Neyran+Testing+statement

TESTING STATEMENTS I am testing : 1-to measure their vocabulary skills. I want to understand where they are in terms of vocabulary and to understand whether their vocabulary is in an adequate level in YDS(foreign language exam in Turkey) 2-to have an idea on their knowledge on phrasal verbs that they come across commonly in YDS preparation tests with the help of cloze tests. 3-to measure their comprehension skills in listening with an authentic text.This is not related with Yds but I think,for language students, having a good comprehension in English is very significant. 4-To understand how they are doing on cloze test which is again a type of question that is asked in yds. 5-to see their knowledge on grammar questions(tenses, that resemble type of questions asked in YDS. 6-To develop their scanning and skimming skills with the help of cloze tests. 7-For washback, the questions will help them in understanding where they are lacking in YDS questions and will give them a chance to put more emphasis on the areas they lack to develop their question solving skills.For example;if they have mistakes on cloze tests, this means that they should study grammar more and this, I think will be a positive washback for them. I am testing my students in language instruction because I am testing their overall knowledge for YDS.Yet it is also in real life domain since I am testing their comprehension of language which is used in real life. For language instruction activities, I use cloze tests and gap fill exercises.For real life domain, I use gap fill exercises ,scanning,skimming. My test is syllabus based because I am not asking something that dont cover in the classroom and try to test their knowledge for Yds on the things they have covered.It is also theory based since with the cloze tests,as well as measuring their vocabulary and grammar knowledge,I want to see where they are in skimming and scanning. Characteristics of the test takers They are Cypriot students and their mother tongues are Turkish. They are sixteen and studying at Kurtuluş Highschool in Güzelyurt.They are 20 students and most of them are girl. The teacher told us that they covered grammar subjects to a great extent but I have doubts whether they learned grammar and vocabulary in a good way. This is something related with them because they dont like their department a lot. Some of them are really good at reading and speaking but some of them just sit and listen. The students are intermediate. But some of them seem like elementary:S. Actually they are some of them are good at speaking and reading. Their understanding of grammar is good but their pronunciations are not that good. Some of them understand but rejects participating in the lesson. I think they will like the test because I tried to make it visual as much as I can. I added pictures near the cloze test and pictures for the reading parts which will increase the face validty.But they may not like test because some students hate test even if it has pictures or something attractive. But I tried my best to make it attractive. I think my test is reliable because they are not so hard and not above the level of students.Besides not other person than me will score the exam. It is practical because it will be very easy to administer and score.Listening text is authentic but the other questions were prepared by Turkish teachers who are preparing test for YDS. The test will increase the face validty and it has content validity.In terms of washback, it has a positive washback as I said earlier in purpose part. All the questions are from internet sites.
 * Plan for evaluating test usefulness **