This document discusses four main approaches to language testing: the essay-translation approach, structuralist approach, integrative approach, and communicative approach. Each approach is characterized by the types of tests used and their strengths and weaknesses. The essay-translation approach uses essay writing and translation but can be biased. The structuralist approach tests individual language elements separately but considers non-integrated skills. The integrative approach tests language in context but still needs to consider separate skills. The communicative approach measures integrated skills in real-life situations but may lack grammar emphasis and allow cultural bias.

1. {
LANGUAGE TESTING:
APPROACHES &
TECHNIQUES
LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
ASSESSMENT
Prepared by: Prof. Ronuel L. del Rosario

2.  Essay-translation appraoch
 Structuralist approach
 Intergrative approach
 Communicative approachAPPROACHES TO
LANGUAGE TESTING

3.  Characteristics & Types of Tests
1. Commonly referred to as pre-scientific stage of language testing
2. Tests usually consist of essay writing, translation, & grammatical
analysis.
ESSAY-TRANSLATION
APPROACH

4.  Characteristics & Types of Tests
3. Tests have a literary and cultural bias.
4. Public examinations resulting from the tests using this approach
sometimes have an oral component at the upper intermediate & advance
levels.
ESSAY-TRANSLATION
APPROACH

5.  Strengths of this Approach
1. Easy to follow because teachers simply use their subjective judgment
2. May me used for testing any level of examinees.
ESSAY-TRANSLATION
APPROACH

6.  Strengths of this Approach
3. Model fo tester can easily be modified based on the essentials of tests.
ESSAY-TRANSLATION
APPROACH

7.  Weaknesses of this Approach
1. Subjective judgment of teachers tends to be biased.
2. As mentioned, the tests have a heavy literary & cultural bias.
ESSAY-TRANSLATION
APPROACH

8.  Characteristics & Types of Test
1. Views that language and learning is chiefly concerned w/ a
systematic acquisition of set of habits.
STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH

9.  Characteristics & Types of Test
2. Involves linguistics w/c stresses importance of constructive analysis and
need to identify & measure the learners mastery of the separate elements of
target language such as phonology, vocabulary & grammar.
STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH

10.  Characteristics & Types of Test
3. Testing the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing is separate
from another as much as possible.
STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH

11.  Characteristics & Types of Test
4. Psychometric approach to measurement with emphasis on reliability and
objectivity forms an integral part of structuralist testing.
STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH

12.  Strengths
1. In testing students’ capability, this may objectively and surely be used
by testers.
2. May forms of tests can be covered in the test in a short time.
STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH

13.  Strengths
3. Using this will help students find their strengths and weaknesses in every
skill they study.
STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH

14.  Weaknesses
1. It tends to be complicated job for teachers to prepare questionnaires
using this approach.
2. Considers measuring non-integrated skills than integrated skills.
STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH

15.  Characteristics & Types of Tests
1. This approach involves the testing of language in context and is thus
concerned primarily with meaning and the total communicative effect of
discourse.
INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

16.  Characteristics & Types of Tests
2. Concerned with global view of proficiency.
3. Involves functional language but not the use of functional language.
4. The use of cloze test, dictation, oral interview, translation, essay writing.
INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

17.  Strengths
1. Approach to meaning and the total communicative effect of
discourse will be very useful for students in testing.
2. Can view students’ proficiency globally.
INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

18.  Strengths
3. A model cloze test measures the reader’s ability to decode ‘interrupted’ o
‘mutilated’ messages by making the most acceptable substitutions from all
contextual clues available.
INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

19.  Weaknesses
* It is still important to consider importance of other measuring skillsbased
on student’s needs, such as writing only, speaking only, etc.
INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

20.  Characteristics & Types of Tests
1. Concerned primarily with how language is used in communication.
2. Language use is often emphasized to the exclusion of usage.
COMMUNICATIVE
APPROACH

21.  Characteristics & Types of Tests
3. Content should be relevant for a particular group of examinees and the
tasks set should relate to real-life situation.
4. Introduces concept of qualitative modes of assessment in preference to
quantitative.
COMMUNICATIVE
APPROACH

22.  Strengths
1. Able to measure all integrated skills of students.
2. Faces students to real-life situations so it will be useful to them.
COMMUNICATIVE
APPROACH

23.  Strengths
3. Detailed statements of each performance level increase reliability of
scoring by enabling the examiner to make up decisions according to
carefully drawn-up and well-established criteria.
COMMUNICATIVE
APPROACH

24.  Weaknesses
1. Does not emphasize learning structural grammar, yet it may be difficult
to achieve communicative competence without a considerable mastery of
the grammar of a language
COMMUNICATIVE
APPROACH

25.  Weaknesses
1. Possible for cultural bias to affect reliability of the tests being
administered.
COMMUNICATIVE
APPROACH

26. THAT’S ALL! 