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Date Posted: 16:35:35 08/03/03 Sun
Author: Patrícia de Almeida Neri
Subject: Task 14 - Evaluation

Read the text below and say how we can test communicative competence.

According to Kathleen and Kitao, testing a language involves more than testing knowledge about vocabulary and grammar, it involves the concept of communicative competence proposed by Hymes, which includes “not only the ability to form correct sentences but to use them at
appropriate times”. Besides, “the basic idea of communicative competence remains the ability to use language appropriately, both receptively and productively, in real situations”. Thus, in order to see if students comprehend and respond in real time, we have to combine both skills: productive and receptive. “In testing productive skills, emphasis is placed on appropriateness
rather than on ability to form grammatically correct sentences. In testing receptive skills, emphasis is placed on understanding the communicative intent of the speaker or writer rather than on picking out specific details”.

Another important characteristic of a communicative test is a specific context, because the testees should be able to use language appropriately to the situation proposed. As Kathleen and Kitao mentioned, “a communicative test of listening, then, would test not whether the testee
could understand what the utterance, "Would you mind putting the groceries away before you leave" means, but place it in a context and see if the testee can respond appropriately to it”. It is also important that “the course material cover the sorts of tasks they are being asked to perform”.

Kathleen and Kitao recommend to evaluate the results through “band scales”, because “real life situations don't always have objectively right or wrong answers”. “Each band has a description of the quality (and sometimes quantity) of the receptive or productive performance of the testee”.

In order to test communicative competence, we can use activities such as “information gap”, “role play”, “write a letter, memo, summary, etc”, “answering certain questions, based on information that they are given”, “listening to a text and writing down certain information from the text”, etc.
In conclusion, “communicative language tests are those which make an effort to test language in a way that reflects the way that language is used in real communication”. Thus, teachers should promote communicative elements to test communicative competence.

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

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