What are the practical considerations for test administration?

Language tests offer you many choices in test administration, format, materials, and scoring. Which options best fit your students, your resources, and your reasons for testing?

Consider the following aspects of test administration:

How many students receive the test at a time?

Is it administered…

• individually
• in a group?

This is related to resources such as time, staff, and expertise needed.

What language are the directions, examples, and prompts in?

Are they in…

• English?
• the target language?

What form are the directions, examples, and prompts in?

Are they…

• spoken?
• written?

These are related to validity and reliability. For example, can the students understand the directions if they are in the target language? Are you sure you’re testing what you think you’re testing rather than their understanding of the directions?

How do students give their responses and answers?

Are answers…

• in English?
• in the target language?
• spoken?
• written?

This is related to resources such as time, to scoring, and to students’ strengths in various modalities (e.g., reading, speaking, listening).