APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TESTING
Approximately language tests can be categorized according to four main approaches to testing. They are: The Essay-Translation Approach, The Structuralist Approach, The Integrative Approach and The Communicative Approach. The model of every approach using in testing will be discussed as follows.
1. The Essay-Translation Approach
a. The Characteristic and Types of Test of Essay-Translation Approach:
v This approach is commonly referred to as the pre-scientific stage of language testing.
v No special skill or expertise in testing is required.
v Tests usually consist of essay writing, translation, and grammatical analysis.
v Tests have a heavy literary and cultural bias.
v Public examinations resulting from the tests using this approach sometimes have an oral component at upper intermediate and advance levels.
b. The Strengths of Essay-Translation Approach:
v This approach is easy to do due to the reason that teachers will simply use their subjective judgment.
v The Essay-Translation Approach may be use for testing any levels of testees.
v The model of tester can easily be modified based on the essential of the tests.
c. The Weakness of Essay-Translation Approach:
v Subjective judgment of the teacher tends to make bias.
v As mentioned, the tests have a heavy literary and cultural bias.
2. The Structuralist Approach
a. The Characteristic and Types of Test of Structuralist Approach:
v This approach views that language learning is chiefly concerned wit a systematic acquisition of a set of habit.
v The Structural Approach involves structural linguistics in which the importance of constructive analysis and the need to identify and measure the learners’ mastery of the separate elements of the target language such as phonology, vocabulary, and grammar.
v In testing the skill of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are separated from another as much as possible.
b. The Strengths of Structuralist Approach:
v In testing pupils’ capability this approach may objectively and surely be used by tester.
v Many forms of test can be cover.
v Many forms of tests can be covered in the test in short time.
v This approach using in testing will helping pupils to find their strength and weakness in the every skill they studied.
c. The Weakness of Structuralist Approach:
v It tends to be a complicated job for teacher to prepare questionnaires this approach.
v By using this approach we will never consider that it is better to measure integrated skills that to measure non-integrated skills.
3. The Integrative Approach
a. The Characteristic and Types of Tests of Integrative Approach:
v This approach involves the testing of language in context and thus concerned primarily with meaning and the total communicative effect of discourse.
v Integrative tests are concerned with a global view of proficiency.
v Integrative testing involves functional language but not the use of functional language.
v The use of cloze testing, dictation, oral interview, translation and essay writing are included in many integrative tests.
b. The Strengths of Integrative Approach:
v The approach to meaning and the total communicative effect of discourse will be very useful for pupils in testing.
v This approach can view pupils’ proficiency with a global view.
v A model of cloze test using in this approach is to measure the reader’s ability to decode “interrupted” or “mutilated” messages by making the most acceptable substitutions from all the contextual clues available.
v Dictation, another type using this approach, was regarded solely as a means of measuring pupils’ skills of listening comprehension.
c. The Weakness of Integrative Approach:
v Even if we think that measuring integrated skills are better but sometimes we considered the importance of measuring skills based on our need, such as writing only, speaking only, etc.
4. The Communicative Approach
a. The Characteristic and Types of Tests Communicative Approach:
v Communicative tests are concerned primarily with how language is used in communication.
v Language use is often emphasized to the exclusion of language usage.
v The attempt to measure different language skills in communicative tests is based on a view of language referred to as the divisibility hypothesis.
v The test content should totally be relevant for particular group of testees and the tasks set should relate to real-life situation.
v Communicative testing introduces the concept of qualitative modes of assessment in preference to quantitative modes of assessment.
b. The Strengths of Communicative Approach:
v Communicative tests are able to measure all integrated skill of pupils.
v The tests using this approach face pupils in real life so it will be very useful for them.
v Due to the fact that Communicative test can measure all language skills; it can help pupils in getting the score. Consider pupils have a poor ability in using spoken language but may score quite highly on tests of reading.
v Detailed statements of each performance level serve to increase the reliability of the scoring by enabling the examiner to make decisions according to carefully drawn-up and well-established criteria.
c. The Weakness of Communicative Approach:
v Different from structuralist approach this approach will not be able to grasp structurally because communicative competence can ever be achieved without a considerable mastery of the grammar of a language.
v It is unavoidable that cultural bias affects the reliability of the tests being administered.