3. Approaches to testing and main kinds of testing

Teacher’s espoused theory of language learning and teaching and the ELT approaches and methods s/he adheres to will influence the way s/he tests. Approaches to testing reflect changing views on language, language learning and language teaching.

In the period before 1930s Intuitive approach to testing was mainly spread. Language was viewed as a system of rules, Grammar –Translation approach to teaching was the king so, naturally, tests were centered about knowledge of grammar and translation skills. The preferred test formats were translation, writing essays and grammar analysis with a heavy cultural and literary bias. There was no special skill or expertise in testing – only the subjective judgement of the teacher in both the setting and marking of tests.

1950s and 60s saw a different view of language and learning. Language was seen as a system which could be broken down in a set of linguistic items (structuralism). There was the advent of Audio-Lingual method: learning, according to behaviorist psychological theory, was seen as the systematic acquisition of set of habits. Tests of the Scientific approach reflected these views and were designed to measure learners’ mastery of separate elements of the language (grammar, vocabulary, phonology) at sound, word and sentence level, i.e. no context was provided. Skills were also tested separately. So tests were discrete item tests. Tests had to be objective and reliable so that there could be statistical analysis of the results. Multiple-choice was the most common test format. Rise of testing experts specially trained took place for the first time in history.

Since 1980s -1990s language has been seen as a complex system of skills and problems of linguistic and non-linguistic behaviour as well as a means of communication. Cognitive (language is a means of acquiring knowledge) and Communicative approaches to learning have been in the focus. So the tests became concerned with meaning in context and communication. Integrative and communicative approach to testing came into being. Tests are to be integrative (several skills, sub-skills and language use are tested at a time). Typical integrative tests are – Cloze, essay-writing, oral interviews etc. Tests are to be communicative (primarily concerned with how language is used for communication). Therefore, tests tend to consist of real-life tasks and success is judged on the basis of the effectiveness of communication, i.e. they assess language use more than language usage.

Finishing with approaches and types of tests we should make some more terms and concepts clear.

First of all, terms objective and subjective tests. Both are neutral terms though they have acquired evaluative connotations: objective – good, subjective – bad. In fact it refers only to scoring of tests: all tests require subjective answer by candidates, test items are selected subjectively by the tester, etc. Objective tests presuppose only one correct answer and are checked against the provided key. In subjective tests to limit all options to the only right one is not possible, the mark is mainly impressionistic though some criteria are taken into account.

Discrete item tests are opposed to integrative tests. In discrete item tests one language point (e.g. test on prepositions) or one skill is tested at a time.

Indirect tests are opposed to direct ones.

Direct tests are those during which a candidate is asked to perform precisely the skill which we want to measure, e.g. if we want to know how well a learner can write letters, we get him to write a letter. Test tasks and texts used are as authentic as possible. Direct testing is easier when we want to measure the productive skills. For the receptive skills it’s necessary to get learners not only to listen and read but also to demonstrate that they have done this successfully.

Indirect tests measure abilities whish underlie the skills we are interested in, e.g. discrete point grammar tests, tests of minimal pairs (to test pronunciation) etc. One must be cautious about claims one makes: if a learner does well on a grammar test, this does not mean s/he can communicate well.