GRAMMAR IN LOW-STAKES, INFORMAL TESTING CONTEXT – DO DIFFERENT TASK TYPES INFLUENCE PERFORMANCE?

Grammar has always played an important role in foreign language teaching, learning and testing theories and practices. The phenomena of grammatical competence and performance, as well as the ways in what they are assessed in both high- and low-stakes contexts are extensively investigated. The present study explores the potential of informal, low-stakes, grammar-based test forms, by adopting a combination of qualitative and quantitative approach. The answers provided by a group of 66 undergraduate B2 students were collected and analysed, through a prism of three different grammar task types focusing on the same grammatical items. The main findings of the study not only revealed some strengths and weaknesses in demonstrat- ing grammatical competence accordingly but also pointed to some links between task types and performance. In the ambience where high-stakes testing is dominant, the study provides a contextualised, diagnostic view of testing grammar and contributes to the understanding of students’ grammar competence and the ways how to assess it.