In this interview, JD Brown reflects on language testing/assessment. He suggests that language testing can be seen as a continuum with hard core positivist approaches at one end and post modernist interpretive perspectives at the other, and also argues that norm referencing (be it proficiency, placement, or aptitude testing) and criterion…

Those who work in second- and foreign-language testing often find Koretz's concern for validity inferences under high-stakes (VIHS) conditions both welcome and familiar. While the focus of the article is more narrowly on the potential for two instructional responses to test-based accountability, "reallocation" and "coaching,"…

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.…

Greater understanding of language and social forces constraining language performance has complicated the view of language as a code and the learner as an object to be conditioned. Serious questions arise, then, regarding effective testing of linguistic/communicative competence and the use of test results for educational decision making.…

Describes second language testing methods including discrete-point tests, integrative tests, criterion-referenced testing, FSI test of oral proficiency, tests of functional ability. No way has yet been found to reliably measure communicative competence in second languages. (BK)

Two reading comprehension tests were made up based on two different texts thought to be of equal difficulty. An analysis of the texts and test items was performed after students taking one of the tests scored considerably higher than the other students, and it was determined that one text was in fact more difficult. (CFM)

The concepts of language proficiency, limited language proficiency, and comparably limited language proficiency are examined. Studies critical of the instruments used for making assessments according to these concepts are reviewed. The effects of these concepts on proposed legislation involving bilingual education are discussed. It is suggested…

Surveys the development of language tests toward authenticity and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of indirect and direct (authentic) language tests. Discusses the difficulty of applying appropriate psychometric measures to tests using real-life language, and the large number of tests variables which interfere with the authenticity of…

The limitations of objectives tests, the language skills needed for university work, and effective ways of appraising and communicating these skills to the university are discussed. The goals of university English as a second language (ESL) programs is to train international students in the linguistic and academic skills they will need in American…

Discusses the suggestion that certain features of "real life" language use must be incorporated in any assessment of a foreign language learner's communicative competence. The validity of current assessment schemes, such as role play tasks, is discussed, and a case study of a role play testing situation is reported. (SED)

Describes relationship between curriculum and learner evaluation in Jordan of English language teaching. Claims Oxford Secondary English Course for Jordan tests are defective, speaking is ignored in tests, reading comprehension is neglected and tests are exclusively discrete-point tests. Suggests use of cloze tests and translation. (BK)

Communicative oral language tests have claimed high content validity, but have also elicited concern that the assessment scales are based on theory with little empirical justification. A new approach to construct validity can be found in discourse analysis, which could lead to the development of new communicative discourse tests in all skills. (CB)

Although research on bilingualism in the schools shows the importance of measuring both English and Spanish language skills regularly, the testing of Spanish falls behind in both quality and frequency. Concerted multidisciplinary cooperation among bilingual educators, linguists, and psychometricians is now needed to produce a variety of valid…

The competency testing movement will yield few improvements in the schools and will create arbitrary barriers to progress for some students. Although it may stimulate educational improvement for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students, as for other students, by giving cohesion to the curriculum, guiding scarce resources for remediation,…

In addition to the benefits of the oral proficiency movement, problems are seen, including flaws in the claim that the testing is proficiency based, the potential misuse of competency-based education, and the Oral Proficiency Interview's inability to test nonlinguistic barriers to communication. (Author/MSE)