Language Testing In English Language Learning

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I. Literature review
1. Definition of Testing
Throughout history, testing, assessment and evaluation play a vital role in the process of language teaching and learning. Testing is one of the fundamental tools to measure students English language acquisition. McNamara (2003) gave a detailed definition of a language test, which is “a procedure for gathering evidence of general or specific language abilities from performance on tasks designed to provide a basis for predictions about an individual’s use of those abilities in real world contexts.” (p. 11).
Testing in general is crucial in social life. It can be considered a new turning point for education, in employment, migration (McNamara, 2003). Nowadays, tests are highly appreciated as rapid methods to assess students’ language abilities. There are many ways to conduct a test, from the traditional written and spoken form to modern methods such as observation and interviews. Each test has its own essential principles. Therefore, different tests will be designed basing on different purposes (McNamara, 2003; Hughes, 2003). There are several reasons for tests to be implemented. First, it provides teachers and institutions information on which progress students have made during the tests or how successfully students have achieved after the whole course. Another reason to implement tests is to diagnose student’s weaknesses and strengths so that both teachers and students can make changes towards improvements (i.e. adjust teaching

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