Communicative testing in foreign language education

Foreign language teachers in secondary schools aim to increase their focus on the communicative side of language education. Existing language tests do not necessarily connect to learning objectives. How can we offer testing in which communication is key? What are the consequences for teaching styles?

We conduct research on what an assessment program that is focused on communicative language skills should look like, and what is necessary in order to implement such a program in secondary foreign language education. Hereby we aim to fit the program into foreign language education in which communication takes an increasingly important role.

During the first stage of this project, a field study on didactics and testing in foreign language education was conducted. Approximately 130 teachers filled out a survey on these topics. Consequently the degree to which the coherence between learning objectives, didactics and testing was researched by interviewing teachers in ten different language departments, analysing tests, observing classes, and interviewing students. The results of this study show a deficiency in coherence between these three elements. The learning objectives are communicative; the tests and learning activities, however, not (sufficiently) communicative.

This research has been completed. The dissertation is available as download on this page.

01 September 2018 - 31 May 2024