English Skills - Assignment Example

As teachers of English as a second language, we have a tendency to concentrate more on the practical side of the lessons which includes regular practice through exercises of the language. However, practicing is not enough, as educators, we cannot be sure of the retention capacity of our students in relation to the lessons that have been taught if we do not spend an equal amount of time testing their English skills as well. Students learning EFL or ESL tend to have problems either in listening, writing, or speaking in English. Each area of difficulty must be dealt with individually if the student is to actually learn and receive the precision of a native speaker when taking English language tests such as the TOEFL. Test of Written English, The Cambridge Certificate and the Diploma of English Studies, and the FSI Oral Interview Test. In order to prepare the students for these tests, we must make sure to prepare them by providing them with mock tests in the areas of psychometric, linguistic, integrative, and communicative tests. The psychometric tests can be done using the Educational Testing Service practice psychometric standards. As teachers, the practice tests that we administer using their guidelines determine the competence of the student in relation to his grasp of the English language and its practical uses. The standardized test allows students to take the test based on their level of expertise in the language by allowing them to modify and edit their answers. On the other hand, integrative tests have been proven to test merely the surface knowledge of the student. This can be done using an oral interview method or composition testing which is done via essay writing. Even though dictation is also considered an integrative test, it has proven to be inconclusive in its results since listening skills vary from learner to learner. Teachers will most definitely be inclined to test the students using these formal assessment types but, they also have the option to informally test the students in the form of an oral interview. These oral interviews will not provide the same overview of the student's skills that the formal tests provide but it will give the teacher an idea as to the degree of learning that the student has actually acquired and retained from the lessons. Each of the testing types can be administered to the students depending on their level of learning or difficulty in following the lesson. In formal schools, the more formal testing methods suggested by the Education Testing Service decide the learning accomplishment of the students since they have more time for practice runs. It is important to note, however, that informal testing via oral response tests will also function in the same capacity should the teacher not have enough materials to back up the multiple testing methods of ETS.

Of course testing results will vary for the EFL/ESL elementary and high school learners. That is because their mental capacity and development in terms of ELLs, such as speaking, listening, and writing, vary with the intellectual maturity that the students are developing. An educator cannot expect a child of 8 to be able to carry on a conversation with an adult at the level of a high school student / English speaker. That is why the tests that are given to the elementary and high school students of EFL/ESL are as different as night and day. The elementary student's interests, and verbal, and written capacities are limited by his age and exposure to life, including his degree of practice in the English language so therefore, he cannot be tested and judged at the same level as a high school student. A high school student on the other hand is assumed to have been studying English far longer and already has an established foundation for the ELLs that will allow him to perform at a higher level than his elementary counterpart.

Most EFL/ESL teachers these days fail to properly test their students and rely mostly on practice tests because it is easier for them to test students from the textbook rather than challenging themselves by creating a totally new test meant to challenge the learning ability of the students. The job of the teacher is to ensure that the students are not only retaining the lessons that are being taught in class but that they also retaining the lessons after a period of time. That is why testing the ELL skills of the students is of the utmost importance. A student cannot learn by practice alone.

This module chapter was packed with a tremendous amount of knowledge and advice for me as a future educator. The notes have taught me that just as teachers must challenge the learning ability of their students in order to prove their learning and retention skills, a teacher must also learn to create fresh and unique English exams in order to challenge himself as an educator. This double challenge serves to provide a tremendously positive impact on the teacher and the student in terms of an exchange in the learning process. The student gets to prove his mettle in the field of English and the teacher, finds a platform by which she can prove to herself that her teaching styles and testing techniques can provide the utmost of learning for her students who may have a tendency to struggle with their EFL/ESL lessons.