DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASKS: INTENSIVE (CONTROLLED) WRITING

DICTATION AND DICTO-COMP 

• A form of controlled writing related to dictation is dicto-comp. Here, a paragraph is read at normal speed, usually two or three times, then the teacher asks the students to rewrite the paragraph from the best of their recollection. 

GRAMMATICAL TRANSFORMATION TASKS 

• Numerous version of the tasks are possible: change the tenses in paragraph, change full forms of verbs to reduce forms (contractions), change statements to yes/no or wh- questions, change questions into statements, combine two sentences into one using a relative pronoun, change direct speech into indirect speech, and change from active to passive voice.

PICTURE-CUED TASKS 

• SHORT SENTENCES, a drawing of some simple action is shown; the test-takers write a brief sentence. 

• PICTURE DESCRIPTION, test-takers are asked to describe the picture using four of the following proposition: on, over, under, next to, around, etc. 

• PICTURE SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION, a sequence of three to six pictures depicting a story line can provide a suitable stimulus for written production. the pictures must be simple and unambiguous because an open-ended tasks at the selective level would give test-takers too many options. 

VOCABULARY ASSESSMENT TASKS 

ORDERING TASKS 

• Ordering (reordering) a scrambled set of words into a correct sentences. 

SHORT-ANSWER AND SENTENCE-COMPLETION TASKS