Including speaking tasks in the foreign language paper of the Spanish University Entrance Examination (PAU) has been inexistent in the last 15 years. However, the implications can be seen in shape of pressure on teachers to get students ready for such tasks in just three years (2009-2012). Because of the high stakes consequences attached to this…

Although there is an increasing number of online tests in the world, little research is currently known in Spain today. Assessment has become an integral part of education and the implications of the various uses of language testing go beyond the educational settings (Douglas, 2010; Fulcher, 2010). This study describes the PAULEX project. This…

This paper investigates whether students would be reluctant to do the oral tasks of the Computer Based University Entrance Examination (P.A.U.) in Spain. So far in the Spanish history of education never a foreign language high stakes task has been included in any of the versions of the P.A.U. 60 students took the oral task of the P.A.U. which…

Computers have become a solution for many traditional problems from the kitchen to the school. It is not, therefore, uncommon to use them to solve existing problems. It is also quite frequent that different educational needs can lead to similar solutions. For instance, the Australian immigration services use a number of exams to allow the access…