ABSTRACT
In developing assessments that reflect language use in context, integration of the four skills has become an inviting direction for task design. Treating language as holistic or as an amalgamation of reading, writing, listening, or speaking, rather than as isolated abilities may allow for different or more substantive interpretations of performances that are transferrable to real world domains. However, claims about integrated items require more study and their development entails delving into multiple skill constructs and writing complex tasks. While integrating skills presents challenges for test developers and users, such tasks provide measures that may overcome some gaps left by independent skills assessment as well as introduce new directions for assessing language (Feak and Dobson, 1996; Plakans, 2008; Read, 1990; Weigle, 2004). The term “integrated” has been applied fairly broadly to tasks that require more than one
skill for completion. For example, an integrated item could entail reading a short text on a topic followed by writing a summary or it may involve listening to a conversation and commenting on the speakers’ opinions. The following example illustrates an integrated writing task for an advanced level English language placement test.
