This book explores implications for applied linguistics of recent developments in technologies used in second language teaching and assessment, language analysis, and language use.
Language Testing provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and information between people working in the fields of first and second language testing and assessment. This includes researchers and practitioners in EFL and ESL testing, and assessment in child language acquisition and language pathology.
In addition, special attention is focused on issues of testing theory, experimental investigations, and the following up of practical implications.
Educational assessment seeks to determine how well students are learning and is an integral part of the quest for improved education. It provides feedback to students, educators, parents, policy makers, and the public about the effectiveness of educational services. With the movement over the past two decades toward setting challenging academic standards and measuring students’ progress in meeting those standards, educational assessment is playing a greater role in decision making than ever before. In turn, education stakeholders are questioning whether current large-scale assessment practices are yielding the most useful kinds of information for informing and improving education. Meanwhile, classroom assessments, which have the potential to enhance instruction and learning, are not being used to their fullest potential.
Two recent movements in applied linguistics/learner-centered language teaching and a renewed interest in the authenticity, interactiveness, and impact of language assessments have come together to bring about a greater concern for and interest in expanding the role of the learner or test-taker in the assessment process. Learner-centered teaching has focused not only on the types of learning activities or tasks with which learners interact in language classes, but also on greater involvement of learners in directing their own learning. Interest in facilitating self-directed learning has led to the development of self-access or independent learning centers, where learners work by themselves, in pairs, and in small groups, interacting in a wide variety of activities involving a vast array of technologies, from tape and video players to live satellite transmissions to the most sophisticated computer-based multimedia learning programs, as well as human tutors and group facilitators. What has often been slighted in both learner-centered classroom activities and self-access centers is the development of appropriate assessment procedures in which learners are not only test-takers but also active participants in the assessment process. The chapters in this volume provide some useful insights into this issue and suggest a number of approaches for greater involvement of learners in the assessment process. Interest among language testers in making language assessments more authentic and interactive, and for facilitating positive impact on test-takers, has led to renewed interest in assessment procedures such as self-assessment and portfolios, and research into the application of research
There is an increasing pressure on teachers in further and higher education to provide assessment systems that are fair, valid, reliable, efficient and effective. Funding bodies demand higher quality, students themselves have sharpening expectations. Traditionally, assessment of students’ work has caused teachers more difficulties than any other area, yet the growing number of students and severe financial restraints mean that even existing standards are difficult to maintain.
