A Task as a Test: Students’ Perception of a Task-Based Approach to a Testing Situation
Priscila Fabiane Farias | 2011
Within the area of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the Task Based Approach (TBA) proposes a communicative teaching through the use of tasks (Skehan, 2003). At the same time, researchers in the area of SLA agree that the approach used by the teacher in class should be similar to the way the students are going to be tested. Bearing this in mind, it can be assumed that in a classroom in which TBA is the teaching approach, students‟ assessment should be conducted the same way. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating a test which was used in a TBA classroom to understand why that test could be considered a Task-Test, that is, a test which contained elements of a task according to Ellis‟ (2003) criteria. In addition, this study aimed at unfolding students‟ perceptions of this test in terms of it being an appropriate tool for measuring their L2 acquisition. In order to achieve these purposes, the test was analyzed and results show that the test fits into Ellis‟ criteria for task categorization. Moreover, 17 students answered a questionnaire during their class time after doing the test. Their answers demonstrated that the students were able to identify task elements in the Task-Test and due to that it was considered by them an effective tool for measuring their L2 acquisition.