1. Backwash, or washback, refers to the influence of examinations on teaching methods - either positive or negative. Positive backwash occurs when test content and techniques align with course objectives, while negative backwash happens when they are misaligned.
2. Both practice tests and mock tests can provide benefits if used properly, such as building students' exam skills and confidence, but overuse of testing risks demotivating students and focusing too much on passing exams rather than learning.
3. Developing exam subskills from an early stage helps students acquire useful skills for a variety of situations, not just exams, and ensures skills are retained longer since they are developed gradually over time rather than just for short-term
1. Backwash, or washback, refers to the influence of examinations on teaching methods - either positive or negative. Positive backwash occurs when test content and techniques align with course objectives, while negative backwash happens when they are misaligned.
2. Both practice tests and mock tests can provide benefits if used properly, such as building students' exam skills and confidence, but overuse of testing risks demotivating students and focusing too much on passing exams rather than learning.
3. Developing exam subskills from an early stage helps students acquire useful skills for a variety of situations, not just exams, and ensures skills are retained longer since they are developed gradually over time rather than just for short-term
1. Backwash, or washback, refers to the influence of examinations on teaching methods - either positive or negative. Positive backwash occurs when test content and techniques align with course objectives, while negative backwash happens when they are misaligned.
2. Both practice tests and mock tests can provide benefits if used properly, such as building students' exam skills and confidence, but overuse of testing risks demotivating students and focusing too much on passing exams rather than learning.
3. Developing exam subskills from an early stage helps students acquire useful skills for a variety of situations, not just exams, and ensures skills are retained longer since they are developed gradually over time rather than just for short-term
BACHWASH & FAIRNESS IN EXAMINATIONS AND EVALUATION
(Both Formal and In-house Designed Tests)
Manizales May 2011 Martin Horkley English Language & Evaluation Consultant.
Backwash or Washback; its the direct or indirect effect of examinations on teaching methods.
Negative Backwash: - Test content and test techniques are in variance with course objectives. i.e. Preparing for a multiple choice test wont have space for developing all skills (writing) Positive Backwash: - Test content and test techniques are in line to the objectives of the course.
Exam Preparation. - Overt: Doing a lot of past papers or adapting the teaching methods used in class, as preparation for an exam Vs. - Convert:
Practice Tests: to practice the skills needed for the real examinations. Objective: to practice different item types of the future examination. Benefits: build Ss confident exam skills. Benefit to school: improve chances of success in formal exams and improve statistics. Implications in the classrooms: grades are not formally assessed. Mock Tests: matched to the associated proficiency examination.
Many teachers are tapped in an examination preparation cycle where communicative and humanistic methodologies are luxuries that teachers cannot afford Abuse of testing occurs when it is not the final stage learning, but is the beginning, middle, and end of the whole process Testing may be a short cut to extrinsic motivation; BUT overuse of testing is the teachers failure to make intrinsic motivation work and will demotivate the learner Classroom arrangement can send a power message
Backwash The apparent imbalance Positive backwash: - Greater awareness of the exams and the conditions. - Independent evaluation tool for Ss levels and the syllabus. - Validation that things are going well. - Develop skills that have a wider use for Ss now and the future. - Offers a common goal for both Ss and T. Negative backwash: - Stressing. - Grading. - Mock tests need More than 1 lesson. - Demostrate general weakness. - Ts and Ss associate testing with passing or failing, and the negative consequence.
Developing Grading Skills.
Grading is more than just checking the answer with the answer sheet. Surface or content errors? Is spelling important? it depends to whats important. How are the errors graded? You dont count errors. You assess the impact of the error. Objective and subjective grading. (Move from Subjective grading to Objective grading) Speaking and writing. How can you manage this? Teachers handbooks. Online support. Experience Mocks Real Annual Teacher Training
Dangers of only focusing on the exam. - Teacher complacency My Ss are good enough lets play - If you teach the exam, the Ss pass or fail. - Skills built up over the shorter term are more likely forgotten. - The institution stagnates and doesnt move forward.
Build sub-skill development for exams from the lowest level.
Developing cognitive thinking strategies. Develop cross-curricular skills. Work as a bigger team All Ts stressing good writing skills to benefit al subjects. Ss will have useful skills that they can use in a wider variety of situations in the future. Skills will last longer as they were developed in a longer period of time.
Sub-skills: - For exam practice; Infer attitude Understand sentence order Understanding instructions Recognize the features of connected speech Identify specific information Differentiate the message from distracters
Activity Draw the 10 boxes then give tasks. (Look at picture)
Are exam sub-skills so different from the general sub-skills we ned in our daily lives? - In reading Ss need to be able to: To read instructions To read the questions To extract the salient points from a text To assess mood in a text To understand and use paragraphs to aid reading
So, What are we saying? - You want your Ss to write a letter of complaint What do they need to know to be able to do this effectively? Produce the correct format Choose appropriate lexis and collocations Appropriate grammar Expressions Organizational choice and content Paragraphing, punctuation and capitalization Within the syllabus, how are we developing these sub-skills from an early stage? Why from an early stage? They learn to identify those sub-skills from day one.
Lets think again about exam practice;
- Sub-skills development is not practice - Even multiple choice requires processes of: Critical thinking
Creating beneficial backwash.
In the syllabus: - Increase Ss motivation and confidence by: Buildiong general skills in communication Combining language sub-skills and those needed for particular examination tasks type Planning over In the classroom: - Like pronunciation Exam preparation - Build on cooperative work by encouraging sharing Establish the idea of: o Test as a group activity negotiating answers o Justifying and supporting sub-skill development - Ensure smooth linking of the stages of the lessons
Examination preparation is not just practice; How can we start preparing IELTS / FCE at elementary level? - Use of process writing or genre analysis Identify different genres Identify key elements of the genre Identify the target audience and purpose
- Paragraphing: Identifying main topic Identifying the purpose Identifying and understanding general statements
Creating beneficial Backwash.
In the syllabus:
The focus of the syllabus is only in the preparation
Turn Testing into Teaching.
Errors Learning from errors Marks (pass/fail) Achievement Judgement Support Individualism and Competition Collaboration
Most preparation for examinations should be unnoticed by the Ss.
Evaluation and Assessment Standardization.
Fairness.
Lets think about the considerations that international examinations should take in to account when testing Ss from around the world. - What makes a test fair? - Why is this important?