The extent to which a test is practical sometimes hinges
EL 115 | TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT OF
GRAMMAR
UNIT 8 – GRAMMAR (LANGUAGE)
ASSESSMENT CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES
ASSESSMENT
● is the act of gathering information on a daily
basis in order to understand individual student’s
learning needs. “In the context of language
(grammar) teaching and learning, ‘assessment’
refers to the act of collecting information and
making judgments about a language learner’s
knowledge of a language and ability to use it.”
(Chapelle & Brindley)
TESTING
● refers to procedures that are based on tests. In
learning, it is a salient part of assessment.
LANGUAGE TESTING
● is the practice and study of evaluating the
proficiency of an individual in using a particular
language effectively. (Allen)
MEASUREMENT
● includes testing and other types of measurement,
as well as other types of information that result
in quantitative data such as attendance, records,
questionnaires, teacher ratings of students, etc.
EVALUATION
● is the culminating act of interpreting the
information gathered for the purpose of making
decisions or judgments about students’ learning
and needs, often at reporting time. It forms as
part of assessment.
In our attempt to have a description of language
assessment, we need to define some frequently
misunderstood terms. The word assessment has been a
popular word for teachers – likewise with the terms
communicative or interactive. According to Brown
(2007), that you are said to be in the cutting edge if you
assess your students in lieu of testing them. This is a
misunderstanding.
PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE (GRAMMAR)
ASSESSMENT
Whether we focus on testing or assessing, a finite
number of principles can serve as guidelines for the
design of a new test or assessment and for evaluating
efficacy of an existing procedure. Brown presents five
principles that various assessment specialists cite as
priorities for the design of language assessment.
1. Practicality
A good test is practical. It is within the means of
financial limitations, time constraints, ease of
administration, and scoring and interpretation.
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on whether a test is designed to be norm-referenced or
criterion-referenced.
In norm-referenced tests, each test taker’s score is
interpreted in relation to a mean, median, standard
deviation, and/or percentile rank. The purpose in such
tests is to place test-takers along a mathematical
continuum in rank order. Typical of norm referenced
tests are standardized tests intended to be administered
to large audiences, with results quickly disseminated to
test-takers. Such tests must have fixed, predetermined
responses in a format can be electronically scanned.
Practicality is a primary issue.
Criterion-referenced tests are designed to give test-takers
feedback on specific course or lesson objectives, that is,
the ‘criteria.’ Classroom tests involving smaller
numbers, and connected to a curriculum, are typical
criterion-referenced testing. Here, more time and effort
on the part of the teacher (test administrator) are usually
required in order to deliver the feedback. In
criterion-referenced tests practicality is just a secondary
issue in the design of the test; teachers may sacrifice
time and effort in order to offer students appropriate and
useful feedback –the instructional value of a test.
Testing (assessing) and teaching are interrelated.
2. Reliability
A reliable test is consistent and dependable. A number
of sources of unreliability may be identified:
● The test itself (its construction), known as test
reliability
● The administration of the test
● The test-taker, known as student-related
reliability
● The scoring of the test, - known as rater / scorer
reliability
3. Validity
By far the most complex criterion of a good test is
validity, the degree to which the test actually measures
what it is intended to measure.
How does one establish validity of a test? Statistical
correlation with other related measures is a standard
method. But ultimately, validity can be established only
by observation and theoretical justification.
There is no final, absolute, and objective measure of
validity. We have to ask questions that give us
convincing evidence that a test accurately and
sufficiently measures the test-taker for the particular
objective, or criterion, of the test.
Types of Validity
a. Content Validity
If a test actually samples the subject matters about which
conclusions are to be drawn, if it requires the test-taker
to perform the behavior that is being measured, it can
claim content validity.
b. Face Validity
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A concept that is very closely related to content validity
is face validity, which asks the question “Does the test,
on the ‘face’ of it appear from the learner’s perspective
to test what it is designed to test?” To achieve “peak”
performance on a test, a learner needs to be convinced
that the test is indeed testing what it claims to test. Face
validity is almost always perceived in terms of content:
If the test samples the actual content of what the learner
has achieved or expects to achieve.
c. Construct Validity
A third category of validity that teachers must be awre of
in considering language tests is construct validity. One
way to look at construct validity is to ask the question
“Does this test actually tap into the theoretical construct
as it has been defined?
“Proficiency” is a construct. “Communicative
competence’ is a construct. “ Self-esteem” is a construct.
Virtually every issue in language learning and teaching
involves theoretical constructs. Tests are, in a manner of
speaking, operational definitions of such constructs in
that they operationalize the entity that is being measured
(Davidson, Hudson, & Lynch 1985)
4. Authenticity
A fourth major principle of language testing is
authenticity, a concept that is a little slippery to define,
especially within the art and science of evaluating and
designing tests. Bachman & Palmer (1996) define
authenticity as ‘the degree of correspondence of the
characteristics of a given language test task to the
features of a target language task,’ and tehn suggest an
agenda for identifying those target language tasks and
for transforming them into valid test items.
When one claims for authenticity in a test task, this is a
task that is likely to be enacted in the ‘real world’. Many
test item types fail to simulate real-world tasks. They
maybe contrived or artificial in their attempt to target a
grammatical form or a lexical item. The sequencing of
items that bear no relationship to one another lacks
authenticity.
In a test, authenticity may be present in the following
ways:
● The language in the test is as natural as possible.
● Items are contextualized rather than isolated.
● Topics and situations are interesting, enjoyable,
and humorous.
● Some thematic organization to items is provided,
such as through a story line or episode.
● Tasks represent, or closely approximate,
real-world tasks.
5. Washback
When students take a test, they will receive information
(feedback) about their competence, based on their
performance. Their feedback should “washback” to
them in the form of useful diagnoses of strengths and
weaknesses. Washback also includes the effects of
assessment on teaching and learning prior the assessment
itself, that is, on preparation for the assessment.
Informal assessment I by nature more likely to have
built-in washback effects, because the teacher is usually
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providing interactive feedback. Formal tests can also
have positive washback, but they are also subject to an
inadvertent absence of washback if students simply
receive a letter grade or a single overall numerical score.
PURPOSES OF ASSESSMENT
1. Assessment for Learning
It focuses on the gap between where learners are in their
learning, and where they need to be – the desired goal.
It can be realized through processes like sharing criteria
with learners, effective questioning and feedback. It
pertains to ‘all those activities undertaken by teachers
and their students that provide information to be used as
feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities
in which they are engaged.’(Black & William)
Learners learn best
● when they understand clearly
● when they are given feedback
● when they are given advice
● when they are fully involved.
2. Assessment as Learning
It is about reflecting on evidence of learning. This is
part of the cycle of assessment where students and staff
set learning goals, share learning intentions and success
criteria, and evaluate their learning through dialogue and
self and peer assessment.
Students become aware of:
● What they learn
● How they learn
● What helps them learn.
Students are able to build knowledge of themselves as
learners and become metacognitive. Hence, students
become aware of how they learn. It also helps them to
take more responsibility for their learning and participate
more in the process of learning.
3. Assessment of Learning
Assessment of learning involves working with the range
of available evidence that enables staff and the wider
assessment community to check on student’s progress
and using this information in a number of ways.
It also provides an arena for the management and
planning of assessment, and for teachers to work
collaboratively with the evidence. It connects
assessment with the curriculum.
Judgments about students’ learning need to be
dependable. This means that:
● They are valid (based on sound criteria).
● They are reliable (accuracy of assessment and
practice).
● They are comparable (they stand up when
compared to judgments in other departments or
schools).
FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE TESTS
Tests are essential parts of assessment, thus it is
important that their functions are clearly identified.
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 1. In Learning
In learning, tests are used to measure student’s language
ability, to discover how much they have been learning, to
diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses, and to
motivate students in learning.
2. In Teaching
Tests are used in teaching s a means to ensure effective
teaching, to improve teaching quality, to obtain feedback
on student learning place on a course.
Tests can have a backwash effect, which means that they
may result in changes of instructional programs or
teaching practices to reflect the test contents because
language teachers want their students to do well on high
stakes tests for many different reasons.
3. In Research
Language tests have a potentially important role in
virtually all research, both basic and applied, that is
related to the nature of language proficiency, language
processing, language acquisition, language attrition, and
language teaching.
KINDS OF ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
1. Diagnostic Assessment and Evaluation
These are usually given at the beginning of the school
year and before each unit of study. The aims are to
identify students’ knowledge and skills , their learning
needs, and their motivational and interest levels. The
result of diagnostic assessment can help teachers
determine where to begin instruction and what concepts
or skills to emphasize. Diagnostic assessment provides
teachers essential information in the selection of
relevant learning objectives and in the design of
appropriate student’s learning experiences
2. Formative Assessment and Evaluation
These focus on the processes and products of learning.
Formative assessment is continuous and is meant to
inform the student, the parent/guardian, and the teacher
of the student’s progress in the course. This kind of
assessment and evaluation provides information upon
which instructional decisions and adaptations can be
made to provide students with directions for future
learning.
3. Summative Assessment and Evaluation
These occur most often at the end of a unit of instruction
and at term or year end when students are ready to
demonstrate achievement of curriculum objectives.
The aims are
● to determine knowledge , skills, abilities, and
attitudes that have been developed over a given
period of time;
● to summarize student’s progress; and
● to report this progress to students,
parents/guardians, and teachers.
TYPES OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS
EL 115
Assessment data can be collected and recorded by the
teacher and the students in many ways. Through these, a
teacher can discover much about their students’
knowledge, abilities, interests, and needs.
1. Observation
It occurs during students’ reading, writing, listening, and
speaking experiences. It is an unobtrusive way for
teachers and students to determine progress during
learning. Observations are recorded on anecdotal notes,
checklists and rating scales.
2. Anecdotal Records
These are notes written by the teacher regarding student
language behavior, or learning. They document and
describe significant daily events, and relevant aspects of
student activity and progress. These can be taken during
student activities are at the end of the day.
3. Checklists
Observation checklists, usually completed while students
are engaged in specific activities or processes, are lists of
specific criteria that teachers focus on at a particular time
or process. They are used to record whether students
have acquired specific knowledge, skills, processes,
abilities, and attitudes. Checklists inform teachers about
where their instruction has been successful and where
students need assistance or further instruction.
4. Rating Scales and Rubrics
These record the extent to which specific criteria have
been achieved by the student or are present in the
student’s work. Rating scales also record the quality of
the student’s performance at a given or within a given
process.
5. Portfolios
These are collections of relevant work that reflect
students’ individual efforts, development, and progress
over a designated period of time. These also provide
students, teachers, parents, and administrators with a
broad picture of each student’s growth over time,
including the student’s abilities, knowledge, skills, and
attitudes. Students should be involved in the selection of
work to be included, goal setting for personal learning,
and self-assessment. The teacher can encourage critical
thinking by having students decide which of their works
to include in their portfolios and explain why they chose
particular items. Instruction and assessment are
integrated as students and teachers collaborate to
compile relevant and individual portfolios for each
student.
6. Speaking and Listening
Checklists, rating scales, and anecdotal notes used
throughout the lessons can provide information about the
students’ oral progress. Oral presentations and
incidental observations provide opportunities and
incidental observations provide opportunities to gather
information about students’ listening and speaking
abilities. A rubric which includes performance criteria
can be useful for setting a mark for each student.
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Students should be aware of the expectations at each
level.
Speaking or listening may be more heavily emphasized
depending upon the particular unit or activities..
Teachers with the collaboration of the students will
determine the way that the unit will be evaluated;
however, it is important that students know from the
beginning how they will be assessed and evaluated.
7. Interviews / Conferences
During these discussions, teachers can discover students’
perceptions of their own processes and products of
learning. Interview questions can be developed to meet
the needs of specific students and to fit the curriculum
objectives.
8. Projects and Presentations
Criteria should be developed and/or discussed with
students at the outset of activities such as written reports,
visual representations, oral presentations, or projects
which combine more than one aspect of language use
and understanding.
Teachers may assess the attitudes, skill development,
knowledge, or learning processes demonstrated by
students as they engage in language activities. Data
gathered during student activities can be recorded as
anecdotal notes, on checklists, rating scales, or by using
a combination of these.
9. Quizzes, Tests, and Examinations
These are most often used for assessing students’
knowledge of content; however, they may be used to
assess processes, skills, and attitudes. Tests, whether
they are oral or written must represent students’
achievements as accurately as possible.
Formats for test items should be varied; each type is
most effective at assessing and evaluating student
progress when used in conjunction with the other types.
KINDS OF LANGUAGE TESTS
There are many kinds of tests each with a specific
purpose and a particular criterion to be measured. Five
types are common tests in a language curriculum. The
descriptions are only for the purpose of identifying and
differentiating the types not to serve a a manual for
designing such tests.
1. Proficiency Tests
These are designed to measure people’s ability in a
language, regardless of any training they may have had
in that language. The content of a proficiency test,
therefore, is not based on the content or objectives of
language courses that people taking the test may have
followed.
In the case of some proficiency tests, ‘proficient’ means
having sufficient command of the language for a
particular purpose. Whatever the particular purpose to
which the language is to be put, this will be reflected in
the specification of test content at an early stage of a
test’s development.
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Examples of standardized proficiency tests are TOEFL
and IELTS
2. Achievement Tests
Achievement tests are directly related to language
courses, their purpose being to establish how successful
individual students, groups of students, or the courses
themselves have been in achieving objectives.
Two Types
● Final Achievement Tests – are those
administered at the end of the course. They may
be written and administered by DepEd, district
or division or by members of teaching
institutions. The content of FAT should be
based directly on a detailed course syllabus or
on the books and other materials used.
(syllabus-content approach)
● Progress Achievement Tests – are intended to
measure the progress that students make. They
contribute to formative assessment. Since
‘progress’ is towards the achievement of course
objectives, these tests should relate to objectives.
3. Diagnostic Tests
Diagnostic tests are used to identify learners’ strengths
and weaknesses at a particular aspect of a language.
They are intended primarily to ascertain what learning
still needs to take place.
4. Placement Tests
Placement tests are intended to provide information that
will help to of the teaching program most appropriate to
their abilities. They are used to assign students to
classes at different levels.
Certain proficiency tests and diagnostic tests can act in
the role of placement tests whose purpose is to place a
student into an appropriate level or a section in a
language curriculum.
5. Aptitude Tests
The type of test given to a person prior to any exposure
to the second language predicts a person’s future
success. A language aptitude test is designed to measure
a person’s capacity or general ability to learn a foreign
language and to be successful in that undertaking.
Aptitude tests are considered to be independent of a
particular language.
CHAPTER 9 – GRAMMAR ASSESSMENT
What is Grammar?
● Crystal (1995) defines grammar as that branch
of the description of language which accounts
for the way in which words combine to form
sentences.
● Close (1982 ) “English Grammar is chiefly a
system of syntax, that decides the order and
patterns in which words are arranged into
sentences.
Language Testing & Grammar Testing
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 ● Language testing is the practice and study of
evaluating the proficiency of an individual in
using a particular language effectively.
Language testing is a field of study under the
umbrella of applied linguistics.
Main Focus:
● The assessment of first, second or other
language in the school, college, or university
context;
● The assessment of language used in the
workplace;
● The assessment of language in immigration,
citizenship and asylum.
Assessment include the ff:
● Listening
● Speaking
● Reading
● Writing
● An integration of 2 or more of these skills or
other constructs of language ability.
Note: Equal weight may be placed on knowledge
(understanding how the language works theoretically)
and proficiency (ability to use the language practically)
or greater weight may be given to one aspect or the
other.
● A well-constructed English test can help
students in 2 ways:
- Test can create positive attitudes
towards the class.
- Test can help students master the
language.
● For teachers, they can also benefit from the test:
- To diagnose their own efforts and the
efforts of their students.
- To provide insights into the ways on
how they can improve the evaluation
process.
● Grammar tests are designed to measure students’
proficiency in matters ranging from inflections
to syntax. Syntax involves the relationship of
words in a sentence, including matters of
word-order, use of negative, question forms, and
connectives, etc.
Grammar Assessment
Why assess grammar:
- Linguistic or communicative competence
- Structure or functions
- Usage or use
- Prescriptive or descriptive
● Assessment is another fundamental aspect of
teaching
● Assessment can help to determine student’s
proficiency in a language
● Using assessment can help identify learner’s
strengths and weaknesses
● Teachers also need to use constant assessment to
determine how well students are comprehending
the material that has been covered or how much
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information they picked up from a specific
course.
● Assessment relates to individual student
learning. It is the act of collecting information
and making judgments on a language learner’s
knowledge and ability to use it.
Reasons to assess (summary)
● Diagnosing students strengths and weaknesses
● Deciding what to and what not to teach next
● Giving students feedback
● Seeing students’ progress
● Handing students their final grade
Types of Grammar Assessment
● Formative – on going process
● Summative – at the end of learning
● Authentic – multiple forms of assessment that
reflect student learning achievement , motivation
and attitudes on instructionally relevant
classroom activities. i.e. performance of the
skills, demonstration – simulations and role
plays.
● Ten Takeaway Tips for Using Authentic
Assessment
➔ Break Down Skill Work into Small Steps
➔ Build a Community of Practice
➔ Work Backwards
➔ Have Fun
➔ Ensure Vigor
➔ Give Cards a Try
➔ Tap into Students’ Interests
➔ Use Tasks on Demand
➔ DYO: Do your Own Assessment
➔ Use a Variety of Tracking Tools
CHAPTER 10 - HOW TO MAKE ASSESSMENT
OF GRAMMAR SKILLS MORE EFFICIENT
Five characteristics to measure communicative
grammar (rea-dickins, 2003)
1. The test must provide more context than only a
single sentence.
2. The test-taker should understand the
communicative purposes of the task.
3. He or she should also know the intended
audience.
4. He or she must have to focus on the meaning
and not the form to answer correctly.
5. Recognition is not sufficient. The test-taker
must be able to produce grammatical responses.
Reasons for liking grammar assessment tasks by
teachers and students:
1. Gap filling ( initial form given or a choice of
forms offered)
Teachers: Easy to construct and check and develops
automaticity
Students: Easy to fulfill/answer
2. Multiple Choice test ( choosing a morphological
form, syntactic structure or word order)
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Teachers: Easy to check and score and develops
automaticity.
Students: Easy to accomplish/answer
3. Transformation ( person, number, tense, voice,
mood, degrees of comparison, statement
question)
Teachers: Easy to construct, develops automaticity and
cognitive skills
Students: Easy to accomplish/answer.
4. Clause combining (accompanied or not
accompanied by transformation)
Teachers: Easy to construct and check; develops
speaking/writing
strategies.
Students: Easy to answer/accomplish.
5. Making up sentences from the given words
(accompanied or not accompanied by
grammatical transformation)
11. Authentic (essay, letter, dialogue, monologue on
a topic – grammatical comprehensibility
assessed)
Teachers: It is communicative.
Students: It is communicative.
Reasons for teachers and students not liking grammar
assessment tasks
1. Gap filling
Teachers: Mechanical, a chance to guess the correct
answer by chance.
Students: Dull, uncommunicative, often not enough
context.
2. Multiple choice test
Teachers: More than 2 choices may be difficult to make
up, mechanical a high probability to guess the correct
answers by chance.
Students: Dull, uncommunicative, often not enough
context, confusing sometimes.

Teachers: Easy to construct and check; develops 3. Transformation

speaking/writing strategies.
Teachers: Mechanical, no comprehension may be
Students: Easy to accomplish/answer. involved

6. Error identification Students: Dull, uncommunicative

Teachers: Easy to check and score; useful for future 4. Clause combining
language teachers.
Teachers: Mechanical
Students: Easy to accomplish/answer.
Students: Dull, uncommunicative
7. Error correction
5. Making up sentences from the given words
Teachers: Easy to construct, check and score; useful for
future language teachers. Teachers:

Students: Easy to accomplish/answer
8. Choosing independent sentence interpretation
based on the grammatical form/structure (while
listening or reading)
Teachers: Develops lingua-pragmatic competence,
listening/reading comprehension strategies.
Students:
Students: Dull, uncommunicative, often difficult (if the
sentence is long)
6. Error identification
Teachers: Mechanical, a high probability to guess the
correct answer by chance, may cause error fossilization.
Students: Dull, uncommunicative, difficult, often
confusing.

9. Text-based (and probably the situation is 7. Error correction

described) gap filling.
Teachers: May cause error fossilization.
Teachers: Easy to construct, check, and score and is
Students: Too difficult, often the meaning of the
almost communicative.
sentence; due to the error is obscure.
Students: It is communicative and sometimes even
8. Choosing or independent sentence interpretation,
entertaining.
based on the grammatical form/structure (while
10. Grammatical games (dominoes, word games listening or reading)
etc.)
Teachers: Difficult to make up, the choosing is
Teachers: Motivating mechanical, there is a high to guess the correct answer
by chance; independent interpretation is difficult to
Students: Motivating assess.

Students: Difficult, demands high level of analytic skills

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EL 115
 9. Text-based (probably the situation is described)
gap filling
Teachers: It is difficult to find authentic texts containing
many target forms.
Students:
10. Grammatical Games
Teachers: Students may not concentrate attention on
grammar.
Students
11. Authentic (essay, letter, dialogue, monologue on
a topic – grammatical comprehensibility
assessed)
Teachers: Difficult to assess.
Students: May not concentrate on grammar and make
errors not made under other conditions.
TASKS 1-7 are traditional, language centered grammar
assessments.
TASKS 8-10 may be viewed as semi-authentic grammar
assessment.
TASK 11 is an authentic grammar assessment. It means
that in real life we never do or gap filling or multiple
choice. We regularly write letters, speak with each other
(dialogue) or in front of the public (monologue). Only
sometimes we interpret sentences.
Tips for effective assessment of grammar skills
1. To avoid boredom, hold tasks 1-7 as a
competition between or among groups as an
ice-breaker or game.
2. Make gap-filling and multiple choice text based
as often as possible, choose interesting
contents/texts.
3. To avoid guessing by chance influencing the
grade too much, involve 4-5 options, where
applicable.
4. Give effective examples demonstrating how a
grammar mistake can turn into an ambiguous
one.
5. Teacher’s reference book should contain a rich
bank of assessment tasks constructed by
professionals.
6. Use more text-based and situation-based
assessment tasks.
7. Do not use only tasks dealing with writing;
involve tasks dealing with speaking, listening
and reading. Involve both productive (speaking,
writing) and receptive/perceptive (listening,
reading) tasks.
8. Ratio of drills to semi-authentic and authentic
tasks should be in favor of the authentic tasks.
Remember that assessment only on drill-type
level does not prepare for real-life problem
solving.
9. Not only grades and correctly done tasks should
be emphasized, but also the development of the
strategies of fulfilling the tasks that involve
difficulties. Avoidance and meaning elicitation
strategies should be discussed and practiced.
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10. The grammatical aspect of self-editing strategies
needs to be practice. Let successful students
speak out how they do it.
11. When the activity is difficult, model it (fulfill it
yourself, or ask a bright student fulfill it first).
12. Works out a good rubric for authentic tasks, let
students participate in making it up. Provide
discrimination in assessment between mistakes
not causing (‘local”) and causing
misunderstanding (‘global”)
13. While assessing, concentrate on student
achievement instead of failures, teach students to
turn their errors into useful lessons, steps for
future success.
CHAPTER 11 - DESIGNING ASSESSSMENT
TASKS
Assessing Grammar
a. Grammatical forms or the structure of a
language.
Form is both morphology or how words are formed, and
syntax, how words are strung together. Both of them are
concerned with the linguistic accuracy of language.
b. The grammatical meaning of those forms.
Grammatical meaning consists of both the literal and
intended message that is conveyed by the form. It is
concerned with the meaningfulness of the language used.
c. Their pragmatic meaning or use in a given
context.
The pragmatic or implied meaning results from the
appropriate language choices a learner makes in a given
communicative event/experience.
Designing Assessment Tasks: Selected Response
● Multiple – choice Tasks
The most common selected response task presents a
blank or underlined words in a sentence and the student
must choose the correct response from the options that
are given. (Grammatical form, Grammatical meaning,
Grammatical form and meaning)
● Discrimination Tasks
The tasks that ask the student to attend to input that can
be either language or non-language and to respond in the
form of a choice between or among contrasts or
opposites, such as true or false. (Grammatical form and
meaning)
● Noticing Tasks or Consciousness-raising
Tasks
Students are asked to indicate (underline or circle) that
they have identified a specific feature in the language
sample. (grammatical meaning)
Designing Assessment Tasks: Limited Production
● Gap-filling Tasks
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The language is presented in the form of sentence, or
passage in which a number of words are deleted. The
students must choose the appropriate response for the
deletion or gap based on the context in which language
is presented. (grammatical form, grammatical form and
meaning)

● Short-answer Tasks

The input is presented in the form of a question

following reading passage or oral/visual stimulus. The
expected test-taker response can vary from single word
to a sentence or two. (grammatical form and meaning,
testing grammatical form and meaning)

● Dialogue-completion Tasks

The input is presented in the form of a short

conversation or dialogue in which a part of the exchange
or t6he entire is left blank and the expected response
meant to be grammatically correct.

Designing Assessment Tasks: Extended Production

Five point scale for assessing syntactic knowledge

(Bachman & Palmer,1996)

● Information Gap Tasks

Presents the input in terms of incomplete information.

That is, one test-taker is given half- or some – of the
information and another is given complementary
information. Both test-takers then have question for
each other to get all the information. (grammatical form,
meaning, and pragmatic use)

● Role-play or Simulation Tasks

The input presents test-takers with a language or

non-language prompt that asks them to take on a role or
stimulate a situation to solve a problem, make decision,
or perform some transaction collaboratively.
(grammatical form, meaning, and pragmatic use)

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