Hi Sivia,

Thank you for starting this discussion topic. I would like to reflect from my own experience. Testing and assessment are not seperate from learning&teaching but there seems to be a prejudice among some of the students that English language is an obstacle if there are no alternative approaches in the school system. Some students are successful in language when they have high grades. Some other students are not very good at exams but they are likely to communicate and interact very well but they stay behind as disadvantaged. The conventional means of testing and assessment do not give them a chance to generate their own ideas and to make decisions and they feel under the pressure of an unnatural learning environment.

I don't like teachers to be seen as the only source of knowledge and students in the position of mere audiences who are tested in the end. I suggest positive responsibilities such as self-assessment, peer feedback and e-portfolios to overcome that irrational fear. 

Sirin

Thank you Sirin for sharing your point of view. I believe in the value of self assessment, peer feedback and e-portfolios, too.

I'm looking forward to further inputs!

Dear Silvia,

Sorry for the fact that my comment hasn't appeared  .The anxiety you ‘ve pointed out is sometimes inexplicable  anguish but very often it is ascribed to he fact that the testees are not acquainted with the amosphere of exams , typology of exercses,instructions...Akin to any action,testing comprises the pre,during,and post phases.It's up to teachers to train their students to face various situations and instrucions .At bottom it's just a matter of habit.We lose confidence when we are in driving in an unknown terrain.

Kind regards,

Abdelillah

Hi Dear all !

I totally agree with you that we as teachers have to prepare our students to face up an exam or just a simple short test  and we have to train them to pass it.Test instructions are  very relevant to succeed.Some students make mistakes because they simply don't understand what they have to do to complete a task.I always read  aloud the instructions  especially for beginner groups and  I  have to be assured of their comprehension.The anxiety diminishes when they are clear.Do you have similar experiences?

Regards

Marcela-V

Absolutly! Some students get so nervous that they do not actually stop there for a second to carefully read the task. And I've also noticed that, even if I explain the task, some studs tend not to listen carefully and get into the exercise as soon as they can.

Taking the time to understand what is required from you is essential.

The same thing sometimes happens with oral tests...the students do not take their time to listen. 

How do you overcome this kind of problem?

Silvia

Hello Dear Silvia !Hi to everyone!

I believe one of the things I think is very useful is to give the students some advices not just orally also written messages,perhaps we can hang up them inside the classroom:Relax and listen carefully to the teacher,take your time to answer or complete your tasks,breath deeply before you answer,review again before you give the teacher your test ,etc or ask them some questions related to anxiety, Reflecting on their answers we can help them to overcome these problems.When students have to prepare an oral exam, it's important to give them a scheme  and teach them how to take notes and how to use a visual organizer.Maybe you have other tips we can share ?I'll be waiting for yours.

Regards

Marcela-V 

Dear Marcela,

hanging written messages in the classroom is a good idea.

How do you cope with the lack of time we often have? I mean, I love talking with my students about the things you suggest, and I do spend a lot of time dealing with such issues, but the hours of English are never enough in most schools and the programme is often wide.

Best!!

Silvia

Hi Diana,

thanks for sharing! I do agree with Mandela's quote and recognise most of my students' worries in your Top Ten.

Had a look at the posters and it is a good idea to hang them in the classroom.

It would be interesting to make the students tick their own worries and discuss them together. Has any of you ever tried this? What did you notice? Was it useful for your students? Was it for you? 

Dear Silvia and Diana:

I want to thank you for all your good advices and suggestions.The website is great and there I found"Words are extremly powerful things"or"While I teach I learn".Well it's good to know that many people including the creators of the website understand the importance of creating motivational learning environments.

Marcela-V 

Hi All,

Anxiety and stress are attributes of all types of estimation.

Even a learner prepares everything to exam, it is natural state 

to be in these states.

But test is more easier than oral exams, because 

there is no(1)  personal tension from side of a teacher , and more(2) objective

without subjective judjement of a teacher( it is not a secret , sometimes a mark

shows not only pure knowledge of a learner, but also an attitude of a teacher).

Testing is not enough to estimate level of knowledge of a language, we can use

tests when we estimate language aspects(grammar, lexis) but not skills,

language  is recieving and giving information, from this point  test doesn't show 

the real skills  of speaking , reading, writing, listening.

 Fazira

hello silvia!

 i found  your forum very interesting, and i have a question, how can we use tests as motivation tool? because in my oppinio nearly all of the teachesrs use tests to measure knowledge and i think this creates anxiety an stress to studens.

regards

Albis 

Hi Albis,

welcome to the forum!!

Well...some students are unfortunatly only motivated by tests - I mean - they study only if they have to and they have to if they want an at least decent mark in a test...and that's one side  of the medal...:( But that's part of it...we've been discussing extrinsic motivation here (from the 6th contribution on) if you want to have a look and tell us what you think!

Hi Silvia and everyone else!

Thanks a million for starting this forum and offering such interesting discussion on the topic of assessment. I've been browsing through your comments and I have to say I quite agree with Sirin. In my teaching context, EFL classroom instruction, implementing different procedures (observation, self-assessment, projects, etc) seems to be the best way to evaluate the progress our students are making and how well our teaching programme is doing. In general, we are not concerned with outside, standardized evaluation in our schools. That is why the teacher has the chance to be innovative when it comes to evaluation here, and students can have a say as regards their own learning processes and outcome. I guess that involving students in the evaluation process helps them
become responsible for their learning (and not just for passing a test). So, it doesn't seem appropriate to me to use ONLY traditional paper-and-pencil tests in my particular teaching context. A battery of different procedures increases everyone's involvement and is likely to be less stressful and more motivatin, in my opinion.

Hope to hear from you all. Kind regards, F.