Monday, March 11, 2013

Make a C-Test or a Cloze Test



A)    What is a C-test? 

Answer and example

  1. Read the explanation and the instructions, then try to actually do a C-Test online, first in German and then in English.
    1. Here is a German one you can do online. When you have guessed all the missing information, click "Test auswerten". How did you do?  If you are a native speaker of German, you probably got everything correct, or nearly.
    2. Now here is an online one in English.  When you have guessed all the missing information, click "Test auswerten". How did you do? 

B)  Now make a C-test using a text you choose. C-Tests are a great way to test your level in any language.

  1. Go to C-test
    1. Just paste in a text of several paragraphs from an article you want to read or even one you have read and want to work with more intensively. 
    2. After you click "Submit" your text will come back with every other word missing half its letters. The idea is for you to reconstruct the text using your knowledge of the language and the inherent redundancy in the the language. Sound weird? Just give it a try. The first sentence, numbers,  and certain short words are kept intact, so it is not really as hard as it sounds. 
    3. How were you even able to reconstruct the text? What strategies did you use?
    4. What did you learn about your level in this language? Try it with another language you know. If possible, use parallel texts.

C)    A similar kind of test:     Cloze tests

  1. Again, paste in a text of your choice. You can decide what you remove and even add hints if you wish. I haven't figured out how you can save the tests you make, but there must be a way. If anyone knows, please comment below! Thanks.
  2. Here is a cloze test with every 4th word missing. How difficult is it to reconstruct?
As part of ___ trend towards cloud-computing ___ the advantages such __ platform-independence that come ____ it, this new _______ offers tools for ________ up exercise preparation ____ by automating repetitive _____. Each tool that ________ here will be _________ in two flavours: ____ only (for copying ___ pasting into documents), ___ interactive exercises you ___ save as an ____ page.
The _____ are free to ___, all I ask __ that you leave ___ small copyright text __ place. The list ____ be enriched as ____ allows, and requests ___ more than welcome ___ 

Merci beaucoup Lucy Georges in France!
http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/tools.htm


TASK: Sum up what you found out about these kinds of tests. What's the difference? How can they help you and other language learners?
More about C-tests (auf deutsch)  here.
Joe Blum in Florida seems to be an interesting guy. He is also into Esperanto, as was I many years ago. If you really get into C-Tests, there is more to discover here at Joe's site.



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