Assessment is perhaps one of the least understood areas of language teaching and learning. Students may see tests as a threat to their competence because they are afraid they will not perform well. Teachers often do not like to construct tests and are not altogether satisfied with the results when they do.

A more constructive view of language testing exists when (a) testing is undertood as an opportunity for interaction between teacher and student; (b) students are judged on the basis of the knowledge they have; (c) the criteria for success on the test are clear to students; (d) students receive a grade for their performance on a set of tests representing different testing methods (not just one!); (e) the tests are intended to help students improve their skills; (f) the results are discussed.

The seminal efforts by Canalle e Swain (1980) to operationalize Hymes’ (1972) communicative competence have provided a relevant set of criteria for describing tests.

Tests should be seen as tapping one or more of the four components making up the construct of communicative competence: grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic competence.

(Andrew D.Cohen. Second language Assessment. IN: Marianne Cerce-Murcia(ed). Teaching English as a

second or foreign language. Boston, Massachusstes: Heinle&Heinle. 2nd edition. 2001. Adaptado)