“TO TEST OR NOT TO TEST”

As a teacher I’m in favour of frequent testing, not to torture students (as some parents may think) but primarily for the sake of frequent revising and ultimately learning.

My notion is that taking tests in the English classroom should be a part of the rhythm of the lesson as reading or listening. Through such a “technique” students aren’t necessarily aware that they are being “tested” but at the same time this simple act of taking a test can enhance their learning. As Henry L. Roediger III, psychologist at Washington University of St. Louis puts it “Testing not only measures knowledge but changes it”. It triggers the process of retrieving stored knowledge and makes it far more accessible in the future.

Testing not only lets a teacher and their students know how much they have learned, it also provides a chance for more learning to take place, by reinforcing course materials or by encouraging students to use or think about what they have learned in a new way.

Several educators tend to think that tests are employed as a means to evaluate student learning for the sole purpose of assigning grades. I’ll have to disagree, since there is another emphasis we should all shift to: the promotion of learning. Quoting Henry L. Roediger III again “considerable research in cognitive psychology has demonstrated that testing improves retention of the material tested, a phenomenon called the testing effect”. At the same time, frequent testing can help to lower students test anxiety and increase the regularity of studying (Leeming, 2002). Even cognitive psychology acknowledges the importance of testing in the classroom as a means of improving students’ performance.

As a final note, I would like to “urge” all of us to incorporate testing into our daily classroom routine. The amount of class time, sacrificed for a quiz is small compared to gain in retention of material.

Helen Zervou, English Teacher