Republic of the Philippines

TARLAC STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City
Tel. No. (045) 982-6062; Fax No. (045) 982-0110
Re-Accredited Level III by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and University of
the Philippines (AACCUP), Inc.

Written Report in EM 14*

Language and Literature Assessment

Topic: Historical Perspective

A.Discrete, Point and Integrative Testing
B.Language Proficiency: Unitary or Divisible

Prepared by:

Salvatierra, Rizabel G.

Sapuay, Sharmaine Gem G.

Tiamzon, Mikhaella Joyce

Violago, Cholleen A.

Waje, Marife R.

(BSED 4D)

Prepared to:

Dr. Criselda A. Madriaga

(Professor)

SY. 2016-2017

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 Table of Contents

I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE.........................3
Reporter: Rizabel G. Salvatiera

II. DISCRETE, POINT AND INTEGRATIVE TESTING...3

Reporter: Marife R. Waje

III. DISCRETE, POINT AND INTEGRATIVE TESTING...4

Reporter: Cholleen A. Violago

IV. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: DIVISIBLE.5

Reporter: Sharmaine Gem G. Sapuay

V. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: UNITARY. .5

Reporter: Mikhaella Joyce C. Tiamzon

VI. REFERENCE/S.....6

Reporter: Rizabel G. Salvatierra

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 Historical Perspective

This historical perspective underscores two major approaches to language testing

that were debated in the 1970s and early 1980s. Discrete-point tests are constructed on the
assumption that language can be broken down into its component parts and that those
parts can be tested successfully. These components are the skills of listening, speaking,
reading, and writing, and variousunits of language (discrete, graphology, morphology,
lexicon, , and discourse.) Itwas claimed that an overall language proficiency test, then,
should sample all four skills and as many linguistic discrete points as possible. Such an
approach demanded that often confused the test-taker. So, as the profession emerged into
an era of emphasizing communication, authenticity, and context, new approaches were
sought. Oller (1979) argued that language competence is a unified set of interacting
abilities that cannot be tested separately. His claim was that communicative competence is
so global and requires such integration (hence the term "integrative" testing) that it cannot
be captured in additive tests of grammar, reading, vocabulary, and other discrete points of
language. Others (among them Cziko, 1982, and Savignon, 1982) soon followed in their
support for integrative testing.

Reporter: Marife R. Waje

What does an integrative test look like?

Two types of tests have historically been claimed to be integrative tests: cloze tests and
dictations.
A cloze test is a reading passage (perhaps 150 to 300 words) which roughly every sixth or
seventh word has been deleted; the test-taker is required to supply words that fit into those
blanks.
Oller (1979) claimed that cloze test results are good measures of overall proficiency.
According to theoretical constructs underlying this claim, the ability to supply appropriate words
in blanks requires a number of abilities that lie at the heart of competence in a language:
knowledge of vocabulary, grammatical structure, discourse structure, reading skills and
strategies, and an internalized "expectancy" grammar (enabling one to predict an item that will
come next in a sequence). It was argued that successful completion of cloze items taps into all of
those abilities, which were said to be the essence of global language proficiency.

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 Dictation is a familiar language-teaching technique that evolved into a testing
technique. Essentially, learners listen to a passage of 100 to 150 words read aloud by an
administrator (or audiotape) and write what they hear, using correct spelling. The listening
portion usually has three stages: an oral reading without pauses; an oral reading with long pauses
between every phrase (to give the learner time to write down what is heard); and a third reading
at normal speed to give test-takers a chance to check what they wrote. Supporters argue that
dictation is an integrative test because it taps into grammatical and required for other modes of
performance on a dictation requires careful listening, reproduction in writing of what is heard,
evident short-term memory, and, to an extent, some expectancy rules to aid the short-term
memory. Further, dictation test results tend to correlate strongly with other tests of proficiency.
Dictation testing is usually classroom centered since large-scale administration of dictations is
quite impractical from a scoring standpoint. Reliability of scoring criteria for dictation tests can
be improved by designing multiple-choice or exact-word cloze test scoring.

Proponents of integrative test methods soon centered their arguments on what

became known as the unitary trait hypothesis, which suggested an "indivisible" view of
language proficiency: that vocabulary, grammar, phonology, the "four skills," and other
discrete points of language could not be disentangled from each other in language
performance. The unitary trait hypothesis contended that there is a general factor of
language proficiency such that all the discrete points do not add up to that whole.
Others argued strongly against the unitary trait posiition. In a study of students in
Brazil and the Philippines, Farhady (1982) found Significant and widely varying
differences in performance on an ESL proficiency test, depending on subjects' native
country, major field of study, and graduate versus undergraduate status. For example,
Brazilians scored very low in listening comprehension and relatively high in reading
comprehension. Filipinos, whose scores on five of the six components of the test were
considerably higher than Brazilians' scores, were actually lower than Brazilians in reading
comprehension scores. Farhady's contentions were supported in other research that
seriously questioned the unitary trait hypothesis. Finally, in the face of the evidence.

Reporter: Cholleen A. Violago

According to Lado (1961) discrete-point testing assumes that language knowledge can be
divided into a number of independent facts: elements of grammar, vocabulary, spelling and
punctuation, pronunciation, intonation and stress. These can be tested by pure items (usually
multiple-choice recognition tasks). Integrative testing argues that any realistic language use
requires the coordination of many kinds of knowledge in one linguistic event, and so uses items
which combine those kinds of knowledge, like comprehension tasks, dictation, speaking and

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listening. Discrete-point testing risks ignoring the systematic relationship between language
elements; integrative testing risks ignoring accuracy of linguistic detail.
Discrete-point tests are constructed on the assumption that language can be broken down into its
component parts and that those parts can be tested successfully. These components are the skills
of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and variousunits of language (discrete,
graphology, morphology, lexicon, , and discourse.)

Reporter: Sharmaine Gem G. Sapuay

Language Proficiency: Unitary or Divisible?

In this research Oller's question 'Is language proficiency divisible into components? This was
explored by determining which of two models best fit the experimental data: a model postulating
numerous specific sources of variance (the extreme divisible model), a model postulating a
single, large source of variance (the unitary model).

Language Proficiency

Language proficiency or linguistic proficiency is the ability of an individual to speak or perform

in an acquired language.

Divisible vs. Unitary

Divisible Task

* Can be broken up into subtasks

Unitary Task

* Division of Labor is impossible

Language Divisibility

These competencies (Macro skills) can be identified and related to each other more distinctly and
systematically as our knowledge advances, that they can be broken down into sub- competencies,
e.g. into components or aspects contributing to the successful operation of a certain area of
competence.

This approach has been labelled the discrete point approach and others say that it is a mixture of
discrete point test and some global testing. Certainly sets of items that test the control of specific
elements of the second language (phonemes, intonation patterns, vocabulary or structural items,
and the like) are discrete point test but the testing so-called integrated skills like reading or
listening with comprehension questions focuses on the global aspect of the language.

*This study is more related to the competence level of a person in language.

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Reporter: Mikhaella Joyce C. Tiamzon
Unitary
*Maximizing tasks require more exploration of potential design solution
*Task or efforts that cannot be divided
Following analysis of data gathered in a preliminary study, four tests which had clearly
recognizable contrasts in content (grammar vs. vocabulary) and mode (listening vs. reading)
were constructed to identify linguistic and method variance in a correlation matrix of language
proficiency variables. These four measures were pilot tested, revised, and administered in
conjunction with eight other language measures to a group of beginning-level ESL learners. The
data were factor analyzed using image analysis to explore the relative congruency of the three
models to the data. In addition, the relationships between the tests and the demographic variables
age, sex, length of time in English Canada, and first language were also investigated. In the
factor analysis, both of the methods used to determine the number of factors to be retained in the
final solution indicated three.

The data presented evidence for a grammar factor, a vocabulary factor and an age-related
factor which may be linked closely to the hearing ability of the students. In addition, the analyses
suggested the possibility that a listening-mode factor and what I have termed a speed of
processing factor' were also influencing the variables. The factors, however, were highly
correlated, suggesting the presence of a strong general factor underlying all of the measures. The
analyses of the specific relationships between each of four demographic variables (age, sex, first
language, and the length of time )the subject had been in Canada) and each of the twelve
language variables revealed a strong negative correlation between the language measures and
two of the demographic variables, age and length of time in Canada.

Reference/s:
http://www.academia.edu/19979805/H._DOUGLAS_BROWN__LANGUAGE_ASSESSMENT
Brown, Douglas H. (1994). Principles of language Learning and Teaching 3 rd Edition US
Prentice Hall Publishing House

http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/ltrg/files/2014/05/ILT1981_GeneralLanguageProficiency.pdf

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