These lectures includes language testing and contrastive analysis.

1. Language testing
Instructor
Marwan Alalimi

2. Language testing
• Test vs. exam
• Advantages and disadvantages of
essay vs. objective tests.
Neither of them is better.
Their preference depends on :
Context of evaluation.
 the purpose.

3. Advantages and
disadvantages
Essay tests have poor reliability. But
objective tests have high reliability.
 objective tests marking can be
reliable, rapid, and economical but essay
test marking is tedious and time-
consuming.
Objective tests cannot determine how
the actual performance of the learner.

4. Types of tests
1. Proficiency test.
2. Achievement test.
3. Diagnostic test.
4. Placement test.
5. Aptitude test.

5. Criteria of Designing a
Test.
1. Validity:
 Content validity.
 Predictive validity.
 Face validity.
2. Reliability:
 Teacher’s reliability.
 Student’s reliability.
3. Practicality.
4. Discrimination.

6. Contrastive analysis
Instructor
Marwan Alalimi

7. Think about it….
• Contrastive analysis means …
• It’s a branch of applied linguistics.
• The main argument of Contrastive
analysis:
Each language has a unique structural
system.
Learners of a second language expect to
find similar structures to their mother-
tongue.
Problems start from the differences.

8.  the main claim of contrastive
analysis is “All language errors are
resulted from the mother tongue
interference”.
 E.g. An English-speaking learner of
French:
“The dog eats the meat” – The dog eats it.
“le chien mange la viande”- le chien mange la.
“le chien la mange”.

9. Robert Lado summed up the learner’s
problem in a well-known formulation:
“those elements that are similar to his
native language will be simple for him and
those elements that are different will be
difficult”

10. Contrastive analysis and
second language teaching
 CA is considered a teaching theory. What is
the role of the teacher?
Easing the teaching process by:
Pointing out the differences between L1
and L2.
Predicting the errors.
Avoiding these errors by using intensive
techniques such as repetition or drills in
order to overcome the interference and
establish the necessary new habits.

11. Contrastive analysis and
translation
It played a major role in translation
theory.
A good knowledge of two language
contrasted help the translator to
translate better.
 let’s take the comparison between
Arabic and English in the use of
articles, tenses and adjectives.

12. The use of articles
Articles
definite
The
indefinite
a, an

13. English tenses
English
tenses
present
simple
Past
continuous perfect
future
Perfect
progressive

14. Arabic tenses

15. Present tense in Arabic
• Has no specific rule, it’s general.
•
•
•

16. Future tense in Arabic
• Near future:
• Far future:
• Continuous future:

17. Past tense in Arabic
• Simple past:
• Recent past:
• Distant past:
• Past progressive:
• Past connected with present:
• Past ending in present

18. Mother tongue interference in
the use of adjectives…
• The long the man
• The students are clevers
• The Yemen

19. Criticism against
contrastive analysis
• Its association with behaviorism:
– Lado calls grammatical structures as “a
system of habits”
• Mispredictions: predicted errors by
contrastive analysis have often not
occurred.

20. Thank you