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Naturally, teacher-made tests are the most popular because teachers know the materiał their pupils have covered better than anyone else. That is why they can administer a test which will correspond to their pupils' capacities. However, in administering tests they should always keep in mind the items of testing, i.e. the syllabus reąuirements for this particular form.

6.3. The purposes of testing

Many aspects of language study may be tested at a number of levels and in a variety of ways. The selection of materiał for a test depends on the purposes of the test, as determined by course objectives.

The teacher will need to answer ąuestions like the following:

— What are the objectives of the course?

—    What kinds of competences do I want my pupils to be able to demonstrate?

-    Is the test to be the determining factor in placing a new pupil/student in a class at the appropriate level?

If tests are to be effective in grouping or ranking candidates as required, decisions like these must be madę before the test is designed.

We may need to administer prognostic, or aptitude tests, proficiency tests, achievement tests, or diagnostic tests. For each of them there will be a different approach to the construction of test items.

6.3.1. Aptitude tests

These tests have been developed in an attempt to identify lcarners who will have difficulties in leaming a foreign language. The designers of these tests insist that they should not be considered instruments of exclusion from foreign language study, sińce all students can profit from some experience in this area. Although some progress has been madę, these tests have not yet been perfected as prognostic tests. Rather, they provide a chart of predicted strengths and weaknesses which may serve as a guide in placing leamers in faster-moving or slower-moving groups. The analysis of this kind can be useful to the teacher who is trying to help particular leamers with some areas of language learning.

Language aptitude test is a test which measures a person 's aptitude for second or foreign language learning and which can be used to identify those leamers who are most likely to succeed. Aptitude tests usually consist of several dijferent tests which measure such abilities as:

(a)    sound coding ability - the ability to identify and remember new sounds in a foreign language,

(b)    grammatical coding ability — the ability to identify the grammatical functions of dijferent parts of sentences,

(c)    inductive learning ability - the ability to work out meanings without explanation in a new language,

(d)    memorisation - the ability to remember words, rules, etc. in a new language. (Richards 1992:198)

6.3.2. Proficiency and achievement tests

Tests may also be devised to establish the level of proficiency which a learner has reached. Such tests may be reąuired to determine the level of language skill of students completing their courses or of students who have studied at different institutions. In their design, proficiency tests are related not to the actual studies undertaken by the particular persons to whom they are administered, but rather to the level of skill in the language which is considered desirable in a successful candidate. Proficiency tests have traditionally consisted of standardised multiple-choice items on grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, aural comprehension, and sometimes of a sample of writing. A rather typical example of a standardised proficiency test is the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). It is used by nearly 1000 institutions of higher education in the United States as an indicator

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