Dina Tsagari – författare

Includes chapters on key aspects of second language assessment such as test construct, diagnosis, exam design, and the growing range of public policy, social and ethical issues. Each of the contributors is an expert in their area; some are established names while others are talented newcomers to the field. The chapters present new research or perspectives on traditional concerns such as test quality; fairness and bias; the testing of different language skills; the needs of different groups of examinees, including English language learners who need to take content tests in English; and the use of language assessments for gate-keeping purposes. This volume represents the best of current practice in second language assessment, demonstrating how language assessment is informed by and engages with neighbouring areas of applied linguistics such as technology and language corpora.

Second language assessment is ubiquitous. It has found its way from education into questions about access to professions and migration. This volume focuses on the main debates and research advances in second language assessment in the last fifty years or so, showing the influence of linguistics, politics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and psychometrics. There are four parts which, when taken together, address the principles and practices of second language assessment while considering its impact on society. Read separately, each part addresses a different aspect of the field. Part I deals with the conceptual foundations of second language assessment with chapters on the purposes of assessment, and standards and frameworks, as well as matters of scoring, quality assurance, and test validation. Part II addresses the theory and practice of assessing different second language skills including aspects like intercultural competence and fluency. Part III examines the challenges and opportunities of second language assessment in a range of contexts. In addition to chapters on second language assessment on a national scale, there are chapters on learning-oriented assessment, as well as the uses of second language assessment in the workplace and for migration. Part IV examines a selection of important issues in the field that deserve attention. These include the alignment of language examinations to external frameworks, the increasing use of technology to both deliver and score second language tests, the responsibilities associated with assessing test takers with special needs, the concept of 'voice' in second language assessment, and assessment literacy for teachers and other test and score users.

This volume focuses on the principles and practices of second language assessment while considering its impact on society. Part I deals with the conceptual foundations of second language assessment, and Part II addresses the theory and practice of assessing different second language skills. Part III examines the challenges and opportunities of second language assessment in a range of contexts. Part IV examines key issues.

It has long been noted that high-stakes language exams exert a powerful influence on teaching and learning, a phenomenon known as the washback effect (Alderson and Wall, 1993). However, due to the complex nature of the phenomenon, little research has been conducted in the field so far. This book, which is based on empirical research into the washback effect of First Certificate in English (FCE, Cambridge ESOL), discusses and elaborates on the complexity of the phenomenon and accounts for the intervening factors that mediate the process of test washback. The book concludes with the presentation of a model that demonstrates how the mechanism of washback operates and with recommendations to a variety of stakeholders for achieving beneficial washback.

While research into aspects of standardised language tests is growing, the area of classroom-based language assessment (CBLA) is still not well-defined and relatively under-researched. Studies investigating CBLA practices within the ESL/EFL school contexts as well as the tertiary level have stressed the need for further research as the picture is not yet complete. The volume aims to address this challenge by presenting a wide scope of research interests that discuss theoretical and practical underpinnings of CBLA. It is also meant to promote the notion of CBLA for a wide membership of the language teaching and testing community covering topics that consider both realities and prospects of CBLA in the assessment world.

This publication is dedicated to the memory of Associate Professor Pavlos Pavlou, a distinguished language testing and assessment researcher, ELT practitioner, sociolinguist and esteemed faculty member at the University of Cyprus. The chapters included in the volume, written by distinguished scholars, researchers and practitioners in the field of language testing and assessment, are papers selected from presentations made at the 1st International Conference of Language Testing and Assessment (ICLTA), which was dedicated to Pavlos’ memory. The conference was hosted at the University of Cyprus, Nicosia (3-5 June, 2011; http://www.iclta2011.com/cms/).

The Guidelines for Good Practice of the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (EALTA) stress the importance of collaboration between all parties involved in the process of developing instruments, activities and programmes for testing and assessment. Collaboration is considered to be as important as validity and reliability, providing a crucial prerequisite for responsibility and respect for students. The papers, covering a range of topics that consider both realities and prospects of collaboration, were originally presented at EALTA conferences from 2008 to 2010.