task 14 -- Communicative approach

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Date Posted: 17:22:52 08/08/03 Fri
Author: Renata Del Rio
Subject: task 14

Testing a student's learning is hard work. Usually, even in communicative courses, the methods for testing continue consisting in checking vocabulary and grammar. However, to be able to communicate requires much more than that. According to Dell Hymes, who coined the term "communicative competence", a speaker sometimes produces sentences which are grammatically correct, but completely inappropriate. To be able to speak a language correctly consists in using it adequately and being able to communicate what one needs, and that is communicative competence.
When testing a student for communicative competence, the teacher emphasises the apropriateness rather than checks if the sentences are grammatically correct. Furthermore, the questions are put in a context so as the testee can answer them appropriately. However, the teacher has to be coherent: the students must be prepared to take this kind of test. This preparation will consist in having them perform communicative tasks in classroom, such as writing a letter to a friend or introducing themselves to other classmates.
To evaluate a student, the teacher can use role-playing situations, such as giving a situation to two or three students and check if they are using the correct structures, vocabulary, if they are able to realize if the situation is formal or informal, and what kind of structure they should use. This would check listening and speaking, as the students should understand what their partner says in order to reply.
Testing writing and reading, for its turn, the teacher can ask the testees to write letters, giving a situation in which they have to realize what kind of treatment they will have, if the letter is for the president of a company or for a friend.

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