task 14 -- Communicative approach

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 05:24:20 08/08/03 Fri
Author: Vanessa Ferreira da Silva
Subject: task 14

Task 14

If the course intends to follow communicative approach principles, it should also evaluate learners by using communicative tests. Communicative tests are quite similar to every day classroom activities since it takes into consideration student�s ability to make use of language �in real life situation�; however, instead of exercising and developing productive skills, a test should measure learners� knowledge.
Another characteristic of communicative testing is that emphasis is given to appropriateness, not to the correct use of grammatical structures. Students are supposed to �understan[d] the communicative intent of the speaker or writer rather than on picking out specific details.�

Tasks used to evaluate student�s performance are usually �context-specific�. Students� responses will vary because �real life situations don't always have objectively right or wrong answers�. Listening and speaking exercises should have information gap to be considered communicative and testees should share information in order to complete those gaps. As for reading and writing activities, they are usually concerned about students� capacity of interpreting instructions to write letters, summaries, memo, etc.

It is not easy to build tests that are totally communicative, but they should contain communicative elements. They are positive since they test students� communicative skills, not mattering simply memorization of grammatical rules.

Reference:

http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kitao-Testing.html

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]