TEST?

What makes a ‘good’ test good? 

 The test is always a polemic issue, for some aspects must be considered, such as the school curricula, school policies and how teachers face tests because some face a test as a final product of a process, and others see the test as one part of a whole process.

Honestly, I strong disbelieve in tests as a final product of a process, especially because it creates a tense atmosphere in which nothing contributes to students’ learning process. As Stephen Krashen has suggested in his Affective filter hypothesis, students must be comfortable and confident during all the stages of the learning process, and feelings like anxiety and demotivation can block comprehensible input.

Krashen affirms that language is acquired through meaningful communicative interactions. That is the way I see how tests may be. First and foremost, a test is just one part of a whole process. I disbelieve in the reliability of a test in which students stay nervous and anxious before a piece of a paper, and sat for hours trying to find the correct answer. Language is dynamic and above everything is communication.

On top of that, teachers must find dynamic ways (games, quizzes, debates, interviews, etc.) to test their students. These ways must focus on letting the students be able to interact, at the same time, with other students and with the content. Currently, everything done in class prepare the students for tests, not exactly to acquire a language.

In other words, what is assessed traditionally could be done dynamically without tension and anxiety. However, school policies must be respected and followed because a teacher whose profile does not match the school policy is always a replaceable teacher. As I have discussed, my greatest struggle is dealing with some institutions that face the test as a final product of a process, disregarding that language is communication, not only an object to be studied.