Testing for Language Teachers (Cambridge Language Teaching Library)

It seems that a lot of books in the market on testing deal with the theoretical background of designing large scale tests on the institutional level. Those sorts of books are not so useful for the practicing teacher who is looking for a little guidance on improving their test writing skills for daily classes. This book is written with that teacher in mind. It doesn't overload the reader with loads of statistics, but if you are interested in the statistical basis of the ideas presented in this book, there is a section on statistics in the appendix.Basically, this book is divided into three sections. The first section covers the different types of test a teacher might want to give and the differences between those types. The second part delves into the theory of validity and realiability, but doesn't overwhelm the reader with loads of numbers and figures. The third part goes into how to test different skills. The attitude the author takes toward testing is that a test should focus on one of the four basic skills: speaking, reading, writing, or listening. Grammar and vocabulary, he claims, are not ends in themselves, but merely components of the four basic skills, so they don't need to be given much emphasis in testing. I thought that was an interesting idea.If you're a teacher looking for a book to help you with your test writing skills, I can recommend this one.

The book is excellent for the "pure" language teacher with a TESOL background (not Education) and is attempting to design assessments for likeminded practitioners in the field. If this is your setting I think that this book will be ideal for you.Hughes is also aware that these tests, and tests in general, need to be taken with a dose of salt. I am finding this book hard to review as I have 15 years now in the field. So here it goes:If you are new to TESOL/ESL it may well be a 5Language Schools and Colleges with TESOL Departments it is a 5: even if for discussionA veteran teacher looking for ideas and a bit of testing theory a solid 4 and perhaps a 5A implicit oriented testing advocate whom does not believe in teaching discrete points a 1 - 3I think it is a worthwhile read. We will have different takes on such issues - a TESOL instructor should read this and have in on the bookshelf.

Good book on testing, valuable to those doing assessments, thanks

I used it as my collage source.It was in a very good shape, though it was a used one.It was affordable for me as a collage student.

I had to read this for my master's. This is not my favorite topic, but fortunately this book was understandable and to-the-point.

The book was in good condition just as described.The shipment took a little longer than I expected, but still in the range of claim.

Great resource for effective assessment! The assessment ideas are very practical and easy to use. I highly recommend this book.

Required text for a class. Very dry and too repetitive for me.