Tassk 14 -- Communicative Approach2

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Date Posted: 05:18:16 08/07/03 Thu
Author: Ana Regina F. de Ara�jo
Subject: Tassk 14

TASK 14

One of the main differences of testing communicative competence and testing language is that communicative competence tests appropriateness rather than usage. That means that students are evaluated in the way they use the language depending on the situation given and not on correctness alone.

Testing and evaluating language (especially if it is a foreign language) in communicative terms is not easy; nor is it natural. But there are ways to contextualize the tasks, so that students may be able to show how much language they have acquired when facing everyday situations.

All four skills can be tested communicatevely once the student is given real life events to base their answers. For example, speaking and listening can be tested through information gap tasks in which the student will share information with a partner to fill in his text; or in a role play, where he will need to perform his reaction according to a situation given. Testing reading and writing can be done through writing letters, memos, summaries, etc., based on information given. Listening and writing may be evaluated through a note taking exercise, where the student is supposed to complete certain missing data in his notes by listening to a situation given (this situation is generally recorded).

It is always more concrete and easier for students to be tested when at least some of the tasks contain communicative elements. On the other hand students may have a real view of how well they have developed in the language skills tested.

Ana Regina F. de Ara�jo

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