1.

Placement test
- It is used to place new students at an appropriate level in a program or
a course.
- Various types or testing procedures such as dictation, interview or a
grammar test (discrete or integrative) can be used for placement
purposes. The English Placement test (EPT), which is a well-known
test in America, is an illustrative example of this test-type. The EPT is
designed to assess the level of reading and writing skills of entering
undergraduate students so that they can be placed in appropriate
courses. Those undergraduate students who do not demonstrate
college or university-level skills will be directed to remedial courses
or programmes to help them attain these skills.
2. Direct vs Indirect testing
a. Direct testing
Testing is said to be direct when the student is required to perform directly the skill
which we wish to measure, e.g. we ask students to write compositions if we want to
know how well they can write compositions and we ask them to speak if we want to
know how well they can pronounce a language.
b. Indirect testing
Indirect testing attempts to measure the abilities which underlie the skills in which we
are interested. E.g. we test pronunciation ability by asking students to identify pairs of
words which rhyme with each other.
3. Discrete point vs integrative testing
a. Discrete testing
It refers to the testing of one element at a time, item by item. This kind of testing is
always indirect. Each testing involves a particular item. Testing particular
grammatical structures is an example of this kind of testing.
b. Integrative testing
Language involves 2 factors:
- on-line processing of language in real time;
- use of systematic lang. features for expression & understanding
meaning in context (pragmatic tests).
- “Whereas discrete point-testing only tests on thing at a time such as
asking students to choose the correct tense of a verb, integrative test
items expect students to use a variety of language at any one given
time – as they will have to do when writing a composition or doing a
conversational oral test” (Harmer, 2001, p. 323).
- E.x cloze test, dictation
4. Objective vs Subjective testing
a. Objective testing
It doesn’t require judgement on the part of the scorer because scoring here is
objective. It won’t change even if the scorer has been changed. Multiple choice test is
an example of this kind of tests.
 b. Subjective testing
It requires judgement on the part of the scorer because scoring here is subjective.
The grades in subjective testing depend on the impressions of the scorer. These
impressions are not the same among different scorers. Scoring of a composition is an
example of this kind of testing.
5. Communicative Language Testing
6. Summative vs Formative Assessment