Taking it apart

and getting it

together

Discrete-point

assessment attempts

to measure seperately

the learner’s

knowledge and/or

command of

individual items.

Integrative

assessment attempts

to measure the

learner’s ability to

bring all this

knowladge and

command to bear in

tackling ‘work-

samples’ related as

closely as possible to

the forms of real-life

communication.

Discrete-point

assessment

testing examples:

*multiple-choice

*multiple-choice

*single-sentence

*single-sentence

items

items

*open-ended

*open-ended

A consonant problem

with single-sentence

items, both multiple-

choice and open-ended,

is the lack of any wider

context.

Things are improved in

including a longer text.

Such a test is very

much more valid than a

single-sentence test.

Discrete-point testing

of pronounciation can

only be carried out

validly through

listening/speaking.

A student who has

learned the correct

answer form a teacher

or a dictionary may

mark this correctly

even though his ear

cannot recognise the

strongest syllable and

cannot speak the word

with correct stress

Some people who can

say it correctly may be

unable to make their

knowladge conscious to
the extent of being able

to mark correctly.