Chapter 6: Listening comprehension tests

Chapter 6: Listening comprehension testsI. General Careful selected practice material  an effective way of developing listening skill  used for testing listening comprehensionan awareness of ways in which the spoken language differs from the written language is crucially important in testing listening comprehension skillssome conventional features such as repetition, hesitation and grammatical patterns are essential for the understanding of spoken Englishthe tape recorder is the only way of ensuring compete uniformity of presentation and thus a high degree of reliabilityauditory tests are divided into two broad categories: (i) tests of phoneme discrimination and of sensitivity to stress and intonation, and (ii) tests of listening comprehensionII. Phoneme discrimination testsType 1: The test consists of a picture, accompanied by three or four words spoken by the examiner in person or tape.Type 2: The testees hear three sentences and have to indicate which are the same and which are different.Type 3: Testees are required to choose the written word which corresponds to the spoken word.NotesThese items used for diagnostic testing purposes, enabling the teacher to concentrate later on specific pronunciation They useful when candidates having the same L1 background & when a contrastive analysis of L1 & L2 can be used.The ability to discriminate between certain phonemes  very difficult for native speakers. III. Tests of stress and intonation Tests of stress and intonation: less satisfactory than the phoneme discrimination tests b/c of # reasons:Most tests are impure as they test other skills at the same time.These items are artificial as they test rarer but more testable features.IV. Statements and dialogues These tests designed to measure:how well students can understand short samples of speechhow well they deal with a variety of signals on lexical and grammatical levels of phonologyTYPE 1 included in a grammar test, reading test or listening test , depending on whether the item is written or spoken testing ability to understand both the grammatical and lexical features of a short utterance. (Candidates hear a statement and choose the best option from the four ones) TYPE 2These items are an attempt to simulate speech situations (so they are more satisfactory that those of type 1) Testees listen to a short question and have to select the correct response from a choice of four printed ones. (part II, TOEIC)V. Testing comprehension through visual materialsThese item types more appropriate for the elementary stages of learning English.Pictures, maps and diagrams  used effectively for testing.Testees’ performance: less dependent on other skills like reading & speaking and vocabulary TYPE 1a picture is used in conjunction with spoken statements.testees listen & pick out true & false statements. (page 71)TYPE 2there are five pictures in front of testees; they listen to 4 statements & they’re required to choose the appropriate picture being described(page 72) TYPE 3used in a number of listening tests testees see a set of three or four picturesthey hear a statement & choose the most appropriate picture being described (page 73)TYPE 4Simple diagrams (lines, squares, rectangles, circles & triangles) used in a test of elementary comprehension Candidates look at each of the 4 diagrams and then hear a series of statements about each diagram (page 73)TYPE 5used to access testees’ ability to understand instruction e.g. Tasks in C4 Interactions I maps can be used or adapted for testing (p.74-75)TYPE 8 & 9used to test students’ ability to identify and classify information (see example on p.81)simple paper-folding and drawing can also be used to measure learners’ ability to understand instructionUseful for ordinary classroom purposes, but difficult to administer in public exams VI. Understanding talks and lectures Items of this typevery common & used to test students’ ability to understand both informal talks and formal lectures –an important skill English learners at intermediate and advanced levelsTYPE 1 & 2Testees listen to a short talk & select the correct answer about the talkTestees listen to a short talk & read a summary containing blanks; then they must complete the blanks (pages 82-83)TYPE 3&4Hearing a short talk or lecture & answering questions on it e.g. multiple – choice items, true/false items & incomplete sentences the content of the text itself  determine the type of item Notes(1) Completion not recommended as testees facing with the tasks of listening, reading and writing simultaneously- an extremely difficult task even for native speakersNotes(2) Multiple – choice items may cause confusion because testees have to listen while reading all options carefully to make their selectionNotes(3) It’s best to use true/false items since this reduces the amount of reading and selection to be made.