| This study describes the development of a test of communicative competence in English for secondary school students in Zimbabwe. The test is intended to replace a national English examination, the Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC), taken by students at the end of their second year of secondary school. The ZJC is distinct from traditions of testing characteristic of the United States, and reflects an approach to testing that is widespread in Britain and the Commonwealth.;The methods used in this study for data collection were both quantitative and qualitative. A survey was conducted of past exam papers of the ZJC. This was then followed by a detailed analysis of the test papers of a group of students who took the 1985 English exam. In addition, officials were interviewed to gather details about the design and administration of the ZJC English exam.;Information from the survey, together with that derived from an analysis of student needs, the English syllabus, and examples of communicative tests currently being used in other countries was used in designing a set of tests intended to measure communicative competence. Because of administrative constraints, the tests focused primarily on the assessment of reading and writing rather than on oral skills.;The tests were administered to a representative sample of students from both urban and rural schools, across a range of ability groups. A number of students were also interviewed about how they answered the tests. Various statistical programmes, including the Rasch model of Item Response Theory, were used to analyze the tests. Based on data gathered from a detailed item analysis and student interviews, a new test has been developed, which will be administered in a future round of testing.;By designing tests that represent varied uses of language, it is intended to encourage classroom teaching to relate more closely to the syllabus, and therefore in this instance, to be more communicative. The new test was produced by quantitative and qualitative methods, and suggests that a range of methods needs to be used to determine that the students are getting the right answer for the right reasons. |
