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 #332 (permalink) Tue Sep 23, 2008 21:48 pm Errors in the tests |
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Hi Torsten
This is a test on tag questions, and the comma separating the tag question from the rest of the sentence is missing in all 10 questions:
http://www.english-test.net/esl/learn/english/grammar/ei035/esl-test.php
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Hi Zarghuna
I can't tell you whether anything has changed in that test, but when I looked at it, all of the answers were correctly given and the MP3 recording also has all of the correct answers.
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Yankee
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| #333 (permalink) Wed Sep 24, 2008 21:49 pm Errors in the tests |
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Hi Amy,
Thanks a lot pointing out those things -- we've changed them and the new version will go online soon.
Regards,
Torsten
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| #334 (permalink) Sat Oct 11, 2008 14:16 pm Errors in the tests |
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Hi Torsten and Alan
It seems that you are completely against editing and peer review prior to publishing a test. I don't understand this at all. I do understand that there is a lot of thought and effort required to produce a test, but it seems to me that a final critical step in the test production process is pretty consistently omitted here. This fact seems completely inexplicable for a site having English tests as a primary focus.
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic29871.html
In the test question above, I agree with Dan that there is no clear-cut "correct" answer. The word "always" seems just as acceptable (possibly even more so) to me as the word "ever". This test sentence should be edited, and I think this sentence is a good example of a situation in which peer review would have been very beneficial. To tell a test-taker that the only correct answer (in the test sentence above) is "ever" simply because the test focuses on the words "ever" and "never" doesn't make sense -- especially since the words "always" and "sometimes" are correct answers elsewhere in the very same test.
It's nice when the author of a test explains what he or she had in mind when writing a test, but a test should not require an ESL student to be clairvoyant in order to find the correct answer. As I've said many times in the past, I think that presenting a completely valid option as "wrong" hinders rather than helps an ESL student, and it defeats the purpose of the test.
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Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
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Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA
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Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA
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| #337 (permalink) Fri Nov 07, 2008 17:01 pm Errors in the tests |
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English-test.net still has not corrected the blatant error in this test.
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EDIT:
Moving this post from the test thread (where I originally posted it) to this thread does not repair the error in the test. |
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Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
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Location: USA
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Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
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Posts: 8265
Location: USA
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| #339 (permalink) Fri Nov 07, 2008 20:17 pm Errors in the tests |
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Hi Amy
| Quote: |
| It does suggest, however, that it has now become english-test.net's intention to misinform and mislead ESL learners. |
That is your fanciful suggestion and you should really be ashamed of making such a comment. If you don't withdraw it, I shall delete it.
Alan
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| #340 (permalink) Fri Nov 07, 2008 20:26 pm Errors in the tests |
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| Alan wrote: |
Hi Amy
| Quote: |
| It does suggest, however, that it has now become english-test.net's intention to misinform and mislead ESL learners. |
That is your fanciful suggestion and you should really be ashamed of making such a comment. If you don't withdraw it, I shall delete it.
Alan |
That would be quite fitting, wouldn't it? That way, you'd just be hiding the evidence even better, wouldn't you?
You ought to be ashamed of the fact that you permit your own pig-headedness to get in the way of fixing what is clearly a problem in one of your tests -- an error that really wouldn't be that hard to repair.
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Yankee
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| #341 (permalink) Fri Nov 07, 2008 20:35 pm Errors in the tests |
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I am referring to your allegation that we are misleading and misinforming ESL students, which you must know is complete rubbish. I have enough evidence to show that is not the case.
Alan
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| #342 (permalink) Fri Nov 07, 2008 20:49 pm Errors in the tests |
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From the American Heritage Dictionary:
| Quote: |
dumb
6. Conspicuously unintelligent; stupid |
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
| Quote: |
dumb
6 a: lacking intelligence : stupid b: showing a lack of intelligence |
Do you suppose your inflexibility might be seen as a "dumbing down" of english-test.net?
There is clearly an error in this particular test. Simply trying to silence those who have noticed it will not make the error go away. Frankly, you make yourself look rather d*** when you simply try to hide evidence, and intentionally allow incorrect information to remain.
(You might be able to guess which four-letter word I had in mind.) 
So, have you decided to fix the error in this test at long last? Or will your choice continue to be to allow this test to misinform test-takers?
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Yankee
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA
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| #343 (permalink) Fri Nov 07, 2008 21:13 pm Errors in the tests |
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Hi,
I am referring to your allegation that we are misleading and misinforming ESL students, which you must know is complete rubbish. I have enough evidence to show that is not the case.
Alan
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| #344 (permalink) Fri Nov 07, 2008 21:16 pm Errors in the tests |
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Do people know and/or use the term "dumb blonde" in the UK?
(Actually, that was a rhetorical question because I already know that they do.)
Your test still gives incorrect information to test-takers, by the way:
| english-test.net wrote: |
correct sentence:
I expect you think I'm stupid because I don't understand that.
Correct answer: (b) stupid
Your answer was: incorrect
your sentence:
I expect you think I'm dumb because I don't understand that. |
Since you've known about the error in this test since August, it's getting pretty darn easy to see this as being a choice to continue to misinform test-takers. And the choice appears to be quite intentional -- just as the original knee-jerk reaction to "hide" information about American usage appeared to be. That was your original choice in the thread. Initially, english-test.net simply removed the information about American usage from the thread -- despite the fact that it was accurate and completely relevant.
You moved a post of mine out of that thread again today and put it here -- even though I'd already posted the reminder here too. What are you afraid of, Alan? Are you afraid of the fact that I'm right? Afraid to admit that AmE and BE are not 100% identical? What the devil is so hard about repairing this test?
It would be so much more reasonable -- and certainly much less misleading -- to simply repair errors such as the one in this test and be done with it.
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Yankee
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| #345 (permalink) Fri Nov 07, 2008 23:14 pm Errors in the tests |
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Hi Amy,
Instead of investing all your time and energy telling us that we are misleading our users you could have finally created at least one test or any other piece of material yourself.
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary |
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| Are you going to publish new materials (stories and articles?) | Two easy questions |
Zarghuna
