Task Fourteen -- Communicative approach

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Date Posted: 08:49:23 08/08/03 Fri
Author: Roberta Mesquita
Subject: Task Fourteen

The Communicative Approach to Testing is intended to measure up how tests can use language in real life situations. It differ from traditional tests that are mostly focused on vocabulary and grammar. To test productive skills, the emphasises on the appropriatedness of language usage rather than ability use gammar. To test receptive skills the emphasis is on understanding the communicative intend of the speaker instead of picking up specific details. To have a very effective communicative testing, these two features are often combined in a single test.
The "communicativeness" of a test might be seen as being on a continuum. Few tests are completely communicative; many tests have some element of communicativeness. For example, a test in which testees listen to an utterance on a tape and then choose from among three choices the most appropriate response is more communicative than one in which the testees answer a question about the meaning of the utterance. However, it is less communicative than one in which the testees are face- to-face with the interlocutor (rather than listening to a tape) and are required to produce an appropriate response.
These test are very context-specific, according to the purpose of the testing. The same communicative test cannot be used for admisssion to two different universities. If language learners are going to be tested using this method, it is necessary to for the tester to be prepared for it as well as make sure that the material covers these kinds of tests. To evaluate this tests is an ambiguos process because in real life situations there is no right or wrong, therefore there is a need to develop band scales to evaluate the results. Each band has a description of the quality (and sometimes quantity) of the receptive or productive performance of the testee.

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