- Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

Transcription

Testing Listening
Specifications for the E8-Standards
Listening Tests
LTC Technical Report 3
Claudia Mewald
Otmar Gassner
Guenther Sigott
© Language Testing Centre: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/ltc 2007
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt
Universitätsstraße 64
AUSTRIA
Druck:
CONTENTS
Introduction ...........................................................................................4
Listening processes ....................................................................................... 4
Listening strategies ........................................................................................ 6
Raising awareness for listening strategies ............................................................. 7
Direct Meaning Comprehension .......................................................................... 7
Listening for gist (Strategy 1.1) .......................................................................... 8
Listening for main ideas or important information (Strategy 1.2) ...................................... 8
Listening for specific information (Strategy 1.3) ........................................................ 9
Inferred Meaning Comprehension ...................................................................... 10
Making inferences and deductions based on information in the text (Strategy 2.1) ................. 10
Determining a speaker’s attitude or intention towards a listener or a topic (Strategy 2.2) .......... 11
Relating utterances to their social and situational contexts (Strategy 2.3) ........................... 11
Recognising the communicative function of utterances (Strategy 2.4) ............................... 12
Feedback to test takers................................................................................... 13
E8-Standards Listening Test Specifications Version 03 .................. 14
1. Purpose of the test .................................................................................... 14
2. Description of test takers ............................................................................. 14
3. Test level .............................................................................................. 14
4. Test construct ......................................................................................... 14
5. Structure of the test ................................................................................... 17
6. Time allocation ........................................................................................ 17
7. Item formats ........................................................................................... 18
8. Rubrics ................................................................................................ 18
9. Item exemplars ........................................................................................ 19
Item Exemplars ................................................................................... 20
Example 1, Strategy 1.1 ................................................................................. 21
Sample Answer Sheet......................................................................... 26
Literature ............................................................................................. 27
Appendix ............................................................................................. 29
Testing Listening: Specifications for the
E8-Standards Listening Tests
Introduction
The declared aim of E8 standards testing is system monitoring with a focus on the
diagnosis of the educational system concerning the efficiency of foreign language
instruction in Austrian schools. The general aims of establishing and testing
standards in English for 14-year-old pupils in Austrian schools have been discussed
at some length elsewhere (Gassner et al. 2005, Sigott et al. 2007).
The E8-Standards Listening Tests focus on listening comprehension for the purpose
of diagnosing the test takers’ strengths and weaknesses in the two components of
“Direct Meaning Comprehension” and “Inferred Meaning Comprehension”.
In this way the E8-Standards Listening Tests are intended to help learners and
teachers to become more knowledgeable about the listening processes and the
strategies involved. To utilise the information, the E8-Standards Listening Tests
provide feedback for various target groups. For stakeholders they provide data to
diagnose the educational system, for teachers they are indicators of the impact of
their teaching, and for learners they are yardsticks for what they can or cannot do in
the foreign language, i.e. how successfully they can handle the strategies underlying
successful listening.
In order to flesh out the reasons for focussing on the two components of “Direct
Meaning Comprehension” and “Inferred Meaning Comprehension” in the E8Standards Listening Tests it seems reasonable to look at listening processes in more
detail first.
Listening processes and strategies
Listening processes
In the past, listening tasks and tests were frequently classified in terms of difficulty
(Nunan 1989, Richards 1983, Ur 1984) reflecting the level of the texts used. This
approach was similar to that applied in the use of reading texts, where the evaluation
tended to rely on readability measures such as word counts and the frequency of
difficult lexis and/or structures.
Transferring constructs of reading comprehension to listening comprehension
contributed to a bottom-up approach to listening, which claims that listening
comprehension takes place in a definite order, starting with the lowest level of detail
(e.g. identifying phonemes) and moving to the highest level (e.g. the general
comprehension of unedited speech). Table 1 (see p. 5) gives an overview of how this
development has been described in the literature:
4
Developmental Listening Stages
(adapted from Taylor 1981, 41-42)
Bottom-up approach to
listening
(Buck 2001, 2)
Stages
Levels of
comprehension
Levels of decoding acoustic
input
1 Stream of sound
no comprehension of
content
understanding phonemes
2 Isolated word
recognition within
the stream
minimal comprehension of identifying individual words
general content
3 Phrase/formula
recognition
marginal comprehension
of what is heard
syntactic understanding
4 Clause/sentence
recognition
minimal functional
comprehension of content
semantic understanding
5 Extended speech
recognition
general comprehension of
unedited speech
literal understanding
Table 1: Development of listening comprehension
In addition to its perceived linear development earlier evaluation of listening
comprehension was frequently based on undefined and unspecified inherent qualities
of listening passages which tended to be designed and/or simplified for teaching
purposes. This made the classification of difficulty levels a doubly arbitrary or
subjective enterprise (Lynch 1988, 178).
A paradigm shift in second language education starting in the 1970s (Brumfit &
Johnson 1998, Nunan 1988, 1991, Jacobs 2001), which has moved language
teaching and learning from content- or teacher-centred methodologies to a more
learner- or learning-centred approach adopting a focus on function rather than form,
has also modified the concept of listening comprehension. We now acknowledge that
in listening language processing does not occur in a fixed sequence (which a
teacher/tester could trigger or guide), but that it is more likely to take place in any
convenient order with various components interfering and interacting simultaneously
(Buck 2001). This interactive process takes into consideration that
listening comprehension is the result of an interaction between a number of
information sources, which include the acoustic input, different types of
linguistic knowledge, details of the context, and general world knowledge, and
so forth, and listeners use whatever information they have available, or
whatever information seems relevant to help them interpret what the speaker
is saying. (Buck 2001, 3)
Additionally, this top-down approach has moved the social dimensions of listening
and the use of listening comprehension for language learning into the centre of study
(Lynch 1988, Rost 1990, Rubin 1994). Consequently, researchers tend to put less
emphasis on listening as a cognitive process rather than on the processes of
interaction and meaning-negotiation (Dunkel 1991, Pica et al. 1987). Conversely it is
also recognised that semantic and syntactic systems (bottom-up processing) as well
as top-down processing operate simultaneously and that all components of the
listening process, including the input text, the context of this text, the task demands,
and the responses required of the listener are interrelated (Hoven 1997).
5
While previously attention was paid only to the input text, nowadays the interaction
between text and task demands is taken into consideration.
The E8-Standards Listening Test Specifications (see p. 14) therefore identify
communicative listening strategies (see p. 5) in addition to discourse forms and text
types (see pp. 16-17) and they have thus established a framework for test item
development that reflects the above described processes and allows test
construction which takes the characteristics of authentic listening into consideration.
Listening strategies
The strategies of the E8-Standards Listening Tests are based on Weir’s (1993, 9899) “summary checklist of operations in listening comprehension” and constitute a
theoretical framework for the assessment of the test takers’ listening competence in
the two broad dimensions of “Direct Meaning Comprehension” and “Inferred Meaning
Comprehension”.
There is no guarantee that every listener will use exactly the strategy an item is
intended to measure (i.e. in a gist task one test taker may actually have made use of
this particular strategy, while another one may have listened for detail and still have
solved the item) and we acknowledge that there is still considerable need for more
empirical evidence on how skills and sub-skills are made use of in successful
listening comprehension (Buck 2001). However, focussing the test items on
strategies (see p. 15) and anchoring them in largely authentic input texts has
established a construct which helps simulate authentic listening situations.
The claim to authenticity may seem far-fetched in a testing situation because testing
can never be authentic. In maintaining that the E8-Standards Listening Tests are
nevertheless simulating authentic listening situations we follow van Lier (1997) who
suggests that in an educational context authenticity relates to learners and to
teachers and to what they normally do in order to interact in the classroom and that it
is the authenticity of the task which is crucial.
In addition to the expected familiarity with the task type, all input texts fulfil the
requirement of age relevance and appropriateness, content and context familiarity as
well as authenticity, i.e. the items only contain texts which 14-year-olds typically
encounter in everyday life.
While age relevance and appropriateness are left to the professional experience of
item writers and screeners who are all practising teachers and experts in their field,
content and context familiarity as well as authenticity are proposed by the list of predetermined text types (see Table 2, p. 7) and the topics as suggested by the Austrian
national curriculum1 for foreign languages and the E 8 Bildungsstandards2 (Gassner
et al. 2005, 41).
1 Available at: http://www.bmukk.gv.at/medienpool/887/hs23.pdf &
http://www.bmukk.gv.at/medienpool/888/hs24.pdf
2
Available at:
http://www.gemeinsamlernen.at/siteVerwaltung/mOBibliothek/Bibliothek/Fremdsprachen_Englisch_B
asisheft_Sept_2005.pdf
6
•
•
•
Personal domain:
o
stories, jokes, anecdotes, recipes, short stories, urban legends, simplified
readers, songs, poems, travel accounts
o
personal conversations on familiar topics, telephone calls
Public domain:
o
simple technical descriptions or instructions for everyday products, routine
commands, exercise instructions
o
sports commentaries, news reports, features, documentaries on familiar
topics
o
programme listings on the radio, time-tables, announcements, paging at
airports or train stations
Educational domain:
o
simple lectures or talks on familiar topics, oral accounts of the plot of a book,
reviews of books or articles, classroom conversations
Table 2: Text types
In addition to the appropriateness of text types and topics special attention is given to
content and task authenticity. Item writers place special emphasis on designing tasks
which integrate the naturalness of both the content as well as the strategies required
to solve the task. For example, in the E8-Standards Listening Test the test takers
might listen to a chat between two people about making plans for the weekend and
will be asked to identify the purpose of the conversation, which will require listening
for gist. On the other hand, they might listen to an announcement to find out about
the platform number or the exact departure time of a given train which focuses them
on listening for a specific detail.
Raising awareness for listening strategies
In order to increase the chances of our learners being successful in solving listening
tasks it seems meaningful to make them aware of different strategies and of their
appropriateness in relation to certain input texts and task features (Gassner 2007, 6).
How this awareness for the conscious application of strategies can be raised will be
dealt with in detail in another publication. For the E8-Standards Listening Tests it
seems meaningful to notify that the items are based on defined strategies (see pp. 6
& 15) which can be applied consciously in order to solve the task.
The following sections will discuss these strategies with reference to the listening
specifications in the second part of this text (see p. 14).
Direct Meaning Comprehension
Direct Meaning Comprehension refers to the comprehension of surface information
and facts that are explicitly stated in the input text. It does not require the test takers
to understand every detail, but implies a focus on those parts of information that are
relevant for the task. Like in real life the intensity of this focus will shift according to
the aim of the listener. This may vary from listening for gist, when only some general
information about the text is needed, to listening for specific information, when details
7
like instructions or directions need to be understood. In the test situation the aim of
the focus and the level of intensity are triggered by the task.
Listening for gist (Strategy 1.1)
In real life we often listen for gist simultaneously with other activities, i.e. we may be
cooking and listening to the radio in the background. We are probably not listening
very carefully and will therefore only get a general idea of what is being said because
we have no intent to understand details. Only if a topic of particular interest turns up,
may we decide to listen more carefully.
Real life situations often do not allow for repetitions or clarification. In these cases it
is essential to decide very quickly whether listening for gist will be enough, or
whether more careful listening will be necessary in order to get the more detailed
information required. Therefore, the first few seconds of any listening situation often
determine the focus.
In the teaching situation, where input texts are mostly listened to more than once,
listening for gist is frequently made use of to prepare the learners for more careful
listening. This may be done by asking the learners for the main message, the best
title for the text (a radio programme, an ad etc.), the purpose or the function of the
text.
In the testing situation the question asked and the multiple choice options given will
spell out the focus and direct the test takers towards more global or more detailed
attention.
For reasons of authenticity and validity, the questions and multiple choice options
should, like the listening texts themselves, reflect the natural listening situation as
closely as possible.
Examples
The first example for the strategy “listening for gist” (see example 1, p. 21) asks what
the dialogue is about while another example demonstrates how the question directs
the test takers towards identifying ‘a problem’, i.e. getting the gist of the text (see
example 8, p. 25). In both situations the information required to answer the question
is clearly stated and the solution is obvious enough that we expect listening for gist to
be sufficient for successful completion.
Listening for main ideas or important information (Strategy 1.2)
The strategy involves “Listening for main ideas or important information and/or
distinguishing that from supporting details or examples. This includes distinguishing
fact from opinion when clearly marked.” It requires more careful listening but the
solution is still to be found in clearly stated information in the input text and there is
no need for making inferences or deductions in order to identify the correct answer.
The test takers may, however, sometimes have to distinguish fact from opinion,
which is a cognitive process worth practising and being familiar with, because the
ability to do so frequently plays an important role in productive activities following
listening (and reading) processes.
8
Example
In the item used to demonstrate the strategy of “listening for main ideas or important
information” (see example 2, p. 21) the main reason for the conversation, i.e. to find
more people to come to the party, is clearly stated at the very beginning of the input
text (Have you asked…? Can I bring..?), and repeated several times. There is no
need to make inferences in order to identify the correct solution; the information is
given directly.
Listening for specific information (Strategy 1.3)
“Listening for specific information” includes the recall of important details. For
example, if we have asked for instructions on how to get somewhere, we have to
listen more carefully in order to understand the information we have inquired about.
We may well have some very specific information in mind, waiting for this particular
item of information to come.
ln real life we often need to understand nearly everything when listening for specific
information, for example in public announcements at railway stations or airports.
However, it may still not be necessary to understand every word to get the specific
information required. Moreover, important announcements are often repeated so that
the listeners can separate the essential information from the non-essential one.
While in real life there is an authentic aim to follow, i.e. to learn about the gate
number where a plane is going to depart from, in the test situation the aim will be
defined by the task set, i.e. the question will draw the attention to a specific piece of
information.
In both situations the listeners will ignore less important information and focus on the
essentials. Applying strategic skills like listening for emphasis or stress may be useful
because like in real life the important information will be foregrounded by intonation
and stress, through text markers or repetitions. As the input texts are always
presented twice in the E8-Standards Listening Tests, the test takers should be able
to identify the specific information required. It is, however, essential to read the (test)
question and multiple choice (MC) options carefully in order to choose the correct
focus. This is not completely authentic but as close to the real situation as can be
arranged in the testing situation.
Example
In the item used to demonstrate the strategy of listening for specific information (see
example 3, p. 22), the test takers are asked to find out what a person is doing on a
specific day and the information required to find the correct answer is given precisely
and directly without recourse to deduction or inference.
9
Inferred Meaning Comprehension
“Inferred Meaning Comprehension” includes implicit understanding and drawing
inferences from input texts, i.e. the information is not clearly stated and the answer
therefore requires more careful listening. Inferring means going beyond the surface
information to see other meanings which are nowhere explicitly stated in the text.
In “Inferred Meaning Comprehension” it will be even more important than in “Direct
Meaning Comprehension” for the test takers to be able to identify the parts of the
listening input that are relevant to the question asked and to ignore the rest. This
enables the test takers to focus on specific parts of the input text and reduces the
amount of information they have to hold in short-term memory to be able to identify
the correct answer. In order to do so the test takers will have to recognise the
purpose for listening, i.e. they will listen for gist to activate their background
knowledge of the topic to anticipate the content of the input text and the possible
solution to identify the appropriate listening strategies. The quicker they are able to
achieve this, the better their chances to focus on the correct part of the input text.
Needless to say, these cognitive and strategic processes contribute to successful
“Inferred Meaning Comprehension”.
Making inferences and deductions based on information in the text.
This can include deducing meaning of unfamiliar lexical items from
context. (Strategy 2.1)
It may be helpful for the test takers to know that they make inferences every day. If
they infer that something has happened, they do not see, hear, feel, smell, or taste
the actual event. However, from what they know about the event, it makes sense to
assume that it has happened. For example, sitting in a classroom during a lesson
they might hear a loud bang, then the sound of breaking glass. Without having seen
anything, they can infer that a window or door must have been broken. They all know
that this mostly happens when there is a draught. They also know that there is no
loud bang before the sound of breaking glass if a ball breaks the glass, which
excludes this option. Still there could be some other reason, and therefore another
explanation, for the sounds. Perhaps it was not a draught. Maybe an angry person
banged a door, or maybe a heavy object hit a window causing both the bang and the
breaking of the glass. Making inferences means choosing the most likely explanation
from the facts at hand, i.e. the test takers will have to look carefully at the question
and at the multiple choice options available before they try to deduct the correct
answer. Although they will have to infer the solution, the situation or the supporting
facts will clearly exclude the distractors, i.e. the correct answer can unequivocally be
deduced from facts given in the input text and never depend on subjective
judgement.
If the meaning of a word is unfamiliar to the test takers, it may become clear through
context.
10
Example
In the item used to demonstrate the strategy of “making inferences and deductions
based on information in the text” (see example 4, p. 22) the test takers are asked to
infer the correct answer to a question from the conversation.
They are asked for the reasons for inviting a person called Richard to a party. The
choices offered are Richard’s ability to talk about Vienna, to speak German, to teach
a girl from Zurich German, or the number of boys and girls at the party. The first
information the test takers get from the conversation is that Richard teaches German.
Then they hear that there will be a girl from Zurich who does not speak English.
Eventually they hear that Richard should be invited so that the girl from Zurich will
have someone to talk to in her own language. The correct answer is never explicitly
stated, but the information is precise enough for the correct answer to be identified
through deduction and without subjective judgement.
Determining a speaker’s attitude or intention towards a listener or a
topic (Strategy 2.2)
A speaker’s attitude or intention towards a listener or a topic can be identified through
listening for gist or by paying attention to voice quality, intonation, stress, emphasis,
or paralinguistic features (in face-to face interaction).
Example
The item used to demonstrate the strategy of “determining a speaker’s attitude or
intention towards a listener or a topic” (see example 5, p. 23) asks the test takers to
infer what a woman thinks about skiing. The situation already hints at “Inferred
Meaning Comprehension” (The woman thinks …. rather than says…) and although
all multiple choice options deal with information given in the text, only one refers to
what the speaker really thinks.
Relating utterances to their social and situational contexts
(Strategy 2.3)
Relating utterances to their social and situational contexts can also be achieved
without even having to think about the content of a text, especially if background
noises back up the situation. However, within “Inferred Meaning Comprehension” it
will be necessary to listen to the content of the input text in order to identify the social
and situational context.
Although this holds true for any input texts in the E8-Standards Listening Tests, in the
case of this strategy it seems particularly important to mention that the test takers’
age and life experience and the topics outlined in the Austrian National Curriculum3
determine the possible social and situational contexts, i.e. those of the real world of
14-year-olds.
3
http://www.bmukk.gv.at/schulen/unterricht/lp/Lehrplaene_der_Allgemein2102.xml
11
Example
The item used to demonstrate the strategy of “Relating utterances to their social and
situational contexts” (see example 6, p. 23) requires the test takers to infer the social
background of a person speaking to a man about the theft of his camera.
Recognising the communicative function of utterances (Strategy
2.4)
The strategy “Recognising the communicative function of utterances” requires the
test takers to infer the communicative function of the input text..
It will be helpful for the test takers to understand the most common words identifying
communicative functions (for a list of communicative functions see Appendix, p. 29).
Example
The item used to recognise the communicative function of utterances (see example
7, p. 24) requires the test takers to recognise a complaint which is put forward in a
very polite way.
12
Feedback to test takers
Test takers and several levels of educational staff (class teachers, school heads, the
regional inspectorate, and the ministry of education) receive tailored and
differentiated feedback after the E8-Standards tests have been marked. This service
is provided online and is accessible through codes that are given to the stakeholders
concerned at http://www.bildung-standards.at/.
It is important to note that it is not a pass-fail result as E8-Standards testing is not a
high-stakes test and that that kind of feedback would not be in line with the testing
purpose. Two categories of feedback are provided: “Direct Meaning Comprehension”
and “Inferred Meaning Comprehension”. This results from targeting different listening
strategies in different items used in the tests. We are aware of the difficulty of linking
positive or negative performance in a particular item with the targeted listening
strategy (Alderson 2000, 122-123), but we are convinced that it is legitimate and
clearly helpful for the test takers and stakeholders to report back on bundles of
strategies as evident in “Direct Meaning Comprehension” and “Inferred Meaning
Comprehension”.
Table 3 illustrates how test takers are helped to interpret their listening scores
pointing the way to remedial work if weaknesses have been identified. More detailed
information on feedback procedures is given in Sigott et al. 2007, pp. 13-17.
Kompetenzbereich
Beschreibung
HÖREN
Gesamt
Hier findest du eine Gesamteinschätzung deiner Fähigkeit,
gesprochenes Englisch zu verstehen. Deine Stärken und
Schwächen können dabei in dem Bereich Direct Meaning
Comprehension und/ oder in dem Bereich Inferred Meaning
Comprehension liegen.
HÖREN
Teilbereich
DIRECT MEANING
COMPREHENSION
HÖREN
Teilbereich
INFERRED MEANING
COMPREHENSION
Wenn du fit in Direct Meaning Comprehension bist, kannst
du beim Zuhören mühelos verstehen, worum es geht. Du
kannst Wichtiges von weniger Wichtigem unterscheiden,
Meinungen von Tatsachen trennen und Anweisungen genau
verstehen.
Wenn du fit in Inferred Meaning Comprehension bist, kannst
du beim Zuhören Dinge verstehen, die zwar angedeutet,
jedoch nicht ganz klar ausgedrückt werden. Du kannst die
Stimmung der Sprecher erkennen. Du kannst beurteilen, in
welcher Situation ein Gespräch stattfindet. Du erkennst die
Absicht, die die einzelnen Sprecher mit dem Gespräch
verfolgen, und du verstehst dir unbekannte Wörter aus dem
Zusammenhang.
Table 3: Feedback for test takers. Adapted from http://www.bildung-standards.at
13
E8-Standards Listening Test Specifications
Version 03
1.
Purpose of the test
The purpose of the listening test is to diagnose strengths and weaknesses in test
takers’ listening comprehension. This feedback is of interest to the test takers
themselves, their parents, teachers and school principals.
2.
Description of test takers
The test takers are Austrian pupils in General Secondary School [Allgemeinbildende
Pflichtschule (APS)] and Academic Secondary School [Allgemeinbildende Höhere
Schule (AHS)] towards the end of grade 8 (8. Schulstufe). Pupils from all three ability
groups in APS will be tested. The majority of test takers will be aged 14.
3.
Test level
The difficulty level of the test is supposed to encompass levels A2 to B1 in the
Common European Framework of Reference. However, in order to meet the needs
of test takers from 3rd ability groups and those of test takers from higher ability groups
(1st and 2nd ability groups, academic secondary school), two forms of the test will be
developed. These will contain a set of anchor items, which will enable direct
comparisons to be made between learner performances based on the two different
test forms.
4.
Test construct
Since the purpose of the test is diagnosis, detailed information on what individual
items measure is required. The abilities to be measured are described in terms of the
strategies listed in Table 4 (see p. 15). The listening input text material which is to be
used to construct items is specified in Table 5 (see pp. 16-17).
14
Communicative Listening Strategies
1. Direct Meaning Comprehension
1.1
Listening for gist
1.2
Listening for main idea(s) or important information and distinguishing
that from supporting detail or examples
This includes distinguishing fact from opinion when clearly marked.
1.3
Listening for specific information, including recall of important details
Understanding directions and instructions
2. Inferred Meaning Comprehension
2.1
Making inferences and deductions based on information in the text
This can include deducing meaning of unfamiliar lexical items from
context.
2.2
Determining a speaker’s attitude or intention towards a listener or a
topic
2.3
2.4
Recognising the communicative function of utterances
Table 4: Listening Strategies, based on Weir 1993
15
Discourse (Text) forms
Descriptive
Narrative
Expository
Argumentative
Examples
(Text types)
-
impressionistic
descriptions
travel accounts, sports
commentaries
Reiseberichte,
Sportkommentare,
Erzählungen aus dem
Alltag
-
technical
descriptions
presentation of a product
Einfache Texte über
vertraute
Themenbereiche (z.B.
Präsentation eines
vertrauten
Gegenstandes)
-
short narrative
texts
stories, jokes, anecdotes
Kurze, einfache
Geschichten, Witze,
Anekdoten
-
reports
news reports, features,
documentaries
Nachrichten, Berichte,
Features,
Dokumentationen zu
vertrauten Themen
-
explications
broader accounts of
(especially) abstract
phenomena on familiar
topics, e.g. simple lectures,
talks
Einfache Sachtexte (zu
vertrauten Themen)
-
outlines
programme listings on the
radio, time-tables
Programme (z.B. TV),
Pläne (Fahrpläne,
Stundenpläne,
Öffnungszeiten etc.),
-
summaries
oral account of the plot of a
book
mündliche Zusammenfassungen von Texten
-
interpretations
describing a book, an
article etc.
Rezensionen (Bücher,
Artikel etc.)
-
comments
by any individual(s) in any
situation
-
16
Übersetzung und
Beispiele aus dem
Standardsheft
Version 05
informal
argumentation
einfache, persönliche
Kommentare
Telefonate, Gespräche
zu vertrauten Themen,
(Klein-)
Gruppengespräch in der
Klasse
Discourse (Text) forms
Instructive
Literary
Examples
(Text types)
Übersetzung und
Beispiele aus dem
Standardsheft
Version 05
-
personal
instructions
announcements, ads,
routine commands
Ankündigungen,
Werbung,
routinemäßige
Anweisungen
-
practical
instructions
recipes, technical
instructions, exercise
instructions, paging at an
airport
Einfache Rezepte,
Anleitungen für
Apparate und
Vorgänge, mit denen
man im Alltag zu tun
hat, Aufrufe (z.B.
Flughafen, Bahnhof),
Wegbeschreibungen,
Übungsanweisungen
-
fiction
short stories, urban
legends, simplified readers
-
poetry
songs and poems
einfache literarische
Texte, Hörspiele,
Sketches (z.B.
fiktionale Texte)
Lieder und Gedichte
Table 5: Listening input text material.Based on: The Dialang Partnership, DIALANG
Assessment Specifications for Listening, 1999, p. 9.
5.
Structure of the test
The test consists of two sections. Section 1 consists of 10 independent items each of
which is based on short text input no longer than 100 words.
Section 2 consists of two tasks based on text input between 200 to 500 words long.
The total length of text input in Section 2 should not exceed 500 words. The total
number of items in Section 2 is 10.
All items will be weighted equally.
6.
Time allocation
Total testing time available: 45 minutes
Time for administration at the beginning (handing out test booklets): 5 minutes
Time for administration at the end (collecting test booklets): 5 minutes
Working time: 35 minutes
17
7.
Item formats
All items must be machine-scoreable and for answering them ticking the correct
option must be sufficient. Responding to items must not require test takers to write
individual letters, words or longer stretches of language by hand.
The format for all items is four-option multiple choice with only one option correct.
8.
Rubrics
All rubrics are in English. However, they must be formulated in language that is easily
understandable for all test takers. Test takers must not be put at a disadvantage
because they have difficulty understanding the rubrics.
Rubric used for part 1 (short one-item tasks)
Part 1
In this part of the test you will hear ten short recordings. You will have to answer
questions. You must give your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. Put a tick (01-10) in the correct place on the ANSWER SHEET. Before you hear each
recording you have time to read the question.
You will hear the recordings twice.
Read the first question now.
Rubric used for parts 2 and 3 (five-item tasks)
Part 2
In this part of the test you will hear a longer recording. There are five questions after
the recording. You must give your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. Put a tick (11-15) in the correct place on the ANSWER SHEET.
Before you hear the recording you have time to read questions 11 - 15 on pages 4
and 5.
You will hear the recording twice.
Read questions 11 – 15 now.
18
9.
Item exemplars
The item prototypes listed below were written in the first phase of the project by
different item writers in 2005 and 2006 and comply with the listening test
specifications designed for the Austrian E8 Standards Project.
The following section exemplifies the strategies as they are listed in the test
specifications on the basis of one five-item task and several one-item tasks.
19
Item Exemplars
Item Exemplars for Direct Meaning Comprehension
Input text – transcript for examples 1- 4:
Talking about a party
Tom:
Well, you are going to have a party on Saturday afternoon, are you? I have heard that a
lot of people won’t be able to come.
Alan:
Yes, it’s a pity!
Tom:
Have you asked Mary?
Alan:
Yes, I have, but she cannot come either.
Tom:
Oh, really! What is she doing on Saturday?
Alan:
She's going to visit an uncle in hospital in Brighton.
Tom:
Have you asked George to come?
Alan:
Yes, I have but he's only coming after five.
Tom:
Why so late?
Alan:
He is playing in a football match.
Tom:
You haven't forgotten Sue, have you?
Alan:
No, I haven't, but she's somewhere in Spain.
Tom:
Can I bring Richard?
Alan:
Well. Who is Richard? What does he do?
Tom:
He's a cousin of mine from Vienna. He teaches German at our school.
Alan:
Okay. Then I'll ask my sister, Diana, to come.
Tom:
Diana? I thought she is in Switzerland.
Alan:
She was, but she got back yesterday.
Alan:
And she could bring her friend Karin from Zurich, too.
Tom:
Do you know her?
Alan:
No, I don't, but I think Diana shared a flat with her in Zurich. The only problem is:
Karin doesn't speak English.
Tom:
Well, you haven’t answered my question. Do you want my Austrian cousin Richard at the
party, or not?
Alan:
Yes, bring him along. Then Karin from Zurich will have someone to talk to in her own
language.
20
Strategy 1.1
Listening for gist
Example 1 (Input text - transcript see p. 20)
What is the dialogue about?
A
Going to Spain
B
Planning a holiday in Vienna
C
A visit to Brighton
D
Planning a party
Solution: D
Strategy 1.2
Listening for main idea(s) or important information and distinguishing
that from supporting detail or examples. This includes distinguishing
fact from opinion when clearly marked.
What is the main reason why Tom and Alan are talking about the party?
A
They want more friends to come to the party.
B
There are so many coming and they have problems with the room.
C
They would like to have only boys at the party.
D
They want to find a partner for the girl from Zurich.
Solution: A
21
Strategy 1.3
Listening for specific information, including recall of important details.
Understanding directions and instructions.
What is Mary doing in Brighton on the day of the party?
A
Watching a football match
B
Having German lessons
C
Meeting a friend
D
Visiting her uncle
Solution: D
Item Exemplars for Inferred Meaning Comprehension
Strategy 2.1
Making inferences and deductions based on information in the text. This
can include deducing meaning of unfamiliar lexical items from context.
Why does Alan finally think it is a good idea to invite Tom’s cousin Richard?
A
Because Richard can tell them about Vienna
B
Because Richard speaks German
C
Because Diana from Zurich wants to learn German from Richard
D
Because they need more boys for the girls at the party
Solution: B
22
Strategy 2.2
Determining a speaker’s attitude or intention towards a listener or a topic
Example 5 (Input text - transcript)
Woman: Well, I mean, I know almost everybody in Austria goes skiing in their winter
holidays but I don’t. True, it’s the favourite sport of most Austrians but it is not cheap
– think of all the equipment you need, and ski lift passes, and hotel costs and and
and .... So there’s no fun in skiing for me.
The woman thinks skiing is
A
everybody’s favourite sport
B
dangerous
C
great fun
D
expensive
Solution: D
Strategy 2.3
Example 6 (Input text – transcript)
Mr. Lundgren:
You see, I was coming out of the station and this young man just
grabbed my camera and ran away!
Police-officer:
Okay. Can you describe your camera?
Mr. Lundgren:
Yes, it’s a CANON A380, silver. In a black bag. It was
expensive, you know!
Police-officer:
I see. Well, can I have your name and address now, madam?
Mr. Lundgren:
Yes, of course. My name is Hana Lundgren. I’m staying at the
Radisson Hotel...
23
Mr. Lundgren is talking to
A
an assistant in a camera shop.
B
a friend at home.
C
a police officer at the police station.
D
a camera service technician.
Solution: C
Strategy 2.4
Recognising the communicative function of utterances
Student:
Yes, please?
Neighbour:
Good evening, sorry to disturb you. I really like rock music, but this
music is so loud that I can’t work!
Student:
Oh, I’m really sorry. I didn’t notice it was that loud.
Neighbour:
In fact, it is so loud that my furniture is vibrating and my dog is freaking
out!
Student:
OK, I’ll turn it down. Sorry again!
Why does the neighbour talk to the student?
A
to complain because he wants to sleep
B
to tell him that his dog likes the music
C
to say that he likes rock music
D
to complain about the noise
Solution: D
24
Strategy 1.1
Listening for gist
Pat:
Hi, Sandy. You look a bit depressed. What’s the matter?
Sandy: Nothing special. It’s just one thing after the other. Everything in my life
seems to go wrong. Last week I poured some orange juice over my mobile
by accident. I have only just got my
bike fixed. And now the computer
won’t work at all. I’ve tried to fix it and my brother, who is good at computers,
can’t fix it either. I think I’ll have to take it back to the shop and so I must wait
for my mum or dad to take me there by car.
What’s Sandy’s problem at the moment?
A
the car
B
the computer
C
the mobile phone
D
the bike
Solution: B
Sound files of the input texts can be downloaded from:
http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/ltc
25
Sample Answer Sheet
LISTENING
PART 1
PART 2
Tick the correct answer.
A B C D
A B C D
01
11
02
12
03
13
04
14
05
15
06
07
08
PART 3
09
10
A B C D
16
17
18
19
20
26
Literature
Alderson, J. 2000. Assessing Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brumfit, C., Johnson, K. (eds.) 1998. The Communicative Approach to Language
Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buck, G. 2001. Assessing Listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dunkel, P. 1991. Listening in the native and second/foreign language: Toward an
integration of research and practice. TESOL Quarterly 25(3), 431-457.
Gassner, O. Horak, A., Mewald, C., Moser, W., Schober, M., Stefan, F. & Valsky, C.
2005. Bildungsstandards in Österreich. Fremdsprachen. Englisch 8. Schulstufe.
Version September ’05. Ed. by bm:bwk. Wien: Bundesministerium für Bildung,
Wissenschaft und Kultur.
Gassner, O., Mewald, C., Sigott, G. 2007. Testing Reading. Specifications for the E-8
Reading Tests. LTC Technical Report 2. Language Testing Centre, Alpen-AdriaUniversität Klagenfurt.
Hoven, D. 1997. Improving the management of flow of control in computer-assisted
listening comprehension tasks for second and foreign language learners.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Queensland.
Jacobs, G. M. 2001. Paradigm Shift: Understanding and Implementing Change in
Second Language Education. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language
5(1), 1-16. Available at: http://www.tesl-ej.org/ej17/a1.html (Last accessed:
27.02.2007)
Lynch, A. J. 1988. Grading foreign language listening comprehension materials: The
use of naturally modified interaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
Edinburgh.
Nunan, D. 1988. The learner-centred curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Nunan, D. 1989. Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Nunan, D. 1991. Language teaching methodology. Sydney: Prentice-Hall.
Pica, T., Young, R., & Doughty, C. 1987. The impact of interaction on
comprehension. TESOL Quarterly 21(4), 737-758.
Richards, J. C. 1983. Listening comprehension: Approach, design, procedure.
TESOL Quarterly 17(2), 219-240.
Rost, M. 1990. Listening in language learning. London: Longman.
Rubin, J. 1994. A review of second language listening comprehension research. The
Modern Language Journal 78(2), 199-221.
Sigott, G., Gassner, O., Mewald, C. & Siller, K. 2007. E8-Standardstests.
Entwicklung der Tests für die rezeptiven Fertigkeiten: Überblick. LTC Technical
Report 1. Language Testing Centre, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt.
Taylor, H. M. 1981. Learning to listen to English. TESOL Quarterly 15(1), 41-50.
27
Ur, P. 1984. Teaching listening comprehension. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Van Lier, L. 1997. Interaction in the Language Curriculum. Awareness, autonomy
and authenticity. Harlow: Longman.
28
Appendix
Communicative Functions
to agree/accept
to express feelings/attitudes
to announce
to express preference/opinions
to apologize
to express pride
to ask for confirmation
to express understanding
to ask for advice
to get/reject attention
to ask for attention
to get/reject help
to ask for/offer help
to give
information/directions/instructions
to ask for information
to ask for
something/directions/instructions
to give advice
to give reasons/explanations
to ask for preference
to greet
to argue
to inform
to compare
to invite
to complain
to keep in touch
to compliment
to offer help
to convince
to persuade
to declare/inquire ownership
to question certainty
to declare/inquire position
to reject
to depart
to reply
to describe
to report
to disagree
to request action
to entertain/delight/please
to request to join
to establish/maintain personal
connections
to stat don’t know
to express appreciation
to express hope
to express interest
to suggest
to sympathize
to tell/retell something
to thank
to express confusion
29

- Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

Transcription

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