The paper reports on trends in language testing taking place over the years and aim at critical perspectives of testing and promoting inclusion, equity and justice. It begins with critical theories by Messick, Foucault and Bourdieu, leading to critical language testing (CLT) which focused on consequences and uses of tests. Given the power of tests…

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…

This study compares monolinguals and different kinds of bilinguals with respect to their knowledge of the type of lexical phenomenon known as collocation. Collocations are word combinations that speakers use recurrently, forming the basis of conventionalized lexical patterns that are shared by a linguistic community. Examples of collocations…

The effects of high-stakes, standardized testing on the curriculum are discouraging the teaching of multicultural, anti-racist content. Test-influenced educational environments contribute to the reproduction of racial and cultural inequality in education. Using the lens of sociolinguistics, the author asserts that high-stakes, standardized tests…

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…

The issue of language dominance testing is explored with special attention to: (1) a history of language testing in the United States from 1943 to 1974, (2) methods presently utilized for the determination of language dominance, (3) problems encountered in language dominance testing, and (4) some specific research that has been carried out related…

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…

This interview took place at the Language Testing Research Colloquium in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (at the Chateau Laurier Hotel on July 21, 2005), at which Professor Bernard Spolsky was presented with the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate/International Language Testing Association Lifetime Achievement Award. The conference…

An answer to the question of what sociolinguistics has to offer to the art of language assessment is sought in exploration of the following topics: (1) a history of the development of sociolinguistics and an outline of the research on dialectology; (2) a review of basic sociolinguistic foundations and theories about language, society, domains of…

Currently accepted principles of communicative approaches to second language pedagogy are examined to determine the extent to which they are grounded in theories of language, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and other language-related disciplines. The discussion of communicative approaches distinguishes the notions of communicative competence…

The references in this unannotated bibliography were compiled from material available in the library of the Institiuid Teangeolaiochta Eireann (Linguistics Institute of Ireland). Most of the references were published during the seventies. They include books, journals, and microfiche. Arrangement is by subject, with an author index. Subjects…