Assessment for Learning

4. Traditional Assessment: Paper-and-Pencil Tests

Traditional Assessment: Paper-and-Pencil Tests 61 4 Traditional Assessment: Paper-and-Pencil Tests Objectives By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: • understand the characteristics and functions of paper-and-pencil tests; • plan the steps in preparing a paper-and-pencil test; • prepare a set of specifications for a test; • describe the strengths and limitations of each item type; • make appropriate selection of what test items to use; • construct items of each type that are well stated and relevant to important learning intentions. Paper-and-pencil tests have a long history in assessing student performance and are therefore labelled as traditional assessment. To write a good test, it is necessary to plan well. Understanding the steps for developing a test plan should mean a good start. The next steps would be knowing how to prepare specification grids and writing good test items. Because of their nature, paper-and-pencil tests are more restricted to assessing students cognitively and tend to challenge “recall” of factual knowledge. Within the cognitive parameter, test papers can in fact be designed so that higher mental abilities can be assessed. Knowing what each type of test item can offer helps make good decisions on the selection of test items for use. Knowing the guidelines for writing test items should help raise the quality of paper-and-pencil tests. Understanding Paper-and-Pencil Tests Paper-and-pencil tests are commonly labelled a traditional form of assessment, as these tests have long been used as the main method for judging student performance. As the term implies, paper-and-pencil tests require students to respond in writing in a standardized test environment where the content of the test papers, administration procedures, and marking criteria are same for every candidate. To some people, paper- 62 Assessment for Learning and-pencil tests have many merits. Since everything is so standardized, it is easy to make objective judgements of students’ performance based on the scores they obtain. This makes comparison and selection easy and makes decisions easily defensible. Another argument offered in support of objectively scorable paper-and-pencil tests in the classroom is that they allow the teacher to collect a large sample of student responses in a fairly efficient fashion. Others may hold different views, thinking that paper-andpencil tests are not desirable as a means of assessment. Paper-and-pencil tests are able to assess a somewhat narrow range of learning outcomes and, if care is not taken, can focus largely on the retrieval of factual information. Some important skills and learner outcomes do not lend themselves to being measured using traditional test items but require more direct assessment of the skill than a paper-and-pencil exercise will permit. Teachers do not often plan their assessment to include paper-and-pencil tests. Some teachers may depend on existing test papers made available to them by other teachers, while other teachers may make use of test materials provided with the textbooks used in their classes. Most schools have a pool of past test papers filed for teachers’ reference. No doubt the experience from other sources gives some good indications of how test papers could be set for the new cohort of students. However, each individual year group has its own learning characteristics. Each year, adjustments have to be made to the teaching content, teaching and assessment strategies to suit new needs. To make the tests appropriate for use, there is a need to have good planning. Careful planning of the test or assessment helps teachers build validity into their assessment, because good planning ensures that the test measures what it is intended to measure.A usual way of developing a test plan starts with deciding on the objectives of the assessment, and then considering the coverage of the content, aligning the content with the objectives, followed by setting test items, assessment criteria, and administrative procedures. To make a test plan closer to the heart of AfL, it can be developed in an alternative way with the following three major elements. • Identifying the learning outcomes/intentions/targets/objectives • Preparing test specifications that represent a broad range of learning • Constructing test items that challenge deep learning Identifying the Learning Outcomes Good assessment is linked to the instructional focus, and the “glue” that binds assessment to instruction is the common set of instructional objectives used to plan each. A test plan can start with identifying the general desired learning outcomes of the students. To make the learning outcomes...