Full Description
Includes chapters on key aspects of second language assessment such as test construct, diagnosis, exam design, and the growing range of public policy, social and ethical issues. Each of the contributors is an expert in their area; some are established names while others are talented newcomers to the field.
The chapters present new research or perspectives on traditional concerns such as test quality; fairness and bias; the testing of different language skills; the needs of different groups of examinees, including English language learners who need to take content tests in English; and the use of language assessments for gate-keeping purposes. This volume represents the best of current practice in second language assessment, demonstrating how language assessment is informed by and engages with neighbouring areas of applied linguistics such as technology and language corpora.
Contents
Introduction, Dina Tsagari (University of Cyprus, Cyprus) and Jayanti Banerjee (Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments, USA)
Section I: Key Theoretical Considerations
1. Modelling Communicative Language Ability: Skills and Contexts of Language Use, Lin Gu (Educational Testing Service, USA)
2. Presenting Validity Evidence: The Case of GESE, Elaine Boyd and Cathy Taylor (Trinity College London, UK)
3. A New National Exam: A Case of Washback, Doris Frötscher (Federal Ministry of Education, Austria)
4. Linking to the CEFR: Validation Using a Priori and a Posteriori Evidence, John de Jong (Pearson Engish, The Netherlands) and Ying Zheng (University of Southampton, UK)
Section II: Assessment of Specific Language Aspects
5. Authentic Texts in the Assessment of L2 Listening Ability, Elvis Wagner (Temple University, USA)
6. The Role of Background Factors in the Diagnosis of SFL Reading Ability, Ari Huhta (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), J. Charles Alderson (Lancaster University, UK), Lea Nieminen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), and Riikka Ullakonoja (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)
7. Understanding Oral Proficiency Task Difficulty: An Activity Theory Perspective, Zhengdong Gan (The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
8. Principled Rubric Adoption and Adaptation: One Multi-method Case Study, Valerie Meier (UC Santa Barbara, USA), Jonathan Trace (University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA) and Gerriet Janssen (Universidad de los Andes, Columbia)
9. The Social Dimension of Language Assessment: Assessing Pragmatics, Carsten Roever (University of Melbourne, Australia)
Section III: Issues in Second Language Assessment
10. Applications of Corpus Linguistics in Language Assessment, Sarah Cushing Weigle (Georgia State University, USA) and Sarah Goodwin (Michigan State University, USA)
11. Setting Language Standards for International Medical Graduates, Vivien Berry (British Council, UK) and Barry O'Sullivan (British Council, UK)
12. Fairness and Bias in Language Assessment, Norman Verhelst (European Association for Language Testing and Assessment, The Netherlands), Jayanti Banerjee (Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments, USA) and Patrick McLain (Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments, USA)
13. ACCESS for ELLs: Access to the Curriculum, Jennifer Norton (Center for Applied Linguistics, USA) and Carsten Wilmes (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)
14. Using Technology in Language Assessment, Haiying Li, Keith T. Shubeck, and Arthur C. Graesser (University of Memphis, USA)
15. Future Prospects and Challenges in Language Assessments, Sauli Takala (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), Gudrun Erickson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden), Neus Figueras (Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain), and Jan-Eric Gustafsson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
Index
