Those who work in second- and foreign-language testing often find Koretz's concern for validity inferences under high-stakes (VIHS) conditions both welcome and familiar. While the focus of the article is more narrowly on the potential for two instructional responses to test-based accountability, "reallocation" and "coaching,"…

A focus on test validity includes a consideration of the way a test measures that which it proposes to test; in other words, the validity of a test depends on method as well as content. This paper examines three areas of concern: (1) some features of communication that test method should reflect, (2) the main components of method, and (3) some…

Examines the case for performative testing of communication skills for purposes of academic study. Also, the merits and limitations of performance tests and communicative tests are considered in relation to reinforcing teaching and learning and selecting and recommending students for future courses of study. (SL)

Examines objectivity as a criterion for excellency in language tests through a critical presentation of the characteristics of objective tests. This examination leads to a discussion of what the best approach to testing language might be, endorsing a combination of integrative and objective techniques. (Author/MES)

Suggests that language testing should be more performance-based and realigned with a current and richer understanding of the language teaching and learning processes. This kind of testing has questionable validity until a wide range of variables are successfully defined and delimited. (CB)

Describes what a computer-adaptive test (CAT) is, examines its roots, and points out some of the challenges this approach to assessment presents. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the types of language tests that language teachers can use in their classrooms for their specific purposes. Language assessments are classified into three categories: selected-response assessments; constructed-response assessments; and personal-response assessments. A definition is provided for each assessment type, and advantages and…

Presents the design and validation of an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) test for a commercial publisher. (Author/VWL)

Multiple choice items formatted as a question with one of four distractors giving the correct answer are a clearer and more valid way of testing the reading comprehension of foreign learners of English than is the common format in which the testee must complete a sentence stem by choosing one of four distractors. (Author/CB)

Reviews developments in language testing research and practice over the last 20 years, and suggests future directions in the areas of professionalizing the field and validation research. Argues that concerns for ethical conduct must be grounded in valid test use, so that professionalization and validation research are inseparable. (Author/VWL)

Traditional tests, sometimes called prescientific, and post-modern tests, such as cloze tests and dictations, take the same approach toward content validity: the examinee must show in an "integrated facile performance" that he or she can use the language fluently. Where traditional tests fail is in a third dimension, test method. These…

As a reaction to the popularization of so-called "discrete point" tests of language proficiency, that is, tests that evaluate control of a sample of specific linguistic items, a number of testing formats which provide a more global, integrative measure of language proficiency have been proposed or revived in recent years. Some of these measures…

Results of a rational, multiple-choice, cloze Spanish achievement test indicate the validity of such a test to measure achievement. It is suggested that with only minor adaptations, such a test could be used as a way to measure macro- and microprogress with specific materials at any point in a course or program where reading may be tested. (SL)

Examines standards in language testing, in the context of the legal framework of the United States and the United Kingdom. The article argues that research into test reliability and validity by testing bodies in the United States has a legal basis and examines areas in which examination boards offering English as a foreign language tests in…

This article discusses issues involved in second language testing at the secondary school level in Britain. It focuses on the rationale for second language testing and the need to address criticisms of language tests, such as test validity and authenticity of tasks. (nine references) (MDM)