Communicative Testing
What should be the different?
Testing, assessment and evaluation.
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Communicative Testing
Bachman(1990:53) sees 2nd use as being of
interest in research on language teaching
Observes two major uses of test score in
educational settings
1) Making decision about people, or micro-
evaluation.
2)Making decision about educational
programmer- or major-evaluation
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The role of testing in language teaching
Educational system-testing is seen as an attempt
to identify and explain the effects and
effectiveness of a teaching programmer
Attempt to find out what the student has
achieved in a course of teaching
(Rowntree:1977)
In general:valette(1977)sees testing as having
three major roles:
 defining course objectives
 stimulating students’ progress
 providing info
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Communicative Testing
Testing, assessment and evaluation
Applied linguists interchangeably
Do they mean different things to different
people?
Communicative Testing
Assessment: ca be carried out in the form of
tests or quizzes, examinations, observations,
etc.Attempts to discover the loran’s
weaknesses and strengths in a language
programmer
(clark:1987 and Rowntree:1987)
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The role of testing in languages
teaching
Testing provides very useful information for
variety of people in the system about the
results or effect of the programmer for
possible and necessary changes which might
lead to the improvement of the programmer as
a while
Testing is viewed as extension of the
classroom work (oller:1979;Hutchison and
waters; Bachan:1990)
Communicative testing
Testing or test: instrument of elicitation of
one’s behavior (bachman:1990:20)
In generation: a form of assessment or
evaluation for decision making
(clark:1987; Rowntree:1987)
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Communicative Testing
Evaluation: attempts to identify and the effects
of the courser as a whole;
Evaluation takes care of all the different
aspects involved and have an effect on the
learning programmer outcomes, such as, the
teacher, materials, the syllabus,
Test types
Test types are determined by
Data that the tester wants
The purpose that he needs the information
for,ie
The nature of decision to be made
(Harrison:1983;Hughes;Bachman)
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Test types
Bachman (1990) identifies features which
determine test types as:
1)the purpose, or use
2)the content upon which they are based
3)the frame of reference within which their
results are to be interpreted
4)the way they are scored , and
5)the specific technique or method they employ
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Diagnostic test
Diagnostic test used to ascertain students
strengths and weaknesses so that appropriate
types and levels of teaching and learning
activities are chosen adequately
Help to determine how well students have
mastered an aspect of the teaching course and
can a based as basis for remedial work if needed
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Achievement test
Achievement test or attainment test
Used to assess how effectively and efficiently the
student has followed a particular course of
instruction (valette:1977:5) in terms of syllabus,
course book or materials employed
Hughes distinguishes achievement test of 2 types
1)progress achievement tests, and
2)final achievement test
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Test types Placement test
Placement test Placement test: aims at placing or rather
Diagnostic test grouping learners according to their abilities or
Proficiency test level of attainment (harrison’1983 and
Achievement test HughesL:1989), language use needs ,
professional or academic specification
(Bachman:1990)
Test based on:
Theory of language proficiency ,and
11 Learning goals of the syllabus to be used
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Proficiency test Proficiency test
Proficiency test: measures student’s general Proficiency test :
ability without taking cognizance of any Tester’s performance is measured according to
particular language content or objectives of a the performance of particular task or range of
language course tasks that are expected of him in the future
It is used to measure overall mastery of (Hurrison:1989)
English for a particular course (TOEFL)
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Achievement test Qualities of a good test
Progress achievement-ongoing assessment Reliability
Provides very useful information to the How consistently a test measures what it is
teacher for formative evaluation(allows supposed to measure
modification in the course ) Produces similar results on different occasion
Final achievement tests –often standardized under similar circumstances
and are admistered at the end of instructional (Harris:1979;oller:1990;madsen: 1983;B
learning programmer (final exams by achman:1990; Hall;1993
Ministries)
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Qualities of a good test
Reliability consistency in its measuments
independently of 1) when ,and
2) Who marks the test
Reliability can be influenced by:
Nr .of items (mcq) ;sample of testee; conditions
under which the test is taken
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The issue of communicative Language
testing
Researchers on communicative language testing
challenged with insights from:
Linguistics
Language learning, and language teaching
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Features of communicative testing
Feature to be considered but neglected in the
traditional testing:
Language is interactive
Unpredictable
Purposeful
Authentic
Contextualized
Assessed in terms of behavourial outcome
(carrol:1980:12)in (wright:1990:53)
Quality of a good test Qualities of good test
Validity Practicality and usefulness
Concerned with how well or effectively a test In terms of finance, time effort, materials
measures what it claims to measure? Listening including preparation ,administration, scoring
tested through multiple choice which requires and interpretation of the test scores
a lot of reading (oller:1979; Harrison:1973)
Construct validity (how it takes into acc. Should diagnose both teacher and student
Theory) effectiveness for improvement in specific
Construct validity (sample representation) ways.
Face validity and empirical validity
Test cannot be valid without being reliable 21
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The issue of communicative language The issue of communicative language
testing testing
Use of theory and practice aspect of language Communicative language ability comprises
to develop tests which reflect current views of both knowledge, or competence and the
language and language use capacity of handling that competence in
Capability of measuring a wide range of a language use (Bachman:1990)
abilities associated with communicative
competence” or “communicative ability” 24
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Features of communicative testing Features of communicative testing
Information-gap
Task dependence (interdependence among the Non- communicative
test tasks building upon the content of the test) Communicative
Integration of tasks Discrete-point integrative
Language knowledge and cognitive process Indirect form direct form
(Bachman:1991) Norm-referenced Criterion-referenced
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Oral testing in a communicative Testing oral communication Communicative curriculum

curriculum Why test oral communication Features of oral testing in a communicative
Oral communicative 1)Encouragement of conscious learning due to approach
Primary goal of learning a foreign language- the assessment-motivational factor Tests have to address problems which are
communicative orally 2)Definition of what is to be learn helps the similar to those in real context
Oral communication is normally a two-way student towards a conscious control of Valid communicative oral test has to display
process between listener and speaker in which language forms and content features which are of language use, i.e.:
they change their roles naturally and 3)makes the teacher aware of what he is
interchangeable teaching and what is being learn
False starts, repetitions, gestures redundancy Away (1988:49) 29 30
Littlewood:1992; Underhill,
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Oral testing in communicative Making system on oral testing COMMON PRACTICE IN
curriculum In order to score validly and reliably: ASSESSMENT
Contextualization, Be consistent with aims of the course A) Reading aloud, and
Unpredictability Take into account the needs and interests of B) Question and Answer
Purposeful learners C) Transformation of the linguistic
Authenticity Have more than one assessor forms
Behavior-based Establish mark categories (mark for each
category)
31 (underhill:1987;weir:1990) 32 33
Shortcomings of the common format
How often does one read aloud in the real
world
Why does one ask questions if he himself
already knows the answer? Confirm?
Why does one need to produce full and well
grammatically constructed sentences?
How often will one say, e g”john is a noun” in
the middle of Oxford street
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Core objectives of the proposal
Encourage the use of some important features
of oral face- to face interaction, e.g.,
hesitations, repetions as components of
language use.
Encourage design of test tasks which might
display constraints as they would appear in
authentic situations of language use, e .g , time
pressure
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MARKING CRITERIA
Marking Based On
1)Impression mark(HOLISTIC)
2)Marking scheme (ANALYTIC) using scale
adapted from Hughes (1989)and weir40
Question
CAN THIS ,why
Core objective of the proposal
To encourage the development of test types
which can measure the true communicative
language ability of the candidates based on
takes
Present test takers with the tasks which will
encourage the use of language by focusing
on the topic of their interest and needs
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Proposal
Use of a task-based approach so that
learners who will leave school will be able to
function efficiently and effectively in
authentic situations of English language use
Use of multi-test approach so that
examiners appreciate the learner’s
communicative language ability in different
situations of language use
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MAKING CRITERIA
Marking scheme
Accuracy
Appropriateness
Range
Communicative 41
Skills
Total score
Reference
Bachman, L.F. Fundamental Consideration in
Language Testing .Oxford. OUP, 1990
Core objective of the proposal
Incorporate in the test, elements which are
normally found in the real world and with
what the students are likely to
encounter(e.g. single answers instead of
complete sentence)
Involve candidates in tasks which are
purposive, interactive and reflect authentic
situations which learners are likely to be
involve in outside the classroom
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Communicative tasks for the
assessment of oral ability
1.Description task-types (static relationship)
2 .Telling a story or giving an eye-witness
account (dynamic relationship)
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MAKING CRITERIA
Marking schedule( adapted from Weir 1990)
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Reference
Hall, c”the direct testing of oral skill in
university foreign language.”LRaL, Vol.31.1
 CARROLL, B.J. Testing communicative
performance: An intern study, Oxford.
Paragon press,1980
CLARK, j .L.classroom assessment in a
communicative approach.” British journal of
43 language teaching, Vol. 25.1 pp.19, 1987.
44
Implications Implications
What implications are there for not having Teacher will neglect promoting ability
English oral testing in secondary education? Learner won’t develop oral ability effectively
Learner Work market 46 Hard to get better work opportunities
Work market face problem of competent
English speakers
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Question Reference
CAN THIS WORK? ,why? Bachman, L.F. Fundamental Consideration in
Language Testing .Oxford. OUP, 1990
If cannot, why? CARROLL, B.J. Testing communicative
performance: An intern study, Oxford.
Paragon press,1980
CLARK, j .L.classroom assessment in a
communicative approach.” British journal of
language teaching, Vol. 25.1 pp.19, 1987.
pp .23-38, 1993.
Harris, P.D Testing English as a second
language. New York. McGraw-Hill Book
company, 1969
HaRRISON, A.Language Testing
Handbook:ELTS.London. Macmillan,1983
HUGHES, A. Testing for Language
Teachers.cambridge. CUP,1989
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What do we say
Yes to oral examination
Or
No to English oral exam
If yes ,who and how was it decided
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Reference
Hall, c”the direct testing of oral skill in
university foreign language.”LRaL, Vol.31.1
pp .23-38, 1993.
Harris, P.D Testing English as a second
language. New York. McGraw-Hill Book
company, 1969
HaRRISON, A.Language Testing
Handbook:ELTS.London. Macmillan,1983
HUGHES, A. Testing for Language
Teachers.cambridge. CUP,1989