1995 Page 55 . . . The area of progress testing has been neglected and has lagged far behind developments in language teaching and testing in general. In most classrooms today, English is taught through communicative textbooks that provide neither accompanying tests nor any guidance for test construction. Teachers are on their own in constructing tests to measure student progress and performance. In many cases, teachers have been reluctant to administer regular tests.
Teachers consider testing too time-consuming, taking away valuable class time.
They identify testing with mathematics and statistics. They may think testing goes against humanistic approaches to teaching. Teachers feel that the time and effort they put into writing and correcting tests is not acknowledged with additional pay or personal praise. In this sense, testing can be as frightening and frustrating to the teacher as it is for the students. If we assume that a well-planned course should measure the extent to which students have fulfilled course objectives, then progress tests are a central part of the learning process.