for teaching. Two of them are taken from a CD of a book and the other form internet since they were the ones that fulfill the topics students had already covered according to the syllabus. The three of them are dialogues between two people and they do not rebase 2 minutes length.
For the level we are working on I consider all the techniques stated by Huges (1992) are suitable, except note taking since this would be more demanding for beginners because this requires more practice in listening and writing skills.
1. - It is possible to test listening without considering speaking since sometimes there are occasions when it is not required to join it to speaking skill. It can “be tested also for diagnosis purposes” (Huge, 1992) I think that listening implies interpretation; if it is carried out successfully students may be able to comprehend the production of English language.
ReplyDelete2.- The micro-skill we included in our test was understanding greetings and introductions as students are asked to follow a conversation and decide which phrase is the most suitable to start or to continue with it. The type of audio we chose for this activity was appropriated considering the level students have.
3.- The type of texts we chose to be included in our test are designed for teaching. They were taken from the “Upstream” textbook, before making this decision we were checking if they contained what we needed according to the syllabus; they were. They are two dialogues, a biography and a short text.
4.- The techniques most suitable for the level are: multiple choice, gap filling, and information transfer, all those were included in our test, they helped us to the development of it.
Reference:
Evans, V. (2009) Upstream Beginner A1+ Express Publishing.
Paola`s comment:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Paola about what she wrote because as she mentioned sometimes is not necessary to consider speaking while we are testing listening so it is possible.
1.- It is possible to do it even when both skills are commonly evaluated together, but it does not mean that is wrong if a teacher just test of skill in this case only listening. It is not necessary to test speaking and listening at the same time.
2.- The macro-skill we decided to use is “obtain factual information” because is the one in which they have to pay attention what the audio will say.
3.- We got our text from a book and the other one was taken from internet, we took into account what students have already seen and those text that we found were according to their previously knowledge.
4.- The techniques that we decided to use according to Huges (1992) were multiple choice because they are familiarized with it, also gap filling and following directions this was because we consider they do not have to do a difficult activity so they are able to do it.
Reference:
Huges (1992)
About David's comment I think the same way, most of the teacher think that speaking and listening have to be tested together, but it is not necessary to do it. As well as Ivonne mentioned there are situations in which listening is those skills are separated.
ReplyDelete1. The two skills are typically exercised together in an oral interaction.(Huges, 1992. However there it exists the posiblity to do it separetely and it also works. We can test both skills in both ways, separetrly or together.
2.The microskills we are using in our test are obtaining factual information, following instructions and understanding greetings and ntroductions. We selected those accorfing to the students' level and what they are asked to do.
3.The type of texts we selected for our exam are not designed for teaching. They are authentic and they are related to their career but including what they have learnt adn according to their level.
4. The techniques we considered to use in our test are: gap filling, short answer and multiple choice,these are th most suitable according to what each techniques demands to do according to students' level.
About Anarely's commet: I think all of us coincide that listening can be separated from speaking since we are tested in the same way. Accroding to the level we are working on in our tests I consider as you that Obtaining factual information is the most apporpiate skill for begginers. I think it is a good idea to provide your students with authentic texts according to their B.A, but maybe getting those audios may be very difficult since aunthentic ones go beyond what students are learning in a basic level
ReplyDeleteI strogly agree with Ivonne's comment about listening and speaking skills are linked but as i mention before testing listening without out listening it will be suitable according to the kind of test and ss's level.
ReplyDeleteI agree with David about what he stated about the tehniques he used in his test. those are the ones less threatening for students. By using techniques and writing items that go according to the level of students we create tests that will show more reliable result and reduce the anxiety usually produced by tests.
ReplyDeleteaccordint to ivonne's comment, listening and speaking are linked, by this way teacher should to find the best way to create test in order to achieve goals,
ReplyDeletebut by the other hand could be tested separetely, based on david's comment, because it does no matter if they work together or not, just depends on how you are going to achieve your purposes.
my partener anarely and me, decided to use gap filling and multiple choice techniques because both are adequate to work with this skills in order to produce meaningful learning in students.
in my point of view, these skills could be tested together or not, depending on the level of the students and the teacher's objectives.
About David´s comment...
ReplyDeleteIt is true that sometimes it is difficult to test both skills at the same time; I also think that when teachers use to do that, students can get nervous about speaking according to a listening. However, another important thing in all this is students´level, may be when they have a higher one it would be less stressful testing them with the two skills, keeping in mind the techniques that provide results tried and true results.
I agree with David's comment. It is possible to test listening and speaking separately. I know that most of the time teachers include both skills in order to be tested, but absolutely they can be evaluated in different moments and with different purposes. We as teachers know that speaking is one of the hardest skills to test so, we have to work on students’ confidence in order they can achieve good results.
ReplyDelete1.-Yes, it is possible to test listening without consider speaking, sometimes it is not required to test speaking and listening at the same time, there are some case in which teachers just need test listening, speaking, reading or writing without take into account any other skill.
ReplyDelete2.- The micro-skills we select to apply in our test are obtaining information, following instructions and understanding greetings and vocabulary. Those were selected those according to the students' level and according what is stated on the PILE program
3.-The type of texts we chose to be included in our test are authentic it means that they were not specially designed for teaching they were taken for internet and they were chose for its content.
4.- According to Huges (1992) suggest some techniques to use, there are; gap filling, short answer and multiple choice, these techniques were selected for our test.
About Paola's comment I think in the same way, most all of the teacher think that listening and speaking skills must be together, but it is not necessary to do it. Sometimes there are occasions when it is not required to join it to speaking skill. It can “be tested also for diagnosis purposes” Huges (1992)
ReplyDeleteAnd in Anarely´s comment I think that sometime there are situations in which listening and reading needs to be separated, of course exists the possibility to do it separately
anatzayelli....
ReplyDelete1.- yes, because i think we as teachers can evaluate listening and speking skills together or in a separate way, it depends in what we want to achieve or what we want to evaluate.
2.- the microskills we decided to use in our test was obtaining factial information, so we focus our test in understanding and comprehension, and the students need to listen the audio and then recognize what exactly it is talking about.
3.- the text we chose were taken from the internet and we decided to use them because they were related with the B.A., then we designed the activities based on them, so they were not for teaching, they were authentic material.
4.- the techniques we used for our listening test were multiple choice, ordering sentences, true and false and matching, and i think one of the most useful techniques for this level is multiple choice and matching exercise, because i think those are easier for them, so they are fro basic level.
Huges (2002)
about anarely´s comment i think we evaluate listening and speaking in a separate way, but it depends in what we want to teach and according the level we are teaching, because all the techiques using to teach something should be related to the level, the objective we can achieve and the skills we want our students develop. And also i believe we can look for material such as authentic material and teaching material, but maybe the authentic material will be more meaningful for the students.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1.Even though listening is not an isolated skill and it is connected with speaking in the communication system, I think it is possible to test listening without speaking. This is because in the real life we do not always respond to every piece of aural stimuli we hear. However, we discriminate sounds, assign meaning and use our knowledge to interpret what it is listened.
ReplyDelete2.The microskills we included belong to the Informational category. They are obtaining factual information, Following instructions and identifying descriptions.
3.The types of text we used are monologues and dialogues. The monologues are about giving directions and description of people. in the dialogues there is an interview and a conversation. We took these texts from different listening webpages. We chose them since they matched the topics covered in the program.
4.The techniques we selected for our test were Short answer, information transfer and multiple choice because I think they are the ones that demand less written production from students. Also, gap filling and transcription can be used since in those techniques there is only one correct response.
1)Speaking and listening are linked but in a test join those or isolate will depend on the nature and purpose of the test.
ReplyDelete2)The micro skills using in our test were: recognize speaker’s purpose, and understand specific information, understand descriptions, obtain factual information.
3)The types of text that we use were three: the first one was a conversation related to clothes vocabulary. The second one was a description of a family members and the last one was an interview related to the B.A.
4)The techniques we use in the test were: multiple choice, gap filling and short answer.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1.-Speaking and listening can be tested in separeted way. Actually, many teachers apply that by testing listening with the other skills and leaving alone speaking. Perhaps is because it takes more time and it is more difficult to evaluate.
ReplyDelete2.-The micro skills we are using in our test are dealing by obtaining specific and meanigful information from the audio.
3.-The type of text is related to Social Work B.A. In this case social behaviour,in order students can be familiarized with vocabulary of their B.A
4.Some techniques we want to test are the following: multiple choice, short answers and gap filling. Those kind of techniques are the most appropiate to use, so the test has to be easy.
NOTE:We have experienced that design a test is difficult and it takes time,sometimes we think we made a perfect exam but it is important to mention that choosing an audio carries on with lenght, clarity of voice and level.
Huges (2002)
It is possible to test listening apart from speaking. As Huges (1992) mention it may seem rather odd to test listening separately from speaking since the two skills are typically exercised together. It depends on the type of task that we want to test because not always is necessary the use of speaking skill.
ReplyDelete2. The macro skill that we use was obtain factual information. Using descriptions and following instructions.
3. The texts we selected are authentic; they are not designed to teach. We chose them according to the syllabus of Graphic Design B.A. we tried to used topics they already know and not too much difficult to understand.
4. The techniques that we included in the test were short answer, multiple choice and information transfer. We selected those techniques because were the more suitable according to what we wanted to test and the level of students because are not so demanding.
1.- Yes it is possible because in real life there are many activities that are done without speaking such as listening to music, listening to a dialogue on TV, or listening to a conference, etc. Maybe we are used to work with both skills together because we are supposed to teach competence based approach or an integrated skill approach but we can do it separately.
ReplyDelete2.- The micro skills we included in our text were:
-Obtain factual information
-understand request for help and
- understand expressions of need
3. the type of text we are going to use are a dialogue between a customer and a travel agent. A monologue about a person who is writing a postcard. And a conversation between a family and an agent in an aeroport.
4.The techniques we consider appropriate for our text are short answer and gap filling.
I AGREE WITH KAREN CABALLERO ABOUT CHOOSE AUTHENTIC MATERIAL THAT RELATES WITH THE SYLLABUS AND STUDENTS BA SINCE THESE ASPECTS HAVE TO MATCH WITH THE KNOWLEDGE AND LEVEL STUDENTS HAVE IN ORDER TO HELP THEM TO UNDERSTAN WHAT THEY LISTEN.
ReplyDeleteAbout Anatza's comment i think the same as her. it depends on what you want to achieve when testing. you can test separatly speaking and listening or both skills combinated.
ReplyDeleteAbout Olivia´s comment I think it is a good idea to provide students meanigful and aunthentic material such as dialogues on TV or monologues. Using competence Aprroach could help us.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1.-well, most of the teachers think that both skills should be tested together. Nevertheless, it is possible to test them separatly since according to Huges (2002) there are occasions when no speaking is called for.i agree with Huges. For example, what happen when we listen to the news? We just pay attention in order to catch information so in that situation we did not use speaking.
ReplyDelete2. Two micro-skills were included in our listening test. The first one was recognise and understand words (food) since students are asked to tick the words they listen from the audio. The second one was follow instructions from a recipe. These micro-skills were selected according to the students BA, students level and also according to the type of audio.
3.-the type of text we chose to our test was not designed for teaching purposes so it is an authentic material that relates with the BA we chose.
4.-the techniques we chose to our test are: short answer and ordering information. We selected them because they were the most suitable for the kind of audio, ss level and SS BA.
According to Elizabeth´s comment
ReplyDeleteWell, I agree with her, the quotation that she has on her comment is true, in some cases is difficult to diferenciate what are the skill that you are testing,because those skills are linked sometimes are implicit one to each other.
1. I think that it is possible because listening is a receptive skill and there are micro skills you can apply in listening without test speaking, such as understand expressions, obtain specific information, and understand comparisons as Huges (2002) explain there are occasions such as listening to the radio, or listening to lectures, when no speaking is called for. They help students to develop ability by listening.
ReplyDelete2. We decide to include “obtain factual information” because this micro skill is base in obtain facts from the audio. Also we will use another micro skill “expressions of needs”
3. We are going to use a monologue about a girl who writes their parents a postcard, and a dialogue between a receptionist hotel and a customer.
4. Techniques we consider most appropriate for the students’ level are gap filling because students can work with a short answer.
According to Elizabeth’s comments I think she is right because sometimes both skills listening and speaking are linked but there are occasions when students only need to develop listening skill, for example when they watch T.V or listen to music. They do not interact with other people.
ReplyDeleteas i mentioned before and based on my classmates' comments, both skill are important and most of the times they are taugh together but it is available to use them in separate ways, depending on teachers' goals .
ReplyDeleteWho is Vi@nis?
ReplyDelete1.- I think listening and speaking are skills that are linked because in our normal life when you listen something you usually respond or say your opinion about it. However there are times you do not produce any comment or opinion from a listening for example when you listen a song, a lecture or the radio. By this and depending on the purpose of the test I think it is possible to test listening without speaking.
ReplyDelete2.- The micro-skills we used in our exam were mainly: recognize speaker’s purpose, understand specific information, understand descriptions and obtain factual information.
3.- The texts we used for our exam were one used for teaching and the other an authentic material. The text specific for teaching was about a conversation in which people talked about clothes. The other was about a topic related to students’ career.
4.- For our exam we used three the techniques: multiple choice, gap filling and short answer.
* Well, I agree with Sugalith’s comment because I also think there are times listening is not required to test at the same time as speaking, listening can be tested separately from other skills depending on the purpose of the test.
1.As part of our nature we always are exposed to listening. It is a process completely linked with speaking. For example, we listen something and we give our opinion. So we have to take into consideration both while in a test. For instance, we give them a context orally and they talk about it. As Huges (1992) mention in their book Testing Language teachers “The ability of interact involves comprehension as well as production”. They cannot be evaluated in a separated way.
ReplyDelete2.They were two; the first one recognizing and understanding vocabulary of food. They were asked to tick the words they listen from the audio. The second one was follow instructions from a recipe. We took into consideration these micro-skills according to the students B.A. and to the type of audio.
3.We choose an authentic text. It means not designed for teaching purposes that relates with the BA we chose (Gastronomy).
4.The techniques we chose to our test are: short answer and ordering information. Taking into consideration Huges suggestions. We selected them because they were the most suitable for the kind of audio, students’ level and BA.
Vi@nis is Vianey García Longui
ReplyDeleteAccording to Liliana’s comments I think the same because sometimes speaking and listening are linked but some others they aren't. It will depend on the purpose of the test as well as in the kind of task given to the student.
ReplyDeleteI agree whit Karen Caballero that listening can be taken apart from speaking because the kind of task developed and in this case it is an exam so it should be separated
ReplyDelete