In this commentary, the authors have set out some areas where they see overlaps between the original position paper and the current discussion around theory and practice in language assessment, the key consideration of washback, and the need for a greater awareness of, and engagement with, the assessment literacy of policy-makers and other key…

Diagnostic language assessment has received increased research interest in recent years, with particular attention on methods through which diagnostic information can be gleaned from standardized proficiency tests. However, diagnostic procedures in the broader sense have been inadequately theorized to date, with the result that there is still…

Alderson, Brunfaut and Harding (2014) recently investigated how diagnosis is practised across a range of professions in order to develop a tentative framework for a theory of diagnosis in second or foreign language (SFL) assessment. In articulating this framework, a set of five broad principles were proposed, encompassing the entire enterprise of…

"Vocabulary and structural knowledge" (Grabe, 1991, p. 379) appears to be a key component of reading ability. However, is this component to be taken as a unitary one or is structural knowledge a separate factor that can therefore also be tested in isolation in, say, a test of syntax? If syntax can be singled out (e.g. in order to…

It is often asserted that UK school-leavers know less grammatical terminology than in earlier years. However, objective data on this supposed phenomenon are somewhat scarce. The study reported in this paper aimed to see whether and to what extent knowledge about language (KaL) has declined over three decades, and how this might relate to…

This commentary appraises the 2009 special issue of "Language Assessment Quarterly" on "Cognitive Diagnosis and Q-matrices in Language Assessment." Despite a number of weaknesses, specifically in attempting inappropriately to retrofit a suite of proficiency tests to diagnostic purposes, the special issue is seen as a landmark in the development of…

The Lancaster Language Testing Research Group was commissioned in 2006 by the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) to conduct a validation study of the development of a test called ELPAC (English Language Proficiency for Aeronautical Communication), intended to assess the language proficiency of air traffic…

In this article, the author reviews the TOEFL iBT which is the latest version of the TOEFL, whose history stretches back to 1961. The TOEFL iBT was introduced in the USA, Canada, France, Germany and Italy in late 2005. Currently the TOEFL test is offered in two testing formats: (1) Internet-based testing (iBT); and (2) paper-based testing (PBT).…

The notion of washback, that testing influences teaching, is explored and a series of possible hypotheses are advanced. The empirical research in general education and in language education is reviewed to determine whether washback actually exists, how it can be measured, and what accounts for its form. Proposals for future research are suggested.…

Reports on an international project's progress in revising the English Language Testing Service test, jointly produced and administered by the British Council and the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate. The rationale for the project's using new approaches to content validation of the revised test is explored. (Author/CB)

Reports on the potential problems in scoring responses to sequencing tests, the development of a computer program to overcome these difficulties, and an exploration of the value of scoring procedures. (Author/VWL)

Reports on an international test development project in which a revision team worked with experts in applied linguistics, and their varied opinions on language theory, test design and validation, and needs analyses, to identify the appropriate construct for the English Language Testing Service (ELTS) test. (52 references) (CB)

Reports on an ESRC-funded study of the levels of knowledge about language of first-year undergraduate student learners of French and the relationship between this metalinguistic knowledge and language proficiency and aptitude. (Author/VWL)

Reviews the advantages and disadvantages of computer-based language tests, explores in detail developments in Internet-based testing using the examples of the Test of English as a Foreign Language and DIALANG--an innovative on-line suite of diagnostic tests and self-assessment procedures in 14 European languages--and outlines a research agenda for…

Language testing is an area of applied linguistics that combines the exercise of professional judgment about language, learning, and the nature of the achievement of language learning with empirical data about student performance and, by inference, their abilities. The relationship between judgments and empirical data in language testing is…