matches would be right or wrong, but the justification element would
involve recognition of cultural markers and consistency of style. The
marker might even give some credit to a wrong match if the justification for
it were plausible.
The following test types (which draw on Byram, 1997b; Spiro, 1991; and
Ur, 1996) give suggestions for ways of testing candidates subjectively on
the topics that have formed the substance of this book.
(a) Identifying genres
The candidate is given a selection of excerpts from, say, popular and
learned scientific texts, or personal and business letters, and has to group
them according to genre. If the candidate is also required to justify his or
her choice, the test becomes more subjective, since the judgement of the
candidate (rather than simply the product of that judgement) is taken into
consideration. This test would mainly involve reading, and possibly oral or
written production (in either the first or second language), if justification of
the identification is required.
(b) Selecting appropriate language
A familiar question type in language examinations is the gap-filling, or
cloze, test. An adaptation of this test type requires students to select appro-
priate language (possibly from a range of given options) to fill a gap in a
generic text. As in (a), this test becomes subjective if the candidate has to
write rather than choose the gap-fillers, and also if he or she has to justify
the response. The skills of reading, and optionally writing, would be
involved here, and again sensitivity to generic conventions would be the
point at issue.
(c) Transformation and rewriting tasks
Transformation and rewriting tasks again test the candidate’s ability to
recognise and produce genre-specific texts. Here, the student can be given a
text which is stylistically inconsistent – e.g. a letter which is a mixture of
personal and business styles – and he or she might be required to edit it
according to given instructions (i.e. to make it more like a business or personal
letter). A more complex task would involve rewriting an entire text so that it
shifts genres: e.g. an extract from a research-oriented article might be popular-
ised, or vice versa. Again, oral or written justification for the changes can also
be demanded. The justification should indicate the candidate’s awareness of
the conventions of the target discourse community (see Chapter 4).
(d) Reflective essay tasks
The reflective essay is itself a genre and can be taught as such. However,
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it may also be a vehicle for reflection upon the state of the candidate’s
intercultural awareness, and so constitute valuable evidence of the
learning process thus far. Topics for reflective essays might include
(Byram, 1997b: 95–103):
•
analysing one’s personal experience
of the target culture;
•
describing ‘key characteristics’ of the target culture;
•
seeing a familiar situation from another’s
point of view;
•
evaluating the value systems of different cultures/texts;
•
identifying and explaining cultural misunderstandings in a given
text/situation;
•
identifying and accounting for ethnocentric perspectives in a given
text/situation;
•
mediating between conflicting interpretations of a text or situation;
•
analysing data elicited in small-scale ethnographic research.
It will be evident from these topics that the reflective essay is a complex task
type, demanding considerable control of the target language. The demands
of the genre include the ability to organise elements of description,
narration, explanation and evaluation into a coherent and plausible whole.
In more ‘academic’ contexts, quotation and paraphrase might also be
demanded (with sources properly referenced). The testing of reflective
essays should be integrated into a course in which the skills of essay-
writing are being explicitly taught: the purpose of the genre (as an index of
the state of the student’s learning process) should be made clear to all the
candidates.
If the process of redrafting is a prominent aspect of the course, this can
also be reflected in the testing. The first draft of a reflective essay can be
awarded a grade, and comments made by the marker which would lead to
an improved grade. The redraft is then evaluated in accordance with the
degree to which the candidate has responded to the constructive advice of
the marker.
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