Language Testing Week 3
I’m super exhausted this week so study today wasn’t super effective. I read the readings without taking notes and bummed my way through the lecture. That being said, I will post a brief overview of the content for this week.
Testing Second Language Listening
Like reading, listening can be a bit tricky to test because listening cannot be directly observed. The test taker has to produce something to show their comprehension, which inherently runs the risk of conflating competencies in other areas (e.g. written, spoken).
The listening construct included global understanding, understanding of specific details, and ability to draw inferences.
When designing a listening test, there are various considerations: whether to use a recording/or deliver speech in person, spectrum between literary and oral, whether to show the test taker the questions prior to the text, how many listen throughs are permitted, the length and speed of the text, what dialect and accent is used, etc.
