Communicative Language Testing: Current Issues and Future Research

Abstract

This article discusses a range of current issues and future research possibilities in Communicative Language Testing (CLT) using, as its departure point, the key questions which emerged during the CLT symposium at the 2010 Language Testing Forum. The article begins with a summary of the 2010 symposium discussion in which three main issues related to CLT are identified: (a) the “mainstreaming” of CLT since 1980, (b) the difficulty for practitioners in utilising and operationalising models of communicative ability, and (c) the challenge of theorising a sufficiently rich communicative construct. These issues are each discussed and elaborated in turn, with the conclusion drawn that, whereas the communicative approach lies dormant in many test constructs, there is scope for a reinvigorated communicative approach that focuses on “adaptability.” A number of future research directions with adaptability at the forefront are proposed.

Notes

¹ The plenary discussion of the Language Testing Forum 2010 Communicative Language Testing symposium was recorded and summarised, and this summary is drawn on in the current article.

² The Alderson and Hughes (1981) publication is available for download at http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/groups/ltrg/ltf2010.htm

³ It is acknowledged that communicative language testing did not begin in 1980; however the publication of the Morrow paper, and its centrality to the LTF forum, make it a useful departure point.

⁴ These ideas were developed further in Bachman and Palmer (1996), where a distinction was made between “authenticity” (a measure of how well the characteristics of a test task match those of tasks in the target-language use domain) and interactiveness, which was described in a similar way to Interactional Authenticity.

⁵ It should be noted that much English language testing in EFL contexts is performed with groups of students who share an L1. It could be difficult to operationalize ability for use in this way within homogeneous learner contexts.