could mean the incorporation of various skills that are connected with each
other, e.g. listening and speaking skills.
Indirect testing, regarding to Hughes, tests the usage of the language
in real-life situation. Moreover, it suits all situations; whereas direct
testing is bound to certain tasks intended to check a certain skill. Hughes
(ibid.) assumes that indirect testing is more effective than direct one,
for it covers a broader part of the language. It denotes that the learners
are not constrained to one particular skill and a relevant exercise. They
are free to elaborate all four skills; what is checked is their ability to
operate with those skills and apply them in various, even unpredictable
situations. This is the true indicator of the learner’s real knowledge of
the language.
Indirect testing has more advantages that disadvantages, although the
only drawback according to Hughes is that such type of testing is difficult
to evaluate. It could be frustrating what to check and how to check;
whether grammar should be evaluated higher, than composition structure or
vice versa. The author of the paper agrees with that, however, basing on
her experience at school again, she must claim that it is not so easy to
apply indirect testing. This could be rather time-consuming, for it is a
well-known fact that the duration of the class is just forty minutes;
moreover, it is rather complicated to construct indirect test – it demands
a lot of work, but our teachers are usually overloaded with a variety of
other duties. Thus, we can only hope on the course books that supply us
with a variety of activities that involve cooperation of all four skills.
4.2 Discrete point and integrative testing
Having discussed the kinds of testing that deal with general aspects,
such as certain skills and variety of skills in cooperation, we can come to
the more detailed types as discrete point and integrative testing.
According to Longman Dictionary of LTAL (112), discrete point test is a
language test that is meant to test a particular language item, e.g.
tenses. The basis of that type of tests is that we can test components of
the language (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling) and
language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) separately. We
can declare that discrete point test is a common test used by the teachers
in our schools. Having studied a grammar topic or new vocabulary, having
practiced it a great deal, the teacher basically gives a test based on the
covered material. This test usually includes the items that were studied
and will never display anything else from a far different field. The same
will concern the language skills; if the teacher’ aim is to check reading
skills; the other skills will be neglected. The author of the paper had
used such types of tests herself, especially after a definite grammar topic
was studied. She had to construct the tests herself basing on the examples
displayed in various grammar books. It was usually gap-filling exercises,
multiple choice items or cloze tests. Sometimes a creative work was
offered, where the students had to write a story involving a certain
grammar theme that was being checked. According to her observance, the
students who studied hard were able to complete them successfully, though
there were the cases when the students failed. Now having discussed the
theory on validity, reliability and types of testing, it is even more
difficult to realize who was really to blame for the test failures: either
the tests were wrongly designed or there was a problem in teaching.
Notwithstanding, this type was and still remains to be the most general and
acceptable type in schools of our country, for it is easy to design, it
concerns a certain aspect of the language and is easy to score. If we speak
about types of tests we can say that this way of testing refers more to a
progress test (You can see the examples of such type of test in Appendix
2).
Nevertheless, according to Bynom (2001:8) there is a certain drawback
of discrete point testing, for it tests only separated parts, but does not
show us the whole language. It is true, if our aim is to incorporate the
whole language. Though, if we are to check the exact material the students
were supposed to learn, then why not use it.
Discussing further, we have come to integrative tests. According to
Longman Dictionary of LTAL, the integrative test intends to check several
language skills and language components together or simultaneously. Hughes
(1989:15) stipulates that the integrative tests display the learners’
knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, spelling together, but not as separate
skills or items.
Alderson (1996:219) poses that, by and large, most teachers prefer
using integrative testing to discrete point type. He explains the fact that
basically the teachers either have no enough of spare time to check a
certain split item being tested or the purpose of the test is only
considered to view the whole material. Moreover, some language skills such
as reading do not require the precise investigation of the students’
abilities whether they can cope with definite fragments of the text or not.
We can render the prior statements as the idea that the teachers are mostly
concerned with general language knowledge, but not with bits and pieces of
it. The separate items usually are not capable of showing the real state of
the students’ knowledge. What concerns the author of the paper, she finds
integrative testing very useful, though more habitual one she believes to
be discrete point test. She assumes that the teacher should incorporate
both types of testing for effective evaluation of the students’ true
language abilities.
4.3 Criterion-referenced and norm referenced testing
The next types of testing to be discussed are criterion-referenced and
norm referenced testing. They are not focused directly on the language
items, but on the scores the students can get. Again we should concern
Longman Dictionary of LTAL (17) that states that criterion-referenced test
measures the knowledge of the students according to set standards or
criteria. This means that there will be certain criteria according to which
the students will be assessed. There will be various criteria for different
levels of the students’ language knowledge. Here the aim of testing is not
to compare the results of the students. It is connected with the learners’
knowledge of the subject. As Hughes (1989:16) puts it the criterion-
referenced tests check the actual language abilities of the students. They
distinguish the weak and strong points of the students. The students either
manage to pass the test or fail it. However, they never feel better or
worse than their classmates, for the progress is focused and checked. At
this point we can speak about the centralized exams at the end of the
twelfth and ninth form. As far as the author of the paper is concerned, the
results of the exams are confident, and the learners after passing the
exams are conferred with various levels relevant to their language ability.
Apart from that, once a year in Latvian schools the students are given
tests designed by the officials of the Ministry of Education to check the
level of the students and, what is most important, the work of the teacher.
They call them diagnostic tests, though according to the material discussed
above it is rather arguable. Nevertheless, we can accept the fact that
criterion-referenced testing could be used in the form of diagnostic tests.
Advancing further, we have come to norm-referenced test that measures
the knowledge of the learner and compares it with the knowledge of another
member of his/her group. The learner’s score is compared with the scores of
the other students. According to Hughes (ibid.), this type of test does not
show us what exactly the student knows. Therefore, we presume that the best
test format for the following type of testing could be a placement test,
for it concerns the students’ placement and division according to their
knowledge of the foreign language. There the score is vital, as well.
4.4 Objective and subjective testing
It worth mentioning that apart from scoring and testing the learners’
abilities another essential role could be devoted to indirect factors that
influence evaluating. These are objective and subjective issues in testing.
According to Hughes (1989:19), the difference between these two types is
the way of scoring and presence or absence of the examiner’s judgement. If
there is not any judgement, the test is objective. On the contrary, the
subjective test involves personal judgement of the examiner. The author of
the paper sees it as when testing the students objectively, the teacher
usually checks just the knowledge of the topic. Whereas, testing
subjectively could imply the teacher’s ideas and judgements. This could be
encountered during speaking test where the student can produce either
positive or negative impression on the teacher. Moreover, the teacher’s
impression and his/her knowledge of the students’ true abilities can
seriously influence assessing process. For example, the student has failed
the test; however, the teacher knows the true abilities of the student and,
therefore, s/he will assess the work of that student differently taking all
the factors into account.
4.5 Communicative language testing
Referring to Bynom (ibid.), this type of testing has become popular
since 1970-80s. It involves the knowledge of grammar and how it could be
applied in written and oral language; the knowledge when to speak and what
to say in an appropriate situation; knowledge of verbal and non-verbal
communication. All these types of knowledge should be successfully used in
a situation. It bases on the functional use of the language. Moreover,
communicative language testing helps the learners feel themselves in real-
life situation and acquire the relevant language.
Weir (1990:7) stipulates that the current type of testing tests
exactly the “performance” of communication. Further, he develops the idea
of “competence” due to the fact that an individual usually acts in a
variety of situations. Afterwards, reconsidering Bachman’s idea he comes
with another notion – ‘communicative language ability’.
Weir (1990:10-11) assumes that in order to work out a good
communicative language test we have to bear in mind the issue of precision:
both the skills and performance should be accurate. Besides, their
collaboration is vital for the students’ placement in the so-called ‘real
life situation’. However, without a context the communicative language test
would not function. The context should be as closer to the real life as
possible. It is required in order to help the student feel him/herself in
the natural environment. Furthermore, Weir (ibid.) stresses that language
‘fades’ if deprived of the context.
Weir (ibid., p.11) says: “to measure language proficiency adequately
in each situation, account must be taken of: where, when, how, with whom,
and why the language is to be used, and on what topics, and with what
effect.” Moreover, Weirs (ibid.) emphasises the crucial role of the
schemata (prior knowledge) in the communicative language tests.
The tasks used in the communicative language testing should be
authentic and ‘direct’ in order the student will be able to perform as it
is done in everyday life.
According to Weir (ibid.), the students have to be ready to speak in
any situation; they have to be ready to discuss some topics in groups and
be able to overcome difficulties met in the natural environment. Therefore,
the tests of this type are never simplified, but are given as they could be
encountered in the surroundings of the native speaker. Moreover, the
student has to possess some communicative skills, that is how to behave in
a certain situation, how to apply body language, etc.
Finally, we can repeat that communicative language testing involves
the learner’s ability to operate with the language s/he knows and apply it
in a certain situation s/he is placed in. S/he should be capable of
behaving in real-life situation with confidence and be ready to supply the
information required by a certain situation. Thereof, we can speak about
communicative language testing as a testing of the student’s ability to
behave him/herself, as he or she would do in everyday life. We evaluate
their performance.
To conclude we will repeat that there are different types testing used
in the language teaching: discreet point and integrative testing, direct
and indirect testing, etc. All of them are vital for testing the students.
Chapter 5
Testing the Language Skills
In this chapter we will attempt to examine the various elements or
formats of tests that could be applied for testing of four language skills:
reading, listening, writing and speaking. First, we will look at multiple-
choice tests, after that we will come to cloze tests and gap filling, then
to dictations and so on. Ultimately, we will attempt to draw a parallel
between them and the skills they could be used for.
5.1 Multiple choice tests
It is not surprising why we have started exactly with multiple-choice
tests (MCQs, further in the text). To the author’s concern these tests are
widely used by teachers in their teaching practice, and, moreover, are
favoured by the students (Here the author has been supported by the
equivalent idea of Alderson (1996:222)). Heaton (1990:79) believes that
multiple-choice questions are basically employed to test vocabulary.
However, we can argue with the statement, for the multiple choice tests
could be successfully used for testing grammar, as well as for testing
listening or reading skills.
It is a well-known fact how a multiple-choice test looks like:
1. ---- not until the invention of the camera that artists
correctly painted horses racing.
A) There was
B) It was
C) There
D) It
“Cambridge Preparation for the TOEFL Test”:
A task basically is represented by a number of sentences, which should
be provided with the right variant, that, in its turn, is usually given
below. Furthermore, apart from the right variant the students are offered a
set of distractors, which are normally introduced in order to “deceive” the
learner. If the student knows the material that is being tested, s/he will
spot the right variant, supply it and successfully accomplish the task. The
distractors, or wrong words, basically slightly differ from the correct
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