Attitude Adjustment Re Grammar Testing

[Maria]

Quite some time ago I wrote that since it seemed pointless to expect any kind of mastery from the majority of students on the many grammar points I am expected to cover in a semester, I decided to focus the class on discovery and awareness.

Thus I have been using a lot of context like readings, songs, and dialoges to introduce and illustrate grammar. I've also been explicitly teaching rules somewhere between the middle and end of the lesson(s) cycle. But then I realized that my grammar tests really had to change too, and this is where I've been running into trouble.

My usual tests resemble a selection of exercises in the Azar grammar texts, and I was still focused more on production than awareness. I now think that my test focus needs to change and fit more of a structural and usage awareness model, more like a discovery activity. I wonder if anyone has suggestions or ideas how to create a grammar test that doesn't necessarily reflect a student's ability to use the grammar correctly all the time, but rather to show understand of when it is used incorrectly or not?