This article considers the construct of fluency in second language assessment and how it might be informed by research in applied linguistics. It briefly describes the way fluency is conceptualized in four language tests, as embodied in their respective assessment criteria, to show where the field is at present. The article then takes into account…

In this speech, the author covers a lot of ground. In the first half of his speech, the author gives a brief summary of the last 40 years of the history of language testing, from his perspective. The author reviews these years more or less by decade. Additionally, he discusses the evolution of the profession of language testing during this period,…

The testing of English language learners (ELLs) is, to a large extent, a random process because of poor implementation and factors that are uncertain or beyond control. Yet current testing practices and policies appear to be based on deterministic views of language and linguistic groups and erroneous assumptions about the capacity of assessment…

This article examines the intersection of psychometrics and sociolinguists in the testing of English language learners (ELLs); it discusses language, dialect, and register as sources of measurement error. Research findings show that the dialect of the language in which students are tested (e.g., local or standard English) is as important as…

Discusses authenticity in language testing in relation to the language proficiency movement. Looks at both sociolinguistic and psychometric principles as they are concerned with authenticity and validity as well as the inferential distance that separates face validity from techical validities. Criticizes the belief that some test type possess…

Current research is reviewed for implications for language proficiency assessment practices. Research is discussed concerning adult language proficiency testing, cognitive studies which attempt to conceptualize the construct of language proficiency, development of theoretical models of communicative competence, studies investigating the validity…

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)

A review of literature on foreign language testing indicates that the earliest approaches to language assessment were generally uninformed by contemporaneous linguistic and psychological theories and were characterized by a lack of psychometric sophistication. This trend was followed by the development of test instruments that were heavily…

Describes several elicitation techniques used for speech act data collection and analysis and discusses their suitability in testing a learner's acquisition of the rules of language use. Argues that the development of testing instruments for communicative competence cannot be divorced from the field of cross-cultural pragmatics. (SED)

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,…

Language teaching typically reflects current research, and, until quite recently, grammatical competence (e.g., in the Chomskyan sense) was the major target of linguistic research. Emphasizing the spoken language, the term "fluency," as applied to the foreign language performance of a language learner, is correlated to foreign language…

In response to the American Association of Applied Linguistics' presentation of the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award for extraordinary contributions to the fields of language learning, teaching, and testing in May 2004, Merrill Swain described her own work as "moving in cycles of research, theory and practice." These "spirals" ("cycles…

This National Profile has been prepared as the United States' participation in Phase I of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's international study of language learning on the secondary level. It presents a complete outline of the state of foreign language learning in the United States from grades 1-12 for…

This encyclopedia of language teaching and learning is an authoritative handbook dealing with all aspects of this field of study. It has been produced specifically for language teaching professionals, but can also be used as a general reference work for academic studies at a postgraduate level. A comprehensive range of articles on contemporary…

A set of functional-analytic materials, entailing the study and practice of sociostylistic variation, was implemented in three eighth-grade French immersion (FI) classrooms by their respective teachers during French language arts classes over a five-week period. Pre- and posttests indicate that functional-analytic teaching improved FI students'…