This article reports on a study of the validity and reliability of tests administered in an EFL university setting. The study addresses the question of how well face validity reflects more objective measures of the quality of a test, such as predictive validity and reliability. According to some researchers, face validity, defined as the surface…

For 42 Italian students studying English as a foreign language, there was no significant difference in subjects' success in recognizing words, regardless of whether words' final consonants were fully realized. Exercises that focus attention on sounds at the ends of words make learners practice a strategy that neither they nor first-language…

Questions the removal of a link between reading and writing tasks in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examinations on two grounds: that this removal is prejudicial to those students whose native cultures may not provide the appropriate schemata to effectively write; and that it is unrealistic in terms of the measurement of…