College and university admissions officers are the gatekeepers who decide which individuals may join the "country club" of higher education. As such, the decisions they make have a significant impact on the lives of individuals, especially those who are willing to travel across the globe and risk living in an unfamiliar country in order…

Language tests have become powerful tools, because they are used to measure the success of individuals in different aspects of life. Despite their influence on the lives of individuals taking them, only in the last decades have language theorists started to raise questions of high sensitivity. Tests were considered as purely linguistic acts,…

The article examines changes in language testing textbooks in English since Lado (1961) and proposes that two trends may be discerned. The first shows how the growing professionalism of the field has required an expansion in teaching materials to meet the need for new training programmes. What the expansion also shows is the desire, again a mark…

It is concluded from a review of the literature and consideration of the type and objectives of tests and programs in English as a second language that, just as limiting an instructional program to what is to be tested in standardized tests would be inappropriate, so would constructing such a program without regard for what was to be tested. It is…

Links the theory of washback with the broader concept of impact in educational measurement and to the recent debate on construct validity associated with Messick. Notes that for many years it was asserted that language tests negatively impacted teaching and learning, an impact known as washback. (25 references) (Author/CK)

Describes five basic elements that need to be considered with every test: backwash; reliability, administrative concerns; validity; and ethics. These elements are discussed in relation to tests for students who are second language learners of English. (Author/VWL)

Addresses the role of ethics and its limits in professional activities such as language testing. Consideration is given to language testing as a means of political control, the definition of the test construct, the effects of language tests on the various stakeholders involved, and criteria for promoting ethicality in language testing. (six…

Discusses the need for a strong ethical foundation in the social sciences, which include language testing. Proposes the need for a professional morality and explains the importance of such morality to individuals and other stakeholders. It is argued that the intrusive nature of language testing and the normative role of language tests raises…

Addresses matters of ethics, standards, and professionalism in language testing. Terminology is defined, and current standards and codes relevant to language testing are reviewed. Personal experiences illustrating the ethical choices faced by professional language testers are provided. (11 references) (Author/CK)

Argues that language tests employing methods not fair to all test takers are unethical. Ways of reducing sources of unfairness in language testing is discussed. (15 references) (Author/CK)

Argues that tests have always been used as a means of political and social control. Maintains that test results are unreliable, especially at the extremes, that their predictive power is weak and that language testers need to be skeptical and need to insist on complete information on candidates' backgrounds for selection decision making. (10…

This article presents an interview with Professor Alan Davies who was born in Wales, studied at Oxford University and Birmingham University, and taught in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh, completing 40 years this year. Professor Davies has travelled widely to give invited talks and seminars, participate in applied linguistics conferences,…

Research in multilingual societies often attends to the micro level of linguistic interactions, as linguistic minority speakers negotiate their way through a majority-language world. However, this research does not always engage with the social, political and historical contexts that produce and reproduce the conditions within which some…

Notes the increasing use of English language testing in Australia for nonlinguistic purposes in contexts governed by political pressures. Explores recent test examples and the pragmatic considerations giving rise to such test development. (28 references) (Author/CK)

The thought of Samuel Messick has influenced language testing in 2 main ways: in proposing a new understanding of how inferences made based on tests must be challenged, and in drawing attention to the consequences of test use. The former has had a powerful impact on language-testing research, most notably in Bachman's work on validity and the…