Assessing Language Proficiency Around the World

The first dedicated volume on assessing languages other than English Research in applied linguistics has long emphasized the assessment of English, leaving the study of other world languages comparatively neglected. Assessing Language Proficiency Around the World addresses this disparity by assembling chapters analyzing assessment practices around the globe and redirecting attention toward languages historically underrepresented in assessment research. Organized by language families, the volume covers assessment of English (in different regions), Arabic, Cantonese, French, Mandarin, Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and Tamil, alongside languages with smaller speaker groups such as Armenian, Hebrew, Māori and Hawai’ian. Additional chapters address assessment of signed languages and world Englishes. Each chapter examines specific challenges of language education and policy across the Global South and non-Anglophone contexts. Readers will also find: Analysis of language policy implications for diverse language groups across Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific regionFrameworks for understanding how assessment practices affect speakers of minority and indigenous languages in educational and professional settingsDiscussion of developing areas that challenge traditional monolingual approaches to measuring language proficiency across multilingual populationsCoverage of signed language assessment, addressing the distinct methodological and theoretical considerations required for visual-gestural modality evaluationPerspectives linking linguistic human rights to assessment design, offering critical analysis of how testing shapes language preservation and educationDesigned for students and researchers in language assessment, applied linguistics, TESOL, language policy, and language acquisition, this volume provides a survey of English language assessment across contexts and a focused coverage of non-English language assessment that existing handbooks treat only peripherally. Faculty, government professionals, and military language specialists will also find directly applicable scholarship here.