Understanding Sentences and

Dialogues
1.

Single sentence which testees listen to

and four written statements to choose
the one closest to the original spoken
sentence.

2. Testees listen to an utterance and

chose from among four responses the
most appropriate response

Tasks Using Visual Materials

1. Matching and True/False tasks

The simplest form of this task

is to present testees with a
picture or other visual
information (for example, a
chart, graph, etc.) along with
spoken true/false statements.
2. Map Tasks

One activity involves having

testees listen to directions for
how to get somewhere and
follow along on the map.
3. Drawing Tasks

The testees can be presented

with a diagram of a room with
the bed represented by a
rectangle and be asked to add
a table, a bookcase, a door,
etc., in certain locations in the
room.

in certain locations in the room.

Tasks Involving
Lectures

Talks

and

1. Testees listen to the talk and

then fill in the blanks in a
written summary.
2. Give testees questions to
answer as they listen to the talk.
3. Testees take notes while
listening to the talk and use it to
answer questions.
Conclusion
There are a number of ways to test
listening, but, particularly when
testees' listening proficiency gets more
advanced, testing listening becomes
more complicated. It becomes more
difficult to separate listening from
other skills, and combining skills can
put great demands on the testee. In
addition, some ways of testing
listening do not reflect real-world
listening tasks. In choosing tasks for
listening, the teacher should be aware
of these problems.

Testing Listening
Evaluation

Listening Process
Processing Sound/Perception
Skills
Processing Meaning/Analysis
Skills
Processing Knowledge and
Context / Synthesis skills
Listening skills assessment
The Listening Stimuli
The material should model the
language that students might
typically be expected to hear in
the classroom, in various media,
or in conversations.
The Questions
multiple-choice items should
focus on the most important
aspects of the passage

Identifying the appropriate

instrument.

a.

The Test Environment

Sentence level listening

comprehension

Free of external distractions. The sound

quality should be excellent.

Variables Affecting and Effecting Successful

Listening

There are two basic types of items

1.

Noise

at the sentence level. Short

2.

Equipment

questions are asked and possible

3.

Repetition

answers are printed in the test

4.

Content

booklet. Or a sentence is read and

the test taker is instructed to
select the best paraphrase from
the choices provided.
b.

Beyond the sentence

The cue is a dialogue between two

speakers (usually a man and a

Assessment Instruments
Identifying an appropriate instrument
depends upon the purpose
for assessment and the availability of
existing instruments. If the purpose is to
assess a specific set of skills the test should
match those skills. If appropriate tests are
not available, it makes sense to design
an assessment instrument to reflect specific
needs.

woman so it is easy to identify the

two) and the test taker is
expected to select the best
the dialogue.
2.

Dictation

In a typical dictation test, the material

is read once at normal speed and
then, sentence by sentence very
slowly and perhaps with repetitions,
and finally the whole passage is read

Testing of Passive Skills

We have to get the test takers to do

something to demonstrate their
comprehension. So we are faced with a
situation in which we must mix skills.

1. Testees look at the a picture and

listen to four words and decide which
word is the object in the picture.
2. Testees listen to a spoken sentence
and are asked to identify which one of
four similar words were used.
Discriminating Stress and Intonation
1.

answer to a question concerning

Testing listening comprehension

1.

Testing Phoneme Discrimination

one more time at normal speed.

3.

Real World Listening Tasks

Taking a message over the telephone

is one and taking notes on a lecture is
another.

Testees listen to a sentence and must indicate

what word carry the main stress.

2.

Testees listen to a statement and choose from

three interpretations.