Before one can engage in language testing in general, in testing a learner's speaking ability specifically, one must first clarify a number of central issues regarding essential features of language and its use and how these are acquired by non-native speakers. For this reason I will address the following major points. I will begin by exploring the connection between testing and our basic professional beliefs. I will then summarize current assumptions in foreign language pedagogy that have attained prominence in the United States and Europe, assumptions that are captured by the term "communicative language teaching." The unique challenges to established testing practice brought on by this shift will be outlined in the third section. And finally, the largest portion of this paper will be devoted to exploring approaches to oral language testing that have developed in the United States in the last decade or so. It is worth emphasizing that these steps are far from complete and by no means universally accepted. In addition, a cautionary note is appropriate: their presuppositions about language and language teaching should not be transferred uncritically, but should be examined carefully in order to determine whether and how they might apply to the Japanese situation. Only then can the American experience provide input that leads to viable solutions.

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This paper describes the attempt to ascertain to what extent the following hypotheses or expectations based on the interpretation of the result of the listening comprehension test of spoken English on audio cassette administered to 426 first year senior high school students (1988) are true and acceptable. 1. The low level of students' ability revealed by the test consisted largely in: a. a sad lack of imagination to grasp the content of situation in a given conversation b. having great difficulty in distinguishing the English basic patterns of conception and feeling for words and expressions from those of Japanese 2. The listening comprehension test of spoken English on audio cassette has limitations and defects not only in its method of measurement but also in mounting the complex dimension of human communicative interactions. Creation of an original video for a specified spoken English test and its appropriate use will make up for these deficiencies.

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