This paper reports on the washback effects of Malaysia's School-Based Assessment (SBA) on Form 4 students after almost a decade of its implementation in the country. It critically examines how SBA has affected Form 4 students' overall perceptions about the learning of the English language at school. This study also investigates the challenges that…

Extramural exposure, through activities such as watching TV, gaming, networking, and online reading, has become an important source of vocabulary acquisition in English as a foreign language, particularly when learners' first language (L1) has many cognates with English. Our study examined extramural vocabulary acquisition of 10th-grade L1…

This study investigated test-taking engagement on the Spring 2019 administration of a large-scale state summative assessment. Through the identification of rapid-guessing behavior -- which is a validated indicator of disengagement -- the percentage of Grade 8 test events with meaningful amounts of rapid guessing was 5.5% in mathematics, 6.7% in…

The present study attempted to examine the effect of using the connectivist approach on developing secondary-stage students' cross-cultural awareness and translation performance. The study comprised thirty-two first-year secondary stage students enrolled in El-Jalawea Institute, Sohag Governorate. The study adopted the quasi-experimental design.…

Vocabulary knowledge strongly predicts second language reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Yet, few tests have been developed to assess vocabulary knowledge in French. The primary aim of this pilot study was to design and initially validate the Context-Aligned Two Thousand Test (CA-TTT), following open research practices. The CA-TTT is a…

The current National Curriculum 2012 for English (VI- X) in Bangladesh incorporates both listening and speaking skills for its English education. Textbooks have also been designed in accordance with the policy which is set by the National Curriculum and Textbook Broad (NCTB). The English textbook, titled "English for Today" (EfT), was…

Very few studies have investigated second language (L2) knowledge of word parts. The present study was set to measure L2 recognition of 35 English prefixes and the factors that might predict scores. The form and meaning sections of Sasao and Webb's Word Part Levels Test were administered to 152 Arabic learners of English as a foreign language…

This paper explores GCSE English re-sits in post-16 education. The re-sit policy was introduced in England and Wales to improve national literacy rates, yet persistently poor pass rates have drawn robust criticism of the policy. This article argues that traditional discourses of literacy predominate and contribute towards antagonisms between…

The present study aims to investigate the young EFL learners' attitudes towards assessment in light of the recent changes in the Moroccan educational policy. It specifically tries to identify variables that could be linked to positive or negative attitudes towards assessment. The study makes use of methodological triangulation where both…

Translation, an ancient activity, has only been acknowledged as an independent discipline since the 1970s. Translation Studies was introduced as a program in Turkish higher education in the 1980s, with English translation and interpreting programs being the first to emerge. It was not until 2011 that the first program for training Arabic…

There has been a growing call for listening to test-takers' voices across diverse assessment contexts. Within classroom assessment (CA), however, test-takers' voices on ethics are under-researched in the high school context of Iran. Hence, this study purported to disclose Iranian high school test-takers' (n = 15) perceptions of the ethical…

At the end of high school in Chile, it is expected that students achieve a B1 English language proficiency level. In the present article, we measure the level of readability of the texts used in the new EFL Chilean textbook and compare it with the readability level of the texts used in the Cambridge B1 preliminary exam to check its appropriacy.…

Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) as a secondary school subject is affected by two policies, namely the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) and Progress 8, which contribute to the measurement of performance in exams at age 16 (GCSEs). In this paper, I discuss the concept of performance measurement in schools and the purpose it purportedly serves, before…

The rising status of English as a global language prompts a call for a paradigm shift in English language teaching in order to correspond to the new sociolinguistic landscape. However, studies related to English language assessment, which can catalyze the transformation especially in a test-oriented context like Thailand, remain limited. This…

This sequential mixed-methods study investigates washback on learning in a high-stakes school exit examination by examining learner perceptions and reported behaviours in relation to learners' beliefs and language learning experience, the role of other stakeholders in the washback mechanism, and socio-educational forces. The focus is the graded…