Express Publishing ELT

Don’t we just love tests! We are constantly evaluating, assessing and examining our students. Some of them revel in the opportunity to shine while others get stressed out. We use the results to diagnose student problems, place them in the correct class and measure their overall level of progress, proficiency or achievement. Our course books come with regular revision sections and tests. Students, parents, school administrators, as well as teachers want to know how things are going and tests are supposed to show that.
Well, a good test is reliable / consistent. The same student taking (and completing) two different versions of an exam such as the Cambridge FCE should get the same score in both.
A test should be valid – it tests what it is supposed to be testing and it has face validity – it looks like a test and has tasks that the student is familiar with.
It should be practical, that is easily administered and marked (two different markers should arrive at the same grade); and meaningful (If I tell the students the 10 vocabulary items they will be tested on, I should not be surprised if they all score 10/10)     read more >>

“To err is human…”
Think of something in your life that you have learned to do. Can you think of a mistake that you made which helped you to learn? How did it help? As they say, you can’t learn to ride a bicycle without falling off. You have to practice various skills – keeping your balance, changing gears, using front and rear brakes, negotiating turns and traffic; but eventually you put it all together and it becomes second nature.     read more >>