Understanding Sentences and

Dialogues

1. Single sentence which testees listen to

and four written statements to choose

the one closest to the original spoken

sentence.

2. Testees listen to an utterance and

chose from among four responses the

most appropriate response

Tasks Using Visual Materials

1. Matching and True/False tasks

The simplest form of this task

is to present testees with a

picture or other visual

information (for example, a

chart, graph, etc.) along with

spoken true/false statements.

2. Map Tasks

One activity involves having

testees listen to directions for

how to get somewhere and

follow along on the map.

3. Drawing Tasks

The testees can be presented

with a diagram of a room with

the bed represented by a

rectangle and be asked to add

a table, a bookcase, a door,

etc., in certain locations in the

room.

in certain locations in the room.

Tasks Involving Talks and

Lectures

1. Testees listen to the talk and

then fill in the blanks in a

written summary.

2. Give testees questions to

answer as they listen to the talk.

3. Testees take notes while

listening to the talk and use it to

answer questions.

Conclusion There are a number of ways to test listening, but, particularly when testees' listening proficiency gets more advanced, testing listening becomes more complicated. It becomes more difficult to separate listening from other skills, and combining skills can put great demands on the testee. In addition, some ways of testing listening do not reflect real-world listening tasks. In choosing tasks for listening, the teacher should be aware of these problems.

Evaluation

Testing Listening

Listening Process

Processing Sound/Perception

Skills

Processing Meaning/Analysis

Skills

Processing Knowledge and

Context / Synthesis skills

Listening skills assessment

The Listening Stimuli

The material should model the

language that students might

typically be expected to hear in

the classroom, in various media,

or in conversations.

The Questions

multiple-choice items should

focus on the most important

aspects of the passage

Identifying the appropriate

instrument.

The Test Environment

Free of external distractions. The sound

quality should be excellent.

Assessment Instruments

Identifying an appropriate instrument

depends upon the purpose

for assessment and the availability of

existing instruments. If the purpose is to

assess a specific set of skills the test should

match those skills. If appropriate tests are

not available, it makes sense to design

an assessment instrument to reflect specific

needs.

Testing listening comprehension

1. Testing of Passive Skills

We have to get the test takers to do

something to demonstrate their

comprehension. So we are faced with a

situation in which we must mix skills.

a. Sentence level listening

comprehension

There are two basic types of items

at the sentence level. Short

questions are asked and possible

answers are printed in the test

booklet. Or a sentence is read and

the test taker is instructed to

select the best paraphrase from

the choices provided.

b. Beyond the sentence

The cue is a dialogue between two

speakers (usually a man and a

woman so it is easy to identify the

two) and the test taker is

expected to select the best

answer to a question concerning

the dialogue.

2. Dictation

In a typical dictation test, the material

is read once at normal speed and

then, sentence by sentence very

slowly and perhaps with repetitions,

and finally the whole passage is read

one more time at normal speed.

3. Real World Listening Tasks

Taking a message over the telephone

is one and taking notes on a lecture is

another.

Variables Affecting and Effecting Successful

Listening

1. Noise

2. Equipment

3. Repetition

4. Content

Testing Phoneme Discrimination

1. Testees look at the a picture and

listen to four words and decide which

word is the object in the picture.

2. Testees listen to a spoken sentence

and are asked to identify which one of

four similar words were used.

Discriminating Stress and Intonation

1. Testees listen to a sentence and must indicate

what word carry the main stress.

2. Testees listen to a statement and choose from

three interpretations.