Brown Ch. 23 & 24 and Shohamy

Under ethical issues in Brown’s chapter 23 there is a quote by Shohamy which states “texts represent a social technology deeply embedded in education, government, and business; as such they provide the mechanism for enforcing power and control. Tests are most powerful as they are often the single indicators for determining the future of individuals.”

That quote alone depicts something that makes me so nervous. In regular English classes I struggle with creating test questions that are clear and concise, and can only be interpreted one way for the students. Tests are something so important to the future of my students, so being that I lack skills in creating meaningful tests is something I need to focus on to improve as a teacher. Thinking about creating a test for second language learners, most of which are all at different proficiency levels and whom all have different preexisting knowledge to help them interpret what is being asked of them, truly scares me.  I know that for this skill much experience is needed, but I often wonder how to create the most effective and appropriate test questions for second language learners, and which form of testing works best.