AEF 4 Introduction 4

Introduction to the Test Generator CD-ROM

American

English File 4

Welcome to American English File 4 Test Generator CD-ROM – a teacher’s resource for testing and continuous assessment with materials that you can customize for your students and your teaching situation. When you use this CD-ROM on a computer, you can access: • a customizable question bank using Diploma software, which will be installed automatically on your computer hard drive • ready-to-print tests, listening scripts, answer keys, and continuous assessment criteria as PDF files, which are organized in the folders “Tests”, “Listening Scripts”, “Answer Keys”, and “Continuous Assessment Criteria”, respectively • MP3 files with the listening passages for the tests, which are organized in the folder “MP3 Files” • the audio portion with the listening passages for the tests, which can be played using the media player installed in your computer When you use this CD-ROM on a CD player, you can play: • the audio portion with the listening passages for the tests With this CD-ROM and the Diploma software and question bank, you will be able to: • adapt tests (by selecting specific questions from the question bank, mixing questions from different tests, editing questions, scrambling answers, etc.); • create new tests (by writing your own questions into the question bank); • select different layouts for the tests before printing them out; • print out different versions of a test (by scrambling the questions and/or answers); • export tests to different formats (e.g., RTF to be edited and designed with a word processor or interactive HTML to be made available on a website); • save new tests on your computer or on a website; • make the audio for the listening questions available online for interactive tests posted to a website (by using the MP3 files provided and the hyperlink function in Diploma).

The assessment materials on this CD-ROM All the tests, except for their Speaking sections, and their answer keys are available both as ready-to-print PDFs and in the Diploma question bank. The content of the tests is the same in both formats, although some of the questions have a slightly different format. You can print out the PDF tests and the tests in the question bank and use them as they are. If you want to adapt the tests, you can do so using the question bank. The listening scripts, answer keys for the PDF tests, and criteria for continuous assessment of speaking and writing are available only as PDFs. The speaking sections of the tests are available both as PDF and Word files. The audio for the listening passages is available both as regular audio – which can be played either on a computer or on a common CD player – and as MP3 files, which can be played on a computer and posted on websites.

American English File 4

Photocopiable © Oxford University Press 2009

1

The CD-ROM includes the following types of tests and materials:

Entry Test Suggested time: 30 minutes This is an optional test that covers some of the key Grammar and Vocabulary points from the previous level, American English File 3. You can give your students this test to get an idea of their starting level.

Quicktests Suggested time: 30 minutes Quicktests cover just the Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation from each File (1–7) of American English File 4. They include only multiple-choice questions, so they are quick to administer and quick to grade, with 20 Grammar questions, 20 Vocabulary questions, and 10 Pronunciation questions.

File Tests Suggested time: 90 minutes: • 30 minutes for Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation • 30 minutes for Reading and Writing • 30 minutes for Listening and Speaking These comprehensive tests cover Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking for each File (1–7) of American English File 4.

Progress Tests (1–3 and 4–7) Suggested time: 100 minutes: • 40 minutes for Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation • 30 minutes for Reading and Writing • 30 minutes for Listening and Speaking These Progress Tests cover the first and second halves of American English File 4. If you are using American English File 4 MultiPACKs, you can use these tests as End-of-course Tests. They are extended tests that cover Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation, as well as Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking.

End-of-course Test Suggested time: 100 minutes: • 40 minutes for Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation • 30 minutes for Reading and Writing • 30 minutes for Listening and Speaking This is an extended test that covers all the Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation areas in American English File 4, as well as Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking.



2

Speaking sections of the tests The Speaking sections of each File Test, Progress Test, and End-of-course Test are available as separate ready-to-print PDF and Word files (which you can edit). They are labeled by the name of the test and divided into parts A and B, as they are designed as pairwork information gap activities. You can use the Speaking tests in two ways: • You can put students into pairs, having one student use Speaking Test A and the other use Speaking Test B. In this way you can assess two students at a time as they take the test. • You can take the role of either A or B, and assess one student at a time.

Speaking and Writing Assessment Criteria This material can be used for continuous assessment of your students’ speaking and writing skills throughout the course. It is also designed to help you assess your students’ level according to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEF). For more information on the CEF, visit American English File Teacher Website at www.oup.com/elt/teacher/americanenglishfile. Assessment criteria are provided for the main Speaking activity in every A, B, and C lesson, and for the main tasks on the Writing pages in the Student Book. When your students are doing a Speaking activity, you can use the Assessment Criteria sheet for that activity to assess them according to how well they meet CEF competences. Similar sheets are provided for Writing tasks.

Listening Scripts These are all available in the PDF file “Listening Scripts” and organized by type of test and File number. For your reference, each script is preceded by the corresponding audio track number and MP3 file name (e.g., AEF4 T12 = Track 12 of American English File 4 Test Generator audio or MP3 “AEF4_T12.mp3”) – the same information that precedes the instructions for the listening questions in the tests.

Answer Keys These are all available in the PDF file “Answer Keys” for the ready‑to‑print PDF tests and organized by type of test and File number. Note: Please notice that the answer keys are automatically generated for each test printed out using the question bank. To do this, make sure the option to include the answer keys in the printouts is selected in the Printing dialog box in Diploma.

MP3 files with listening passages Each MP3 file corresponds to the listening passage for a set of listening questions and one track of the audio portion of the CD-ROM. These files can be played on a computer or MP3 player, or posted on websites and linked to online versions of the tests.

Audio CD This CD-ROM can also be used as a regular audio CD if you want to play the listening passages for the tests using a common CD player.



3

Creating tests with American English File Test Generator Tests can be easily created in a number of ways: • Print out a prepared test: All tests are available as PDF files in the folder “Tests”. Just double-click on a file to open it with Adobe Reader® and print it. Please notice that some of the sections are on separate pages so that you can choose to include them or not. • Select tests or questions from the Diploma question bank: You can select all or some of the questions available for a given test or you can select questions from different tests to combine into a single one. You can also select the questions by section (Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Reading, and Listening) or question format. • Create your own questions using the Diploma question bank: Create completely new tests using your own questions or editing the questions provided in the question bank.

Creating tests with the Diploma question bank Creating tests using the question bank and the Diploma software can be very simple and we explain how to use some of the functions of Diploma 6 below. However, once you have opened the question bank installed in your computer, you may prefer to click on Show Me How To on the top toolbar for a guided tour of the main basic functions of the software. You may also want to click on Help and then on Getting Started with Diploma 6 for more information.

Opening a question bank 1. Double-click on the icon of the question bank installed in your computer to open the question bank window. 2. On the left pane of the window, there is a list of Chapters. In American English File Test Generator, each Chapter corresponds to a test and includes all the questions available in the ready-to-print tests in PDF format. 3. When you click on one of the Chapters, the list of questions in this test appears on the right pane of the window. (See sample screen from American English File 1 below.)



4

Viewing questions 1. Click on the desired test from the Chapter column. 2. On the right-side pane, click on the question that you want to bring into view. Make sure that the Preview pane is enabled (as below). The full text of the question will appear.

Creating tests 1. If a new Exam window has not already been opened, choose the New Exam option from the File menu (highlighted below).

2. An Exam window will open. (See below.)



5

3. Copy questions from the question bank window into the Exam window. (See “Copying questions” below.) You can copy questions from the same Chapter or from different ones. 4. Save and/or print the Exam. (See “Saving tests” and “Printing tests” below.) Note: By default, the standard instruction (Name and Date) is added to every new exam. If you want to modify it, you can simply edit or delete it, as you would do with a question.

Copying questions There are several ways of copying questions from a question bank Chapter to an Exam document. The simplest ones are: • click on the questions you want to copy and then drag and drop them from the Chapter to the Exam window or • click on the questions you want to copy and use the Copy and Paste commands (found on the Edit menu) to copy them to an Exam. To copy all the questions from a Chapter, you can click on Select all from the Edit menu and then on Copy to Exam on the top toolbar.

Editing questions 1. Double-click on the question that you want to edit. The full text of the question will appear in a Question editing window. (See below.) 2. Type the changes that you want to make to the question. Note: If the Format and Menu toolbars are not turned on, click on View in the upper-right corner of the window and select them.



6

Writing questions New questions can be written into the Chapter files or directly into the Exam files. 1. Choose the New Question option from the Question menu. (See below.)

2. A dialog box will appear. (See below.) Indicate the type of question that you want to write (e.g., multiple choice) and where the question should be located in the Chapter or Exam.

3. Click on the OK button. A blank question template will be inserted into the Chapter or Exam. The description will read “(Blank question – double-click to edit).” (See below.)



7

4. Double-click on the blank question line. The Question editing window will appear. (See below.)

5. Type the text of the question, indicate the correct answer, and close the window.

Saving tests 1. To save changes to an Exam, use the Save button on the Exam’s top toolbar. (See below.) 2. If you have not already saved the test, a dialog box will appear asking you for a name and location to save the file. If you have already saved the test, but you want to save your changes to a different file, use the Save As command on the Exam’s File menu.



8

Printing tests 1. Choose the Print option from the Exam’s File menu. The Print dialog box will appear. (See below.) 2. Adjust the settings to suit your needs. Use the Page Setup button, for example, to adjust margins, headers and footers, and answer keys, as well as to adjust the question appearance. 3. Click on the OK button.

Scrambling options With Diploma, you can scramble questions and/or multiple-choice answers. These features can be used together or separately. They are located on the Printing dialog box and are available whenever you print an Exam. (See below.)



9

AEF 4 Introduction 4

Recommend Documents