Testing for Communicative Proficiency: A Scenario-Based Approach

Authors

Jane Davics
Gavin Hibbs

Publication Date

1995-01-01

Abstract

This article gives an account of a presentation given at Chulalongkorn University Language Institute Forum on 6 September, 1995. reporting on work in progress on a current Institute of Foreign Affairs project which concerns the delivery of a training and testing package to implement new Ministry policy to upgrade the communication skills of its support staff in the workplace. Under the new policy, MFA support staff must now pass a test of English proficiency in order to be considered for posting to work in Royal Thai Embassies overseas. The article focuses on the issues surrounding the design of an appropriate testing procedure, outlining the steps in the preparatory research and clarifying the concept and rationale of the ultimate choice of a "scenario-based" approach. While the content of this particular programme is genre-specific, the issues raised concerning how best to enable transfer of language training from classroom to real-life workplace proficiency, and how such transfer can be evaluated, are increasingly of general concern in a wide variety of training contexts, as higher and higher levels of English skills come to be more and more in demand in the competitive job market.

DOI

10.58837/CHULA.PASAA.25.1.9

First Page

77

Last Page

86

Recommended Citation

Davics, Jane and Hibbs, Gavin (1995) "Testing for Communicative Proficiency: A Scenario-Based Approach," PASAA: Vol. 25: Iss. 1, Article 9.
DOI: 10.58837/CHULA.PASAA.25.1.9
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/pasaa/vol25/iss1/9