Grading assignments is inherently subjective and time-consuming; automatic scoring tools can greatly reduce teacher workload and shorten the time needed for providing feedback to learners. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel method for automatically scoring student responses to picture-cued writing tasks. As a popular paradigm for…

This study aimed to examine the practices of EFL teachers in test construction. It was conducted in six purposively selected secondary schools. The study addressed the following question: What are the practices of EFL teachers in test construction? The theoretical basis of the study was Bloom's taxonomy. The design of the study was a convergent…

While several studies support the appropriateness of tasks delivered through Spoken Dialog Systems (SDSs) for L2 oral communication assessment, few studies have explored the construct of interactional competence (IC) as measured by such tasks. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by investigating the use of IC features by high-…

Phonological processing of written characters has been recognized as a crucial element in acquiring literacy in any language, both native and foreign. This study aimed to assess Japanese primary school students' phoneme-grapheme recognition skills using both paper-based and touch-interface tests. Differences between the two test formats and the…

Pre-service teachers' ability to construct and conduct assessment has been a point of emphasis for decades, and rightfully so. It is crucial that they acquire the necessary knowledge and abilities in their language assessment course during their pre-service teacher education to effectively assess students in their future professional routines. The…

Although the IELTS speaking test assesses English verbal-communication competence accurately and reliably, its traditional, retroactive scoring framework stops short of providing detailed diagnostic information about individual test-takers' specific domains of proficiency or deficiency. This study employed a cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA)…

Despite extensive research on assessing collocational knowledge, valid measures of academic collocations remain elusive. With the present study, we employ an argument-based approach to validate two Academic Collocation Tests (ACTs) that assess the ability to recognize and produce academic collocations (i.e., two-word units such as "key…

The goal of this paper is to tease apart two approaches to the source of children's consistent scope assignment in negative sentences containing logical connectives: the Semantic Subset Principle and the Semantic Subset Maxim. Previous developmental work has observed that four- to six-year-old children across languages have difficulty with…

This controlled experimental study investigated the interaction of variables associated with rating the pronunciation component of high-stakes English-language-speaking tests such as IELTS and TOEFL iBT. One hundred experienced raters who were all either familiar or unfamiliar with Brazilian-accented English or Papua New Guinean Tok Pisin-accented…

Language learning activities involving time-pressured repetition of similar content have been shown to facilitate improvements in fluency. However, concerns have been voiced about whether these gains might be offset by reduced levels of grammatical accuracy. This descriptive study tracked the oral proficiency of 32 Japanese university students…

While scholars have proposed different models of language assessment literacy (LAL), these models have mostly comprised prescribed sets of components based on principles of good practice. As such, these models remain theoretical in nature, and represent the perspectives of language assessment researchers rather than stakeholders themselves. The…

The measurement of test-taking strategies and practices, mostly studied through qualitative methods, has been an important aspect of language testing and assessment research. The current study examines the test-taking strategies of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test-takers and reports the process of designing and validating…

A much-debated question in the L2 assessment field is if computer familiarity should be considered a potential source of construct-irrelevant variance in computer-based writing (CBW) tests. This study aims to make a partial validity argument for an online source-based writing test (OSWT) designed for English placement testing (EPT), focusing on…

This study is a follow-up to previous research conducted in 2012 on computer-assisted language testing (CALT) that applied a survey approach to investigate the use of technology in sign language testing worldwide. The goal of the current study was to replicate the 2012 study and to obtain updated information on the use of technology in sign…

Research in validity suggests that stakeholders' interpretation and use of test results should be an aspect of validity. Claims about the meaningfulness of test score interpretations and consequences of test use should be backed by evidence that stakeholders understand the definition of the construct assessed and the score report information. The…