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D. Authenticity
An fourth major principle of language testing is authenticity, a concept that is a little slippery to define, especially within the art and science of evaluating and designing tests. Bachman and Palmer (1996, p. 23) define authenticity as “the degree of correspondence of the characteristics of a given language test task to the features of a target language task,” and then suggest an agenda for identifying those target language tasks and for transforming them into valid test items.
E. Washback
A facet of consequential validity, discussed above, is “the effect of testing on teaching and learning” (Hughes, 2003, p. 1), otherwise known among language-testing specialists as washback. In large-scale assessment, wasback generally refers to the effects the test have on instruction in terms of how students prepare for the test. “Cram” courses and “teaching to the test” are examples of such washback. Another form of washback that occurs more in classroom assessment is the information that “washes back” to students in the form of useful diagnoses of strengths and weaknesses. Washback also includes the effects of an assessment on teaching and learning prior to the assessment itself, that is, on preparation for the assessment.


F. Applying Principles to the Evaluation of Classroom Tests
The five principles of practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback go a long way toward providing useful guidelines for both evaluating an existing assessment procedure and designing one on your own. Quizzes, tests, final exams, and standardized proficiency tests can all be scrutinized through these five lenses.
Are the test procedures practical?
Is the test reliable?
Does the procedure demonstrate content validity?
Is the procedures face valid and “biased for best”?
Are the test tasks as authentic as possible?
Does the test other beneficial washback to the learner?


Handout 2. Basics of test design
These are tests, activities and tasks designed ю give learners opportunities to practise and extend their use of language, such as new vocabulary, functional exponents or grammatical structures,
or of the subskills of reading, listening, speaking or writing. There are many different kinds of
activities and tasks with different names and different uses.
Task 1. Here are two writing activities. Con you fund three teaching differences between them?

Activity 1
Complete these sentences about yourself
with can or can 7.
1 1 swim.
2 I speak Mandarin.
3 I play the guitar.
4 I use a computer.
5 I run very fast.
Activity 2
Write an invitation inviting your friends
to your birthday party.
• Invite them.
• Tell them:
the date
the time
the address of the party.

Wc can see thai both lhese activities give learners an opportunity to use language, but in different ways.

Activity 1
• is a controlled/restricted practice
activity because learners can only use
certain items of language
• focuses on accurate use of language
• is a gap-fill exercise.

Activity 2

• is a less controlled/freer practice
activity because the language the learners
will use is not carefully limited or
controlled
• focuses on communicating a message
• is a task.

The same kinds of differences can also be seen in other activities for speaking, writing and
learning new language. Drills (guided repetitions), copying words or sentences, jazz chants,
dictation and reading aloud are other examples of controlled practice activities. In freer activities
the teacher or the materials do not limit the language that learners use. Examples of these are: discussions; solving problems through exchanging ideas; sharing or comparing ideas
information or experiences; writing emails, stories, letters, invitations or compositions.
Here are six more activities. What skill/siibskill/language do they focus on? What is the name
of the type of activity?

1 Read the story. Then answer these
questions:
a How old is the girl?
b Where does she live?
с What is her friend's name?
2 A Listen to the tape and choose the
best answer:
The children's school is:
a near their house
b near the shops
с opposite the post office
В Now listen again. Are these
sentences true or false?
a The school is new.
b The classroom is big.
с The library has many books.
3 Look at these pictures and ihen read
the story. Put the pictures in the
correct order. Write the corrcct
number (1-6) under each picture.
4 Listen to the tape, and in pairs fill in
this form:
Girl's name:
Girl's address:
Name of girl's friend:
5 Work in pairs. Each of you should use
one of these role cards.
A Your friend has a problem. Give
him/her the best advice you can.
В You have a problem. You want to
go to university, but you find
studying very difficult. Ask your
friend for advice.
6 Get into groups of four. Find out which
food your friends like and dislike most.
Ask:
Which food do you like most?
Which food do you dislike most?

Here are the answers to the questions above:

Activity	Skill/subskill/longuage	Type of activity
1	Reading for specific information	Wh- questions (questions beginning with question words: e.g. which/what/how/when/why) for comprehension
2	Listening for specific information	A Multiple-choice questions (an activity in which you choose the best answer from three or more possible answers) В True/False questions (an activity in which you decide whether statements are correct or incorrect)
3	Reading for detail	Ordering
4	Listening for specific information	Form filling
5	Fluency in speaking/freer practice of new language	Role-play (an activity in which you imagine that you are someone else in a specific situation)
6	Accuracy in speaking/ controlled practice of new language	Survey (finding out the opinions of a group on one topic)

We can see iliai activities tan differ in several ways: ilie skill or subskill tJ icy focus on; wlial

type they are and what interaction patterns they use. The kinds of skills or the language they focus on and the interaction patterns they use are not fixed. So, for example, multiple-choice questions could be used for reading, listening or grammar activities and can be done individually, in pairs or in groups. Similarly, form-filling could be used lor reading, listening, or grammar practice, and done individually, in pairs or in groups.
Activities 5 and 6 both involve learners talking to one another to exchange information they
don't know. This means they are talking in order to communicate, not just to practise language. This kind of activity in which learners exchange information that only one o! them has is called
an information gap or a communicative activity.
An activity may focus on accuracy or communication depending on how it is introduced by
the teacher or the materials. For example, the survey above is focused on accuracy because it
limits the language that learners use to ask and answer two specific questions. If the
instructions for the activity were 'Find out about your friends' likes and dislikes in food', this
would not restrict learners' choice of language and the activity would focus on communication.