Grammar
Testing
• Why test grammar?
• How to test grammar?
• Should grammar be tested separately?
• As far as proficiency tests are concerned, there has been a shift
towards the view that since it is language skills that are usually of
interest, then it is these which should be tested directly, not the
abilities that seem to underlie them.
• One cannot accurately predict mastery of the skill by measuring
control of what we believe to be the abilities that underlie it.
• The backwash effect of tests that measure mastery of skills directly
may be thought preferable to that of tests that might encourage the
learning of grammatical structures in isolation, with no apparent
need to use them.
• Considerations of this kind have resulted in the absence of any
grammar component in some well-known proficiency tests.
• But probably most proficiency tests that are administered on a large
scale still retain grammar section.
• Even if one has doubts about testing grammar in a proficiency test,
there is often good cause to include a grammar component in the
achievement, placement, and diagnostic tests of teaching
instructions.
• It seems unlikely that there are many institutions, however
‘communicative’ their approach, that do not teach grammar in some
guise or other.
• Whether or not grammar has an important place in an institution’s
teaching, it has to be accepted that grammatical ability, or rather
the lack of it, sets limit to what can be achieved in the way of skills
performance.
• The successful writing of academic assignments, for example, must
depend to some extend on command of more than the most
elementary grammatical structure.
• It would be very useful to have diagnostic tests of grammar which
could tell us– for individual learners and groups– what gaps exist in
their grammatical repertoire.
• Such tests could inform not only teachers but also learners, so that
they could take responsibility for filling the existing gaps
themselves. For this reason, it would be important for the tests to
be linked in some way or another to learning materials.
• Why test grammar?
• Should grammar be tested separately?
• How to test grammar?
How to test grammar?
• Writing Items
• Whatever techniques are chosen for testing grammar, it is
important for the text of the item to be written in grammatically
correct and natural language.
How to test grammar?
• Gap filling
• Ideally, gap filling items should have just one correct response.
• Example:
• What was more disturbing _______ that for the first time in his life
Henry was on his own.
• Or: The council must do something to improve transport in the city.
__________ they will lose the next election.
• Or: He arrived late, __________ was a surprise.
• An item with two possible correct responses may be acceptable if
the meaning is the same, whichever is used. Thus:
• He displayed a wide, bright smile __________ had charmed so
many people before.
• Adding to the context can often restrict the number of possible
correct responses to a single one. An extension of this is to present
a longer passage with several gaps. These may be used to test a
set of related structures, such as articles (see handout 1)
• An item with two possible correct responses may be acceptable if
the meaning is the same, whichever is used. Thus:
• He displayed a wide, bright smile __________ had charmed so
many people before.
• Adding to the context can often restrict the number of possible
correct responses to a single one. An extension of this is to present
a longer passage with several gaps. These may be used to test a
set of related structures, such as articles. Students are required to
write the, a, or NA (No Article).
• In England, children go to ______ school from Monday to Friday.
______ school that Mary goes to is very small. She walks there each
morning with ______ friend. One morning they saw ______ man
throwing ______ stones and ______ pieces of woods at _____ dog.
______ dog was afraid of ______ man.
• Paraphrase
• Items require the student to write a sentence equivalent in meaning to one
that is given. It is helpful to give part of the paraphrase in order to restrict
the students to the grammatical structure being tested. Thus:
1. Testing passive, past continuous form.
• When we arrived, a policeman was questioning the bank clerk.
• When we arrived, the bank clerk _______________________.
2. Testing present perfect with for.
It is six years since I last saw him.
I ______________________________ six years.
• Completion
• This technique can be used to test a variety of structure. (see handout
2)
• Multiple Choice
• There are times when gap filling will not test what we want it to test.
• Example (could):
• They left at seven. They _________ be home now.
• There are obviously too many possibilities for the gap (must, should,
may, could, might, will)
• To eliminate other possibilities, we can add context, having someone reply:
Yes, but we can’t count on it, can we?
• This removes the possibility of must and will but leave the other possibilities.
• At this point, we would think that we could only test the epistemic use of
could satisfactorily by resorting to multiple choice.
• They left at seven. They _______ be home by now.
• Yes, but we can’t count on it, can we?
a. can b. could c. will d. must
The challenge in constructing a multiple choice type of test is finding suitable
distractors.
Scoring Grammar Tests
• The important thing when scoring other types of item is to be clear
about what each item is testing, and to award points for that only.
• Nothing should be deducted for non-grammatical errors, or for errors in
elements or grammar which are not tested by the item. For instance, a
testee should not be penalized for a missing third person –s when the
item is testing relative pronouns.
Scoring Grammar Tests
• If two elements are being tested in an item, then points may be
assigned to each of them (for example present perfect form and since
with past time reference point.)
• To ensure scoring is valid and reliable, careful preparation of the
scoring key is necessary.
How important grammar skill is?
