This innovative, timely text introduces the theory and research of critical approaches to language assessment, foregrounding ethical and socially contextualized concerns in language testing and language test validation in today’s globalized world. The editors bring together diverse perspectives, qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and empirical work on this subject that speak to concerns about social justice and equity in language education, from languages and contexts around the world – offering an overview of key concepts and theoretical issues and field-advancing suggestions for research projects. This book offers a fresh perspective on language testing that will be an invaluable resource for advanced students and researchers of applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, language policy, education, and related fields – as well as language program administrators.

This book uses an in-depth, phenomenological interview approach to explain the generational characteristics of today’s Chinese university youths and the critical dispositions they believe indispensable in acquiring English as an academic language in and outside school settings. By presenting the authentic voices of the recruited participants, the book clarifies how English for academic purposes (EAP), as an emerging global phenomenon and a research-informed practice, enables and empowers them for conscious self-transformation and critical awareness development through language study. The book also explores issues arising in the fields of general English language teaching as well as traditional and critical EAP, and discusses university English language learners’ learning needs and rights. The book further promotes a dynamic and transformative University EAP pedagogy of particularity, practicality, and possibility moving from the oppression of language education to its liberation, and the increasing critical consciousness among the present and future university youths in a time of great social changes.

"The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment aims to present in one volume an up-to-date guide to the central areas of assessing the second language performance of English by speakers of other languages. This volume provides snapshots of significant issues and trends that have shaped language assessment in the past and highlights the current state of our understanding of these issues"--

The conference papers presented in ths volume represent a small subset of the many excellent presentations made at that event.

Reflecting the internationalization of the field of second language writing, this book focuses on political aspects and pedagogical issues of writing instruction and testing in a global context. High-stakes assessment impacts the lives of second language (L2) writers and their teachers around the world, be it the College English Test in China, Common Core-aligned assessments in the U.S., English proficiency tests in Poland, or the material conditions (such as access to technology, training, and other resources) affecting a classroom. With contributions from authors working in ten different countries in a variety of institutional contexts, the chapters examine the uses and abuses of various writing-related assessments, and the policies that determine their form and use. Representing a diverse range of contexts, methods, and disciplines, the authors jointly call for more equitable testing systems that consider the socioeconomic, psychometric, affective, institutional, and needs of all students who strive to gain access to education and employment opportunities related to English language proficiency.

Theory has been used widely in the field of second language writing. Second language writing specialists—teachers, researchers, and administrators—have yet to have an open and sustained conversation about what theory is, how it works, and, more important, how to practice theory. Practicing Theory in Second Language Writing features fourteen essays by distinguished scholars in second language writing who explore various aspects of theoretical work that goes on in the field.

This book combines insights from language assessment literacy and critical language testing through critical analyses and research about challenges in language assessment around the world. It investigates problematic practices in language testing which are relevant to language test users such as language program directors, testing centers, and language teachers, as well as teachers-in-training in Graduate Diploma and Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics programs. These issues involve aspects of language testing such as test development, test administration, scoring, and interpretation/use of test results. Chapters in this volume discuss insights about language testing policy, testing world languages, developing program-level language tests and tests of specific language skills, and language assessment literacy. In addition, this book identifies two needs in language testing for further examination: the need for collaboration between language test developers, language test users, and language users, and the need to base language tests on real-world language use.

Language Testing Reconsidered provides a critical update on major issues that have engaged the field of language testing since its inception. Anyone who is working in, studying or teaching language testing should have a copy of this book. The information, discussions, and reflections offered within the volume address major developments within the field over the past decades, enlivened by current "takes" on these issues. The real value of this collection, however, lies in its consideration of the past as a means of defining the future agenda of language testing.

This book presents an in‐depth study of assessment innovation and its impact on teaching and learning. The context is New Zealand, and the focus is additional languages other than English and the recent introduction of a radical new assessment of students’ spoken proficiency, called interact. The book crosses the traditional theoretical and methodological boundaries associated with language testing research, which focuses on assessment performance, and presents an alternative approach where stakeholders become the centre of interest. It advances our understanding of how assessment innovation impacts on two key groups - teachers and students in schools - based on data collected from a substantial two‐year research project. It presents an account of these stakeholders’ perceptions of the validity and usefulness of the new assessment in comparison with the more traditional test that it has replaced.Assessing Foreign Language Students' Spoken Proficiency makes an outstanding and original contribution to the field of second and foreign language teaching, providing a theory and research-based account of the development of a learner-centred approach to oral proficiency assessment. It is an important resource for teachers and teacher educators as well as assessment and curriculum specialists worldwide. It deserves to be widely read.