Chapter 2 - Traditional Testing Methods

Testing and education almost go hand in hand. One does not seem to exist without the other. From the educator's point of view, the role of teaching could be seen as the continual process of testing and assessment. Athanasou (1997) makes a similar observation.

"To many people, education is testing. To students it has come to mean exams and assignments. To many teachers it has come to mean setting and marking papers. To administrators it means information for decision-making. ... To the community is signifies recognition." (pp. 1-2)

He even goes as far as to break down the different terms used in education marking processes in order to distinguish between them.

Table 3. Marking Definitions (Adapted from Athanasou, 1997, p. 3.)

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight traditional marking methods in education and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. To do this, I will use the above table as a basis. The first step is to identify some traditional methods and understand it uses.

What are Traditional Methods?

As I began to investigate the possible options for this chapter, I began to rails that I did not truly understand what 'Traditional Methods' meant with regards to assessment. To my mind, methods that fall into the concept of Traditional would include such tools as Multiple Choice tests, Short Answer tests, Written Assignments (such as Report style essays and question/answer questionnaires or exams), and Oral Presentations. Certainly these are the most frequently used methods of testing but are they all the 'traditional' methods around?

After much searching through the Internet and a number of books, journals and magazines I eventually found a list of methods in Athanasou's book entitled Introduction to Educational Testing. On page 25 he has listed a number of assessments methods including:

• assignments
• attendance measures
• class questioning
• drawing
• essays
• learning contracts
• practical tests
• presentations
• projects
• reports
• short quizzes
• speed tests
• student presentations
• take-home exams

Those highlighted in red I have singled out due to their appropriateness to this article. The others I have excluded for the following reasons:

In an attempt to further breakdown these categories into specific testing methods, I came up with the following Concept Map.

Fig 10. Testing Styles

In following the design standard of this article, I have created three areas that I will cover;

1. Verbal Communication
• Acting or Role-playing
• Oral Presentations
• Classroom Discussions
• Question and Answer Sessions
2. Written Communication
• Short Answer Tests
• Essays
• Reports
3. Thinking Skills
• Question and Answer Sessions
• Multiple Choice Tests
• Short Answer Tests

Verbal Communication

"In most early cultures oral examinations were used by teachers to test students' acquisition of subject matter ... Only a few examples of the use of written tests are found prior to 1800." (Hopkins, 1978, p. 17.) The use of Oral testing diminished significantly in many European countries, but was still used in America until 1845. Horace Mann led the change to written examinations when he began questioning the effectiveness of Oral examinations. With increasing enrolment, oral testing began impractical and gave and added boost to the changes in assessment. (Hopkins, 1978; Ahmann, 1975.)

Verbal Communication is the ability to clearly explain concepts through discussion. Demonstrations of verbal ability can be performed through Role-playing or acting, oral presentations, classroom discussions, and verbal question/answer sessions. While these are variations of Verbal Communication within the classroom, they all have several common features.

Acting or Role-play

"Students love playing roles. They enjoy taking on the identity of others. In the process they learn valuable social studies skills such as developing empathy and seeing situations from multiple perspectives." (SSCED, 2000.) This may hold true for primary students but would appear to lose appeal in later years. I myself am an actor and have always been confronted with the comment that others could not do what I do. On the other hand, as children we are always willing to play games where we get to be someone else.

Role-play can be a very effective method of analysing a person's ability to accept alternate points of view, or to at least consider the alternatives and to clearly communicate these ideas. It can also demonstrate the ability a student has to apply their knowledge in simulated 'real-life' scenario. (Ahmann, 1975.) There is also a large amount of kinaesthetic communication involved with role-playing and this assists with developing an understanding of aspects of the body and emotions. The degree of creative freedom is very high, higher than other forms of verbal communication.

In some cases, the students may be required to prepare for a role-play; learn a part, research background and history, study mythology, etc. The amount of work required may vary of course but this can overwhelm the already uncertain student lowering their motivation.

The marking of role-playing is the most subjective of the verbal communication styles. How does one evaluate anothers performance? There are of course methods that can be used, but a high degree of subjectivity is always involved. As I mentioned earlier, role-playing works very well in the early years but can become a daunting task to the student in later years where peer pressure and other factors can influence enthusiasm.

Preparing a class for a complex role-play may be very time consuming. There are commercial packages available that may assist teachers in the preparations such as Tom Snyder's Decisions Decisions software series, but the is still a large amount of preparation work required before the session.

Another factor to take into account is the potential for arguments and disruptions. Role-play sessions have a lower level of discipline control than do many other testing methods.

Oral Presentations

The AgComm Clearing House of Iowa State University have a section on strategies including role-playing where they state:

Benefits of Oral Presentations

• Prepare students for workplaces where formal oral presentations will be necessary for success
• Teach students to deliver information (and persuade an audience) in a professional manner
  (Anon, 2000.)

Show-and-tell, individual or group presentations using such tools as overhead projection units, white-boards and nowadays videos and computer based slide shows all fall into the generalised category of Oral Presentations. While the need to perform is not on the same level as role-playing, the student is placed at the front of the class facing his/her peers and is required to present material that they have researched.

"A principle advantage of oral testing is that it can be diagnostic." (Ahmann, 1975, p. 15.) A teacher who is familiar with the material that the student is presenting can very quickly identify areas where the student's knowledge is not complete. It also is a test of the student's ability to clearly and effectively communicate their findings or opinions to a classroom of fellow students, something they may have to reproduce in a more professional environment.

Such an environment can be extremely intimidating for students where they are placed "on-the-spot". As Ahmann (1975) points out, "pupils, like actors are affected by their audience. The tension created by a face-to-face contact with an examiner [or class] has caused many a pupil, even thought he actually knows the correct answer, to blurt out the most unusual conglomeration of words, complete with fractured syntax." (p. 15.)

In most cases, the marks are an important part of their assessment, which can make it harder to perform as such. There is usually a fair amount of preparation work required on both the student's and teachers part and this may go unaddressed If the delivery is not correct through nerves, or fear, this may come across as disorganised and unprepared, would this might be erroneously reflected in the marks awarded.

The teacher is required to keep a track of the presentations and organelle who speaks on what and needs to evaluate the overall product. (Collins, 1969.)Presentations take time and in most cases only one or two students are being examined at a time and no two presentations will be the same. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is the famous saying and it applies here. A presentation may contain all the technical points required to achieve a high score, but the teacher also evaluates subconsciously for entertainment value. If the teacher becomes bored, no matter how hard they try to maintain interest, it will reflect in the marks given. (Ahmann, 1975.)

Classroom Discussions

"In the last twenty-five years or so, research has provided significant evidence that collaborative academic talk is at the heart of the learning experience." (Simich-Dudgeon, 1998.) Many researchers do not consider this area of assessment to be a traditional method yet is has been very much a part of a student's life in or out of a classroom.

The specific advantage of collaborative discussions is the interaction students have with their peers. It takes the environment of the class away from the Teacher-Dominant model and allows students to use each other as resource points. The environment can be less intimidating for many students and could also be used to develop a stronger rapport with the teacher as well. Such a session can be very easy to prepare and to hold from the teacher's perspective. Once a topic for discussion has been decided, then it is a simple matter of presenting the topic to the class, asking a few questions and letting them go. As long as the students have done their homework they have very little need for preparation either.

However, there is a potential for disorganised chaos with students discussing off the desired topic and the for extreme volume levels. "The first questions asked by the teacher can be selected with care; after that, however, the nature of the responses ... often influence the nature of the later questions." (Ahmann, 1975, p.14.) The freedom of the environment may also allow those students that do not participate in such activities to 'hide' in the crowd and not actively participate.

The assessment of group discussions can also be a very arbitrary thing as the teacher would be required to observe the interactivity of the students and subjectively evaluate their performance. The problem with this is that people communicate in different ways and to evaluate performance in a standardised way can be biased and unfair. (De Bono, 1991; Gardner, 1992; Herrmann, 1992.)

Question and Answer Sessions

"The typical pattern in most classrooms is for the teacher to initiate a question and then sanction or evaluate the student's response." (Simich-Dudgeon, 1998.) This is considered the standard and most traditional method used in education.

Teacher: Matthew, what do you think hedges are useful for?
Matthew: Corn. (Quietly)
Teacher: Can't hear you, Matthew.
Matthew: Corn.
Teacher: Hedges are useful for corn? No. Karen?
Karen: So the things can't get out.
(From MacLure & French, 1980, referred to in Edward, 1994, p.127.)

Through this method, a teacher may quickly evaluate a student's knowledge. They can maintain a degree of control over the class and not risk the disorganised chaos that other forms of verbal learning may involve. From the student's perspective, as long as they have studied the notes in class, there is very little preparation required.

On the other hand, as the example above shows, students can be intimidated and lose confidence in themselves through this method. They are being placed on the spot to come-up with the correct answer and this can be very upsetting. For the teacher, the preparation required can be extreme. Some teachers are able to improvise questions and this methods works very well for them. For those that feel the need to prepare questions, the time can be an added burden.

Question and answer sessions is also briefly discussed in Quick Thinking Skills.

Written Communication

The written component of education is quite possibly the largest of all the possible areas. This is because a great deal of importance is placed on writing skills. Is this due to the style of teaching involved with written assessment? Athanasou (1997) states that "[w]ritten tests are useful where you want to promote rote learning, recognition or recall." (p. 77.)

"[I]f you want to find out whether a student knows something, the easiest way is to simply ask." (Athanasou, 1997, pp. 89.) Using a questionnaire where the student provides simple and brief answers is a very easy and effective way of doing this. That is basically what the Short Answer Test is, a series of questions that require brief answers. There is also the variation commonly known as "Fill-in-the-Blanks."

"The short-answer item best measures facts and knowledge, since the student can say little in a phrase." (Hopkins, 1978, p. 127.) Many questions may require only a few words in response, and others may require a paragraph of writing as an answer. The ability to confine the potential range of answer is a desirable side effect and makes the marking process much easier (Athanasou, 1997; Hopkins, 1978.) This makes the marking process easy and objective.

The preparation of such a questionnaire requires some care. While a definite solution is required, "attention must be given to avoid including so much that the answer is apparent." (Hopkins, 1978, p. 127.) Taking this into consideration, the preparation of a short-answer questionnaire is relatively easy. (Athanasou, 1997.) The range of topics that can be covered in a short answer test can be extensive compared to essay or report style assessments where the topic is usually fairly focused.

Of the three written communications assessment styles, the short-answer method requires the least amount of writing on the part of the student. From the student's perspective, if they can recall their notes, they can usually easily and quickly answer the questionnaire. This, and the ease of preparation and marking have made short-answer tests a very popular method of assessment.

The disadvantages to short-answer questions are the very points that have made it popular. The student needs only to recall facts and information in the right order to pass the test. This style of test measures factual knowledge but it cannot be used to accurately evaluate student understanding of those facts. For those students that can recall reams of facts without conceptually linking these facts, they may pass such tests but still be no better off for it.

"Along with oral examinations, the essay examination is one of the oldest types of educational tests." (Collins, 1969, p. 59.) Essay question is still one of the most common methods of assessing student knowledge, which is interesting considering the apparent pursuit of educational standardisation. I will explain this further a bit later. The basic structure of an essay is similar to that of the short answer questions but the answer requested requires more thought and is considerably longer in length.

For the student there is much more freedom in how they respond to an essay question. Quite frequently they are asked to provide opinions or reasons for the answers they provide. Occasionally the students are requested to research their topic before writing an essay. These are of course essays not done under examination conditions but in a classroom environment, much like this article.

Essay questions may require students to: defend, generalise, design, explain, evaluate, summarise, compare, interpret, criticise, and predict. (Collins, 1969; Athanasou, 1997.) Even with this freedom of expression certain guidelines have to be followed. Students are required to recall information, then organise and express their opinions clearly. (Stodola, 1967; Athanasou, 1997.)

With all this freedom of expression you would think that students would be eager to write essay after essay but this is not the case for most students. Why is it then that the mention of essay can send chills through many students? The requirements on the part of the student can sometimes be very ambiguous and no one likes to be wrong. They therefore shirk opportunities to discuss their own feelings and ideas.

Many students feel that in order to get the highest marks on an essay, you have to answer the paper in a way that appeases the teacher. If you disagree with or somehow insult the instructor, then this will lower the marks you get. The internalised question becomes "What would the teacher want?" as opposed to "What do I think/feel?"

While it may be an unrealistic interpretation many students believe it nonetheless. This idea can make students extremely uncomfortable with essay writing. It is a case of preferring the "right" answer over self-expression. (Scott, 1992.)

Marking essay assignments is a very time consuming process. Compared to short-answer assessment where an incorrect answer can be seen very quickly, the instructor must read through each essay, evaluate its worth and make a judgement upon the content and its relevance to the original question. The time taken to mark each essay may vary according to the level on content and its comprehension.

Associated with any piece of work where student self-expression is encouraged and therefore a degree of creative involvement, there also is a degree of creative, or subjective, reflection on the part of the teacher. Achieving a satisfactory standard of marks on essay assignments is not easily achieved. (Ahmann, 1975; Athanasou, 1997; Baron, 1958; Davis, 1964; Scott, 1992.) This would not appear to fit in to the attempts to standardise marks and yet essays are still widely used.

With reports I am referring to such things as english book reports or science experiment reports. Reports are the review of an issue that has been covered during class work and usually follow a slightly stricter series of steps than in essay writing. There is usually less formal writing required and in most cases less preparation work required on the part of the student, assuming of course that the book or experiment has already been completed.

The task of a report is much more structured and controlled then that of essays. It is more a factual review of the work done and allows very little room for personal opinion or reflection. In most cases there are step-by-step guides that students can follow to writing a good report such as this guide to a Book Report:

This is not the same as a Book Review that asks for personal reflection and opinions. In this way, book reviews are very much like essays.

The following are the steps involved with a Lab Report:

Many students would feel more comfortable writing a report than an essay most likely due to the structure mentioned above. They know what is required of them and can be taken by the hand through the process. There is very little need to step into uncertain territory but stating their own opinions and are therefore safe. This promotes rote or memory learning. On the other hand some students (the more self-expressive) may resent the control represented in reports. These are students who would normally excel in essay tests.

While reports are not as textually heavy as essays and therefore easier to mark, there is still a large amount of time taken up with reading and evaluating the results. There is also the preparation required in preparing the student for the report; organising the experiment or arranging for students to get access to books.

Quick Thinking Skills

Having knowledge is one thing. Being able to read, write and verbally communicate this knowledge is another. The be able to quickly decide upon and explain an appropriate solution to a given problem is quick thinking (Stodola, 1967) . The most common way of testing such skills is through timed testing.

Timed tests are extremely popular in education, from early primary to secondary and tertiary levels. It allows for the assessment of a large population of students in one sitting and can be applied to most forms of assessment styles: essays, one-to-one interviews (verbal), short answer questionnaires. They are used most frequently in mass exam conditions under state educational guidelines rather than local school guidelines.

Three common in-class techniques include Question/Answer sessions and Short Answer questionnaires, which I have covered in some detail in previous sections of this chapter, and Multiple Choice questionnaires.

Purpose	Some Advantages	Some Disadvantages
Development of memory and recall skills To assess student knowledge levels To assess large groups of students	Instant feedback Helps develop Self-confidence High degree of assessment control Objective marking	Predominately rote learning A highly controlled environment Teacher preparation can be extensive

As previously discussed, Question/Answer sessions are a form of verbal communication assessment as well as quick thinking skills. The quick thinking is required in the immediate need for a response on the part of the student. They must be able to quickly understand what is being asked of them and produce the correct answer in a verbal way. The pressure is on and this can be a very intimidating experience for any student.

As previously discussed, Short/Answer tests are a form of written communication assessment as well as quick thinking skills. Short answer tests are frequently timed which increases the pressure to quickly determine the correct answer. In most cases, it is the simple answer questionnaires that are timed, but on occasion questionnaires that allow a little more personal expression are also timed.

Multiple Choice Tests

Summing Up

After determining what was meant by traditional assessment methods, I considered three main areas of assessment: verbal communication, written communication and quick thinking or decision making skills. I selected eight methods of assessment as traditional based upon personal experience and many of the references used in this article. These were then divided into the three main categories with a small amount of overlap.

In comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each of these style with relevance to the particular category, I feel that I have successfully outlined that all these methods cover different aspects of education and knowledge. They each have a particular approach to evaluating and assessing learning, and all have distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Some methods are more popular than others, these being Multiple Choice and Essay. Multiple choice is very easy to implement and mark while being hard to create, and essays are easy to assign but time consuming to mark. They each represent an extreme in the type of learning that is assessed. Multiple choice assesses the factual recall and essays require student judgement and opinions to be expressed in a clear and concise way. The former is highly objective and can produce standardised grades that are fair and equitable for all involved. The latter includes a measure of self-expression on the parts of teacher and student, hence is very subjective.

To be able to compare and contrast these different styles, it is preferable to find common features in the items being compared. While many of the styles described above focus of different areas of learning, they all have many common features. I will use these features in chapter three to compare these methods with Concept Mapping.