Module 3

Approaches to Language
Testing
Learning Objectives
After reading the Module Three, you will be able to

1. identify the approaches to language testing

2. compare and contrast these approaches

3.1. Prescientific/Traditional/Essay-Translation Approach

3.2. Structuralist Approach (pyschometric-structuralist trend)
3.3. Integrative/Holistic Approach
3.4. Communicative Approach
3.5. Pragmatic Approach

3.5. Concluding Remarks

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

When we have a quick glance at the history of

language testing, we see that the shifts in
emphasis in language teaching have inevitably had
consequences for language testing. Testing
techniques and theories, however, have been
rather more resistant to change than theories
about methodology and course design. Changes in
approaches to language teaching inevita­bly
resulted in attempts to develop testing techniques
appropriate to the new pedagogy.
Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal
The approaches to language testing can be categorized into four main groups.

ESSAY- THE STRUCTURALIST INTEGRATIVE COMMUNICATIVE

TRANSLATION

Period Pre-scientific Scientific Modern Communicative/

Innovative
Learning Theory Faculty Behavourism Cognitivistic Humanistic/
psycholinguistic
Language Theory Traditional Structuralism Generativism Semanticism/
Pragmatism
Methodology Grammar Audiolingual Cognitive-Code Communicative&
Translation Learning Functional-Notional

Tests Essay-Translation Discrete-point Intergartive Pragmatic&

Functional

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing
Essay-translation approach(Traditional approach/prescientific trend)

Essay-translation approach, commonly referred to as pre-scientific

stage of language testing, requires no special skill or expertise in testing ,
best characterized by the use of tests such as essay-writing, translation,
grammatical analysis.
Based on the language teaching philosophy in grammar-translation
method, learners are required to write open-ended written compositions
which consists of passages for translation from and into the target
language with a heavy literary and cultural bias, free compositions in it
and selected items of grammatical, textual or cultural interest.
One must rely completely on the subjective judgement of the
experienced teacher. It is assumed that a person who can teach can also
judge the proficiency of his learners. There is a lack of concern for
statistical matters or for such notions as objectivity and reliability.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

Structuralist Approach
(Discrete point approach/pyschometric-structuralist trend)

This approach, commonly referred to as psychometric-

structuralist trend, or as scientific stage of language testing, tries
to identify and test the test-takers, or learners’ mastery of
separate elements of the target language (phonology, vocabulary,
and grammar), completely divorced words and sentences from
context on the grounds that it makes it possible to cover a larger
sample of language forms in a comparatively short time.
Communicative skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are
also tested separately because it is of great importance to test one
thing at a time.
Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal
Approaches to Language Testing

Unlike essay-translation approach, the key concern here is to

provide objective measures using various statistical
techniques to ensure reliability and certain kinds of validity.
In this period of language testing, on the theoretical side, it is
agreed that language learning is chiefly considered as the
systematic acquisition of a set of habits; on the practical side,
testers wanted and structuralists knew how to deliver long
lists of small items that could be tested objectively.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

Based on the structural linguists’ view of language and testers’

notion of discrete skills to be measured, we witness the
flourishing of standardised tests with emphasis on what is called
discrete-point item. Such tests aimed to serve the following
goals:
•diagnosing learner strengths and weaknesses;
•prescribing curricula at particular skills; and
•developing specific teaching strategies to help learners
overcome particular weaknesses.
•planning for remedial instructions
•helping the educators to design effective programmes
•facilitating test administration and scoring procedures
Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal
Approaches to Language Testing

They are considered disadvantageous because they

•have outdated and weak psychological and linguistic backgrounds
•are not efficient in measuring the learners’ proficiency with little
or no relevance with the actual use of language in real life
situations
•do not give any idea about the contribution of every single
language element to the overall language use.

The assumption that language components and skills cannot

operate independently and that language elements should be
tested as a whole since they all function together to make
language operate as a means of communication gave way to the
holistic approach.
Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal
Approaches to Language Testing

Integrative/Holistic Approach

This approach, primarily concerned with the

total communicative effect of discourse and meaning,
involves the testing of language in context.
Integrative tests, best characterized by the use of
cloze tests, dictation, oral interviews, translation and
essay writing, are designed to test the test-takers’
ability to use two or more skills simultaneously.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

The arguments for the tests based on this approach are:

•They have stronger linguistic and psychological

backgrounds in comparison with the discrete point-tests.
•They pertain to the contextualised form of language

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

The arguments against such tests are as follows:

•They are time-consuming to administer and score.

•Reliability and validity of these tests are a matter of
discussion.
•The items in dictation and or cloze tests are
interdependent.
•Scores on dictation tests depend on understanding the
spoken form of the language and the ability to speed
write.
• They required trained raters
Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal
Approaches to Language Testing

Communicative Approach (functional tests)

Communicative tests, primarily concerned with how

language is used in communication, aim to include tasks that
approximate to those facing the learners in real life situations.

As it is known, since the late 1970s and early 1980s the

communicative approach to language teaching has gained
dominance. What is essentially meant by ‘Communicative
ability’ is still a matter of academic interest and research in the
field of ELT. Roughly speaking, communicative ability should
include the following skills:

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

•Grammatical competence: How grammar rules

are actually applied in written and oral real life
language situations.
•Sociolinguistic competence: Knowing the rules of
language use, ‘Turn taking’ during conversation
discourse, etc. or using appropriate language for a
given situation.
•Strategic competence: Being able to use
appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication
strategies.
Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal
Approaches to Language Testing

•Communicative tests are concerned not only with these different

aspects of knowledge but on the test takers’ ability to demonstrate
them in actual situations. So, how should you go about setting a
Communicative test?

•Firstly, you should attempt to replicate real life situations. Within

these situations communicative ability can be tested as
representatively as possible. There is a strong emphasis on the
purpose of the test. The importance of context is recognised.
There should be both authenticity of task and genuineness of texts.
Tasks ought to be as direct as possible. When engaged in oral
assessment you should attempt to reflect the interactive nature of
normal speech and also assess pragmatic skills being used.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

•Communicative tests are both direct and integrative. They

attempt to focus on the expression and understanding of the
functional use of language rather than on the more limited
mastery of language form found in discreet point tests.
•The theoretical status of communicative testing is still subject to
criticism in some quarters, yet as language teachers see the
positive benefits accruing from such testing; they are becoming
more and more acceptable. They will not only help you to develop
communicative classroom competence but also to bridge the gap
between teaching, testing and real life. They are useful tools in
the areas of curriculum development and in the assessment of
future needs, as they aim to reflect real life situations. For
participating teachers and testtakers this can only be beneficial.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

Pragmatic/Discoursal Approach (pragmatic tests)

The pragmatic approach refers to the approach that concerns

with the use of language in context. Oller (1979) states that the
approach involves any tasks that asks students to “process
sequences of elements in a language that conform to the
normal contextual constraint of that language”. According to
this approach, the meaning of language is best understood not
only through the use of language components such as words,
phrases, and sentences but also the context where non-
language factors emerges such as noise, hesitations, gestures,
etc..
Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal
Approaches to Language Testing

Not many tests to assess learners’ pragmatic proficiency

have been produced, though pragmatic knowledge is an
indispensable part of language proficiency as defined by
Bachman (1995). One of the reasons why such measures
have not been readily available is that developing a
measure of pragmatic competence in an EFL context is not
an easy task.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

So far, researchers have investigated at least six types of meth

language pragmatic assessment;
•the Written Discourse Completion Tasks (WDCT),
•Multiple-Choice Discourse Completion Tasks (MDCT),
•Oral Discourse Completion Tasks (ODCT),
•Discourse Role Play Talks (DRPT),
•Discourse Self-Assessment Talks (DSAT), and
•Role-Play self-assessments (RPSA).

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Written discourse completion test

WDCTs are written questionnaires including a number of brief situational

descriptions, followed by a short dialogue with an empty slot for the speech act.
Test takers are asked to provide a response that they think is appropriate in the
given context:

At the professor’s office

A student has borrowed a book from his teacher, which she promised to
return today. When meeting his teacher, however, she realizes that she
forgot to bring it along.
Teacher: Miriam, I hope you brought the book I lent you.
Miriam: ……………………………………………
Teacher: OK, but please remember it next week.

(Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984, p. 198)

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

 We can see several different modified versions which vary
mainly according to the presentation forms, that is, written or
oral, and existence of rejoinder. WDCTs can include a rejoinder,
as in the following example from Johnston, Kasper, and Ross
(1998, p. 175):

Your term paper is due, but you haven’t finished yet. You
want to ask your professor for an extension.
You:…..
Professor: I’m sorry, but I never allow extension.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

 Or they may involve only the specification of the situation
with no rejoinder, as this example from Eisenstein, Bodman,
and Carpenter (1996, p.102) shows:

Two people who are friends are walking toward each

other. They are both in a hurry to keep appointments.
They see each other and say:
………………………………………………………………
……..

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Multiple-choice discourse completion test

MDCTs consist of test items where the test taker is required

to choose the correct response (the key) from the given options.
Most commonly, multiple-choice items include an instruction to
the test taker and a stem (typically either a phrase or sentence to
be completed, or a question). The key and several distracters
then follow in random order (Davies et al., 1999). Following is
a sample MDCT item:

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

You are a student. You forgot to do the assignment for
your Linguistics I course. When your teacher whom you
have known for two years asks for your assignment, you
apologize to your professor.

a. I'm sorry, but I forgot the deadline for the assignment.

Can I bring it to you at the end of the day?
b. Pardon me, sir, I forgot about that. Shall I do the
assignment at once? So sorry! It’s my fault!
c. I've completed my assignment but forgot to bring it with
me. I'll hand it in tomorrow.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Discourse self-assessment test

On the DSAT, instructions are first given, followed by

exponents of the functions. The participants, after reading
each situation, were asked to give an overall rating of
their intended performance on a five-point scale. The
following is an example of the self-assessment from
Hudson, Detmer & Brown (1995, p.192).

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Situation: You and a few of your co-workers are working
on a special project.
You are at a meeting in the office of the project leader. As
you are reaching for your briefcase you accidentally
knock over the project leader’s umbrella which was
leaning against the desk.

Rating: I think what I would say in this situation would

be very unsatisfactory 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 completely
appropriate

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Approaches to Language Testing

Concluding Remarks

Teaching and testing are so closely interrelated. It is obvious that

the development of different theories and approaches of
language learning and teaching also affects the history of
language testing. Therefore, it is common to see evolution of
both language teaching and language testing.

From essay-translation approach to pragmatic one we see that

they are all complementary to each other as the language
teaching approaches are. We use all the techniques in these
approaches that conform to the purpose of our measurement.
Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal
References

Bachman, L. F. (1995). Fundamental consideration in language testing. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.
Blum-Kulka, S. & Olshtain, E. (1984). Requests and apologies: A cross-cultural study
of speech act realization patterns (CCSARP). Applied Linguistics, 5(3), 197-
213.
Brown, J. D. (2001). Pragmatics tests: Different purposes, different tests. In K. R. Rose
& G. Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in language teaching. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Brown, J. D. & Hudson, T. (1998). The alternatives in language assessment. TESOL
Quarterly, 32(4), 653–675.
Clark, J. D. (1978). Psychometric considerations in language proficiency testing. In B.
Spolsky (Ed.), Approaches to language testing. Arlington: Center for Applied
Linguistics.
Davies, A., Brown, A., Elder, C., Hill, K., Lumley, T., & McNamara, T. (1999).
Dictionary of language testing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal

Duran, R. P. (1984). Some implications of communicative competence research for
integrative proficiency testing. In C. Rivera (Ed.), Communicative competence
approaches to language proficiency assessment: Research and application
(pp. 44-58). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Eisenstein, M., Bodman, J., & Carpenter, M. (1996). Cross-cultural realization of
greeting in American English. In J. Neu (Ed.), Speech acts across cultures (pp.
89-107). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hudson, T., Detmer, E., & Brown, J. D. (1995). Developing prototypic measures of
cross-cultural pragmatics. Honolulu, HI: Second Language Teaching &
Curriculum Center, University of Hawai‘i Press.
Johnston, B., Kasper, G., & Ross, S. (1998). Effect of rejoinders in production
questionnaires. Applied Linguistics, 19(2), 157-182.
Oller, John W. (1979). Language tests at school: A pragmatic approach London:
Longman

Yamashita, S. O. (1996). Six measures of JSL pragmatics. Honolulu: Second

Language Teaching & Curriculum Center of University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Yoshitake-Strain, S. (1997). Measuring interlanguage pragmatic competence of

Japanesetesttakers of English as a foreign language: A multi-test framework
evaluation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia Pacific University,
Novata, CA.

Prof. Dr. Dinçay Köksal