Roger Hawkey – författare

Documents the development of the Cambridge ESOL Certificates in English Language Skills (CELS), a suite of modular examinations first offered in 2002. As a context for how CELS was conceived, developed, constructed, validated and managed, the book traces the history of exams which have influenced CELS. The Royal Society of Arts (RSA), later UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) Communicative Use of English as a Foreign Language examinations (CUEFL) was one such influence, as were the Certificates in Communication Skills in English (CCSE), these exams being a development of the CUEFL. The University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) examinations, taken over by UCLES in 1995, were a further influence on CELS. UODLE itself had worked in partnership with the Association of Recognised Language Schools (ARELS) Examinations Trust, the Oxford EFL reading and writing exams for many years offered in tandem with the ARELS Oral English exams.

This book clarifies the concept of impact and related terms, such as washback, evaluation, monitoring and validation, and focuses on the impact of language tests and language programmes on a range of stakeholders, including test-takers, teachers, textbook writers, testers and institutions. First-hand experience is cited from two new impact studies. One analyses the impact of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), the second looks at the Progetto Lingue 2000 (Year 2000 Languages Project), a state-school foreign-language education improvement programme undertaken by the Ministry of Education in Italy. The main findings of these studies are presented, as well as theoretical and practical lessons to be learnt from them. The context is the role of impact studies in the test development and validation systems of Cambridge ESOL, the sponsor of both impact studies.