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Testing students and evaluating their progress is part of any class, regardless of the subject. This unit discussed the different types of tests, naming quite a few that I had not heard of before relating to people learning English as a foreign language. I was never a fan of taking tests in school, but I understand their importance and necessity for determining just how well the students are retaining the material.
During the year a teacher can help their students along providing tutorials as they go, to review the work done and informally help them with any areas they may need to work on. The unit also mentions student evaluations as a way of seeing how they feel the course helped them learn, and if they felt they got what they needed out of it. I only ever saw those at the end of my college courses, but this unit makes it sound like they might be given out sooner to help the teacher adapt the class as needed.
Placement tests of course are needed to make sure students are in the appropriate classroom for their level of understanding. You would not want to place someone in a class where either the material being covered is something they already know and too easy for them, or beyond their current capabilities to the point they would feel lost and confused. Diagnostic tests, which was something new to me, are used in the same regard ahead of the course. These seem to be more focused on after a student is placed in a class though, and more geared to help the teacher prepare the material based on what his or her students already know. The placement tests would put the class together with students of the same learning level, while the diagnostic tests would show their knowledge, areas that need work, and help the teacher's preparation.
Progress tests of course are designed to see how much of the material the students are retaining and absorbing at that point in the course year. These are usually given out periodically over material that had been covered since the last test was taken. Their goal is not only to show the teacher how well the students are doing, but to let them see how well they are progressing and what areas they need to improve on.
Now the practice tests are designed to prepare your students for the examination that will be coming usually at the end of the year, if not also at the end of the semester at the half way point of the course. They follow the same format of the test to come and are geared to helping the students be ready for it. These are usually not given out until a predetermined time ahead of the external examination that is to come.
The external exam is a course including test that is typically used at the end of the year to see just how well the students learned their material. The school may have their own exam for ending the period, but this unit lists and explains a number of examinations given by outside organizations. The tests are all geared based on what they are testing for, like the TOEFL for students looking to attend universities in America, or the IELTS which is for students looking to work or study where English is the language spoken. Cambridge even has its own series of tests, some of which are geared to check for business related language skills, though I did learn here that they have a number of generalized exams to test students on different levels of comprehension, such as the KET, PET, and FCE.
