The discourse co-operation test

Those who advocate ‘communicative tests’ to complement tests based on discrete points of usage have so far failed to provide a rigorous description of their criteria. The article proposes a new type of oral test based on a feature of conversation which has been analysed in some detail, Grice's Co-operative Principle and its dependent maxims. The design, administration and scoring of this timed, multiple-choice test are outlined, and sample test materials are provided. Finally applications to LSP contexts and ways of presenting the test in the language laboratory, with the possible aid of computers, are briefly discussed.