The landscape of undergraduate biology education has been shaped by decades of reform efforts calling for instruction to integrate core concepts and scientific skills as a means of helping students become proficient in the discipline. Assessments can be used to make inferences about how these reform efforts have translated into changes in…

This article aims to give a comprehensive guide to planning and designing vocabulary tests which include Identifying the skills to be covered by the test; outlining the course content covered; preparing a table of specifications that shows the skill, content topics and number of questions allocated to each; and preparing the test instructions. The…

This article reports the findings of a study that sought to investigate whether computer-based vs. paper-based test-delivery mode has an impact on the reliability and validity of an achievement test for a pedagogical content knowledge course in an English teacher education program. A total of 97 university students enrolled in the English as a…

In the United States System of Education the growth of student evaluations from 1973 to 1993 has increased from 29% to 86% which in turn has increased the importance of student evaluations on faculty retention, tenure, and promotion. However, the impact student evaluations have had on student academic development generates complex educational…

Test is procedures for measuring ability, knowledge or performance. Testing can be defined as a method of assessment and improvement of the students. Language testing in any point is an extremely multifarious task that ought to be based on method as well as exercise. The results of assessments are used for one or more purposes. So they have an…

This article presents and analyses a classroom-based assessment method to test students' speaking skills in a variety of professional settings in tourism. The assessment system has been implemented in the Communication in English for Tourism course, as part of the Tourism Management degree programme, at Florida Universitaria (affiliated to the…

The review presented and discussed in this paper explores the theoretical underpinnings and research findings of the washback of high-stakes tests in the field of language teaching and testing as well general education and suggests areas and ways of researching the phenomenon in the future. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

The instructional validity of computer administered tests was studied with a focus on whether differences in test scores and item behavior are a function of instructional mode (computer versus non-computer). In the first of 3 studies, performance test scores for approximately 400 high school students in 1990-91 for tasks accomplished with the…

This study examined the amount of variance explained by alignment of testing to instruction among low socioeconomic level fourth graders, proposing two instructional alignment hypotheses. Results indicated that alignment had an unusually high effect. Low performing low socioeconomic level students achieved high success levels when conditions of…

The approach used to teach English in Japanese high schools is evaluated from the perspective of the skills needed for the university entrance examinations. The tests are examined for item type and for the skills and learning processes needed to answer them. An extensive graded reading program is most appropriate to prepare students for these…

Student testing in Japan is not effectively used. In many cases test results are used only for ranking and sorting students into whatever the designated purposes of the tests are. They are not focused on monitoring individual student progress. This is an especially inadequate approach for teaching oral communications courses. This paper proposes a…