a) Language Teaching and Language Testing

b)General Principles of Test Construction

Item Types and their Preparation

c) Techniques for Testing Ability

Testing of Listening Skill

Testing of Speaking Skill

Testing of Reading Skill

Testing of Writing Skill

d) Communicative Ability : Mixed Skills

Language Teaching and Language Testing
Language Testing is concerned with the measurement and evaluation of the learner's performance in a language course at a given time. In the context of language courses, the focus is generally on achievement ay the end of the course. Effective evaluation requires that properly during the course should also be used; thereby assessing the language abilities or language competence of the learner before, during and at the end of the language teaching programme.

Language teaching and language testing are very closely related, the reason being that whatever is taught must be tested. As Lado points out, "what the student has to learn constitutes the corpus of what we have to test"12. The major differences between the strategies of language teaching and testing is that while teaching may go on for years and years, testing is a matter of hours. Therefore the test maker has to select a representative sample of what all has been taught.

Just as Language Teaching has not been properly understood even by the language teachers themselves, so is Language Teaching. In most cases, under the guise of Language Teaching instruction takes place more about the language and through the language and not the language itself. That is to say that the present day Language Teaching is more content and structure oriented whereas it should be skill oriented. Similary the language tests designed generally try to elicit the knowledge of the examinee of the content and structure and very little of language skills.

While it is needless to reiterate that language teaching should be more skill-oriented, language testing should involve the major language skills viz., Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (LSRW). At least two linguistic components are involved in all the language skills and they are

a) Grammar (Grammatical structure) and
b) Vocabulary

The oral skills also involve another linguistic component that of Phonology as auditory comprehension and oral production/expression primarily depend upon the knowledge of this component. Corresponding to the phonological component is Orthography in respect of the written skills. Thus atleast the following twelve combinations will form the basis for language testing in general.

Language Skills	Linguistic Component
		Phonology		Orthography		Grammer(Structure)	Vocabulary
Oral	Listening	ü				ü	ü
	Speaking	ü		*	ü	ü	ü
Written	Reading	*	ü	ü		ü	ü
	Writing			ü		ü	ü

In addition to the twelve major combination of language skills and linguistic components indicated by a tick (ü) mark in the above table, it may be mentioned here that loud reading will involve the phonological component and speaking by looking at a printed page would involve orthography. However these areas are disputable and hence the components marked by an asterisk (*) may be ignored for the present purpose. Harries visualizes another component applied to language skills and thet is rate and general fluency of reading.13

It is necessary at this stage to differentiate and digtinguish between the testing of native language and the testing of second/foreign language.

Testing the Mothertongue/Native language :
Testing of mothertongue/native language should be differentiated from that of second/foreign language, as we do in the case of teaching of mothertongue vs. teaching of second/foreign language. Broadly speaking, the main difference between the teaching of methertongue and that of second/foreign language, is that the former involves very little of the spoken skills and the latter involves both oral and written skills. It therefore follows that testing the mother tongue involves very little of spoken skills within the formal system and testing second/foreign language involves all the four language skills. It may also be argued that teaching of mothertongue and second/foreign language at higher levels perhaps involves the developments of skills like ability to write free composition etc. Over and above this, language teaching at still higher levels perhaps may include literature.

It would, however, be necessary to keep the following factors in mind in the context of teaching mothertongue/native language.Evan in the context of mothertongue testing, it may be necessary to test the oral skills also if the learners have their own dialects which may be significantly different from its standard form (normally taught in the classroom). Therefore dialect differences, if significant, will form the basis for testing of spoken skills in mothertongue. In addition to this, testing of mothertongue involves the quantum and range of vocabulary, structures, styles etc.

Testing Second/Foreign Language:
Effective teaching of second/foreign language requires the contrastive study of the source language and the target language which provides the important basis for efficient language instruction. Such contrastive analysis is applied to each linguistic component viz. phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Some scholars even extend it to the cultural patterns and social settings also. Contrastive study of the source language and the target language is undoubtedly most valuable in situations where all the learners/testees share the same source language/mothertongue. Under such situations the test maker's job would become relatively much easier in estimating the probable relative difficulty of various patterns in the target language.

In situations where the second/foreign language learners and/or testees possess different source language/mothertongues, the job of the material producer and the test maker becomes a lot more difficult. The material producer will be constrained to prepare a universal teaching material in the target language and the test maker accordingly has to prepare universal tests that would be common for all the testees whose language backgrounds may be different. Contrastive analysis in this context ay be of very little or no importance at all. Under such circumstances, the methods of selection and gradation of teaching testing items would be easy to difficult or simple to complex. Due to the varied range of language backgrounds of the testees, it is quite possible that some of them would find certain items in the test to be easier whereas some others may find the same items to be difficult and vice-versa. However, the important factor to be kept in mind in making a common/universal test for testees with different language backgrounds is tat such a test to the extent possible, should be a sample or a true cross section of the language corpus. There are two factors that might prove dangerous in such situations. If test maker's teaching experience has largely been confined to one or two linguistic groups, he may unconsciously tend to generalize about the target language learning difficulties on the basis of his limited experience and write test items around the oral problems he is familiar with. The test maker may concentrate on the specific wrong answers (in framing the distractors in the multiple choice items that are particularly common among the linguistic groups he is familiar with. Therefore the tests developed under such circumstances are likely to be biased. It would be necessary to overcome this for which the test maker has to have a high degree of training an self discipline.

 

General Principles of Test Construction
Precautions for the construction of good language test:
Any experimental design, framing a hypothesis etc., requires systematic procedure in order to ensure that the procedures adopted are appropriate and the goal is arrived at successfully. Similarly the construction of language test also requires a systematic procedure and adoption of various steps which may broadly be categorized as follows:

1. Planning the test

2. Preparing the test items and instructions

3. Reviewing and revising the test items

4. Pre-testing the material and analyzing the results

5. Preparing the final form of the test

I. Planning the Test :

The planning of a language test mainly involves the following factors:

a) Determination of the general course abjectives.

b) Division of such objectives into their minute and subcomponents.

c) Establishment of general design of the test including the time factor.

a) Determination of the general course objectives :In order to have a broad idea of the content of a language test, the test maker must have a clear idea of what is going to be included in the test and what is broadly aimed at, in terms of learner's achievement or the terminal behaviour. In other words the test maker needs to have the content areas clearly written down before embarking on the task of test construction. Following is a sample of the description of content areas. Content Areas :(The content for an Intensive English Course for Beginners is organized around verb tenses. Other parts of sentences which combine well with each tense are grouped accordingly.In such a course meant for beginners, considerably large amount of time is spent on 'BE' patterns of verbs and on simple forms of other verbs in the present tense. At a later stage, other tense forms are presented more rapidly)

A. BE   Present tense

Affirmative statements                             Articles: a, an
Negative statements                              Noun plurals – Mass Nouns
Simple questions                                   Frequency words
Short answers                                      -always, usually, often, never
                                                             Possessive pronouns
                                                            Expletive There is/are…

B. BE   Past tense
 Affirmative statements                          Expletive There was/were…
Negative statements                              Time and place Expressions
Simple questions and                            with in,     on,     at.
short answers                                       Compound Nouns;
                                                             Adjectives Noun vs. Noun Noun
                                                             (a green apple)      (a wall clock)

C. Other verbs
Present tense
                                                         Requests and Directives
                                                         (close the window)
                                                         infinitives
                                                         Two-word verbs
                                                         (Call up, go out) etc.
                                                        Possessive suffix or Nouns
                                                        some/any
                                                        there/then as replacives

b) Division of the Course Objectives into their Components :A second pre-requisite in the planning of a test is to clearly specify their learning outcomes in terms of the learner's terminal behaviour and divide them into sub-components and defines them as narrowly as possible so that the test items are focussed upon these outcomes. Look at the following which are a sample of learning outcomes stated in behavioural terms in respect of Intensive Course in English for beginners.

STATEMENT OF LEARNING OUTCOMES IN TERMS OF LEARNER'S TERMINAL BEHAVIOUR

Intensive English Course for Beginners:

1. KNOWS basic elements of spoken and written English.

DISTINGUISHES between minimal distinctive significant contrastive units of
sounds or Phonemes.

1.2. IDENTIFIES intonation patterns.

1.3. IDENTIFIES stress patterns.

1.4. DISTINGUISHES between lexical items and their inflections.

1.5. IDENTIFIES basic parts of sentences patterns.

2. MANIPULATES these elements in controlled situations to produce grammatical
English utterances.

READS written dialogues with proper sounds, intonation and stress.

SUBSTITUTES individuals lexical item in sentences (Grammaticalness being
maintained).

TRANSFERS affirmative statements to negative and vice-versa and
statements to questions and vice-versa.

ADDS lexical items to sentences in proper positions.

3. UNDERSTANDS everyday spoken English and simple written English.

FOLLOWS written and/or spoken test directions.

COMPLIES with oral requests.

4. PRODUCES grammatical written English in novel situations.

4.1 ANSWERS questions (oral or written) about a short paragraph.

4.2 ANSWERS questions about real situations.

4.3 COMPLETES dialogues in situations.
5. PRODUCERS grammatical spoken English in novel situations.

ANSWERS questions.

5.2 ASKS pertinent or appropriate questions in grammatical English in simple
conversations.

c) Establishment of a General Design :A third pre-requisite in the planning of a test is to establish a general design which is possible by preparing Table of Specifications which provides weightages assigned for different aspects of the content and the skills that are expected to have been mastered by the learners during the course of instruction. Following is an example of the table of specifications:

TABLES OF SPECIFICATIONS
Intensive English Course for Beginners

UNIT 1 Content	1.KNOWS Basic element of spoken and written English	2.MANIPULATES these elements in controlled situations	3.UNDERSTANDS spoken and written English	4.PRODUCES written English	5.PRODUCES spoken English
A.B.E Present	1	8		7	Rating scale to be used in a structured oral interview and free conversion	16item 32%
B.BE Past		6		2		8 items 16%
C.Other Verbs Present	4	9	1	12		26 items 52%
50 items	5	23	1	21
%	10%	46%	2%	42%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to having the table of specifications for the establishment of a design, it is also necessary to have the details as to which type of test are to be made for the testing of different skills and content areas. In other words the examiner has to pre-determine the item types in respect of various language skills and the content areas. In other words the examiner has to pre-determine the item types in respect of various language skills and the content areas. Needless to say that language test or examination has to be administered in a fixed amount of time and this factor has to be determined based upon the number of test items included and the level of difficulty of the items constituting the test.

2. Preparing the Test Items and Instructions :In order to have well made test items for the inclusion in a language test, it would be necessary to prepare a larger number o test items which have to be tried that may have been made, after review may be found to be defective which need to be discarded from their inclusion in the test. Only after a thorough review and try out of the test items the required number of the perfect test items could be selected and retained for inclusion in the test.

While it is quite essential to ensure that each test item is perfect and non-defective in the sense that it is unambiguous in the task presented to the examinees and each item has one and only one correct answer, it is also equally essential to provide the instructions or the directions as to what the examinees are expected to do while taking the test. These instructions should be brief, simple and unambiguous. Wherever possible, example(s) should be provided so that the examinee does not misunderstand or misinterpret the instructions. To the extent possible it is also desirable to ear-mark the time specified for each portion of the test and also the marks allotted to each portion.

3. Reviewing and Revising the Test Items :Once the test items are prepared, it is always desirable to get them reviewed by experts other than the item writer himself so that the items possessing even minor defects could be avoided and the test as a whole made as valid as possible.

4. Pre-Testing the Material :Once a tentative form of the entire test is framed consisting of various test items after review and revision, in order to make the test a standard, valid and reliable one, it is always recommended that the tentative form of the test is administered to a large sample of subjects of the same standard and kind as those for whom the test is being constructed. In other words the tentative form of the test has to be tried out which may indicate the defective items or the format will have to be made use of in revising and giving a final standard form for the test. It is only ten that the construction of the test aimed at becomes more valid and reliable.

5. Assembling the final form of the Test :After the try out is over, various test items included in the test under each category need to be graded in order of difficulty and rearranged thereby giving a final form of the test.It is only by subjecting the construction of language test to these five major steps that a good language test can be constructed and hence though these factors appear to be of trivial nature are very crucial and play a significant role in the construction of good language tests

ITEM TYPES AND THEIR PREPARATIONAfter having discussed about various factors that should be kept in view while embarking on the construction and development of a good language test it would be necessary to discuss about various types of test items and the techniques involved in the preparation of each type of items.
Broadly speaking different kinds of test items may be classified into two major catageories, viz., subjective type and objective type. The very labels indicate that the evaluation of items falling under subjective type cannot be reliable as the judgement mainly depends upon the examiner's subjective assessment. The reason is that there are no set criteria for the exact evaluation of such items. On the contrary the items falling under the objective type are more reliable as there will be defined criteria for exactly assessing the responses of the examinees in such cases. While the open ended or the free responses types of items are categorized as the subjective items which include translation, guided composition and free composition, the objective type of items include selection type, multiple choice, matching type, supply type and short answer type. The short answer type of items which include translation, guided composition and free composition, the objective type of items include selection type, multiple choice, matching type, supply type and short answer type. The short answer type of items which could be either open ended or cloze items may belong to either the objectives type or subjective type. This depends upon the anticipated answer for the question. If the anticipated answer is a word or a phrase which has one and only one correct answer and which does not demand the use of language by the examinee may be classified under the objective type. If the item demands the use of language on the part of the examinee and te anticipated answer at sentential or higher levels the same kind of item issaid to be belonging to the subjective type. Thus the following chart will indicate the item types and their classification:

Before discussing about the techniques of preparation of different types of items it would be necessary to briefly mention the typical characteristics of the subjective item types as opposed to those of the objectives types of items. The open ended or subjective type of items provide a chance for the examinee to express himself in his own words using the language structures known to him, whereas the objective type of items provides very little scope for the examinee for free expression. While the subjective items are useful for testing of higher order skills like translation, composition - guided and free, the objective type of items is useful in testing the lower order skills. The subjective type of questions provides an opportunity for the examinee to exhibit his skill in organizing his ideas in sequential manner and develop good narratives or descriptions whereas the objective type of items does not provide the scope for such things. The ability of the examinee in using appropriat styles depending upon the subject discussed can also be tested through the open ended type of items. Such items will be useful in assessing the creative ability of the examinee to draw inferences.

In the context of test items, two terms are frequently used viz.,
A) Question
B) Item

Normally the term 'question' is used to refer to the open ended types including paragraph and essay type, whereas the term 'item' is used to indicate the objective type of items. The various item types referred to above can again be broadly categorised into two types viz.,
1) Selection Type
2) Supply Type

1. Selection Type :In the selection type of items the examinee has to make a choice which means that there is one and only one pre-determined correct answer. This is usually referred to as objectives type of assessment which is highly objective and such items are said to be possessing high degree of reliability.

2. Supply Type:The second category viz., the supply type requires the examinee to supply or provide answers on his own. The answer could be either a word or a paragraph or even a long essay. In this type of items the examinee is at freedom to choose, arrange and express his thoughts and ideas in a sequentially arranged manner and he can also exhibit his talent of creativity and his ability to draw inferences.

The characteristics and techniques of various types of test items may be seen from the following table :

Cloze Items

Item Type	Design	Construction	Comment
1. Constant Alterna- tives:	The examinee is required to choose an ans wer from two or more alter natives that remain the same for a series of items Statements may be provi- ded each of which should be given res- ponse in terms of True/False or Yes/No or Agree/Dis- agree. Some-times a series of True/False items may follows a passage involve-ing comprehension	a) The number of True & False items in the series isapproximately equal b) Statements should be deifinitively True or False c) Statements should not be normally adopted from textbooks d) Use of simple sentences to the extent possibleis re- commended minimizingcomplex andsentences	a)Widerange of   syllabus b)Highlyobject- ive and reliable c)difficult to construct good True/False items d) May have to correct scores for guessing e) Probability of guessing is 0.5
2.Multiple Choice :	The examinee is required to select the  correct answer  from a group of alternatives provided	a) The stem may   be a direct    question or     an incomplete   statement                                             b)Distractors      must be plau- sible. They must  be ‘real’ dis- tractors to higher ability students and attractors to lower ability students                        c) Length and precision ofthe   correct answer should not provide a clue d) Correct ans-   wers should be     randomly  arranged	a) Highly object- ive and reliable b) A wide range of abilities could be tested c) Wide coverage   of syllabus d) Difficult to construct e) Probability of guessing de-pends upon the number of choicesprovided ( .25 if choices are 4 and .20 if choices are 5)
3. Matching Items	Usually consists of two lists called Premises and Responses. The examinee has to match each pre- mise with one of the responses (simple Match-ing) In Compou-nd matching it may be necessary to match each premise with two or more responses. This in a way is a kind of item consisting of a number of multiple choice items put together	a) the basis for matching should  be explicit        b) Number of responses should be more than the number of premise	a) Highly objective and reliable b) Relatively easy to construct c) Chance of guessing is reduced d) Not suitable for testing higher order abilities
4. Rearran- gement Items	Examinee are required to put the randomly presented material into a meaningfully related order	a) Words provi- ded in a haphazard manner or without a sequence
OPEN ENDED
1. Simple Question	A direct question or a specific direction or a stimulus produces a word, number, phrase or a sentence (one or two normally) as response	a) Elicits short clear cut answers b) A decision has to be taken whether ortho- graphic or spell- ing mistakes are to be penalized c) Use of expres- sions from the text book should be minimized	a) No chance of guessing b) Easy to prepare c) Scoring not completely objective and less reliability d) Usually tests lower order abilities
2. Comple- tion	The examinee has to fill in the blank with a word or a	a) Elicits short clear cut ans- wers b) Decision needs to be taken as to whether orthographic or spelling mistakes need to be penalised c) use of textual expressions should be minimized	a) No chance of guessing b) Easy to   prepare c) Scoring not completely objective and therefore less reliable d) Usually tests   lower reliable   abilities
3. Short Answer	A Direction,question or a specific direction or a stimulus produces a few sentences or a small paragraph as response	a) Expressions briefly or short notes on or what all you know should be avoided in the questions  b) Action orient-ed and precise verbs should be used as far as possible c) Ask a clearly defined task d) Scope of the answer should be limited	a) Natural form of a question b) Normally used for test- ing of comprehend- sion, appli- cation, etc. c) Less object- ive and hence less reliable
4. Long Answer	Quite open for The test maker	a) Suitable for testing higher order abilities like composition creativity, style, critical examina- tion etc. b) Very little obect-   difficult to score c) Less reliable d) Good scope for free expression on the part of the examinee

The multiple choice items are used to test the knowledge, comprehension and even the application abilities. They may also be useful to test to some extent the examinee's ability like analysis, synthesis, inferences and even evaluation although constructing items for testing these abilities is a little complex and difficult. In the context of the multiple choice items the following definitions should be kept in view :

a) Stem :The stem is that portion of the item which is at the top of it in the form of a direct
question or an incomplete statement following which the alternatives are provided.

b) Options :Normally three or four or five alternatives are gives as A, B, C, D etc., one below
the other. These alternatives are called the options out of which one and only one
correct answer exists.

c) Key :The correct choice or option among the alternatives provided is called the key.

d) Distractors :All the choices or options provided under each stem other than the key
are called distractors and they are constructed in such a way that the key is as
close as possible to each of the distractors.

 

TESTING OF TEST ITEMSIn the discussion regarding precaution for the construction of good language tests, it has been mentioned that the review and revision of the test items is essential for including tem in the final form of the test. In order to ensure the validity and suitability of
each item a criteria may be set up to assess the quality of various types of test items which should be applied in making a good language test. Following are some of the general criteria applicable to all the types of test items.

1. Does the item measure an important learning outcome?

2. Is the item focussed to measure an important content area?

3. Is the level of difficulty of the test item in correspondence with the degree of achievement of the learner?

4. Is the item likely to be accurately answered by the learners possessing lower ability?

5. Is the item likely to be answered wrongly by learners possessing lower ability?

6. Is the item independent or does it overlap with the other items?

7. Is the item likely to provide a clue for the answers for any of the other items in the test?

In addition to the general criteria that may be adopted in respect of any type of
test item the following specific criteria may be adopted in case of the items of various types indicated.

a) Multiple Choice Items :

1. Is the stem precise and unambiguous?

2. Is the stem a complete question in itself or does it require the examinee to read
the alternatives provided to understand what is being asked?

3. Is the context in which the question is being asked clear?

4. Does the stem include anything that has to be repeated in all the choices?

5. Are the choices given closer to each other in respect of (A) Content?
(B) Structure?

6. Do the choices given include one and only one correct answer?

7. Are the distractors provided intensely closer with the key?

8. Is the language used in the items as well as instructions easy enough for the
examinees to understand?

9. Are the vocabulary items used in the items and instructions within the level of
Comprehension of the learner?

b) Matching Type :

1. Does the item include only homogeneous material in the premises?

2. Is the number of responses enough so that the last of the premises can still have
many options to choose from?

3. Does the item specify the basis for matching, type of matching etc.,

c) Simple Answer or Completion Type :

1. Is the item constructed in such a way that only asingle short answer is possible?
(a word or a phrases or a clause or a simple sentence)

2. Is the question direct and simple?

3. Is the answer related to the main point in the statement?

4. Does the item with the blank space make enough sense so that the learner knows what is expected of him?

5. Are the directions given in clear and simple terms?

6. Is the question likely to be answered or interpreted in the same way by the teachers/students/examiners?

7. Is the difficulty level of the question appropriate with the degree of learner's achievement?

d) True/False or Yes/No Type :

1. Does the item include one and only and significant idea is each statement?

2. Is the item precise enough to enable the examinee to judge whether it is true or
false unequivocally?

3. Is the language used in the statements simple enough?

4. Does the item use negative statements sparingly and avoid double negative?

The long answer or composition questions are normally used to test higher order abilities and not the basic skills of knowledge and understanding.

 

TEQUNIQUES FOR TESTING ABILITY

Testing of Various Language Skills
Testing of Listening Skill

Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing are considered to be the major language skills as already mentioned in the earlier chapter of this book.

The present day trend in second/foreign language teaching programme has been to emphasize more on teaching the spoken language to begin with. The skills of listening and speaking have become more and important. These are the two skills introduced in the class room to begin with. Thus listening skill forms part of the course objectives and hence the need for assessing learner's achievement in the listening skill.

The second/foreign language learner has to master the listening skill for successfully acquiring the language. He has to differentiate between the sound systems of his native language/source language (TL). The learner must also be able to discriminate among the unfamiliar and overlapping sounds in the target language. One can begin to speak in the target language accurately only when he can clearly perceive the distinguishing features of the sound system of the language being learnt and also when he can discriminate among the unfamiliar and overlapping sounds in it.

Mastery of listening skills means proficiency in four levels viz., identification, discrimination, retention and comprehension. Although the language learner may feel that listening is a natural single operation while he learns his mothertongue, it would be essential for him to develop proficiency separately in each of the four levels mentioned above. The language teacher/tester has to measure the language learner's proficiency in each of these levels or combinations thereof. As already mentioned above, a language learner while learning his mothertongue native language automatically makes the necessary sound distinctions in his language. Even if he doesn't possess any training in phonetics he would be able to recognize the sounds or speech elements which are significant and which bring in a differrnce in meaning. But in a second/foreign language learning situations, the learner would try to relate and apply the phonemic differences in his language to the target language or the language being learnt. The real difficulty arises in the case of those sounds which are phonemic in the target language and not phonemic in the native/source language of the learner. For example: vowel length in some cases is not phonemic in Hindi whereas it is phonemic in Telugu. Therefore the Hindi speakers find it difficult to understand and master the difference in pronunciation between short and long vowels.

Look as the following examples from

Telugu :

                        / e /                                                      / ē /

            nela – ‘month’                                nēla – ‘floor’

            med)a – ‘neck’                                mēd)a – ‘(bunglow) upstairs’

            teru – ‘open’                                  tēru – ‘chariot’

Kannada :

                        / o /                                                      / ō /

          od)i – ‘lap’                                      ōd)i – ‘having been defeated’

            ora – ‘outer cover of                       ōra – ‘winking’

                        a sword’

            dora – ‘lord’                                   dōra – ‘half riped’

            mokam – ‘face’                              mōkra – ‘lust’

Hindi :

                        / « /                                                      / ā /

            «b – ‘now’                                      āb – ‘water’

            k«l – ‘tomorrow/yesterday’             kāl – ‘time’

            t«l – ‘under’                                    t*āl – ‘postpone’

Although it may not be very difficult for the Hindi speakers to lengthen the vowels, they need lot of practice before they begin to discriminate the long and short vowel phonemes in Telugu. It may be seen from the above example that in order to overcome this kind of problems, minimal pair drills are administered to the learners.

Minimal pair drills are administered to the language learners in order to enable them to overcome the problem areas at the phonological level of language of language description. As the knowledge of the second/foreign language learner widens in the areas at structure and vocabulary of the language being learnt, he would be in a position to depend upon the context to be able to discriminate the problem phonemes.

The second/foreign language learner has to learn to identify such sounds in the language learnt that are completely new to him and that are non-existent in his native language or mothertongue. In such cases ear training is given by providing a series of words containing such sounds in various word positions viz. initial, medial and final and also making the learner listen to the sounds in isolation. Following are the kinds of word lists made use of in teaching English to Indians. The lists are mainly used for ear training purposes:

/ o /
thin
thick
cathy
tooth
kith
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .

Similarly the Hindi speakers learning Telugu would find it extremely difficult to acquire the vowel / Q" / as it is non-existent in Hindi and is phonemic in Telugu. In such cases also Telugu words consisting of the vowel / Q" / are made use of giving ear training for mastery of such sounds.

For example in Telugu :

/ Q" /
tat?Q"ku - 'plam leaf'
cQ"pa - 'fish'
vellaQ"d?u - '(he) went'
v"ccQ"d?u - '(he) came'
ceppQ"nu - '(I) told'
c"divQ"nu - '(I) read'
Similarly the Telugu speakers learning Hindi will have lot of difficulty to acquire the vowel / e / which is phonemic in Hindi and not existing in Telugu. Therefore ear training for mastery of / e / would be necessary.

For example in Hindi :

/ e /
en"k - 'mirror'
kesa - 'how'
esa - 'like this'
he - 'is'

It is needless to mention that the native speakers of a language are able to listen to lengthy questions in their own languages, understand and answer them easily. But the same is not true in the case of a second/foreign language before mastery. Experiments have proved that once the language learners get to know the meanings of vocabulary items presented in the course of instruction, they would be in a better position to remember and retain longer and longer sentences. In other words once the second/foreign language learner associates the words learnt by him with their corresponding meanings, his memory span increases and hence his retention capacity. Thus this aspect of retention appears to be a problem in the first phase of the language learning programme which will gradually diminish as the level of language achievement goes higher and higher.

In order to test retention capacity of a language learner, it would be necessary for the test maker to construct sentences consisting of words already familiar to the learner. By this process, the teacher would be in a position to decide whether the learner requires exercises in memory development or whether he needs to improve his vocabulary and grammar. Experiments have also shown that a foreign/second language learner can do better and can improve his memory span if he doesn't bring in his native language. In other words overall achievement in second/foreign language would be better without relation to the mothertongue of the learner.

The main purpose in administering the listening test is to test the learner's capacity in comprehending what is listened to. It is needless to mention that the degree of comprehension depends upon the learner's ability to recognize, discriminate and identify the significant speech units in the target language and also his knowledge of grammar and vocabulary in the target language.
From the above discussion, it may be observed that listening skill may be tested for

a) Recognition of sounds

b) Discrimination of sounds

c) Vocabulary

d) Structure

e) Comprehension

a) Recognition of sounds :

In order to test the recognition of sounds, the sound for recognition is presented first orally by the teacher. Thereafter ( i ) some phonetically similar sounds including the sound for recognition are given for recognition in isolation (ii) words involving the sound for recognition in addition to words containing related sounds are given. The examinee is expected to indicate the number of item which contains the sound for the recognition. The following examples will exemplify the point.

( i ) Listen to the following sound carefully and indicate which of the choices
given is the same.

'? ' - sound for recognition

( a ) ?

( b ) t

( c ) ?

( d ) d
Correct response : (c)

(ii) Listen to the following sound carefully and indicate which of the words given
contains this sound (in Telugu).

/ r? / - sound for recognition

( a ) cer?uku 'sugarcane'
( b ) ceruwu 'lake'
( c ) karuwu 'famine'
( d ) garuku 'rough'
Correct response : (a)
Let us look at an example from Hindi.

Listen to the following sound carefully and indicate which of the words given contains this sound.
/ e / - sound for recognition

( a ) g"la 'throat'
( b ) kela 'plantain'
( c ) kesa 'how'
( d ) Kil 'nail'
Correct response : (c)

The two kinds of exercise illustrated above demand the examinee to recognize the required sound ( i ) in isolation and ( ii ) in content.

b) Discriminate of sounds :

Just as in the case of 'recognition of sounds', two kinds of exercise at least could be made use of for testing 'discrimination of sounds' viz., (i) in isolation and (ii) in context

Needless to mention that in a language learning situation, a learner has to master various sound units of the language and should also be able to discriminate between (i) related sounds in the target language and (ii) between the distinctive phonetic features of the source language or the mothertongue and those of the target language.

( i ) Discrimination of sounds in isolation :

(a) Related sounds in the Target Language

Such sounds of which the manner of articulation is similar and the points of articulation are close by are chosen for this kind of exercise/test. For instance the sounds / e / and / Q" / are phonemic in Telugu. Therefore anybody learning Telugu as a second/foreign language needs to identify and discriminate these two sounds.

( b ) A sound in the target language similar to another sound in the source language

In this case, a sound in the target language which may be closer to another sound in the source language are taken

This is illustrated under and necessary drills to facilitate the learner to identify and discriminate such sounds are given. For instance for the Hindi speakers learning Telugu the / / sound which is phonemic in Telugu is very difficult to master and is often confused with / e / sound of Hindi. It would therefore be necessary to ensure the mastery including identification and discrimination of such related sounds in the target language and the source language. In such cases the steps followed are:(a) ear training (b) identification (c) discrimination (d) production.

(ii) Discrimination of sounds in context:
In a second/foreign language teaching situation, it is not necessary to test all the sounds in the target language. Only such sounds/areas wherein the degree of overlap is likely to create difference in meaning need to be tested. As mentioned in ( i ) ( a ) above, both the sounds / e / and / Q" / are phonemic in Telugu and if one is substituted for the other, the total meaning will change. In such cases minimal pairs consisting of such sounds are taken for testing the identification and discrimination capacity of the learner. For this purpose various kinds of testing strategies are adopted.

For instance in Hindi only / e / is phonemic whereas in language like Kannada, Telugu etc., both / e / and / e / are phonemic. Therefore it would be necessary for Hindi speakers to distinguish and discriminate the short and long
/ e / for which the drills of the kind illustrated below are made use of.

/ e / vs. / e / (Kannada)
el?i - 'to pull' el?i - 'get up'
eri - 'to chop' eri - 'bund'
bel?e - 'to grow' bel?e - 'pulse'
kere - 'tank' kere - 'water snake'

Similarly / e / and / e / are phonemic whereas / e / and / e / are phonemic in Telugu. Hence the Telugu speakers learning Hindi require adequate practice to distinguish between / e / / e /. The drills of the following kind are administered for the purpose.
/ e / vs. / e / (Hindi)
kesa - 'how kes? - 'hair'
vesa - 'like that' ves - 'apperance'
eky - 'unity' ek - 'one'

In order to test the discrimination capacity of the learner various kinds of drills and exercise are possible.

(i) Same or Different :

            Items in pairs (sounds or words as the case may be) are gives orally in the class rooms/on the tape in the language laboratory and the learner asked to determine whether both utterances in each pair are same (A) or different (B).

            For example (Kannada)

                        pad)i – ‘wage’               bad)I – ‘to beat’

                  The correct response would be: ‘DIFFERENT (B).

            (ii) This kind of test could be made a little more complex by giving 3 utterances each time and asking the learner to indicate which item in the group is different

            For example, in the case of sound discrimination :

                                    A         B          C

                                    O         �          �

            The correct response would be: ‘A’
Similarly in the case of word discrimination

                        A – ole             ( ‘oven in Kannada )

                        B – ole

                        C – ole             ( ‘ear-ornament’ in Kannada )

In this case the correct response would be: ‘C ’
Let us look at an example from Hindi

a)      kēl
b)      khēl
c)      kēl

The correct response would be: ‘b’

(iii) Discrimination test could be manipulated in a much more complex manner as follows:

The learner/examinee will hear one item (may be a sound or a word). After a little pause, he will hear three or more items out of which only one will be exactly the same as the item initially heard. He has to indicate which one of the subsequent utterances is exactly the same as the item given at the beginning.
For example:

In Tamil:

at?t?ay - 'aunt'

a) at?t?ay ( 'leech' in Tamil)
b) at?t?ay
c) at?t?ay
d) at?t?ay
The correct response would be: 'b'

In Hindi :

ph*l - 'fruit'

a) p"l ( 'moment' in Hindi)
b) p"l
c) ph"l
d) p"l

The correct response would be: 'c'

This type could be made more difficult by adding the following to the instructions:

"If none of the items is the same as the initial one, mark 'NONE' and if all are the same, mark 'ALL'. In such cases, the examiner must ensure that the directions do not become too difficult for the learners' level of achievement.

(iv) A multiple version of the discrimination test could be made as follows:

Instruction to the learner:
You will hear one word. After a little pause, you will hear two more words. Decide whether either or both of the two words are exactly the same as the first word. Indicate your answer as follows:

A- only word 1 is the same as the first word	1
B- only word 2 is the same as the first word	2
C- both words 1 and 2 are same as the first word	1+2
D- None of the two words is the same as the first word	0

For example : (Tamil)

                                inam – ‘race’
                                a)      iinam (‘baseness’)
                                b)      inam

Correct response would be : ‘b’
A Hindi example may be seen

            k«l – ‘tomorrom/yesterday’
                        a)k«l
                        b)Kh«l (‘cheat’)
Correct response would be ‘a’ The same type of test item could be made more complex by adding one or more items to the choices that follow the initial word/item.

Testing of Listening skill : Vocabulary
The capacity of a learner to comprehend the target language depends, to a very great extent, on his mastery/knowledge of vocabulary in the target language.

(i) Following is a word followed by a series of four words. Out of the four, only one is exactly opposite to the initially given item. Mark off the exactly opposite item in the choices given.

            For example in Telugu :

                       samardhincu – (‘to support’)
                        a)      vijrumbhincu (‘to become more furious’)
                        b)      sāēntincu (‘to cool down’)
                        c)      vyatirēkincu (‘to be favourable’) The correct response would be: ‘c’

            A Hindi example may be seen
            s«m«rdh«n k«rna – (‘to support’)

a)      t*h«nd)ā hōna (‘to cool down’)
b)      «s«m«rdh hōna (‘to become incapable’)
c)      s«hāy«tā kerna (‘to help’)
d)      sāmnā k«rna (‘to attack’)

The correct response would be: ‘d’

(ii) Another way of testing vocabulary is to give a word followed by three or four closely related items (homonyms and synonyms) and ask the learner to mark off the choice that is closest to the initial word.

            For example in Telugu :

                        sandigdham – (‘conflict or confusion’) "
a)      spat*s,am (‘clear’)
b)      aspas,t*am (unclear’)
c)      kas,t*am (difficult’)
d)      asahajam (‘unnatural’)

The correct response would be: ‘b’

Let us look at an example from Hindi

            d)h«lna – (‘to fade away’)
a)      phīkā p«dna (‘to fade away’)
b)        phailnā (‘to spread’)
c)        pr«kās,vān hōnā (‘to become bright’)
d)        phū!nā (‘to blossom’)

The correct response would be: ‘a’

(iii) Another way of testing vocabulary would be to give an item which may be a word or a part of a sentence followed by three or four related expression ; may be exactly equal or similar and the learner asked to tick the closely related item (in the choices) to the initial item.
 For example in Telugu

                        mūd)u puvvulu,  āru kāyalu – (‘Three flowers and six fruits)

a)      abhivruddhikaram (‘prosperous’)
b)      gandaragōl,am (‘disturbance’)
c)      ayomayam (‘confusion’)
d)      asandarbham (‘out of context’)

The correct response would be: ‘a’
       A Hindi example may be seen.
  Din dūnā, rāt caugunā – (‘twice in the day time and four times in the night time’)

a)      jyādā kām k«rna (‘to work more’)
b)      tēj unn«ti k«rna (‘to improvise oneself fast’)
c)      din mē k«m, rāt mē jyādā (‘less during day time and more during night time’)
d)      tēj «v«n«ti k«enā (‘to spoil oneself fast’)

The correct response would be: ‘b’

(iv) A fourth way of testing vocabulary is to present a pair of words followed by three or four pairs of words, out of which only one will be having the same analogy as the initial item. Such item should be marked as correct.

            For example in Telugu :

                        cet*t*u – kāya (‘tree – fruit’)
a)      dīpam – velugu (‘lamp –light’)
b)        mogga – puvvu (‘bud – flower’
)c)      āvu - dūd)a – (‘.cow – calf’)
d)      candrud)u – vebbela (‘moon – moonlight’)

The correct response would be : ‘c’
The same example may be seen in Hindi

            pēd) - ph«l (‘tree – fruit’)

a)      b«tti – pr«kas (‘lamp – light’)
b)      gāi – b«chd)a (‘cow – calf’)
c)      cã̃d – cāndni (moon – moonlight’)
d)      ph«l – phūl (‘fruit – flower’)

The correct response would be: ‘b’

Testing of Listening Skill: Structure

            (i) One way of testing ‘structure’ under listening skill would be to give a sentence in the target language and ask the learner to indicate where the mistake is, if any.

            For example in Telugu:
                        krūrajantuwulatō calagātād)ad)am pramōdakaram(playing with wild animals is entertaining)
The learner has to indicate the suffix of the first word which is underlined in the above example.

(ii) A second way of testing structure is to give a sentence containing a mistake and provide three or four choices out of which only one if substituted in the place of the wrong word in the given sentence becomes correct. The learner has to choose the correct item in the choices given.

    For example in Telugu:
ā pustakam nālō mahattaramaina parimān,ānni kaligincindi

            (That book brought a great volume in me)           a)      pramān,ānni (‘measure’)

b)      parin,āmānni (‘change’)

c)      anumānānni (‘suspicion’)

d)      No change

    The correct response would be: ‘b’

    A Hindi example may be seen:

            «merikā jāne kā «v«s«r us ādmī mē b«hut pariv«rtan huā

(‘The opportunity of going to America brought a lot of change in him’)

a)      «s«r (‘effect’)

b)      n«tīja (‘result’)

c)      ph«l  (‘result’)

d)      No change

    The correct response would be: ‘a’

(iii) A third way of testing ‘structure’ is to give a jumble of words which in the given order do not make sense and ask the learner to arrange them in a sequential order so that a meaningful sentence is formed.

            For example in Telugu :

                        pustakam      manic       cadiwaēnu       ninna       nēnu

                          ‘book’        ‘good’           ‘read’        ‘yesterday’    ‘I’             The correct response would be:

                        nēnu       ninna      manci     pustakam    cadiwaēnu
                          (I      yesterday    good          book            read
                          -I read a good book yesterday)

Let us look at the following example in Hindi :

v«h      yuvatī    c«r,hī      rēl kī gād)ī  p«r

'that’    ‘lady’   ‘got into’      ‘train’     ‘on’

The correct response would be:

v«h     yuvatī    rēl kī gādī p«r    cer,hī

‘that’    ‘lady’       ‘train’    ‘on’  ‘got into’

-         ‘that lady got into the train’

Testing of Listening skill :Comprehension

(i) The simplest way of testing listening comprehension in the target language would be to give simple oral instructions to the learner and ask him to perform the task.

 For example in Telugu :

talupu  tiyyi (‘open the door’)

kāfī tāgu (‘drink coffee’)

pustakam tīsukurā (‘bring the book’)

kurcīlō kūrcō (‘sit in thechiar’)

In Hindi, following kinds of instruction may be given :

d«rwāza khōlō (‘open the door’)

kāfī tāgu (‘bring the book’)

cāi piō (‘drink tes’)

tēj c«lō (‘walk fast’)

(ii) A little difficult or complex way of testing listening comprehension would be to narrate a small story or dialogue in the target language followed by some simple statements which may be true or false. The learner has to indicate whether these statements are right or wrong.

For example in Telugu :
Instruction : - Listen carefully to the following passage. Please note that youhave to indicate whether the statements given after the passage are True/False or Right/Wrong.
ivannī enduku ? mīru emanukōnd)i, okondukainā pāta rōjulu bāgunt*āyi nāku. appudu pus,palāvikala und)ēwāru. ippud)u lērā ant*ē, unnāru, lēru kūda. appa)t*ilāntiwāru mātram lēru. Ewaru ceppāēru magāllani  pūvvulammadam anta takkuva pani k)ādappud)u.
pūvvulamme angal,l,allō pullalammē gati pattindani  ūrike analēdu manavāl,lu ! ewarewarō
ekkadekkadik))ō vel,li ewēwō pūvulu erō, tumpō tecci, ellāgellāgo dandal)ō guttulō ērparaci mana mogāna pāravēyad)amantē. ē cet*t*unu,  ē tiganu elāga twaragā pūvulu tod)igincāli? aveppudu elāga ewaru koyyāli? avi wādakund)a elāga unt*āyi? evvarikēwi kāwali? idantā teliyali appati pus,palāvikalaku.

Instructions :- Indicate whether the following statements are True/False or Right/Wrong

 Based on the passage you have just listened to.
1.      racayita uddesamlō pūrvakālamlō andarū pūvulammēwāru.
2. pūvulammadam cāla udātamainadi, endukant*e manawāllu pūrwamu alāanukonēwāru.
3. recayita ceppinadāni prakāram pūvulammēwal,l,aki pūvula andam, vāsanāced)akund)a uncālani bāga telusu.
4. ‘pus,palāvikalu’ ant*ē pūvulu dand)a guccēwallu.

The correct answers for the above statements would be False, True, True and False respectively.
Let us look at an example from Hindi :
Instruction :- Listen carefully to the following passage. Please note that you have to Indicate whether the statements given after the passage are True/False or  Right/Wrong.

sēt*hī ne jīvan mē ēk cīj rupayē kō  pahcāna thā. rupayē kī cāh me usnē din kō din aur rāt ko rāt na samajha thā. āj vah lakhpati hε. apnīkamāyī kē bal per badī se badī kampaniyō̃mē uskē hisse hE). jēb me padī impīrial baink kī cār «ngul caudī cek buk par kuch ank likhkar dastkhat kar dēnē sē vah kya nahī kar saktā? lēkin is bīc rupayē sē kyā nahī kar saktā? lēkin is bīc rupayē kē atirikt usne kyā pāyā?. . . . rupayē sē kyā nahī pāyā ja saktā? set*hī kē saikad)ō̃ sambandhī jinhe vah pahcāntā nahĩsamajhtā, uskē nām sē apnā paracai dete hE). snēh sē bhara hrudai lēkar uskī *r daud)tē hE). sammān kī uskēlie kamī nahĩ hε. ājanaitik aur sāmājik samsthāē usē apnā samrakshak aur sabhāpati banāne kelie vyākul hE) parantu is sab sē usē kyā miltā hE)?

Instructions :- Indicate whether the following statements are True/False or Right/Wrong based on the passage you have listened to just now.

1.      sēt*hī nē paisa kamānē kelie ratō̃din kām kiya.
2.      sēt*hī kēlakhpati hōnē kē bād uskē sagē sambandhī dus,man ban gayē.
3.      sēt*hī ne paise kē aslī mahattā ko nahī pahcāna.
4.      sēt*hī kā sammān bahut kam thā.
The correct answers for the above statements would be True, False, True andFalse respectively
(iii) An extension of the above type of exercise would become a little more complex by asking simple questions based upon the story/dialogue/passage and providing simple answers (may be right or may be wrong) and asking the learner to indicate whether the answers provided are right or wrong.

For example in Telugu :

Instructions :- Listen to the following passage carefully and please note that you have to indicate whether the answers given to the questions given after the passage are ‘True or False’ or ‘Right or Wrong’ based upon the passage listened to by you.

Passage : oka dhanikudu oka kamsāli daggara nagalu ceyyamani konta d)abbu iccāēdu. nagalu tayārayyayi. dhanikud)u ataniki inkā enimidi wandalu ivvavalasi vaccindi. “vaccē managalawārmnādu nā tammud)itō enimadi wandalu pamputānu. mīru ataniki nagalicci pampand)i” ani āyana annāda. “mī tammun,n,i nēnu cruganu (nāku teliyadu)” annādu  kamsāliwādu. “d)abbu testād)u gadā? adē mīku gurtu” annād)u dhanikud)u.

ī sambhās,ana vinna oka mōsagād)u mangalawāram udayamē enimidi wandalu tecci icci, nagalu ad)igāēd)u. aite dhanikud)u somawāram sāyankalamē d)abbu icci nagalu pat*t*ukupōyinanduna kamsāliki mōsam ardhamayyindi. atanu enimidi wandalu tīsukoni,

lōpala wunna gilt*u nagalu konni tecci mosagādiki icci pampēsāēdu.

 Instructions :- Indicate whether the answers to the questions given are True/False or Right/Wrong.
Qn. 1 :- ewaru ewariki d)abbu iccāēru?
 Ans.   : kamsāli dhanikud)iki d)abbu iccāēdu.

Qn. 2 :- kamsaliki dhanikud?i tammud?u telusa?
Ans. : kamsaliki dhanikud?i tammud?u telidu.

Qn. 3 :- mosagad?u nagalu eppud?u tisukannad?u.
Ans. : mosagad?u nagalu somawaram tisukunnad?u.

Qn. 4 :- dhanikud?iki e nagalu dorikaeyi?
Ans. : dhanikud?iki giltu nagalu dorikaeyi.

The answers to the above questions are False, True, False and False respectively.

Let us look at an example from Hindi :

Instructions :- Listen to the following passage carefully and please note that you have to
indicate whether the answers given to the questions given after the
passage are 'True or False' or Right or Wrong' based upon the passage
listened to by you.

Passage : dulari ne muskarakar sir nica kar liya. dulari rajmata panna ke pita ki jamindari me? rahne wali vesya thi. uske sath hi kitni bar jhule-hind?ole apne bacpan me? panna jhul cuki thi. vah bacpan se hi gane me? surili thi. sundari hone par cancal bhi thi. panna jab kasiraj ki mata thi, tab dulari kasi ki prasidh ganewali thi. rajmahal me? uska gana-bajana hua hi karta. maharaj balwantsingh ke samay se hi sangit panna ke jiwan ka atyavasyak ams tha. ha?, tab prem dukh aur dard bhari virah kalpana ke git ki #r "dhik ruci thi. ab satwik bhavpurn bhajan hota tha. rajmata panna ka vaidhavya se dipt sant much mandal kuch malin ho gaya.
Instructions :- Indicate whether the answers to the questions given are 'True/False' or
Right/Wrong'.
Qn. 1 :- dulari kiski larki thi?
Ans. : dulari vesya ki larki thi.

Qn. 2 :- panna kaisi thi?
Ans. : panna sundari hone par cancal bhi thi.

Qn. 3 :- dulari koun thi?
Ans. : dulari kasi ki prasidh ganewali thi.

Qn. 4 :- rajmahal me kiska gana bajana hua karta tha?
Ans. :- rajmahal me panna ka gana bajana hua karta tha.

The correct answers for the above would be True, False, True and False respectively.
(iv) Testing of listening comprehension at a slightly higher degree of difficulty would be to provide a small passage/narration for listening and ask the learner to draw conclusions and/or inferences.


TESTING OF SPEAKING SKILL

It is no doubt true that in language teaching particularly in the second/foreign language teaching, primary importance is assigned to the spoken skills viz., listening and speaking. The audio-lingual approach to language teaching specifically emphasizes the importance of developing proficiency in the spoken skills, te argument being the second/foreign language to the mastery over the written language.

As the language learnt in a second or foreign language teaching situation is alien to the learners' native language, it is but natural that the learners require considerable amount of time to attain optimum degree of proficiency in speaking. The learners come across problems like pronunciation (sounds, words etc.,), giving proper pauses between words, phrases, clauses etc., giving appropriate stress and intonation etc.

Although speaking is one of the four major language skills, it is not as easy as the other language skills are for testing purposes. It may even be said that testing of speaking skill is the most difficult exercise. The difficulty in testing of speaking skill is (to a very large extent) due to the basic nature of spoken responses and the unreliability in the administration of tests and scoring. Apart from this the testing of speaking skill requires additional facilities like tape recorders etc., and it also involves a lot of time for the examinees to evaluate the performance in speaking of each and every learner.

In the context of the Indian situation it is needless to mention tat the economy does not permit all the teaching organizations to possess such equipments.Wherever the facilities of such equipments are available, speaking tests to a certain degree of satisfaction could be conducted, the methodology of which is discussed below. But in most cases it is not possible even to do this much except that in the final examination, the viva-voce could be held. The advantages and disadvantages of such oral tests and the methodology involved is also discussed hereunder.

Instead of conducting speaking tests separately it is advisable to restrict the observation of the teacher in the class room as well as in the language laboratory for evaluating the speaking ability of language learners. The large variety of drills viz., phonetic drills, structure drills, conversations, dialogues, narrations and the learner's oral responses to simple oral questions administered in the class room and the language laboratory will be useful for testing the speaking skills.

It is not possible for the class room teacher to be able to repeatedly administer the standard speaking tests if any to each learner and evaluate every individual's responses. However, if such tests are administered in the sense that it does not require as much time in the laboratory as it is necessary for administering them to each individual learner in a class room situation. Even then the constraints and difficulties in scoring will still remain.

Analysis of the pronunciation problems:
Through the process of contrastive analysis of the sounds in source language and target language, the possible problem areas of sounds in the target language for the learner could be arrived at. The same forms a better and more reliable basis for testing purposes.Problems of pronunciation, intonation etc. to a great extent can be traced to differences between the source language and target language whereby each mothertongue group will have a set of problems. This factor becomes more crucial and significant if the group of learners possess varied language backgrounds and various mothertonges. Thus the Hindi speakers learning Telugu or Kannada will possess one set of problem areas in pronunciation whereas Tamil speakers learning Telugu or Kannada will have separate set of problems.This feature is one of the most important ones that makes the task of testing speaking skill all the more difficult.

The speaking tests must include all instances where the learners are likely to transfer the source language habits to target language in addition to the areas of listening discrimination. Apart from this, another factor that plays a very important role is that the areas of absent categories in the source language give ample scope for the test maker i.e., the sound discriminations which are marked in target language may not be available in source language. For instance, Hindi speakers learning Telugu will find it extremely difficult to distinguish and differentiate the vowel / e / and / æ / or / e / and / e / all of which are phonemic in Telugu and only / e / is phonemic in Hindi. Such instances are what are called the problems of distribution.Needless to say that the intonation and stress etc., (rhythm) in any language play a very important role in communication. Therefore they must also find appropriate places in the speaking tests.

Pronunciation Test :
The examiner's concern in the pronunciation test would be to evaluate the production of (segments) both vowels and consonants in the target language. In order to ensure that the pronunciation tests stimulate the natural use of language, the phonemes in question are incorporated into vowels, phrases, clauses, sentences etc.By the very characteristic of test reliability, the examiner should ensure that he listens to only one aspects of each sentence or phrase. Normally it is suggested that the key sound appears atleast twice in the test items, taking into consideration the fact that learners sometimes successfully pronounce a sound correctly on one occasion and incorrectly on another. The test should not give any kind of clue to the learner as to which sound is aimed at testing though the learner knows that it is his speaking skill that is being tested. Following are some of the ways in which the learner could be induced to utter the desired word, phrase or sentence.

1. Mimicry :
The learner is asked to repeat the utterance given by the teacher/examiner as a model. See the following Telugu sentence:

ewaru ekkad?a enni manci panulu cesina emi labham ledu.

(whenever may do any number of good things anywhere, there would be no benefit)

In this item, the teacher would be concerned about the production of only / e / and nothing else.

Instead of sentences as illustrated above, words or phrases or clauses wherein the segment for testing occurs twice or more times may be given.

2. Memorization :
The learner may be asked to narrate a short story, recite a poem, or involve himself in a conversation either with the teacher himself or another student. In such cases, the teacher/examiner will have prepared a control version of the material as a guide for scoring. It must however be ensured that the same sounds are aimed at testing even in case of a dialogue/conversation that may be undertaken by two learners.

For example, observe the following conversation in Telugu:

a) ayana ewaru?

b) ayana adises?ayya.

c) ame d?akt?ara?

d) ame d?akt?aru kadu, kampound?aru.

The underlined items in this conversation viz., the vowel segment / a / is the item for testing.
In the scoring of a dialogue, teacher/examiner must establish parallel grading systems. Both the learners should be graded on the same sounds through their occurrence may appear in different sequences.

3. Oral Responses:
One of the items that could be included under this category are the pattern drills as already mentioned. It is generally argued that only very familiar patterns should be used for testing purposes as the examiner must ensure that the backward learners are not disadvantaged. Such items need not be designated as pronunciation tests.

Observe the following example in Telugu:

Question: (Teacher) nuvvu repu e pustakam testawu?
('which book would you bring tomorrow?')

Answer: (Learner) nenu repu e pustakam testano nake telidu.
- - - -
('I do not know myself as to which book I will bring tomorrow')

In the above example, the item aimed at for testing is / e /. (Which is underlined in the learner's response above).

A second way of testing pronunciation would be to give a completion item and ask the learner to fill in the blank with a suitable word to complete the sentence. The construction of such items is a little difficult in the sense that the test maker should ensure that no word appearing in the stem should fit into the blank space. It should also be ensured by the test maker that the word that is expected from the learner should contain the sound aimed at testing. Such items will eliminate the simple imitation or mimcry, thereby making the learner attempt to produce a sound on his own.

For example in Telugu:

ma uru n"r"sapur

In the above example the sound aimed at testing is / " /.

The ability of a language learner in pronunciation could also be tested by making the learner read simple written passages orally. Such loud reading would enable the examiner to mark off the incorrect pronunciation the data of which could be utilized for the development of remidial lessons in case the test is not final. Such items will not however ensure the testing of one or few selected sounds only but the segments that appear in the paragraph will have to be looked at and only those segments which are difficult or problematic for the learners should be taken into consideration. It is for this reason that making of pronunciation tests on these lines while is difficult, it is also not advisable from the point of view of validity and reliability.

The paragraphs or passages given for oral reading for this purpose could be of two varieties viz.

1. Familiar passages
2. Unfamiliar passages

The learners or the examinees might find it a little easy to produce the sounds Appearing in the familiar passage as by the time they are tested through such passage they would have had the opportunity of reading them before. It is therefore, desirable to give unfamiliar passages in the case of atleast the final testing.Scholars have argued that there can be another way of testing pronunciation by giving a series of picture cards arranged in sequences and asking the learners to narrate a small story or event as the case may be during the course of which pronunciation could be tested. As it has already been mentioned above stress and intonation play a very important role in language learning. With a little change in intonation, it is quite possible to change the entire meaning. It is therefore, quite essential to ensure that the language learners adopt proper intonation and stress patterns in the target language so that the communicative competence of learners is adequate enough.For the purpose of testing intonation and stress etc., the same lines as mentioned in the case of testing pronunciation could very well be adopted and this aspect of speaking ability can be properly taken care of under the testing of speaking skills.

Needless to say that every language possesses its own typical intonation patterns. It is also a known factor that in the case of second or foreign language learning, the learners tend to transfer the patterns of the native language to the target language, during the course of instruction. Necessary drills are provided to avoid such transfers in the instructional materials. It is but natural to test these aspects also in the case of second or foreign language learning. Normally the dialogue approach is recommended for testing of intonation as the learners usually acquire correct conversational intonation particularly in the conversational method of language teaching.Testing of stress is more crucial in the case of stress timed languages than the syllable timed languages. English is a stress timed language, whereas most of the Indian languages are syllable timed. However, the word stress seems to be a matter of concern though not of serious nature even in the case of Indian languages. The reason is that the meaning of a sentence may vary depending upon which particular word is stressed.

For example in Telugu:
"madhavi sykil nercukuntonda?" can be interpreted as

a) Is it Madhavi that is learning cycling ? .or
b) Is Madhavi learning cycling?

Te stress aspect can also be tested by adopting the same question types as have been indicated under testing of pronunciation above. Once the language learners attain fairly adequate proficiency in reading, the speaking skill should be tested by providing written tests of pronunciation, intonation and stress etc. One important aspect of testing speaking skill is the accuracy, ease and proficiency of speaking. For this purpose, normally the direct speaking tests are administered. In the case of direct speaking tests the range of correct responses is very narrowly defined and thereby the evaluation of the learner's performance can be made more objectively. Under accuracy, the aspects for evaluation would be those of appropriate vocabulary and syntax. Pronunciation enters into evaluation only if it conveys the meaning of the purpose. For the direct speaking tests, it is not necessary to make any fresh tests. All the varieties of drills administered in the class room can be made use of starting from repetition to manipulation covering therein the substitution - single slot, multiple slot and mixed substitution, transformations including negation, interrogation, passivization, relativization etc., and also simple question answer drills. The other varieties of drills like the expansion drills can also be made use of for testing the speaking skill by providing the written tests for testing of speaking skills is that the former usually contain illustrations for each variety of drills whereas the later do not contain examples or illustrations.

Another way of testing the speaking skill in the target language is the process of simple translation from the source language to the target language. Translation is not included under the testing of speaking skills at the primary or initial stages of language learning; but it is possible only at slightly higher level of language instruction or language learning.

Some other simple varieties of speaking tests are talked about particularly in the case of primary level of language instruction like the picture writing etc. They are however of very little significance.

As it was mentioned above, the conditions in the Indian context do not permit to conduct tests in the speaking skill frequently during the course of language instruction. However, the oral tests or the viva-voce are conducted twice or thrice a year and the validity and reliability of such tests is highly questionable as neither the test items are usually made as per the specifications and principles of test making nor the scoring. It is only the subjective or the impressionistic evaluation that the examiner does and it is therefore, of very little value from reliability and validity points of view.

TESTING OF READING SKILL

Reading is one of the four major language skills and is classified under the receptive skills. This particular skill plays a very important role particularly in the second or foreign language teaching. The trend of modern language teaching is to see that the learners master proficiency over the spoken language. It may be observed that the modern day writing whether fiction or short stories or even the text books is found in the spoken language.

Reading is a skill that necessitates the learner's familiarity with structure and vocabulary of target language. The wider the spectrum of structures that a learner possesses and the richer his vocabulary is, the easier reading and understanding of the printed material in the target language would be. Between the two aspects of structure and vocabulary, structure is more important from the learner's point of view as the meanings of unfamiliar words could be found in a dictionary. Without a proper understanding of the structure it will not be possible for the learner to read the material is about. Therefore, under the testing of reading skill the two major types of test items for evaluation would be the vocabulary and structures.

Among the four language skills, the reading skill is unique in the sense that it involves the visual perception on the part of the learner. The second or foreign language learner must be in a position to be familiar with the characters of the target language. The uniqueness of the reading skill can be separated from listening, speaking and writing by the establishment of typical characteristic feature viz., the speed in reading. One of the goals of second or foreign language instruction is to enable the learner to read the printed page in that language with ease and as rapidly as possible. It is generally argued that speed in reading could be attained if a learner is fluent in speaking and finds it easy to listen and understand the target language.

Thus it may be said that in reading comprehension, learner's familiarity with structure possession of a passive vocabulary, accurate visual perception and speed play important roles. It is a known factor that not all learners can attain the same proficiency in reading comprehension leave alone the target language even in their native languages.

As already mentioned the present day language teaching technology argues in favour of the development of a mastery over the
spoken language before the written variety is presented. The audio-lingual approach to language teaching emphasises more on the spoken skills in the initial stages and it is only at a later stage that the written skills are taken care of. This being the case, when the learners are introduced to reading even after their mastery over the spoken skills, they have to link up the spoken sounds to the written symbols. If the they must be mastered during a period of pre-reading instruction. For instance, if a Kannada or Telugu language speaker attempts to learn Urdu, the script systems of which have different directions of writing, the pre-reading period requires a lot of effort on the part of the learner. It is therefore, necessary that the learners are led from quick recognition of well known patterns to the slow decipherment, puzzling codes which arise due to the differences in writing system. In the primary or the initial levels of language instruction after the script is introduced various varieties of reading tests. The reading tests may be categorized and graded tentatively as follows:

1. Identification
2. Discrimination
1. Identification : The teacher or examiner by using a number of flash cards or by writing different characters on the black board will ask the learner to identify and indicate what the character is like and is expected to relate the character with the corresponding oral sound.

2. Discrimination : As far as discrimination is concerned, there are a number of ways in which this factor could be taken care of.a) Discrimination of letter among letters:

For example :(Kannada) -Ç·Èå -  Ê·å Á¿·µå Ç·Èå Á
(Hindi) -¾Ö- ²Ö �ú  ²Ö ¾Ö
From the above example it may be noticed that the language learner is expected to look at the clue item and then mark off that item among the choices given against that item (the underlined item is correct and examinee is expected to mark off that item).

b) Letter among words :
One letter is given as a cue item and against that some words each of which contain the cue letter are given. The examinee is expected to mark off the cue letter in the words given against each. The cue letter might appear either in the initial position of the word or the medial or final positions

For example:
(Kannada) -  ÜÈå -  ŠÜÈåâåê, ÜÈåÄå¼å, ÇÈðîéÒÜÈå 
(Hindi) -         “Ö»Ö, †“Ö»Ö, †ÖÓ“Ö»Ö

The examinee is expected to mark off all the underlined items as indicated.

c) Word among words:
A third variety of the visual discrimination test could be the word among words. In this type of test items the cue will be a word and against the cue three or four resembling words are given, among which only one will be exactly the same as the cue word. The examinee is expected to mark off the cue word among the choices given against it.

For example :

(Kannada) -              Ôåìæ´µåê         Ôðëé´µå, Ôåê´µå’ð, Ôåìæ´µåê
(Hindi) -                      •Ö»Ö          •ÖÖ»Ö, •Ö»Ö, �úÖ•Ö»Ö

The underlined items are the correct ones which are to be marked off by the examinees.

d) Part of word among words: In this type of test items the learner is expected to look at the cue and mark off that portion among all the words given against it.

 (Kannada) -              ¦²ìåê                Õ¦²ìåê, ƒÇÈ妲ìåê, ÜÈå�¦²ìåê
(Hindi) -                    “Ö»Ö                 †“Ö»Ö, †ÖÓ“Ö»Ö, “ÖÓ“Ö»Ö

The examinee is expected to mark off all the underlined items as indicated.

e) Word in phrases, clauses or sentences : This type of items involve the marking of the word in the clause or phrase or the sentence given against each. The learner has to very cautiously choose only that mush portion and mark it off exactly and accurately in the item given against it. It is possible that the word may appear more than once in the sentence given.

(Kannada) -          ¼å�Áµð                        ÄåÔåêÍ ¼å�Áµð˜µð ˆ® ¼å�Áµð
(Hindi) -                “Ö»Ö         ¾ÖÆü †ÖÓ“Ö»Ö, †Öêœü�ú¸ “ÖÓ“Ö»ÖŸÖÖ ÃÖê “Ö»Ö ¸üÆüß Æîü…ü

The examinee is expected to mark the underlined items as indicated above.

f) Pictures to words: This kind of test items requires the identification of a printed word corresponding to a familiar picture. In such cases the learner must be familiar with the word indicated by the picture. At the same time the incorrect choices.

For example :

(Telugu)            -                      a) illu                ( ‘house’ )

                                                b) mēd)a           ( ‘bungalow’ )

                                                c) pāka             ( ‘hut’ )

(Hindi)              -           a) g«hr             ( ‘house’)

                                                b) m«kān         ( ‘bungalow’ )

                                                c) jhō̃pd)ī        ( ‘hut’ )
The correct response would be: ' a '

g) The kind of test items described in ( f ) can be reversed and the learner may be asked to relate the spoken word to the spoken word to the printed words. In this type of test the teacher or the examiner will give an oral cue and ask the learner to mark of that spoken word among the choices given on the printed page. This type of testing is particularly justified as the spoken skills are taught first and naturally the teacher would like to measure the facility with which students can relate the spoken words to their corresponding written forms.

For example :

Telugu -

a) grant?nam
b) pustakam
c) kagitam

Hindi -


a) gr"nth
b) pust"k
c) kagaj

The correct responses would be: 'b'

READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

The reading comprehension tests can be of different levels. They may be vocabulary tests, simple comprehension tests involving multiple choice questions, true-false items, completion items, items requiring logical inferences, simple question answer items etc.Among the above types of reading tests there have been serious criticisms about the vocabulary tests. Valette argues that it is particularly inadvisable to reinforce the dangerous tendency to establish word for word equivalents between the source language in the vocabulary test items. Similarly Brooks has critised this type of tests in a test review appearing in the sixth edition of Mental Measurements Year Book that matching of isolated words in the manner of bi-lingual dictionary is one of the pedagogical misdeeds which early levels of language teaching and testing cannot too soon renounce. However, without giving serious considerations for such criticisms the vocabulary tests can be constructed by making use of only the target language without any use of the source language. Depending upon the teaching method adopted, the construction of such tests. In such cases tests would be free of criticisms as mentioned above.

a) Vocabulary Test:

Vocabulary tests can be of various types viz.,

a) Synonyms or Homonyms
b) Antonyms
c) Analogies

(a) Synoyms or Homonyms :

In this type of item a cue word is given against which three words are provided. Or a context defining the particular meaning of the word may be provided, out of which only one is either exactly the same or nearest to the cue word. The learner is expected to mark off such an item in the choices given.

For example in Telugu:

parasuramapriti
a) agnipramadam
b) naivedyam
c) parasurama devalayam
d) parsuramuni bharya

In the above example it may be seen that the first choice is the correct meaning of
the cue word and the rest of the items though appear to be related are far away from the cue word.

A Hindi example may be seen:

sriganes? k"rna

a) m"ndir me? sriganes? ki puja k"rna
b) kisi subh kary ka prar"mbh k"rna
c) kisi subh kary ki purti k"rna

The correct answer would be: 'b'

(b) Antonyms ;

In this type of items a cue word is given which is again followed by three or four words out of which only one is exactly the opposite to the cue word and the rest of the choices may or may not be related to the cue word.
Look at the following example in Telugu:
mamsaharam ( 'non-vegetarian food')

a) apakwaharam ('unriped food')
b) sQ"kaharam ('vegetarian food')
c) palaharam ('snacks')

In the above example, it may be seen that the second choice given is exactly the
opposite to the cue word and the rest of the words tough appear to be related have very little relation to the cue word.

An example from Hindi may be seen:
a?khe? l"d jana

a) a?khe? car ho jana
b) ek dusre se pyar k"rna
c) ek dusre se l"dna

The correct antonym is : 'c'

( c ) Analogies :

In this type of items a pair of related words are given. One of the choices will have the same analogy as the pair of words given in the cue item. Te learner is expected to mark off such an item in the choices leaving the rest of them aside.

For example in Telugu:

bhas?a - sahityam ('language - literature')

a) n"t?"n" - nrit?y"m ('action-dance')
b) sw"r"m - s"ngit"m ('musical tone - music')
c) b"nti - at" ('ball-play')
d) n"di - ita ('river - swimming')

From this example it may be seen that only the second choice viz., 'b' has exactly
that type of relation between the two words as the pair of words in the cue item has. Therefore 'b' is the correct answer and the rest of tem are incorrect.

The same example in Hindi may be seen:
bhas?a - sahity ('language - literature')

a) nacna - nac ('dancing - dance')
b) sw"r - sangit ('musical tone - music')
c) ge?d - khel ('ball - play')
d) n"di -tairna ('revier - swimming')
The correct answer is 'b'
In reading comprehension tests, passages of varied degrees of difficulty depending upon the degree of proficiency that a learner has attained are given followed by a series of questions which may be of multiple choice type, true-false type, simple question answer type or questions involving inferences. Following is an example containing multiple choice type of questions.

Instructions:- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given after
the passage.

Passage in Telugu :

"Kat?nala samasyane tisukundem. i samasyaku ardhika punadi emiti? enduceta strilu purus?ulaki d?abbu ivvavalasi vastondi ?" ane prasnalni samskarta pattincukodu. "kat?nalu ivvad?am awamanam. tisukovadam nicam" ani tana vagdhoranilo yuvatiyuwkaulaku bodhincad?u. prarambhistaru. a upanyasalu vinna okaro iddaro ayana mat?alaku prabhavitulawutaru. a utsaham upulo kat?nalu tisukokund?a pel?l?il?l?u ceskuntaru. Kani ware nityam bharyavepu custu- - -
"hu! nenu kabatti kat?nam tisukokund?a ninnu cesukunnanu, cudu, enta tyagam cesaeno !" annat?t?u custu unt?aru. ika a daubhagypu bharya "nijamenandi! miru cala goppaware. andarumi gurince ceppukunt?aru" ani pratikshanam krutagnatabharamto vongi guni kuda teccukunt?undi. samajamlo paristitule 'kat?nam' ane paddhatiki tawu ivvani vidhamga und?alegani samajam kat?nalicci puccukue stitilonewundi, kondaru vyaktulu matram danni pattincananta matrana mottam samajamlo samasya paris?karam kadu. samkarta bodhanalavalla intakanna ekkuvem jaragadu".

Instructions:- Answer the following questions based upon the passage you have read just
now.

1. ikkad?a racayita pradhanamga ceppadalcukunnadi

a) kat?nalu tisukovaccunani
b) kat?nalu tisukokud?adani
c) sas?karanadwara kat?nala samasya paris?karam awuundani
d) samajanni marcad?amdwara karnala samasya paris?karam awutundani

2. i khand?ika racayita

a) vyaktulu maralani bodhistunnaru
b) samajamlo marpuni bodhistunnaru

c) sams?karanalanu samardhistnnaru
d) kat?nalanu samardhistunnaru

3. racayita drus?t?ilo kondaru yuvakulu kat?nalu tisukokund?a pel?l?i cesukowad?aniki
karan?am-

a) kirti kosam
b) kat?nala samasyanu paris?karincalani
c) desoddharan?akosam
d) peda kutumbalani uddharincalani

4. samskartala prayatnalu enduku viphalam avutayant?e-

a) prajalu tod?pad?akapovat?mvalla
b) prabhutwa sahayam lekapovad?amvalla
c) ardhika karan?alanu gurtimpakapovad?amvalla
d) samskara goppatananni prajula gurtimpakapovad?amvalla

The correct answers for the above questions would be d, b, a and c respectively.

Let us look at an example from Hindi :

Instructions:- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given after
the passage.

ga?v ma ke saman he. s"h"r patni ki tareh ati priy he. khana khilana, god me? sulana - ma ki t"r"h bahut lad-pyar ke sath palti he ga?v. akarsit karna, har dam aves? ke sath kampit karna - jor se hila deti he s"h"r. "mujhe kya hoga" k"hti he ga?v. "mujhe kya hoga" k"hti he s"h"r. itna hi nahi, ga?v ghare!u jaisa "pnap"n l"gaye rakhti he. s"h"r me!e ki terah, ek bajar ki thr"h r"hti he ga?v me? mausam asani se ma!um ho jate hE). -garmi, vars?a, ca?dni. vagair"h bilkul sp"s?t. s"h"r kelle koi maus"m nahi. islie s"h"r ke ped?-paudhe, jiv-jentu, fike aur kamjor rahte hE) jaise udasin"ta ke sath j"ng"l me? rahte he. s"h"r me? caro~ admio~ ke bic me? bhi akelap"n m"hsus karte hE). ga?v me? admi, ped?-paudhe, jiv-j"ntu - sab ek hi pariwar ke jaise rahte hE).

Instructions:- Answer the following questions based upon the passage you have readjust
now.

1. lekhak ki drust?i me? ga?v me? mausam inki vajah se malum padte hE)
a) kalender
b) prakruti me? p"rivart"n

c) purohit ke kahne se
b) bad?o~ ke socne per

2. lekhak ki drust?I me?

a) ga?vwalo~kelie akelap"n jyada mahsus hota he
b) s"h"r me? akelap"n nahi hota
c) ga?v me? akelap"n nahi hota
d) ga?v aur s"h"ro~ me? bhi akelap"n mahsus hota he

3. lekhak ke y"h kahne me? uddesy kya he : "s"h"r kelie maus"m nahi hote"

a) lekhak ko s"h"ro~ ke bare me? nahi malum he
b) s"haro~ me? ped-paudhe, jiv-jentu nahi hote
c) s"h"rwalo~ ko mausam ke bare me? dhyan dene ka s"m"y nahi he
d) s"har" me? pasu-paksi, ped-paudhe, adi ke sath jivankala dikhai nahi deta.

The correct answers for the above questions are b, c, and d respectively.

True False Items

The learners are asked to read a series of statements and mark them as True or False.

For example :

Kannada - 1) namma desakke pradha gandhi (F)
Telugu - 2) i samvatsarapu galiean"lo tamilnadu cala debba tindi (T)

Hindi - 3) n"ye pradhan mantri ne des bh"r me? darupine ki ad"t phaila di (F)

Logical InferencesIn this type of test items the learner is expected to read the key sentence and then select which of the sentences given under offer a logical explanation or a conclusion for the key sentences.

Look at the following example in English:
He goes to sleep a) He like candy
b) It's his favourite store
c) He is tired

Correct response: (He goes to sleep because he is tired)
It is necessary to discuss some of the important characteristics of the general reading comprehension tests. Tests of general reading comprehension tests. The overall technique is to provide a number of printed passages containing elements of grammar and lexicon which the learner would have come across during the course of instruction and to pose questions through which answers are elicited.

Following are some of the features that should be kept in mind both in the case of listening comprehension tests as well as the reading comprehension tests.

1. In the initial stages it is desirable to give the familiar passages to the learners for comprehension and at a later stage unfamiliar passages could be given. In both the cases it is advisable to include discourse patterns if any, which may be of some acquaintance to the learner.

2. A limited number of unfamiliar vocabulary items may be kept provided they do not play a crucial role in comprehending the major portions of the passages or in understanding the central idea of the passage.

3. The contents of the passage should not be familiar to the learner particularly in the case of unfamiliar passages, even though their knowledge is acquired from outside the class room.

4. The length of the passages and the number of comprehension questions must be restricted to the optimum degree and the examinees should not get an impression that either the passage or the questions are beyond their scope.

5. The writing of the items shall however, be in conformity with the basic procedures of item writing that have already been discussed.

In the coutext of testing reading, scholars have talked about the speed reading tests. Language tests in general can be broadly classified into two categories viz.

1. power tests
2. speed tests

1. Power Tests:In the power tests, items which are of difficult nature are arranged in order of difficulty and the learner is instructed to answer as manyquestions as possible in a fixed period of time. In these tests the basis for scoring would be mainly the accuracy of responses rather than the number of items answered by the learner.

2. Speed Tests:In the case of speed tests large number of test items are given, most of which are of comparable degree of difficulty and the learner is asked to answer as many questions as possible. The scoring in this case though depends upon the accuracy of response, is based mainly on the number of questions attempted by the learner.

TESTING OF WRITING SKILLWriting is one of the two productive skills that a learner is expected to achieve in order to ensure his communicative competence. The communicative competence of the learner should be tested in respect of both the productive skills viz. speaking and writing. The role of a language learner in the case of the receptive skills is passive, whereas it becomes very active in the case of productive skills. In writing and speaking the language learner is engaged in communicating his ideas and feelings. In the case of speaking a kind of give and take situation between the speaker and listener exists. In other words there is a possibility of discussion or exchange of thoughts and ideas between the speaker and the listener. But in the case of writing, he message communicated has a higher degree of finiteness and this skill requires real proficiency if the communication has to be effective. Before a learner attains a stage of being able to effectively communicate in the target language, he should have acquired sufficient mastery in its vocabulary and grammar. It is only than that the learner must make efforts to attain an optimum degree of precision of expression, fluency and style. It may, however, be mentioned that the initial stages of writing begins from the formulation of characters of the script of the target language ; if the script system of the target language is different from that of the source language. It is needless to mention that in the case of the second/foreign language learning, the script systems are normally different. Therefore, the testing of writing skill in the context of second/foreign language learning should begin from the formation of charcters to the testing of the learners' proficiency in expression, use of appropriate styles, vocabulary and accurate use of the structure of the target language.

PRE-WRITING TESTSThe first step for a second language learner in the case of mastering the writing skill is that he should be familiar with the graphemes of the target language. This becomes more important in the case of Indian languages each of which has a different writing system.The basic procedure of testing the aspect of character formation is simple copying in which the learner tries to reproduce the written model as closely as possible and at a slightly later stage, quick copying is undertaken in the process of which learner copies the material as fast as possible, while the legibility is maintained.

For the purpose of testing the learners' ability to form the written graphemes of the target language and their combination within the morpheme, word and other higher levels, it might be adequate to test the legibility aspect rather than the exact reproduction of a written stimulus. Such stimulus may be a word or a sentence or a small paragraph. A second way of testing this ability of a language learner is to dictate words or phrases in the target language and ask the learner to write them down. In order to constantly maintain the desirable reinforcement, dictation tests must be corrected on the spot and given back to the learners immediately.

Dictation involves the relation of the written symbol to the spoken sound. Thus while taking down dictation in the target language, the learner has to associate the sounds of that language to the corresponding written form. Dictation can be a strategy for testing the written skills at lower levels of language instruction. Scholars have argued that dictation cannot be more effective for testing of the writing skills in the case of advanced learners. This type of testing strategy requires the learner to possess accurate speech perception and its relation to the writing system. Inspite of the arguments in favour of and against dictation, it has its own merits. Most of the language teachers are convinced that the more dictation work is, the better the terminal achievement of the learners would be. Various types of dictations are possible.

PARTIAL OR SPOT DICTATION :In partial or spot dictation, each learner is given copy of a passage in which function words or even only prefixes and endings are left out. While the passage is read by the examiner or the teacher, the student has to fill in the blanks. Although such exercises require a lot of advance are :

1. They can be administered quickly and the scoring can be more objective.

2. The examiner or the teacher can test only the problem areas.

3. The learners need not waste time in writing words, phrases etc., that they have
already mastered.

PREPARED DICTATION :Prepared dictation is nothing but dictating a familiar or a known passage or a conversation or a dialogue. The learner would have had the opportunity of either listening or reading the piece during the course of language instruction that he may have undergone. This kind of dictations are normally recommended in the initial stages of the introduction of the writing skiil.If the teacher or the examiner wants to measure the learners' retention and familiarty with the patterns, each sentence should be read only once and at the normal speed. Such exercises have proved to be more effective in the case of older students.

PARAPHRASED DICTATION :In this type of exercise, the dictated material would be nothing but a gist of a dialogue or a selection that the learner is already familiar with. The dictated paraphrase will however contain only the familiar patterns and vocabulary that the student possesses, but the wording will not be exactly the same as contained in the original dialogue or the selection. For this reason, the validity of the test and its results would be greater in assessing the learners' language achievements than the prepared dictation.In this type of dictation, reading of each sentence is normally allowed once or twice at a normal speed.

DICTATION OF UNFAMILIAR MATERIAL :The dictation of a material unfamiliar to the language learner is usually preferred to the other types of dictation at the intermediate and advanced levels and they are considered to be more reliable and valid to measure the learners' skill in dictation. The following procedures are followed in giving such dictations.First, the whole passage is read at normal speed. Then the students are expected just to listen carefully and not to write. The passage is then read for a second time when each phrase is read at a time giving appropriate pauses during which the students are expected to write down what they have heard. The second dictation should be consistent and the teacher may read each phrases during which the students are expected to write down what they have heard. The second dictation should be consistent and the teacher may read each phrase once or twice. After the dictation of the passage is over, it is read finally again at a normal speed and the students are given a few minutes' time for the final revision. The teacher must ensure that no part of the passage is read at the request of the learner.In order to ensure consistency in reading and save the teacher's time etc., such dictations are recommended to be given through language laboratoay where such facilities exist. In this case the examiner must ensure that the students do not play the tape a second time.

PARTIAL SENTENCES :Partial sentence items necessitate the learner to complete the phrase given in the test. These items differ from the usual 'fill-in the blank' type of items in the following ways:The dictations of partial sentences may contain the use of both the target as well as the source languages, whereas the usual fill-in the blank type of items do not contain the use of both the languages.

For example in Telugu :

nenu padi gantalaku skuluku-

(jata hu? - Hindi (SL)
The learner is expected to fill in the blank
by using vel?tanu in Telugu.
An example from Hindi may be seen.
h"m h"r din d"ft"r se ??ec b"je-
(tirigi v"stamu - Telugu (SL)
The learner is expected to fill in the blank by
Using l)#t?tehE) in Hindi.

At the initial or elementary levels of language instructions it is desirable to avoid partial sentence items in which the verbs to be employed are given in the infinitive.
For example : (Telugu - TL)
nenu repu kafi----( tagu)
The learner is expected to fill in the blank
by writing tagutanu and not simply tagu.

A Hindi example may be seen.
v"h roj s?am ko (khel)
The learner is expected to fill in the blank with
kheltahE) and not simply khel.

Following are some of the types of partial sentences given for testing:

1) One of the ways in which this could be used is to have a blank only for a part of the word generally in the case of the verbs and ask the students to fill in the blank with appropriate parts of words.

Look at the following example: (Kannada - TL)

Rama pustakavannu odu ---
In the above example, the learner is expected to fill in the blank by writing tiddane.

2) Instead of leaving a part of a word blank it is also possible to give such test items leaving the whole words as blank and the learner is expected to fill in the appropriate word to maintain the accurate structure and proper meaning.

For example : (Telugu - TL)

__________ sinima custanu
In the above example the learner is expected to write 'nenu' in the blank.

Look at the following example : (Hindi - TL )
___________pani pita hu?
In the above example, the learner has to fill up the blank with me?
3) It is possible to give the completion items leaving phrase or clause blank, providing cue words by making use of which the phrase or clause that can fit into the blank can be made out by the learners and the blank filled in.

For example : (Telugu - TL)

nenu _________________________________________________________ cala
khar¯idainadi (caduwu, manci, pustakam) In the above example the examinee is expected to fill in the blank with cadiwina manci pustakam

Let us look at the following example in Hindi:
h"mari__________________b"hut acchi he.
(dekh, sinima)

The examinee is expected to fill in the blank with dekhi hui sinima.
Items of this type require some manipulation on the part of the learners.

DIRECTED SENTENCES :
One of the important aspects regarding the acquisition of the writing skill is the ability of a learner to write sentences as directed. Under this type of test items all the kinds of drills and exercises involving various types of substitutions and transformations can be made use of. This type of testing involving various sentence patterns should be dictated only after ensuring the learner's mastery of the patterns in the target language. The varieties of test items that can be included under this category are the same as the ones included under the vast variety of drills and exercise used in class room teaching.

In addition to these varieties, an effective way of testing writing skill may be by asking the learners to construct sentences from the cue words given. The cue words may contain nouns and pronouns in their nominative forms and the verbs in their infinitive forms.
For example : (Telugu - TL)

nenu, ramud?u, pustkam, konu.
nunu ramudiki/ramuniki pustakam konnanu/kontanu/
kontunnaanu would be the expected answer from the learner.

Let us look at an example from Hindi (TL)

madh"vi, bh"r"tanaty"m, k"ti, "chi
The learner is expected to write madh"i bhar"tanaty"m
"cchi t"r"h k"rti he

COMPOSITION :
It is at a higher l?evel of language instruction that writing composition becomes very important. While the writing of composition requires the leaner to assimilate and arrange his ideas in a sequential form, it also necessitates the learners' ability to use accurate structures and appropriate vocabulary. This also requires the student's ability to use the kind of style that is required to make the composition more effective and meaningful. Thus composition measures the learner's ability to organise his ideas, choose proper vocabulary and to formulate grammatically correct sentences. While the composition tests the learner's ability of using accurate structures and appropriate vocabulary, it also tests the learner's communicative competence in the target language by examining the sequence of thoughts and ideas and the use of style in composition.

There are mainly two types of compositions normally talked of viz.

1. Guided Composition
2. Free Composition

1. GUIDED COMPOSITION :
In the guided composition the examiner gives a number of words to be made use of by the student in a sequential order and produce a passage or a paragraph arranging the ideas in a proper sequence, the hints of which can be obtained from the way in which the words are given. Diagrams or pictures, cartoon strips, phrase and/or structural patterns could also be used for providing guidance to the examinee to produce a guided composition.

2. FREE COMPOSITION :
In the case of free composition, no such clues or key words are provided for, but the student is given a topic on which he has to write a small passage or a paragraph. The topics should, however, be familiar to the learner.Such topics as may have been presented in the course of language learning through the textual material may be given at the intermediate level of language instruction, but at the higher level of language learning the topics may be familiar but need not necessarily be only those which have appeared in the instructional material.

TRANSLATION :
Some scholars have advocated the use of translation as a testing device. Such test consist of the sentences or paragraphs or passages from the source language which are required to be translated into the target language. The preparation of such tests is no doubt easier, but their validity has been questioned particularly in the recent past. The translation may indicate the range of vocabulary that a learner possesses in the target language. In case the learner is unable to recall the target language equivalent of the source language words, he will fail to demonstrate his ability to use the structure of the target language. Therefore, in the testing of language proficiency of beginners or intermediate students, the teacher obtains more valid results in the testing of vocabulary and structures separately. In the case of advanced students who are fairly familiar with the vocabulary and structures in the target language the exercise of translation from the source language to the target language becomes an exercise. Therefore, translation becomes more valid and reliable in the case of advanced language learners. Translation may be made use of for the testing of accuracy and literary expression also.From the discussion made above regarding different types of tests to be made use of in testing the language proficiency, it may be seen that such tests have o be administered taking care of the four major language skills viz. listening, speaking, reading and writing.

A language proficiency test consisting of the language skills will indicate the following:

1. The general language competence of a language learner is most prominently measured by the reading and writing tests. The other tests viz. tests for listening and speaking also to some extent enable the examiner to measure the general language competence. The performance in reading and writing tests represents the extent to which the learner has a broad accurate knowledge of the structure and vocabulary of the target language particularly in its written form.

2. Reading and writing fluency factors which are measured by the comprehension tests enable the examiner to evaluate the extent to which a learner can mobilise his language competence to produce a grammatically and lexically acceptable written composition.The fluency of a learner in speaking that in measured by the speaking tests represents the extent to which the leaner can mobilise his language competence to produce grammatically and lexically adequate spoken response to the stimulus provided in the tests.

3. The spoken language competence of a learner is measured through mainly the pronunciation and listening tests and also to some extent by oral reading tests. They represent the extent to which the student's competence in the phonology of the target language enables him to perform well on tests requiring him to produce the target language with accurate pronunciation and also help him in comprehending the spoken target language.

PRE-WRITING TESTS
The first step for a second language learner in the case of mastering the writing skill is that he should be familiar with the graphemes of the target language. This becomes more important in the case of Indian languages each of which has a different writing system.

The basic procedure of testing the aspect of character formation is simple copying in which the learner tries to reproduce the written model as closely as possible and at a slightly later stage, quick copying is undertaken in the process of which learner copies the material as fast as possible, while the legibility is maintained.

For the purpose of testing the learners' ability to form the written graphemes of the target language and their combination within the morpheme, word and other higher levels, it might be adequate to test the legibility aspect rather than the exact reproduction of a written stimulus. Such stimulus may be a word or a sentence or a small paragraph.

A second way of testing this ability of a language learner is to dictate words or phrases in the target language and ask the learner to write them down. In order to constantly maintain the desirable reinforcement, dictation tests must be corrected on the spot and given back to the learners immediately.

Dictation involves the relation of the written symbol to the spoken sound. Thus while taking down dictation in the target language, the learner has to associate the sounds of that language to the corresponding written form. Dictation can be a strategy for testing the written skills at lower levels of language instruction. Scholars have argued that dictation cannot be more effective for testing of the writing skills in the case of advanced learners. This type of testing strategy requires the learner to possess accurate speech perception and its relation to the writing system. Inspite of the arguments in favour of and against dictation, it has its own merits. Most of the language teachers are convinced that the more dictation work is, the better the terminal achievement of the learners would be. Various types of dictations are possible.

PARTIAL OR SPOT DICTATION :In partial or spot dictation, each learner is given copy of a passage in which function words or even only prefixes and endings are left out. While the passage is read by the examiner or the teacher, the student has to fill in the blanks. Although such exercises require a lot of advance are :

1. They can be administered quickly and the scoring can be more objective.

2. The examiner or the teacher can test only the problem areas.

3. The learners need not waste time in writing words, phrases etc., that they have
already mastered.

PREPARED DICTATION :Prepared dictation is nothing but dictating a familiar or a known passage or a conversation or a dialogue. The learner would have had the opportunity of either listening or reading the piece during the course of language instruction that he may have undergone. This kind of dictations are normally recommended in the initial stages of the introduction of the writing skiil.If the teacher or the examiner wants to measure the learners' retention and familiarty with the patterns, each sentence should be read only once and at the normal speed. Such exercises have proved to be more effective in the case of older students.

PARAPHRASED DICTATION :In this type of exercise, the dictated material would be nothing but a gist of a dialogue or a selection that the learner is already familiar with. The dictated paraphrase will however contain only the familiar patterns and vocabulary that the student possesses, but the wording will not be exactly the same as contained in the original dialogue or the selection. For this reason, the validity of the test and its results would be greater in assessing the learners' language achievements than the prepared dictation.In this type of dictation, reading of each sentence is normally allowed once or twice at a normal speed.

DICTATION OF UNFAMILIAR MATERIAL :The dictation of a material unfamiliar to the language learner is usually preferred to the other types of dictation at the intermediate and advanced levels and they are considered to be more reliable and valid to measure the learners' skill in dictation. The following procedures are followed in giving such dictations.

First, the whole passage is read at normal speed. Then the students are expected just to listen carefully and not to write. The passage is then read for a second time when each phrase is read at a time giving appropriate pauses during which the students are expected to write down what they have heard. The second dictation should be consistent and the teacher may read each phrases during which the students are expected to write down what they have heard. The second dictation should be consistent and the teacher may read each phrase once or twice. After the dictation of the passage is over, it is read finally again at a normal speed and the students are given a few minutes' time for the final revision. The teacher must ensure that no part of the passage is read at the request of the learner.

In order to ensure consistency in reading and save the teacher's time etc., such dictations are recommended to be given through language laboratoay where such facilities exist. In this case the examiner must ensure that the students do not play the tape a second time.

PARTIAL SENTENCES :Partial sentence items necessitate the learner to complete the phrase given in the test. These items differ from the usual 'fill-in the blank' type of items in the following ways:
The dictations of partial sentences may contain the use of both the target as well as the source languages, whereas the usual fill-in the blank type of items do not contain the use of both the languages.

For example in Telugu :
nenu padi gantalaku skuluku- (jata hu? - Hindi (SL)
The learner is expected to fill in the blank by using vel?tanu in Telugu.

An example from Hindi may be seen.
h"m h"r din d"ft"r se ??ec b"je-(tirigi v"stamu - Telugu (SL)
The learner is expected to fill in the blank by Using l)#t?tehE) in Hindi.

At the initial or elementary levels of language instructions it is desirable to avoid partial sentence items in which the verbs to be employed are given in the infinitive.

For example : (Telugu - TL)
nenu repu kafi----( tagu)
The learner is expected to fill in the blank
by writing tagutanu and not simply tagu.

A Hindi example may be seen.
v"h roj s?am ko (khel)
The learner is expected to fill in the blank with kheltahE) and not simply khel.
Following are some of the types of partial sentences given for testing:

1) One of the ways in which this could be used is to have a blank only for a part of the word generally in the case of the verbs and ask the students to fill in the blank with appropriate parts of words.

Look at the following example: (Kannada - TL)

Rama pustakavannu odu ---
In the above example, the learner is expected to fill in the blank by writing tiddane.

2) Instead of leaving a part of a word blank it is also possible to give such test items leaving the whole words as blank and the learner is expected to fill in the appropriate word to maintain the accurate structure and proper meaning.

For example : (Telugu - TL)

__________ sinima custanu
In the above example the learner is expected to write 'nenu' in the blank.

Look at the following example : (Hindi - TL )
___________pani pita hu?
In the above example, the learner has to fill up the blank with me?

3) It is possible to give the completion items leaving phrase or clause blank, providing cue words by making use of which the phrase or clause that can fit into the blank can be made out by the learners and the blank filled in.

For example : (Telugu - TL)

nenu _________________________________________________________ cala
khar¯idainadi (caduwu, manci, pustakam) In the above example the examinee is expected to fill in the blank with cadiwina manci pustakam

Let us look at the following example in Hindi:
h"mari__________________b"hut acchi he.
(dekh, sinima)

The examinee is expected to fill in the blank with dekhi hui sinima.
Items of this type require some manipulation on the part of the learners.

DIRECTED SENTENCES :One of the important aspects regarding the acquisition of the writing skill is the ability of a learner to write sentences as directed. Under this type of test items all the kinds of drills and exercises involving various types of substitutions and transformations can be made use of. This type of testing involving various sentence patterns should be dictated only after ensuring the learner's mastery of the patterns in the target language. The varieties of test items that can be included under this category are the same as the ones included under the vast variety of drills and exercise used in class room teaching.

In addition to these varieties, an effective way of testing writing skill may be by asking the learners to construct sentences from the cue words given. The cue words may contain nouns and pronouns in their nominative forms and the verbs in their infinitive forms.
For example : (Telugu - TL)

nenu, ramud?u, pustkam, konu.
nunu ramudiki/ramuniki pustakam konnanu/kontanu/
kontunnaanu would be the expected answer from the learner.

Let us look at an example from Hindi (TL)

madh"vi, bh"r"tanaty"m, k"ti, "chi
The learner is expected to write madh"i bhar"tanaty"m
"cchi t"r"h k"rti he

COMPOSITION :It is at a higher l?evel of language instruction that writing composition becomes very important. While the writing of composition requires the leaner to assimilate and arrange his ideas in a sequential form, it also necessitates the learners' ability to use accurate structures and appropriate vocabulary. This also requires the student's ability to use the kind of style that is required to make the composition more effective and meaningful. Thus composition measures the learner's ability to organise his ideas, choose proper vocabulary and to formulate grammatically correct sentences. While the composition tests the learner's ability of using accurate structures and appropriate vocabulary, it also tests the learner's communicative competence in the target language by examining the sequence of thoughts and ideas and the use of style in composition.

There are mainly two types of compositions normally talked of viz.

1. Guided Composition
2. Free Composition

1. GUIDED COMPOSITION :In the guided composition the examiner gives a number of words to be made use of by the student in a sequential order and produce a passage or a paragraph arranging the ideas in a proper sequence, the hints of which can be obtained from the way in which the words are given. Diagrams or pictures, cartoon strips, phrase and/or structural patterns could also be used for providing guidance to the examinee to produce a guided composition.

2. FREE COMPOSITION :In the case of free composition, no such clues or key words are provided for, but the student is given a topic on which he has to write a small passage or a paragraph. The topics should, however, be familiar to the learner.Such topics as may have been presented in the course of language learning through the textual material may be given at the intermediate level of language instruction, but at the higher level of language learning the topics may be familiar but need not necessarily be only those which have appeared in the instructional material.

TRANSLATION :Some scholars have advocated the use of translation as a testing device. Such test consist of the sentences or paragraphs or passages from the source language which are required to be translated into the target language. The preparation of such tests is no doubt easier, but their validity has been questioned particularly in the recent past. The translation may indicate the range of vocabulary that a learner possesses in the target language. In case the learner is unable to recall the target language equivalent of the source language words, he will fail to demonstrate his ability to use the structure of the target language. Therefore, in the testing of language proficiency of beginners or intermediate students, the teacher obtains more valid results in the testing of vocabulary and structures separately.

In the case of advanced students who are fairly familiar with the vocabulary and structures in the target language the exercise of translation from the source language to the target language becomes an exercise. Therefore, translation becomes more valid and reliable in the case of advanced language learners. Translation may be made use of for the testing of accuracy and literary expression also.From the discussion made above regarding different types of tests to be made use of in testing the language proficiency, it may be seen that such tests have to be administered taking care of the four major language skills viz. listening, speaking, reading and writing.

A language proficiency test consisting of the language skills will indicate the following:
1. The general language competence of a language learner is most prominently measured by the reading and writing tests. The other tests viz. tests for listening and speaking also to some extent enable the examiner to measure the general language competence. The performance in reading and writing tests represents the extent to which the learner has a broad accurate knowledge of the structure and vocabulary of the target language particularly in its written form.

2. Reading and writing fluency factors which are measured by the comprehension tests enable the examiner to evaluate the extent to which a learner can mobilise his language competence to produce a grammatically and lexically acceptable written composition.

The fluency of a learner in speaking that in measured by the speaking tests represents the extent to which the leaner can mobilise his language competence to produce grammatically and lexically adequate spoken response to the stimulus provided in the tests.

3. The spoken language competence of a learner is measured through mainly the pronunciation and listening tests and also to some extent by oral reading tests. They represent the extent to which the student's competence in the phonology of the target language enables him to perform well on tests requiring him to produce the target language with accurate pronunciation and also help him in comprehending the spoken target language.

Communicative Ability: Mixed Skills
[Testing of General Language Proficiency]

Second and foreign language instructional programmes generally aim at enabling the language learner to make use of the target language effectively in real life situations. Such programmes also aim at enabling the learners to read the journals, magazines, novels etc. in the target language for purpose of entertainment also. Thus the instructional programmes in the area of second or foreign languages aim at developing what may be called 'communicative competence' among the language learners.

The most important factor that has to be clearly understood is that while a language learner masters the accurate use of structure in the target language, he should be in a position to use these factors in effectively communicating with the native speakers of the target language. It may be noted here that simple mastery of the linguistic factors does not ensure the effective use of the language in real life situations.

Between the two factors of linguistic ability and communicative ability, there is a lot of correlation which can be attributed to a number of factors.

1. In actual communication situation, the high degree redundancy of language can come to the rescue of a speaker when his utterance may be linguistically defective. For instance even if a second language learner of Telugu says "nenu madhurini gattiga pilcaenu", the native speaker of Telugu can easily understand that the last word in the above utterance is "pilcaenu" and not "pilcaenu". The reason is that the earlier words that occurred in the utterance do not permit the use of "pilcaenu" but can be meaningful only if "pilcaenu" is used.

2. A non-native speaker can try to minimize or bypass the areas of linguistic knowledge in a given communication situation. If the speaker does not have the required vocabulary under his control that is necessary to convey certain pieces of information, he may be able to communicate adequately through circumlocutions. This is possible by carefully selecting the structures that he adopts and he can communicate effectively even without having the accurate control of certain grammatical areas.

3. If the communicative proficiency is considered to include what may be called social acceptability factor, the aspects of real life communication pose further complications. This factor brings us to another consideration of a complicated variable between the linguistic ability, and effectiveness of communication. Depending upon the topic of conversation or dialogue, its location, the degree of familiarity or acquaintance of the speakers involved in the conversation, their relative status and other similar non-linguistic factors ; at times the degree of linguistic competence that a learner possesses may posit high degree of variation in acceptability by the native speakers of the target language.

From the above discussion it is clear that the testing f grammatical competence as opposed to communicative competence are different. Therefore, at the end of a second and/or foreign language instructional programme, it is not simply enough to assess the learners' control over the linguistic factors, but it is also essential to test the learners' ability to use the language in different social contexts fairly effectively.

Although a large variety of testing strategies in the testing of the linguistic aspects are available, very few producers have been devised to assess or measure the communicative competence or proficiency in a direct manner. The only known best method of directly testing the communicative proficiency of a language learner is face to face interview.

The learner sits and converse in comfortable and informal situations with either one or two examiners who are native speakers of the target language. Depending upon the student's degree of proficiency in the target languages, the conversation between the student and the examiner is extended over a period of approximately thirty minutes on a wide range of topics which differ in content and the degree of all linguistic sophistication. The first few minutes are however spent on casual and relatively simple conversation on eliciting the information about the student's qualifications, personal interests, hobbies etc. It is only then that examiners lead that student to converse on different aspects of the student's assignments. Towards the later or the final part of the interview, the topics about which the student at one of the following five levels14.

1. ELEMENTARY PROFICIENCY :This means that the leaner is able to ask and answer questions on topics very familiar to him within the scope of his limited language experience and can understand simple questions and statements. His range of vocabulary in the target language is inadequate to express anything except most basic and elementary needs. He commits errors in pronunciation and grammar frequently, but he can be understood by a native speaker of a target language who is used to speaking in that language with the non-native speakers.

2. LIMITED WORKING PROFICIENCY : This means that the learner can confidently handle most social situations including introductions and casual conversations about current events etc. though not easily. He can handle limited work requirements that require help in handling language complications or difficulties and can also summarise or make a gist of most conversations on topics of non-technical nature. He possesses a speaking vocabulary adequate enough to express himself. His accent is fairly intelligible though faulty. He can usually handle elementary constructions quite accurately, but does not have a thorough control of the grammar of the target language.

3. MINIMUM PROFESSIONAL PROFICIENCY :This means that the learner is capable of speaking in the target language with sufficient accuracy of structures and vocabulary to participate effectively in both formal and informal conversations on a wide range of topics. He can discuss particular interests and special fields of competence fairly easily and can comprehend well the normal rate of speech in the target language. His control of vocabulary is fairly good, so that there is no need for him to search for a word in the target language. His accent may sound funny but the control of grammar is good. He might commit errors that normally do not interfere with the understanding by the native speaker.

4. FULL PROFESSIONAL PROFICIENCY :This means that the learner can understand and participate in any conversation within he range of his experience with high degree of fluency and precision of vocabulary. He can respond quite appropriately even in an unfamiliar situation and commits errors very rarely. The learner is able to handle informal interpretations from and into the target language.

5. NATIVE OR BILINGUAL PROFICIENCY :This means that the learner's proficiency in speaking is as good as that of an educated native speaker. He has full fledged fluency in the target language such that his speech at all levels is accepted by educated native speakers from all dimensions including the breadth of vocabulary and idiom, colloquialisms, and pertinent cultural reference. Such scales would be useful in the selection of Hindi teachers in the non-Hindi regions and vice-versa and administrators in states other than their own.

TESTING OF CONTENT : The second/foreign language instructional programmes through normally are aimed at developing the linguistic and communicative competences on one hand, they also aim at enabling the learners to know about the culture of native speakers of the target language, the literature of the target language and also the history of the land in which the target language is spoken on the other. The basic principle of testing is that whatever is taught must be tested. Therefore, it becomes necessary to test the learner's knowledge about the cultural aspects of the target language speakers, the literature in the target language and the history of the land of the target language. The tests meant for measuring the learner's achievements in these areas are normally branded as 'knowledge Tests' and this label indicates that these tests are meant to determine the the learner's acquisition of facts or concepts rather than the linguistic competence as such. These aspects viz., the culture, literature and history of land and history of language as subject matter can be taught through the medium of the target language and a fairly high degree of language skills may be required for effective accomplishment in these areas, but the main focus of teaching and testing is on conceptual message rather than the linguistic medium.

It is for the purpose of including aspects like the culture, literature, history of land etc., that it is recommended to focus the preparation of textbooks on what is called the conceptual prose. By focusing the textbooks on this aspect, a wide range of disciplines could be selected and topics of varied nature can be presented in the text book including the three main aspects that are being talked about. Thus a language text book concentrates on the developments of language skills among the learners, as well as on the development of different concepts in the target language.

Teaching of culture of the second/foreign language involves the presentation of various facts about the topography or the geography, the history, politics, economics, arts, music, painting, famous personalities etc. When it comes to the testing of the students' knowledge about such aspects, it is more a kind of eliciting information or the content which is much simpler than the testing of language skills. Questions based on these aspects can be mainly multiple choice type and secondarily fill-in the blank type and simple question-answer type. The matching type of questions could also be included in order to test the content of the nature discussed above.
For example in Telugu :
a āndhradēsamlō prakhyāti cendina nātyam
a)      kūcipūdi nātyam
b)      bandha nurtyam
c)      kathākali nātyam

The correct answer for the above question is: ‘a’.
Look at the following example in Hindi :
utt«pr«dēs mē kānpur ____________ kēlie pr«sidh hε
a)      c«pp«l
b)      khil�#nō̃
c)      k«pdō̃
The correct answers is: ‘a’
Other types of question items can also be made use of for testing of content.

For example in Telugu :

            āndhra kēsari  ani pēru pondina vyakti

            t*angut*uri prakāsam   

A Hindi example may also be seen:

         gurudēv nām sē pr«khyāt vy«kti r«vīndranāth.

 The portion underlined above is expected to be written by the examinee.

Similarly,

Qn. : āndhralō pēru pondina purā vastu pradarsanasaela pērēmi?        
Ans : sālāj«ng myūziy«m

The above answer is expected to be given by the student.
A matching type of item could be framed as follows:

                        “A”                                                                  “B”

            1. manarāshtra mukhya mantra                                                          a) kandukūri vīrēsalingam

            2. mana rāshtrapati                                                                            b) pot*t*i srīrāmulu

            3. andhra rashtrāwataran,āniki   kārakulu                                             c) marri cennāreddi

            4. āndhra dēsamlō prakhyati pondina samāja sudharukulu                     d) nīlam sanjīvareddi

The correct matching in the above item would be 1-c, 2-d, 3-b, 4-a, which the student is example to do.

Look at the following example in Hindi :

                        “A”                                                                  “B”

            1. hindī sāhity mē prakhyāt   krisnabh«ktīkāvy                    a) rāmc«rit mān«s

            2. uttar bhār«t mē rōj p«rhā jānēwalā gr«nth                           b) sūrgrenthāw«li

             3. āgrā is kēliē pr«sidh hε                                                        c) muslim s«mskruti

             4. l«khnaū is kēliē pr«sidh hε                                                  d) tajm«h«l
The correct matching would be: 1-b, 2-a, 3-d, and 4-c.

The items for the testing of culture, literature etc. should be mainly based upon eliciting the factual information rather than askingissues that may involve controversy. For example, if a questionis asked as to who the most efficient Prime Minister of India was, the answer involves more a question of opinion or impression or judgement of each individual respondent and there cannot be 'the correct answer' for such questions. Therefore, such questions must be eliminated from the knowledge tests. However, aspects which involve opinion or judgement may be handled by means of a paragraph question or a short essay question in which the student will have a chance to argue in support of his judgement or opinion. Such items however, will not have high degree of objectivity, but still their importance cannot be under-estimated.

According to Brooks the term culture may be defined as "the individual's role in unending kalidioscope of life situation of every kind and the rules and models for attitude and conduct in them. By reference to these models, every human being, from infancy onwards, justifies the world to himself as best as he can, associates with those around him and relates to the social order to which he is attached.15 In more operational terms, this type of culture is considered to be manifested in those things which a person is expected to, "think, believe, say, do, eat, wear, pay, endure, resent, honour, laugh at, fight for and worship in typical life situations".16

The definitions enunciated by Brooks in respect of culture has drawn the attention of the foreign language teachers very much in the recent past and has become a burning topic for discussion in the context of second and foreign language teaching. However, no appropriate tools for the presentation of culture in the teaching of language and testing procedures have been developed as yet. It may be recalled that Lado in his book Linguistics Across Culture provides a contrastive framework for the comparison of the culture of the foreign language speakers and the culture of the language learner. To this process of comparison, cultural patterns which possess the same form, meaning and distribution in both the cultures and those which are different in the two cultures can be easily identified and it is the later that have to be included in the language instructional material and testing programmes. The reason is that the later are likely to pose misunderstandings and misconceptions on the part of the language learner. Edward Hall in his The Silent Language suggests ten basic categories of culture including aspects like interaction, bisexuality, territoriality, learning and playing for inclusion in a foreign language instructional programme.17 At the same time Brooks propose ten other categories which include symbolism, value, authority, honour, humour, and spirit.18 However, no clear consensus on the categories of culture that should be included in the instructional programmes has been arrived at. Therefore, it is solely upto the teachers and the testers to teach and generate cultural items based on their own intuitions, opinions and judgement.

Due to the practical limitations and constraints on the direct testing of culture in the context of a foreign language or a second language instructional programme, we are rather forced to concentrate on the learner's knowledge of the behavioural patterns of the foreign language speakers. To the extent known, it is Seelye who has constructed a test consisting of multiple choice items for the testing of across cultural awareness.19 Items in this test consist of multiple choice type largely in which the stem consists of a verbally described situation and various possible behaviours for the situations are given in the options provided for.

For example :
A Latin American is stopped by the police and is issued a ticket. He would probably.

a) argue emotionally

b) say "nothing"

c) say "I should call my lawyer"

d) say "can't we settle this in another way?"

In the above item 'a' is the most appropriate answer. It would perhaps be
necessary to construct items of the above type even in the context of Indian language to be taught as second or foreign languages.Nostrand has argued that the cultural aspects that need an explanation in the target language should also be included in the second and/or foreign language teaching and testing20. It is not feasible to construct good multiple choice items in respect of the cultural aspects that need explanations, the reason being that among the choices it is not possible to provide the distractors closer to the key. In such cases free response techniques are recommended.

TESTING OF LITERATURE:In the context of second/foreign language teaching, the teaching and testing of culture plays a more important role than the teaching of literature. However, an introduction to the literature and the history of literature is essential in a second/foreign language instructional programme at the advanced level of instruction. Teaching of literature and its history necessitates the language leaner to undertake a lot of reading in the target language on his own without perhaps a constant and close watch by the language instructor. This is possible only when the learners attain a fairly high degree of comprehension in the target language. Testing of aspects about literature and its history also necessitates the construction of either multiple choice or short/free response type, wherein the students must establish their knowledge of prominent names, features etc. This is perhaps exactly the same as the framing of content questions.

At a higher level of language instruction, the students could be tested for their ability for literary interpretation. Wherever the students are expected to exhibit their capacity of literary interpretation, provide logical conclusions, inferences, opinions or judgements etc., by providing the necessary argumentation and explanation, testing cannot be done through objective type of items, but by a composition test. It could be either a guided composition or a free composition. Through such tests, the learner's ability to organise his ideas and to present his information in a proper form and style can be tested. As it has been emphasized earlier, such tests cannot be highly objective and the aspect of subjectivity creeps in because the assessment involves the examiner's judgement and impressions. Therefore in such cases, the evaluation could be mainly subjective. In the evaluation of such compositions, a large number of factors have to be kept in view viz., the student's control of vocabulary and structure, the presentation of content and the student's ability for literary interpretations, organization of ideas, use of appropriate style and also the other linguistic aspects like spelling etc. In such cases different weightages will have top be given to each such aspect and a rating scale adopted for the purpose.

In the context of testing of literature an objective test in literature can measure:

1. Knowledge of the chronological events, authors, literary works and events.

2. Vocabulary - key words, their importance and their interpretation and use by the author.

3. The student's ability to analyse specific features of a piece of literature or a poem or a prose passage. However, objective tests fail in measuring the accuracy and sophistication of the learner's expression in the target language, his ability to interpret literary selection and his ability to organise an essay, develop an introduction etc. These factors can be taken care of only by paragraph or essay type, of questions or compositions. It would be essential to test the knowledge, comprehension and also expression in the context of literature testing.