The passage looks to be a part of literary piece and it is written in past tense

Importance of Visual Material in Testing

The oral skills tests can be made more effective and efficient by using visual material.

1. 
   The candidates need not comprehend written or spoken instructions. This reduces the examiner’s talk-time.
   
2. 
   Examiner can provide clues for continuation of the task and control language use effectively.
   
3. 
   It is an interesting way of testing oral skills. Stories can be presented for eliciting language.
   
4. 
   Pictures can be used to spot the differences. Such tasks are based on ‘information gap principle⁸’and have communicative value.
   

The examiner must be aware of the fact that the pictures will not be interpreted by everyone in the same way and this can affect the reliability.

7. 
   Assessment
   

Oral skills assessment is based on the judgment of the examiner. Examiner places the candidate in a particular step in a series of skill-based steps. For this purpose, the tester designs a band scheme, which includes several steps with regard to the performance of the candidate. For example, with regard to any sub-skill, the following steps can be proposed:
Step 1: Very poor performances
Step 2: Poor performances
Step 3: Moderate performances
Step 4: Good Performances
Step 5: Very good performances
Afterwards, it is necessary to define what is meant by ‘Poor’, ‘Very poor’ or ‘Very good’ with regard to the concerned sub-skill. For assessment of pronunciation, ‘Very good’ can be defined as ‘Native-like pronunciation’, while ‘Very poor’ means ‘Pronunciation not clear, distorts communication’.
The assessment will be either holistic or analytical. In holistic approach, the mark is given to the entire task. The sub-skills are not given separate treatment. In contrast, analytical approach considers sub-skills separately and offers a separate mark for each sub-skill.

The following band scheme is suitable for assessing speech skills in holistic approach:

Band	Description	Marks
1	Pronunciation unintelligible. Vocabulary very limited and is not sufficient to convey even the basic meaning. Almost all sentences are ungrammatical. Fully hesitant speech. Continuous breaks down in communication.	1-4
2	Many errors of pronunciation but can be comprehended. Vocabulary limited. Many errors of grammar. Makes a lot of hesitations. Message can be comprehended with great difficulty.	5-8
3	Pronunciation accurate but contains few errors. Vocabulary suitable but occasionally inappropriate to convey meaning. A few errors of grammar in utterances. Some hesitations. Conveys only the basic meaning.	9-12
4	Standard pronunciation of a second language speaker. Vocabulary choice appropriate for the purpose. Utterances are grammatical, but contain one or two errors. Speech fluent. Communicates the message effectively.	13-16
5	Native-like pronunciation. Vocabulary choice very suitable for the purpose. All utterances grammatically correct. Very fluent speech. Communication very effective.	17-20

If an analytical approach is used, band schemes for each sub-skill should be designed. The following is an example of a band scheme which can be used to assess fluency of the candidates.

Band	Description	Marks
1	. Speech is fragmentary. Cannot continue conversation.	1
2	Speech is very slow and uneven. Few pre-practiced sentences are used. Speech is frequently hesitant.	2
3	Speech is occasionally hesitant with some unevenness caused by rephrasing of words. A lot of repletion.	3
4	Speech is effortless. Few hesitations only.	4
5	Speech is very effortless. Native-like fluency.	5