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Language Testing Approaches Explained

This document summarizes different approaches to language testing: The essay translation approach relies on subjective teacher judgement and tests essay writing, translation, and grammar. It has a literary and cultural bias. The structuralist approach separates language skills and aims to test them individually to improve reliability. Psychometrics show essay writing is subjective and unreliable. The integrative approach tests language in context, considering meaning over separating skills. Cloze tests and dictation can predict overall language ability but dictation measures lower-order skills more. The communicative approach emphasizes meaning over form like the integrative approach but they differ fundamentally. A good test combines features of multiple approaches depending on purpose and constraints.

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60 views2 pages

Language Testing Approaches Explained

This document summarizes different approaches to language testing: The essay translation approach relies on subjective teacher judgement and tests essay writing, translation, and grammar. It has a literary and cultural bias. The structuralist approach separates language skills and aims to test them individually to improve reliability. Psychometrics show essay writing is subjective and unreliable. The integrative approach tests language in context, considering meaning over separating skills. Cloze tests and dictation can predict overall language ability but dictation measures lower-order skills more. The communicative approach emphasizes meaning over form like the integrative approach but they differ fundamentally. A good test combines features of multiple approaches depending on purpose and constraints.

Uploaded by

DianFebriantiSukma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Nama : Dian Febrianti Sukma

NPM : 1740601031

BAB 2 : Approaches to language testing

2.1 Background
A test may have certain inherent weaknesses simply because it is limited to one
approach, however attractive that approach may appear.

2.2 The essay translation approach


This approach is commonly reffered to as the pre-scientific stage of language testing.
No special skill or expertise in testing is required: the subjective judgement of the teacher is
considered to be of paramount importance. Test usually consist of essay writing, translation,
and grammatical analysis. The test also have a heavy literary and cultural bias.

2.3 The structuralist approach


The skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are also separated from one
another as much as possible because it is considered essential to test one thing at a time. Such
features of the structuralist approach are, of course, still valid for certain types of test and for
certain purposes.
The psychometric approach to measurement with its emphasis on reliability and
objectivity forms an integral part of structuralist testing. Psychometrists have been able to
show clearly that such trditional examinations as essay writing are highly subjective and
unreliable.
At this point, however, the danger of confusing methods of testing with approches to
testing should be stressed. The issue is not basically a question of multiple-choice testing
versus communicative testing.

2.4 The integrative approach


This approach involves the testing of language in context and is thus concerned
primarily with meaning and the total communicative effect of discourse. Consequently,
integrative tests do not seek to separate language skills into neat divisions in order to improve
test reliability.
The principle of cloze testing is based in the Gestalt theory of ‘closure’ (closing gaps
in patterns subconsciously). There are two methods of scoring a cloze test: one mark may be
awarded for each acceptable answer or else one mark may be awarded for each exact answer.
Cloze procedure as a measure of reading difficulty and reading comprehension will be
treated briefly in the relevant section of the chapter on testing reading comprehension. As a
result of such research findings, cloze test are now used not only in general achievement and
proficiency tests but also in some classroom placement tests and diagnostic tests.
Dictation, another major type of integrative test, was previously regarded solely as a
means of measuring students’ skills of listening comprehension. Dictation tests can prove
good predictors of global language ability even though some recent research has found that
dictation tends to measure lower-order language skills such as straightforward comprehension
rather than the higher order skills such as inference.

2.5 The communicative approach


The communicative approach tolanguange testing is sometimes linked to the
integrative approach. However, although both approaches emphasise the importance of the
meaning of utterances rather than their form and structure, there are nevertheless fundamental
differences between the two approaches. As pointed out at the beggining of this chapter, a
good test will frequently combine features of the communicative approach, the integrative
approach and even the structurlist approach – depending on the particular purpose of the test
and also on the various test constraints.
Language testing constantly involves making compromises between what is ideal and
what is practicable in s certain situation. Nevertheless this should not be used as an excuse for
writing and administering poor tests: whatever the constraints of the situation, it is important
to maintain ideals and goals, constantly trying to devise a test which is as valid and reliable as
possible- and which has a useful backwas effect on the teaching and learning leading to the
test.

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