TASK 14 -- Communicative approach

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Date Posted: 14:42:14 08/08/03 Fri
Author: Jos� Eur�alo dos Reis
Subject: TASK 14

TASK 14

Say how we can test communicative competence.

Taking into consideration that communicative competence is related to the ability the person has concerning the efficient and effective use of a language in real life situations, tests designed in order to evalute the performance of a learner during the process of apprenticeship must be focused on the target language, on the mistakes that interfere with such aim, not on inaccuracies of usage.

In their text, Kitao & Kitao (1996) afirm that there are two main sets of skills to be observed while testing learners who are supposed to become competent users of a language: testing productive skills and testing receptive skills. The first set of skills is related to the use the learner make of the language in order to use it appropriately, rather than grammatically correct; the second one refers to the accurate reception and understanding of the message and the answers given to them (if they are required). Of course, most of the time these sets are used together and take place in real time, and teachers can evaluate or test the different skills at the same time or not, depending on the kind of activity that is used. What is fundamental is that the teacher must be able to test the learner`s progress takin into consideration the four skills in situations (listening, talking, reading and writing) that are close to real life situations.

Kitao & Kitao (1996) also mention different examples of communicative tests that could be used, always regarding specific contexts, such as information gap, role play, letter writing and summarizing. These examples, closely attached to the Communicative Competence Approach are really very good, able to help teachers to elaborate tests to use in classroom as items to promote the formation of competent users of languages.

Personally, however, I think the text written by those researchers is very good and well-tailored to communicative approach, but I think they could have made some additional remarks on tests, since assessment, evaluation and appraisal may be taken as different items related to tests in ESL teaching. Since tests are supposed to provide us with productive feedback on learning, in order to bring about improvement, to promote real learning, maybe some of its aspects could be stressed. Among them, the questions related to correction techniques in the classroom, formative and summative evaluations, sources to gather information for evaluation, and so on.

Bibliography
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kitao-Testing.html (Kitao, S. & Kitao, K. �Testing Communicative Competence�. The Internet TESL Journal, vol. II, n. 5, May 1996.)

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