Fundamental considerations in Language Testing

Here is a clear and authoritative discussion of the basic concerns which underlie the development and use of language tests, and an up-to-date synthesis of research on testing. Primarily for students on teacher education courses, it is also an invaluable resource for all those professionally involved in designing and administering tests, acting as a complement to practical 'how to' books.

This volume considers fundamental issues in advanced language learning, from the definition of "advancedness," through descriptive and instructional considerations in advanced learning, to the role of assessment. It presents both general insights and also language-specific considerations in classrooms at the college level, spanning a range of languages, from the commonly taught languages of English, French, and German to the less commonly taught Farsi, Korean, Norwegian, and Russian.

There’s no question that Kierkegaard’s life had an impact on his thinking and his writing. His father’s influence, his engagement to and subsequent break from his fiancйe, his religious upbringing, and other factors all play an integral role in his works. In addition to a fuller understanding, such considerations often provide insight into their mistakes as well as their successes.

Education and educational research, according to the current fashion, are supposed to be concerned with ‘what works’, to the exclusion of all other considerations. All over the world, and particularly in the English-speaking countries, governments look for means of improving ‘student achievement’ as measured by standardized test scores. Although such improvements are often to be welcomed, they do not answer all significant questions about what constitutes good education. Also the research on which they are based is not the only legitimate way to do educational research. Social research, and therefore educational research, cannot ignore the distinctive nature of what it studies: a social activity where questions of meaning and value cannot be eliminated, and where interpretation and judgment play a crucial role.

In this book distinguished philosophers and historians of education from 6 countries focus on the problematical nature of the search for ‘what works’ in educational contexts, in practice as well as in theory. Beginning with specific problems, they move on to more general and theoretical considerations, seeking to go beyond over-simple ideas about cause and effect and the rhetoric of performativity that currently has educational thinking in its grip.