Reconceptualizing language teaching: an in-service teacher education course in uzbekistan

Interpretation of assessment scores. To fully interpret your results, 
you will need to combine the results from the Measures of Central Tenden-
cy (i.e., mean, median, and mode) with the standard deviation.

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128
RECONCEPTUALIZING LANGUAGE TEACHING
ACTION
You have learned the main ways of statistical test results analysis, 
now, in groups, consider the following case and compare the results of 
two classes.
Class One:
Student 
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Score
14
18
19
20
21
21
21
26
26
27
Class Two
Student 
Number 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Score
10
12
17
18
21
21
27
28
29
30
You already know the mean in the Group 1, find out the mean the 
Group 2. 
Derive the mean, median as well as the standard deviation. What can 
you realize when making class comparisons using basic statistical proce-
dures? Which class did better (i.e., which class is stronger). If you were the 
teacher of these classes what actions would you take next?
SUMMARY
Assessment statistics such as finding the Measures of Central Tendency 
and Dispersion allows deriving valuable information about both the suc-
cess and failures of students. By following the procedures above, assess-
ment results can be turned into a very useful source of data about your 
student’s knowledge and skills of language and show what at first glance 
might not catch your attention. Without such information, it is hard to say 
whether your efforts have brought the expected results, what are the chal-
lenges, and how best to address them.
REFERENCES
1. Brown, J. D. (2006). Testing in language programs: A Comprehensive 
guide to English language assessment.
McGraw-Hill Companies: New 
York.
2. Oller, J. W. Jr. (1979). Language tests at school: A pragmatic approach. 
London: Longman.

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CHAPTER THREE: LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT/TESTING