Approaches to Language Testing: From Classical to Performance-Based

Approaches to Language Testing: From Classical to Performance-Based

Resumed by Rojab Siti R. & Muhammad Yunus

Testing as a kind of assessments plays a pivotal role in the implementation of language teaching. Testing is used to measure test takers in certain purposes to be further evaluated by a test administer. The implementation of what is going to be tested is solely based on the teaching methodology.

Therefore, the kind of testing itself is highly affected by the practical teaching in a classroom from the belief of how a language is learned and taught. For example, grammar translation method which emphasizes on the study of understanding the structure of source language and then translated into the targeted language measures the students’ ability in understanding a text and translated the text in a different language. And it also happens to other kinds of method and approach of language teaching.

In short, a testing of language can be divided into two big categories: discrete-point test and integrative testing methods. Discrete-point test is testing language separately based on its components and skills. On the other hand integrative testing method sees a language as unity that cannot be tested each components. The two different point of view runs until today.

 For the brief history of approaches of language teaching can be sifted in the following matrix.

No.	Year	Language methodology	Kinds of tests	Focus of Test	Approaches	Example
1.	1950s	Behaviorism	Contrastive analysis	Specific language elements: Phonological, grammatical, lexical	Discrete-point test
2.	1970s & 1980s	Communicative theories	Integrative tests (developed by	Language competence	Integrative testing methods	Cloze tests, dictation
3.	1980s	Communicative language testing	Test of performance Test of language use (Bachman and Palmer (1996))	Performance test (Pragmatic, strategic abilities)
4.	2001	Performance based assessment	Interactive task	Oral production, written production, open-ended responses, integrated performance, group performance,

Reference

Brown, H.D. 2004. Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices.White Plains: Pearson Education, Inc.