Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Association of Language Teachers

KSAALT Quarterly
Volume 8, Issue 1

KSAALT QUARTERLY

November
Inside this issue:

Male Abha Chapter

Book Review

Dont take it personally!!! 4

News from Khobar
Chapter

Female Abha Chapter

A Professional
Development Platform

ESL Test Writing

KSAALT Publications
are Expanding

13

Special points of
interest:
What was discussed
in the KSAALT TESOL
Leadership Retreat?
Flip It?!
How do we write a
good Writing final
exam?
Why do my students
react like this?
How did the Publications recruitment go?

- the month of sunsets we all marvel at

Welcome to the first issue of

the KSAALT Quarterly
20152016 (Volume 8).

wrote a book review on Robyn

B. Lockwoods Flip It! published last year.

It was very nice to have met

attendees at the 8th Annual
Conference held in May in
Khobar. What is more exciting
is that the conference participants I have met become the
first-time contributors to this
issue of our newsletter.

Also, various chapter representatives from Abha and

Khobar reported on the numerous events that have been
taken place in their regions
since the start of this scholastic
year. In addition, you will find
a highlight of the KSAALT
Leadership Retreat on page 2
of this issue. KSAALT Publications are Expanding gives
you a quick outline of their
recruitment process and outcomes in this issue.

Mr. Ahmed Al-Adaway gives

our readership an insightful
account of classroom behavior
and a comforting reassurance
in his article, titled: Dont take
it personally! Mr. Marouf Ali
shares his experience with
KSAALT which will inspire
our readers.
Mr. Raymond Page, who is
also our first-time contributor,

To save the best for last, we

include an academic article,
titled: ESL Test Writing contributed by Mr. Hosam Darwish, who is also our first-time
newsletter contributor.

Are you ready to make a new

journey with KSAALT?
I hope this array of articles
will be mind-tickling and
thoughts-provoking to our
readership.
November marks the beginning of Saudi winterwrap up
warm and enjoy the lovely cool
season!

Wai Si El-Hassan
Chief Editor

20 Personality Traits of a Successful Teachers

Checklist

Adaptability
Conscientious
Creativeness
Determination
Empathy
Forgiving
Genuineness

Grit
Independence
Intuitiveness
Kindness
Obedience
Passionate

Patience
Reflective
Resourceful
Respectful
Responsible
Graciousness

http://teaching.about.com/od/ParentalInvolvement/fl/Personality-Traits-that-Help-Teachers-andStudents-Succeed.htm

Page 2

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

KSAALT TESOL Leadership Retreat

KSAALT TESOL held a 2-day
Leadership Retreat starting on 11 September this year at Holiday Inn, Al
Khobar. Representatives from the
ECouncil were Ms. Malikah Sisay, Dr.
Philline Deraney and Mr. Mark Murray.
Mr. John Jordan was representing the
Riyadh chapter, Dr. Marzeegha Altale
and Mr. Ahlullah Siddiqui were from
the Abha chapter. Ms. Deborah Abbott,
Ms. Joanna Boulden and Mr. Mehmet
Aydin were representing the Khobar
chapter. Last but not least, Mr. Joel
Menidado was our representative from
the Yanbu chapter.

During the Leadership Retreat, we

looked at every chapter's interest, reviewed
and discussed the bylaws, went over the
organization of KSAALT and its chapters,
drew up event calendars, discussed about
the coming mini conferences and annual
conference, reviewed membership fees, and
set the organization's 5-year strategic goals.
The Leadership Retreat 2015 concluded
in the early afternoon on 12 September.

Mr. Hussam Rajab, representing

the Jeddah chapter, sent his apologies.

Male Abha Chapter

KSAALT Quarterly

Dr. Abdullah AlMelhi

Hon. Dean
Faculty of Languages & Translation
Mr. Ahlullah Siddiqui
Dr. Saleh AlShehri
Mr. Salahuddin Adul Rab
Dr. Basim Kanan
Mr. Abdul Qadeer

Patron
Chapter Representative
Secretary
Secretary
Treasurer
Treasurer

Executive Body
Dr. Ahmad Assiri
Hon. Vice Dean, Faculty of Languages and Translation
Dr. Yahya Sarhan
Dr. Ismail Al Refai
Mr. Mahmudul Haque
Mr. Gaus Al Azam
Mr. Sayed Karim
Mr. Syed Asif Abbas

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

Page 3

Book Review: Flip It!

Robyn Brinks Lockwood (2014)
Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press
ISBN 978-0-472-03606-6

A student once confused my challenge to go

home and studyfor a command to go home and
teach yourself. Why should we go home and teach
ourselves? Its your job to teach us! cried the
indignant pupil. She neednt have worried. Now
students actually CAN go home and teach themselves!
Flip It! by Robyn Brinks Lockwood tells
how to flip our classrooms, so that, essentially, the homework is done in class, and the
much bulky material is attended to by the student at home. Inside Flip It! are three parts to
answer all of your questions: 1) Overview, 2)
Advantages, and 3) Strategies. Whether you have
already contemplated flipping your classroom,
or whether you are flipping out right now as you
read this, you might consider that we must all
examine teaching innovations or face the possibility of being left behind in a cloud of chalk
dust.
How many times do you play a listening
track? What if students need to hear it again
even though you are already behind schedule?
Consider playing it zero times. If the students
listen to it at home, this frees up the class time
for more engaging, communicative activity. In
Part 1, Overview, Lockwood describes
flipped learning by inverting Blooms taxonomy:
Remembering/Knowledge and Understanding/
Learning are done outside of class, and, the
higher-level skills, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation are done in class, with the
teacher guiding and giving personalized help.
Increased face-to-face time between teacher
and individual student is one of many benefits
Lockwood conveys in Part 2, Advantages.
What about those expansion activities at the end
of chapters that often get skipped over? Now
you can have time to finish the whole book. And
here is a selling point to the students: they get
their moneys worth by using more of the book.
She also points out that students read and learn

at different paces. Run a few comprehension checks by your students at any point
in a lesson, and you will probably find
that some dont get it. Instead of boring
the more advanced students to tears by
going over it again, just give them all what
they need to go over the material at home
however many times they need to, at their
own pace, so they alltheoretically
arrive on the same page.
Part 3, Strategies, conveniently
presents lesson plans or activities, from
each of the four skills, in tables with the
traditional way lined up next to one or
two flipped options for the same lesson.
Also, look for strategies on how to sell
the whole idea to your students, where to
find material for class time, and how to
make sure students are getting the most
out of their at-home study. According to
the book, many people confuse the
flipped model classroom with distance
learning, and thus assume it requires making a lot of videos for your students to
watch. You dont have to make any videos. As a matter of fact, you dont need
any technology at all. Flip It! provides
ideas for classes with or without technology, and points in between.
A major concern for teachers that I
have talked to regarding this method is
that some students dont do their homework anyway, so what happens when the
class time is based on what the students
watched, wrote, read, or listened to at
home? In my traditionally designed classes, I have found that the students who
rarely ever do homework are also the
ones who rarely pay attention in class, so,
in the flipped classroom model, their two
basic types of non-effort would just be
redistributed to different times of the day.
Of more concern to me is what is implied
in a statement in Part 1 and on the back
cover: the flipped classroom makes the
teacher the guide on the side instead of
the sage on the stage. This is how lan-

Raymond Page is a former Riyadh chapter KSAALT member and Institute of

Public Administration English instructor. He has since taught at Kanagawa
University in Japan and now teaches Business English.

guage classes should already be

according to TESOL best practices,
SLA research, and my teaching mentors and observers who always told
me to reduce my teacher talk. But
even the best efforts at reducing
teacher talk might not provide
enough communicative language
learning. Consequently, teachers, if
you are producing more language
than your students, then perhaps you
should Flip It! And to all you students out there: Go home and teach
yourselves!

Now students
actually CAN go
home and teach
themselves!

Page 4

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

Dont take it personally!

Students make poor
choices a lot of times
and that is what they do!

Students misbehave;
that is their job!

Students test boundaries and limits; it is part

of growing up!

Students dont always do

what we want them to do no
matter how much they like us!
DONT TAKE IT
PERSONNALY!!

using a unified
single, one-size-fitsall strategy in dealing
with [students] wont
work.

We always have this feeling

of losing control of our classes
on encounter of any kind of
conflict in the classroom, especially with teenagers and young
adults. These conflicts are essentially inevitable; we cannot
stop them from happening, but
for sure we can deal with them.
According to most psychological researchers, conflicts
between teachers and students
in classrooms take place because of one of the following
reasons:

Power struggles
Revenge
Need for attention
Wanting to be left alone

In power seeking behavior, a

student tries to dare the teacher and provoke him into a tug
of war; a power struggle. In
this case dont do what the

student wants, simply direct

your attention and the classs
attention to another student
and ignore such behavior for
the time being. Later on, you
can refer the student to a professional student counselor or
you can counsel him personally
if you are allowed to, but never
fall into your students trap and
lose your calm.
Act of revenge usually occurs after the teacher has offended or hurt the students
ego by accident (e.g. throwing
a funny comment on the students class performance or
taking a disciplinary action
against the student). In fact, a
teacher should never offend a
student under any circumstances and should justify all his/her
disciplinary actions and make it
crystal clear to the students so
they understand why they are
being disciplined.
Next, there comes the attention seekers who resemble little
children. Indeed, some students like to be in the center of
attention. They want to be
noticed by the teacher and
their peers. Because of the
need for attention, they challenge the teacher or their peers.
However, they can be over
friendly trying to be the teachers pets. In this scenario,
dont give undue attention to
the student unless he/she follows the class rules and shares
his/her ideas and be productive in the students group
work. Make him/her under-

stand that you are fair to everyone. And only praise the students for their good and cooperative teamwork. The key
point is to award them with
praises when they are producing good work while ignoring
their attempts in attracting
attention from others.
Finally, students who prefer
to live in their own shell refuse
to open up to the group. In
most cases, this kind of students does not have enough
self-confidence. In other cases,
they are very smart and think
that other students are not in
their league. The right thing to
do about this is to figure out
which kind of students they are
and then give them guidance
according to their levels. Put
them in work groups which are
similar to their levels: if they
are weak, place them in a lower
set or assign the students as
group leaders if they are smart.
This will encourage them to
blend in and become productive members in your class.
To sum up, our students are
human beings, just like you and
me, who come from different
backgrounds. So, using a unified single, one-size-for-all
strategy in dealing with them
wont work. Know your students personality well in the
first few days of classes and
then use whats right for each
individual. This way, you will
detect and prevent troubles
before they happen. And always remember this: DONT
TAKE IT PERSONALLY!!!

Ahmed Al-Adawy is Assessment & Curriculum Developer at Pearson Incorporation, Middle East.

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

Page 5

Khobar Chapter Open House, 23 October 2015

About 60 people attended
the Khobar Chapters Open
House at the Rowad Al-Khaleej
International School in
Dammam on October 23, 2015
to hear a presentation by Dr.
Izdehar Al-Hariri on Motivating
Students to Improve Different
Skills in English. Some of the
attendees were past students
and present colleagues of Dr.
Izdehars from the University of
Dammam.
Nine of the sixty came at the
urging of KSAALT volunteer Mr.
Junneil Cuizon. He and his
friends work for the Al Ezdihar
Language Institute in the Qatif
area. It was their first time
going to a KSAALT meeting
and they said they will be back.
We were happy to welcome
them and all our other new
members and guests that day.
Dr. Izdehar, a past Vice President of KSAALT, holds a doctorate from the University of
Portland and is an assistant
professor in the English Department of the College of Arts
at the University of Dammam.
She has published Improve
Your English Books I and II as
well as The Basics of Islam in
English. Currently, she is
working on a translation from
Arabic to English of a work
about being dutiful to parents.
She is one of the founders and
currently president of the Saudi
Reading Society and an inspirational and much-loved pillar of
the teaching community in the
Eastern Province and beyond.
She began her discussion of
the sources of motivation for

students with a review of the

research. While gender is not
a factor in differences in motivation, it is important for a
student to like the teacher
and the teaching methods
used. She reminded attendees that they must motivate the unmotivated student
by helping the student to understand his/her own needs
and goals. She provided a
checklist of areas that careful
teachers can improve student
motivation, from their arrangement of the classroom,
to their choice of themes, to
the way a teacher can best
speak and work with students
appealing to different learning
styles. She also reminded us
to make sure they do lots of
pair and group work. Equally
important is for a teacher to
take a genuine personal interest in the students, show empathy for their needs and earn
their trust.
Providing students with
relevant materials was another ongoing theme of her talk
and audience input, whether it
was asking female students to
write or speak about weddings
or giving them examples of
test and exam questions rather than telling them to
study everything. An audience member recommended
asking students to bring small
objects from home to serve as
subjects for descriptive writing. After Dr. Izdehars mention of the importance of
games and competition, another teacher suggested play-

ing basketball with students to

get them speaking English
while doing something they
enjoy, while another teacher
reminded us that even the
weakest students will get engaged in games and learn.
Dr. Izdehar has a marvelous
down to earth approach to
teaching. She reminded the
audience to allow the students
to laugh at the teachers mistakes, thus teaching them the
valuable lesson that making a
mistake is fine as long as you
learn from it. She urged
teachers to be flexible, but at
the same time to continue to
have high expectations: it is
important to remind them, she
said, that it is not enough to
be good now, they must also
be good in the future.
Another sign of her mix of
the new and the tested and
true methods, when a teacher
regretted that even some of
the most marvelous-sounding
techniques dont get students
to do their homework, without
missing a beat the speaker
replied Give them a zero, to
much laughter. Through this
and many other exchanges,
the delightful professor kept
the audience smiling and
laughing. Thus, she gave us
the best lesson in the impact
of fun on effective learning.
Dr. Izdehar demonstrated
her own flexibility when the
subject of using songs came
up. One teacher protested
that in Saudi Arabia teachers
cannot use songs, another
said they simply didnt have

any. Dr. Izdehar had a ready

reply, Use chants! and she
gave an impromptu demonstration of one of her own
which was so fast and fun
that the following notes may
only be an approximation of
the original:
One two / One two / Where
am I ?/ Where are you?
Three four / Three four / Sit
by me / Sit on the floor ...
Seven eight / Seven eight /
I am early, you are late
Nine ten / Nine ten / Put
your pencil near my pen
With such a fun and funny
teacher, what student would
not want to show up for class
on time and participate? With
the generous distribution of
some teaching materials to go
along with her research and
experience-based wisdom, the
meeting finished with much
laughter.
Debbie Abbott

Khobar Chapter Representative

[Dr. Izdehar] reminded

attendees that they must
motivate the unmotivated
student by helping the
student to understand his/
her own needs and goals.

Page 6

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

Events at Female Abha Chapter

A Promising Start for the Academic Year
20152016
It was a wonderful afternoon on 8th October for KSAALT TESOL members
in the Abha chapter: thirty-five of us met to exchange ideas and share experience
about cutting-edge issues in EFL teaching and learning. The meeting was held at
IbnRushed College of Management Sciences, in which the medium of instruction is
English.
The meeting was set into motion by announcing the general aims of the chapter. Two workshops were conducted. The first one was on the Use of Dictionary
in EFL Writing Exams conducted by the author. Valuable recommendations for
EFL writing teachers were shared based on qualitative and quantitative experimental data. Suggestions regarding future investigations into and around the topic
were also noted.

I discovered the
wealth of opportunities
[KSAALT] offers to the
ELT professionals to
explore, enhance and
develop themselves.

The second workshop was about the use of literature as a 'flow' to make language learning successful. It was a unique topic which opened the door for future
research as well. The presenter was Ms. Anjum Misho, Lecture, KKU, Abha.
Each member was eager to share his/her experience and knowledge to achieve the
ultimate goal of heightening the excellence of EFL teaching and learning in the
Saudi context. Thanks to all members who attended the meeting, making it a special one with their insightful comments and ideas. Thanks to IbnRushed College of
Management Sciences for hosting the event.
Dr. Mazeegha Al-Tale'
Dean of IbnRushd College
Female Abha Chapter Representative

KSAALTa professional development platform

As an English teacher, my in-

terest in KSAALT grew when I

discovered the wealth of opportunities it offers to the ELT
professionals to explore, enhance and develop themselves.
The discovery was made when I
attended the 2 conferences
the 7th annual conference in
Riyadh and the recent 8th Annual conference in Al-Khobar. I
enjoyed the 7th KSAALT annual
conference in Riyadh where I
had a chance to take part in 3
workshops with the late Dr.
Keith Carter. Unfortunately, he

is no longer with us but those

memories of the happy moments
we spent in the workshop sessions are still with me. There
were excellent speakers, workshops and publishers at the
conferences and that was a big
boon as it rejuvenated our
teaching skills. I hope we can
have workshops and conferences
around the Kingdom, especially
in the western region Jeddah,
Yanbu, etc. just like what we
have in the eastern region. I
have recommended KSAALT to
many of my colleagues who are

professors and department

heads at different places like
Taif, Yanbu, Madinah and Jeddah.
I really enjoy the discussions
and contributions made by members in ELT, especially about the
use of technology for teaching
in KSA. Likewise, I would like to
contribute and share my teaching experiences with the
KSAALT community.
I get good ideas of preparing
lessons from the Quarterly.
Once I attended a pronunciation
teaching workshop in Al-Khobar

when I received a newsletter

talking about moviemaker. I used
the software and made fantastic
videos to teach vocabulary. This
was a breakthrough for me because it saves me time browsing
through videos and finding relevant material for my students. As
always, there are links that lead
to a plethora of information on
teaching and using technology in
the classroom for all levels
schools, colleges and universities.
In short, I would say KSAALT
is an excellent platform for professional development.

Marouf Ali, originally from India, was educated in the US. He has been teaching English in the KSA for more than 5 years at Taif and Taibah University. He regards teaching as a challenge and a never-ending field for research, especially with technology integration, flipped classrooms and blended
learning.

Page 7

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

ESL Test Writing

Introduction
Writing is a complex cognitive process, which as
said by Hazel (2005), does not arise out of a vacuum:
there must be a process involved which engages learners to develop linguistic and writing skills. These skills
enable them to produce lots of texts for various purposes across various social contexts (Deane et al. 2008).
Teaching writing is certainly tied with testing.
Teachers assess the students linguistic abilities, their
progress and achievements. Brissenden and Slater
(2014) say that assessment is important because it
drives students' learning. The research on testing writing indicates that writing assessment is a hard task.
Assessing writing skills shows two problems. The first
one is making decisions about the objectivity of the
test. If writing is assessed in a controlled way and graded objectively, then the use of writing in real life will not
be reflected in the test. On the other hand, if writing is
tested in a way that would reflect how it is used by students in the real life, it is difficult to have control over
the writing and to assess the students writing objectively.
From my point of view, the learning process starts
from testing as most learners, especially in the Arab
world, study for the test. Their learning techniques, their
teachers' practices and the students learning strategies are managed by the test. This was confirmed by
White (1994) who said that teachers concern is understandable for writing assessment not only sets out to
measure the effectiveness of their work but actually
defines to a considerable extent the content of their
work; teachers speak disparagingly of teaching to the
test, but in fact they have no choice but to do so.
MacIntyre and Gardner (1989) confirm that writing
may be one of the most difficult skills for students to
master. The writer must take many things into consideration: purpose, audience, syntax, paragraphing, punctuation, spelling and handwriting. The aim of this study is
to show how language testing is well related to language teaching and learning, and how the reliability,
validity and practicality of the test affect the quality of
testing.

teachers speak
disparagingly of
teaching to the test,
but in fact they have no
choice but to do so.

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

Page 8

ESL Test Writing ( continued)

Adding -ed, -ing and -s to certain English vocabulary words

Most common English symbols and abbreviations
Using linking words
Writing a clear and error-free guided composition

1.2 The Rationale for the Questions in the Test

The best way to test students writing ability is to get them to
write (Hughes, 2003). Objective questions are not found in the
test that is under investigation. I believe in the subjective way in
assessing writing. Therefore, I tried to reduce the subjectivity of
scoring the questions. To improve the reliability of the test, the
following criteria (set in the Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages CE, p.188) have been considered:

Specification of the content of the assessment (the content

of the test matches the coursebook content).
Requiring multiple judgments (the test will be graded by
more than one teacher)
Undertaking appropriate training (students have done sufficient practices before the test)
Checking validity and reliability of the test by analyzing the
assessment data

I believe in the
subjective way in
assessing writing.
Therefore, I tried to
reduce the subjectivity
of scoring the
questions.

1 Description of the Test Paper

under Investigation
Version 1 of the test paper is devised based on the coursebook
called English for Saudi Arabia:
Writing Book that aims to assess
students' ability on the following
skills:

Grammatical ability: This is the ability to add inflectional

suffixes (-ing, -ed, -s) to targeted vocabulary.
Lexical ability: The ability to differentiate between British
and American vocabulary/spelling, recognizing short forms
and using symbols.
Mechanical ability: The ability to use punctuation, spelling,
and capitalization correctly.
Organizational skills: The ability to organize written work
according to the conventions of English, including using
linking words.
Stylistic skills: The ability to write in sentences and paragraphs.

1.1 The Objectives of the Coursebook:

The items in the test are reflections of the aims, objectives

and content of the coursebook. Moreover, school test content
must follow the prescribed test features and grading schemes
set by the Saudi Ministry of Education for the 3rd secondary year
final exams.
1.3 The Test Content
The features of the content of the test set by the Ministry of
Education include the following:
The test should include the main items of all the units in the
coursebooks.
Test makers should model on how questions are set in the
coursebooks and test items should include the vocabulary
taught in the coursebooks.
1.4 The Grading Scheme: Total (20 Marks)

1.5 The Test Outcomes and Feedback

Students have a better awareness of:

Capitalization, punctuation and spelling errors

The differences between the British and American vocabulary and spelling

4 marks for mechanics

4 marks for grammar
5 marks for use of lexis
3 marks for use of linking words
4 marks for composition

My co-graders complained about the mark allocation for

questions (1) and (8). For Question (1), 2 marks will be deducted for every 3 mistakes made are themselves a mathematically challenge.
There was a lack of an analytic distribution of the 4 marks
allocated for the correction of the composition and my cograders said that the fact that I needed to rely on graders
own judgment to award marks was subjective.

Page 9

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

ESL Test Writing (continued)

The test results were very disappointing and the test did not achieve its purposes as about half of
the students could not answer more than 50% of the test questions. Moreover, students and parents had bad impressions about learning and teaching writing as a result. I met the students/testtakers after the test and wrote down their opinions about the test:

1.

Most students could not understand the test instructions for questions (1) and (7). The instructions say: 'Punctuate', but in fact students were required to capitalize proper nouns.
Other students said that the test time was too long, but the time limit was not mentioned on the
test paper.
Questions (1) & (7):
Some students complained about the ambiguity of the instructions of both questions and they did
not understand what they were required to do.
Question (8):
Four students did not know the meaning of the word: orthography in the heading of the question.

2.
3.
4.

Some students claimed that question (6) was very easy while question (8) was very hard as they
did not get any training on free writing so they hardly wrote anything for their answers.

Some students complained about the test that it only tackled with the suffix -ing while they studied
the addition of -s and -ed to certain vocabulary as well.

According to the scoring system, question (8) was supposed to be assessed analytically not holistically. However, the formatting of the question did not facilitate any analytical grading.
2 Principles of Testing
Although trends in testing in the field of ESL, as in other fields, change over time, some principles
of assessment are timeless and are not overly affected by current fashions. These principles need to
be borne in the assessors mind whenever they construct a test, whether it is a class quiz, a class essay
or an end-of-year examination. The most important principle of them all includes these three criteria:
validity, reliability and practicality. Whilst the following discussion focuses specifically upon language
assessment, these principles of testing apply (see 'Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
1999).
2.1 Validity:
Validity is possibly the most significant criteria to determine the quality of a test. The term validity
discusses whether or not the test measures what it claims to measure. Weir (1997) stated that testing
should involve designing of the test so that its content is within the reach of students/test-takers.
The test which is under investigation, therefore, was not valid for the following reasons:
A. A test must not test things which have not been taught.

In question 4(b), the students were not taught that when the verb ends with -ie, it changes to 'y'
when -ing is added to the end of the verb. So, the answer should be 'lying'. Students inability to
tackle this question was apparent because no attempts were made.

In question (8), the students' responses were very poor and the students gave insufficient information about the topic. The reason for that is that the students used to write guided compositions
using information given in a chart. Consequently, giving students the title of a composition and
asking them to write about it was very hard for most of them.

The most important

principle of [testing]
includes : validity,
reliability and
practicality.

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

Page 10

ESL Test Writing (continued)

B. A writing test must assess writing skills only. Face validity refers
to how acceptable and credible a test is to its users (Alderson et
al. 1995), i.e. teachers and students. So, if a test has high face
validity, teachers and learners would believe that the test tests
what it is supposed to test.

Question (8) was, therefore, invalid as it tested the students

general knowledge about the polar beara topic which is unfamiliar to Saudi students. Choosing a writing topic is a very important part of a writing task. If the students find that the topic
is something that they cannot respond to, they will not be able
to show their writing ability (Kitao 2012).

C. A test should not give students a choice of which question to

answer.

In question (8), students were asked to talk about one of

the given topics. Although this practice is controversial, I
prefer denying students choices of questions so that all
students will address the same task. Nonetheless, when
students are given one single task to do it may lead to unreliable test results.

If a test has content validity, we then have enough language

to make a judgement on the students language ability. So,
if a writing test has content validity, we can be confident
that all what our students need to do is to produce enough
writing in order to display their writing skills.

C. A test must give the correct emphasis on the important parts of

the book content.

All the students finished the test in the first 30 minutes of

the test. This indicated that the time allowed to complete
the test was excessive and the test did not include enough
questions.

In question (4), students are required to add -ing to the words

whereas the corresponding unit in the coursebook involves adding -ed, -s and -ing. So, the test focused on only one section and
left out the others in the unit.

2.2 Reliability

Practicality

Reliability is the degree to which an assessment tool produces

stable and consistent results. In other words, a reliable test is the
one in which students get the same scores regardless of when they
complete the test, when their response is scored, and who scores the
response.

Practicality of a test refers to a test that does not charge

with these questions: whether it is too long or too short to administer, whether it suits the students level and whether it is
easy to grade (White, 1994).

So, if a writing test has

content validity, we can
be confident that all what
our students need to do is
to produce enough
writing in order to display
their writing skills.

The test, as a result, has not achieved

reliability for the following reasons:
A. A test must have instructions which
are equally clear to all students. Instructions should be clearly put on the
exam paper as well as the stipulated
time if the test is to be considered
valid (Plakans, 2008).

In questions (1) and (7), some words in the instructions in question (1) were missed. 'Capitalize and punctuate' should have
been the full instruction. In question (7), the instructions were
not clear as the students did not know how many mistakes and
what kind of mistakes they were supposed to identify. The instructions were confusing.
In question (8), the heading: Orthography was a difficult word for
some students. However, the fact that some students could
understand this word might cause these students to gain an
unfair advantage. I should have used words that suit the level
of the students/test-takers.
B. A test must allow an appropriate amount of time to complete. Longer tests are usually more reliable because we
get a better sample of the course content and students
performance. A longer test also tends to reduce the effect
of chance factors, such as guessing (Lucy, 1991).

A test must be easy to mark as much as possible:

1.

In question (1), the total mark is 2 while there are three

mistakes in the sentence creating difficulty for my colleagues and me to scale for the correct score. For example,
if a student made one mistake, should he be given 1 mark
or 1.5 marks?
In question (8), the free writing tended to be graded holistically not analytically. This kind of subjective scoring may
reduce the practicality of the test, especially when we need
more than one grader to grade the same question. It is
noted that analytic assessment is more reliable than holistic assessment (Jonsson & Svingby, 2007: 135).
Question (6) is too easy as students were provided with
linking words. Some students said they could answer them
without knowing the meaning of the linking words or the
sentences.

2.

3.

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KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

ESL Test Writing ( continued)

2.4 Other Factors:
2.4.1 Fairness
The fairness of a test refers to whether it is free of any kind of bias. The
assessment should be appropriate for all test-takers irrespective of race, religion, gender, or age. I was told that one of the invigilators of the test was an
older cousin of one of the test-takers. Consequently, the invigilator might have
helped the student to answer the questions in the test.
2.4.2 Impact
The test gave a bad impact on learning writing as the questions and the
test results did not meet the students' expectations after a long school term of
teaching/learning writing.
3.

A Revised Version of the Final Exam Writing Paper

After considering my previous mistakes that affected the reliability, validity, practicality, fairness and impact of the test, a new version of the test has
been made.
Question 1: Give clear instructions (Punctuate and capitalize), put 4
mistakes in the sentence for the students to correct and the score is 2 marks
which mean awarding half a mark for each correct answer.
Questions 4, 5 & 6: Add -ing, -ed to ; Write in plural form.
Question 7: Write the British spelling for
Question 8: Write the British words for
Question 9: Join the sentences, but students have to choose the linking
words from a list.
Question 10: Give clear instructions to guide students (There is one mistake in each line. Underline the mistake and then correct it).
Question 11: Write a guided composition using information given in a
table. The writing topic should be interesting and selected in the Saudi context.
Also, the word: 'Orthography should be replaced by Writing' and students will
be asked to write six grammatical correct sentences. Each correct sentence
will be awarded half a mark. Therefore, 6 correct sentences yield 3 marks.
Half a mark will be awarded for the title or good presentation. This gives a
total of 4 marks. Thus, such analytic scoring scheme will achieve test reliability.
The revised test provides more items to meet the requirements of the course and to address the
issue of the length of the test. Finally, the time allowed for the test is specified and indicated on the test
paper.

Conclusion
In conclusion, reliability is concerned with minimizing the effects of measurement error, while validity is concerned with maximizing
the effects of the language abilities we want to measure (Saville 2003:69). Reliability, validity and practicality of the test are inter-related.
In other words, when a test is reliable, the test itself could be valid as well. This means that when teachers create a test, they have to
make sure that the questions are well written and they assess the learning objectives of their lessons by analyzing the test results. Nevertheless, it is probable to have a reliable test but the test may not be valid or practical. This means that teachers can create the most comprehensive, reliable test imaginable. However, if the test questions are not related to a learning objective that is supposed to have
achieved in a lesson, the test is not a valid test. Part of every teacher's job is to assess student learning and, therefore, those tests should
not be confusing and should not fail to measure how successful teaching/learning has taken place. Linking test items to the learning/
teaching objectives and allowing a fellow teacher to look over the assessment tools used to create tests will ensure the validity, reliability
and practicality of a test that is created by a teacher (Farrow, 2008).

KSAALT Quarterly

Volume 8, Issue 1

Page 12

ESL Test Writing ( continued)

References
Alderson, J. C. and Clapham, C. (1995). Language test construction and evaluation. Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Cambridge University Press.
Brissenden, G. and Slater, T. (2014). Assessment primer. In Field-tested learning assessment guide, College Level One (CL-1) Team.
Deane, P., Odendahl, N., Quinlan, T., Fowles, M., Welsh, C. and Bivens-Tatum, J. (2008). Cognitive models
of Writing: Writing proficiency as a complex integrated skill. ETS.
Farrow, V. (2008). Using assessment data to guide instructional decisions. PowerPoint slides.
Hazel, S. (2005) The Writing experiment: Strategies for innovative Creative Writing. Allen & Unwin.
Hughes, A. (2003) Testing for language teachers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Jonsson, A. and Svingby, G. (2007). The use of scoring rubrics: Reliability, validity and educational consequences. Educational Research Review, 2(2), 130-144.
Lucy, C. (1991). Test reliability. Indiana University.

Part of every teacher's job

is to assess student
learning and, therefore,
those tests should not be
confusing and should not
fail to measure how
successful teaching/
learning has taken place.

MacIntyre, P.D. and Gardner, R.C. (1989). Anxiety and second language learning: toward a theoretical clarification. Language Learning 32, 251-275.
Plakans, L. M. (2008). Comparing composing processes in writing-only and reading-to-write test tasks.
Assessing Writing, 13, 111-129.
Saville, N. (2003.) The process of test development and revision within UCLES EFL. In: C. J. Weird
Innovation: Revising the Cambridge prociency in English examination 19132002. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Weir, C.J. (1990). Communicative Language Testing. New York: Prentice Hall.
White, E. (1994). Teaching and assessing writing (2nd Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hosam Darwish is a PhD candidate at the University of Bedfordshire, the UK. He has taught ESL/EFL in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the
UK, and gained approximately 19 years of teaching experience.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Association of Language Teachers

KSAALT QUARTERLY
Editorial Board

Wai-Si El-Hassan
Dr. Philline Deraney
Deborah Abbott
Edith Reyntiens

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Association of Language Teachers is a

Joan Kosich

group of language educators interested in promoting and supporting

language instruction across Saudi Arabia. Although most members of

Kim Lane

KSAALT teach English as a second or foreign language, KSAALT wel-

Jasia Rafiq

comes educators that teach in all languages or teach content with

email: KSAALTpubMatters@hotmail.com

English as a medium of instruction. The main mission of this growing

organization is to connect those interested in supporting and advancing language instruction. Its success depends on the ethos, logos, and
pathos of its members. KSAALT supports educators from all institu-

KSAALT Quarterly
Volume 8, Issue Two

tions and levels (e.g., K-12, tertiary education, language institutions)

and welcomes instructors from all nations.
Please contact Dr. Philline, Executive Secretary, if you would like to
receive more information about our organization. Her email address
is: ksaaltsecretary@gmail.com.

KSAALT TESOL Publications are Expanding!

KSAALT Publications are
gathering force.
As we sent out our appeal to
recruit members who have publishing experience, insightful
knowledge in EFL/ELT and expertise in reviewing academic
journal articles to join us to a new
journey on 17 October, the Publications Committee had received a
total of 15 applications over the
following 3 weeks.
It was quite a task to filter all
the CVs and applications because
every applicant was a promising
candidate. However, we had to
make a choice.

On 11 November, we shortlisted
the applicants and on 13 November,
the Committee finalized the lists for
the Publications Editorial Board as
well as the Board of Academic Reviewers. Successful applicants have
been informed and official appointment letters will be sent out in the
next 10 to 15 days.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank each and every applicant for his/her zealous support to
KSAALT TESOL, but I am sorry that
we have to disappoint some of them
in this recruitment round. Your offer
of help, which is on voluntary basis, is
much appreciated.

I hope we will have the chance to

work together in the future.

Wai Si El-Hassan
Head of KSAALT Publications