This book has two goals, each related to the validity of language assessment. The first goal is to explore the difference between fairness and justice in language assessment. The authors distinguish internal and external dimensions of the equitable and just treatment of individuals taking language tests which are used as gatekeeping devices to determine access to education and employment, immigrant status, citizenship, and other rights. The second goal is to show how the extent of test fairness can be demonstrated and improved using the tools of psychometrics, in particular the models collectively known as Rasch measurement. “This book will have an enormous impact on the field of language assessment. Using Rasch analysis models to explore and identify sources of unfairness, the authors make a compelling case for fairness in the design and implementation of language assessment instruments and for justice in the interpretation and use of test results. A real strength of the book is that it guides readers through analytical techniques in an accessible way.” Dan Douglas, Professor Emeritus, Applied Linguistics Program, Iowa State University.

Home to the most innovative studies in its field, the Oxford Applied Linguistics series furthers research in English teaching and learning, and provides strong foundations for language pedagogy.The series attracts single or co-authored volumes from authors researching at the cutting edge of this dynamic field of interdisciplinary enquiry. The titles range from books that make such developments accessible to the non-specialist reader to those which explore in depth their relevance for theway language is to be conceived as a subject, and how courses and classroom activities are to be designed. As such, these books not only extend the field of applied linguistics itself and lend an additional significance to its enquiries, but also provide an indispensable professional foundation forlanguage pedagogy and its practice.The scope of the series includes:- second language acquisition- bilingualism and multi/plurilingualism- language pedagogy and teacher education- testing and assessment- language planning and policy- language internationalization- technology-mediated communication- discourse-, conversation-, and contrastive-analysis- pragmatics- stylistics- lexicography- translation

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Series Editor Preface -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 The Need for Evaluation -- 2 Past Frameworks and Evaluations -- 3 Ethics-Based Approach to Assessment Evaluation -- 4 Building the Fairness and Justice Argument -- 5 Opportunity-to-Learn -- 6 Meaningfulness -- 7 Absence of Bias -- 8 Washback and Consequences -- 9 Advancing Fairness and Justice -- 10 Applications and Implications -- Index

A state-of-the-art reference work exploring the crucial topics for practitioners and scholars of language teaching and assessment, their impact on language learners, and specific approaches to assessment employed around the world Includes 140 thematically-organized chapters exploring the contexts where assessment occurs, including learners and their abilities; developmental tools and approaches to assessment; and qualitative and quantitative interdisciplinary approaches to evaluation and language assessment in 35 languages Brings together an international team of scholars under the editorship of Antony John Kunnan, one of the foremost scholars in this field Combines the leading voices and cutting-edge research in a reference work spanning the fields of language teaching and learning, language policy and planning, testing and evaluation, and education 4 Volumes www.companiontolanguageassessment.com

Fairness in educational assessment has become a major talking point and allegations that assessments are unfair are commonplace on social media and in the press. But what does fairness mean in practice and how can we evaluate it? This book offers a timely and necessary investigation, exploring the concept through the lenses of: measurement theory, social justice, the law and philosophy in order to put forward a template for fairness in educational assessment. Drawing on international examples from the UK, US, Australia and South East Asia, this book offers a commentary on fairness that is highly relevant to the changing context of assessment today. If you have a professional or academic interest in educational assessment, are a education policymakers or are just interested in working to make assessment fair, then this book is for you!

This Festschrift for Tim McNamara brings together papers on the social impact of language tests, such as fairness and justice of test use, testing of interaction, and teachers' and students' views of language tests. It also discusses the future of language testing with regard to validity, the rise of social media, and lingua franca language use.

This book offers a succinct theoretical introduction to the basic concepts in language testing in a way that is easy to understand. In the Japanese context, this book is highly recommended for university faculty members involved in obtaining assessment literacy, teachers who want to validate their exploratory teaching and testing, or applied linguistics students new to the language testing field. The book is divided into four main sections. The first provides an overview of the principles of language testing. The next contains short extracts from the testing literature with questions which stimulate further thinking. Section 3 is a list of references with brief annotations and Section 4 a glossary of referenced testing terms.

Assessment for Learning (AfL) has become an established idea within higher education, based on the evidence that assessment is one of the most powerful drivers of student learning and thus can be harnessed as a means to improve learning. Assessment for Social Justice looks at assessment in higher education through the lens of critical pedagogy and social justice, and offers new insights to both fields of enquiry. The starting premise, adopted from AfL, is that the way in which we form and practice assessment can and should influence the social justice outcomes of higher education. Looking at a number of different theories of social justice, Jan McArthur explores how alternative theories provide the foundations for different types of assessment practice. The theories explored include the works of John Rawls, Theodor Adorno, Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth. McArthur then explores different examples of assessment and how these embody, or constrain, alternative theories of social justice. She provides a theoretically rigorous understanding of assessment as a social practice, and as a vehicle both for and against social justice. Assessment for social justice is explored in two complementary ways - the justice of assessment within higher education, and assessments that promote greater social justice - and in doing so this book contributes to ongoing debates about the nature and purposes of higher education.

Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls's view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls's theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes the first edition once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls's work.

The first principled examination of social justice and the advancement of opportunity as the aim and consequence of writing assessment.