14 th Task -- Communicative approach

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Date Posted: 12:15:02 08/08/03 Fri
Author: Viviane Coelho Caldeira Ramos
Subject: 14 th Task

In the communicative approach, language has to be seen as a way for people to communicate. Because of that, testing students� knowledge has to go beyond the traditional elements of grammar and vocabulary. A communicative test has to based into real life situations, in order to see if the learner can deal appropriately with the language. According to Brown (1987) a � communicative test (...)has to test for grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic, and illocutionary competence as well as strategic competence. It has to be pragmatic in that it requires the learner to use language naturally for genuine communication and to relate to thoughts and feelings, in short, to put authentic language to use within a context�.

Because of this, communicative tests are very specific regarding the contexts presented, as language will vary depending on the context that it is been used. It is hard then to have a total communicative test, as the situation of a test varies greatly from a real one that the student might face in his/her life. On the order hand the teacher can try to bring, as much as possible, reality to the class.

However, it is difficult to know how good ( or not) is a test, Brown (1994) proposes thre criteria, for � testing a test�, these are:
- Practicality: the test has to practical to be used in class, respecting limitations regarding time, financial issues, scoring and test administration.
- Reliability: the test and its scoring have to be � consistent and dependable�
- Validity: relates to the degree that the test really measured what it was supposed to and also if what is been tested was taught. As praised by Kitao & Kitao � If students are going to be tested over communicative tasks in an achievement test situation, it is necessary that they be prepared for that kind of test, that is, that the course material cover the sorts of tasks they are being asked to perform�.

Bibliography
BROWN, H.D. Teaching By Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Pg. 386-399. Pearson ESL, 1994
KITAO, S. Kathleen & KITAO, Kenji. �Testing Communicative Competence� The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. II, No. 5, May 1996 . In http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kitao-Testing.html
Toward a Communicative Approach to Language Testing. A Critical Study of Achievement Tests for Non-Specialist Students Learning English for Specific Purposes in the Faculty of Arabic and Social Sciences at King Khalid University. In http://www.uqu.edu.sa/majalat/humanities/vol13/a09.htm

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