Blog post II

Computer based testing(CBT)

Hello every one, this is a post based on the Reading:

Computer-based language assessment: Prospects for innovative assessment.

The way that English is assessed has changed dramatically, moving from P&P formats to computers based testing, for this reason computers have become a great tool, therefore computers are being now a complete and integral part of teaching, learning and assessing languages abilities. the advantages of assessing using CBT are enormous:

-       they deliver multimedia content.

-       more visually attractive tests.

-        Facilitate test delivery and scoring.

-       drag-and-drop matching responses are available.

-       This kind of testing might also be more appealing and accessible to visual or kinesthetic learners

-       menus, radio buttons, and animation are more visually interesting and engaging for examinees increase testing efficiency (Chalhoub-Deville,

2001; Chalhoub-Deville & Deville, 1999; Fulcher, 1999; Jamieson, 2005).

In fact, Wagner (2010) states that most studies on the subject have found that test takers prefer video to audio-only listening, and his own findings indicate that most of the participants in his study preferred video listening tests over audio-only. Beyond test taker preference and interest level, Ockey (2007) also says that These findings do suggest that listening with video operates somewhat differently from more traditional “audio-only” listening.

Another advantage about having tests using computers is the saving in photocopies, even if the money saved by using less paper is offset by the expense of computers and software, there is a definite savings in carrying, stacking, filing, and storing, there is another strength of CBT and is that it makes remote delivery of tests possible, whether over the World Wide Web or by mailing the test on CD-ROM or some other storage medium. An example of this is computer-mediated “semi-direct” interview tests such as the Computerized Oral Proficiency Instrument (COPI), an adaptation of the tape-mediated Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI), which in turn is based on the ACTFL OPI (Malabonga, Kenyon, & Carpenter, 2005). and also if tests are taken on computers connected to a network (including the Internet), responses can be collected centrally for scoring, nevertheless all the advantages that CBT has, there are some issues related with limitations like:

-       the costs of development, the availability of the computers needed to administer a CBT can be a problem (Brown, 2004).

-       The test takes should have a tutorial to understand the procedures of the examination and to familiarize with the computer itself, (Taylor, Jamieson, Eignor, & Kirsch, 1998). This happened when when the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) first transitioned from a paperbased to computer-based format, but now the new format has eliminated this tutorial by presupposing basic familiarity with using a computer by the test takers.

Regarding the information on CBT my experience with examination is not a big deal, the Moodle platform used at the place that I work it, let the teachers create a questions bank to have students presenting online examinations, it is possible to create several questions with the same paragraph and even insert videos or audios to the question to be solved by the students with multiple possible answers. This kind of examination is not so unusual for me, but it is new for me the information regarded the electronic portfolios. e-portfolios are not fundamentally different from conventional portfolios, except that they facilitate the inclusion of other types of materials, such

as audio or video recordings, or other digital products such as web pages—not just the photos and text that can be used in traditional hardcopy portfolios. This may change, though, as e-portfolios become more dynamic, rather than static as they have traditionally been, and incorporate social networking and other Web 2.0 features (Clark & Eynon, 2009; Waters, 2009). I have not been a good friend of portfolios because this implies being struggling with students to follow and correctly carry their portfolios as part of the learning process, I consider that having students follow an electronic portfolio, will foster in them the use of this tool as a part of the assessment issues in a class.

The advance of the CBT has gone further; the computer now can select which item to present to a test taker based on his or her previous responses. This is called Computer-Adaptive Testing (CAT) this kind of assessment has been called “the most important application of computers in language assessment” (Laurier, 2000, p. 93).  Now to end up with this post is important to mention (WBT) web based testing, this test involves administering a test via the World Wide Web using conventional Web browsers there is no need to store the test on individual computers or to hand out individual disks with the test materials. This centralized storage of the test on a server helps maintain test security, and saves the work of installing the test on every computer where it will be taken, re-installing any changes, and so on. Two test that work now in this format are: TOEFL-IBT and IELTS. To summarize I will finish by saying that this kind of examination has become a very important way to evaluate student’s ability in languages all around the world and it is necessary to be updated on this kind of examination.