Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition

particular purposes with particular people in particular
situations. In other words they are testing the basic driving
skill, as does the Ministry of Transport driving test, not
whether the driver can actually use the car to get from one
place to another quickly and safely and legally—as the
Institute of Advanced Motorists test does.
Testing communication
If ‘knowing a language’ is seen as the ability to communicate
in particular sorts of situation, then the assessment will be in
terms of setting up simulations of those situations and
evaluating how effective the communication is that takes
place. Situations are likely to have to be specified in terms of
the role and status of the participants. The degree of
formality of the interaction, the attitudes and purposes of the