Name : MAULIDA GUSTIKA
NPM : 2210202006
Subject : Language Testing
Approaches to Language Testing
By J. B. Heaton
1. Background
Language tests can be roughly classified according to four main approaches to testing:
(a) The essay-translation approach
(b) The structuralist approach
(c) The integrative approach
(d) The communicative approach
Although these approaches are listed here in chronological order, they should not be regarded as
being strictly confined to certain periods in the development of language testing. Nor are the four
approaches always mutually exclusive. A useful test will generally incorporate features of several
of these approaches. Indeed, a test may have certain inherent weaknesses simply because it is
limited to one approach, however attractive that approach may appear.
2. The Essay Translation Approach
This approach is commonly referred to as the pre-scientific stage of language testing. No special
skill or expertise in testing is required: the subjective judgement of the teacher is considered to be
of paramount importance. Tests usually consist of essay writing, translation, and grammatical
analysis (often in the form of comments about the language being learnt). The tests also have a
heavy literary and cultural bias. Public examinations (e.g. secondary school leaving examinations)
resulting from the essay-translation approach sometimes have an aural oral component at the
upper intermediate and advanced levels though this has sometimes been regarded in the past as
something additional and in no way an integral part of the syllabus or examination.
3. The Structuralist Approach
This approach is characterized by the view that language learning is chiefly concerned with the
systematic acquisition of a set of habits. It draws on the work of structural linguistics, in particular
the importance of contrastive analysts and the need to measure the learner's master if the
separate elements of the target language: phonology, vocabulary and grammar. Such mastery is
tested using words and sentences completely divorced from any context on the grounds that a
larger sample of language forms can be covered in the test in a comparatively short time. The skills
of listening, speaking, reading and writing are also separated from one another as much as
possible because it is considered essential to test orse thing at a time. Such features of the
structuralist approach are, of course, still valid for certain types of test and for certain purposes.
4. The Integrative Approach
This approach involves the testing of language in context and is thus concerned primarily with
meaning and the total communicative effect of discourse. Consequently, integrative tests do not
seek to separate language skills into neat divisions in order to improve test reliability: instead, they
are often designed to assess the learner's ability to use two or more skills simultaneously. Thus,
integrative tests are concerned with a global view of proficiency an underlying language
competence or grammar of expectancy", which it is argued every learner possesses regardless of
the purpose for which the language is being learnt. Integrative testing involves functional language
but not the use of functional language. Integrative tests are best characterized by the use of doze
testing and of dictation. Oral interviews, translation and essay writing are also included in many
integrative tests a point frequently overlooked by those who take too narrow a view of integrative
testing.
5. The Communicative Approach
The communicative approach to language testing is sometimes linked to the integrative approach.
However, although both approaches emphasize the importance of the meaning of utterances
rather than their form and structure, there are nevertheless fundamental differences between the
two approaches. Communicative tests are concerned primarily (if not totally) with how language is
used in communication. Consequently, most aim to incorporate tasks which approximate as
closely as possible to those facing the students in real life. Success is judged in terms of the
effectiveness of the communication which takes place rather than formal linguistic accuracy.
Language 'use' is often emphasized to the exclusion of language `usage'. `Use' is concerned with
how people actually use language for a multitude of different purposes while 'usage' concerns the
formal patterns of language (described in prescriptive grammars and lexicons). In practice,
however, some tests of a communicative nature include the testing of usage and also assess ability
to handle the formal patterns of the target language. Indeed, few supporters of the
communicative approach would argue that communicative competence can ever be achieved
without a considerable mastery of the grammar of a language.
