Over the Wall of Silence

Getting Students to Talk 27

Chapter 1

We describe this, the biggest discovery of this approach, as the zero to one effect . As obvious as it sounds, the difference between actually doing a test and not doing a test is enormous. The main thing is to actually put testing into practice (rather than not do any thing). Once it’s in place you can improve. The difference between doing a test and not doing a test is far bigger than the difference between a good test and a so-so test, provided that the test is valid, that is, in alignment with the goals of the class.

Nothing to lose, everything to gain: a well-designed and well-executed testing system will only add, not subtract.

With a big heavy word like test flying around, it’s easy to get sucked down the path toward complexity and perfectionism. But this is the opposite of what we want you to take away from this book. What we want to stress above anything else is simplicity and gradual progress . Usually when we talk about tests, we don’t think enough about practicality . A lot of theory of language testing talks about the ide alized test, while ignoring the everyday realities of the classroom. Students have their limits -in ability, motivation, and the restrictions imposed by their culture- and we teachers have our limits too -time,