Can computerised testing be authentic?

Abstract

The concept of authenticity first appeared with the development of the communicative approach. More recently, in the field of educational measurement, authentic assessment methods have been proposed. Although adaptive testing seems to be the most important application of computers in language assessment, these tests are usually not authentic. Since many real world tasks are accomplished with computers, these may be used for authentic direct testing. Computers may be also used in semi-direct testing as a way to enhance the context. Finally in authentic assessment, computers may be used as a tool to process the data when the learners use them to organise their portfolio. Using the computer, test developers can also create better authentic tests.