Language and

Literature
Assessment
APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE
TESTING
1. Essay- Translation Approach
a. Characteristics and Types

 pre-scientific stage of language testing

 no special skill and expertise required

 consist of essay writing , translation and
grammatical analysis

 heavy literary and cultural

bias
 have an oral component
b. Strengths

 easy to follow
 used for testing any level of examinees
 model of tester can easily be modified

c. Weaknesses

 subjective judgment tends to be biased

 heavy literary and cultural bias
2. The Structuralist Approach

a. Characteristics and Types

 language learning is chiefly concerned with a

systematic acquisition of a set of habits

 involves structural linguistics

 testing the skills of listening, speaking, reading

and writing is separate from another
 psychometric approach forms an integral part
b. Strengths

 in testing students’ capability, this approach may

objectively and surely be used

 many forms of tests can be covered in a short time

 helps students find their strengths and

weaknesses in every skill

c. Weaknesses

 complicated job for teachers to prepare questionnaires

 considers measuring non-integrated skills more

than integrated skills
3. The Integrative Approach
a. Characteristics and
Types involves the testing of language in context and
concerned primarily with meaning and the total
communicative effect of discourse
 concerned with a global view of proficiency
 involves functional language but not the use
of functional language

 use of cloze test, dictation, oral interview,

translation and essay writing are included
b. Strengths
 very useful for students

 view students’ proficiency with a global view

 measures the reader’s ability to decode messages

 Dictation, was regarded a means of measuring

student’s skills of listening comprehension

c. Weaknesses

 a need to consider the importance in measuring

skills based on students’ needs
4. The Communicative Approach
a. Characteristics and Types
 concerned primarily with how the language is
used in communication

 language used is often emphasized to the

exclusion of language usage
 attempt to measure different language skills

 should be relevant for a particular group of examinees

and the tasks set should relate to real-life situation

 introduces the concept of qualitative modes of

assessment
b. Strengths

 able to measure all integrated skills of students

 face students in real life

 measure all language skills

 detailed statements of each performance level serve to

increase the reliability of the scoring

c. Weaknesses
 does not emphasize learning structural grammar

 possible for cultural bias

 Muchas
Gracias por
escuchar!