The current article evaluates a national English language proficiency test known as the "MSRT test" which is used to determine the eligibility of candidates for admission to and completion of higher education programs in Iran. Students in all majors take this standardized, high-stake criterion-referenced test to determine if they have…

In the US K-12 public school settings, each state's annual English language proficiency (ELP) assessment, as part of an educational accountability system, has tremendous impact on English learner (EL) students' academic paths and success. It is thus critical to establish a robust validation framework and empirical evidence to ensure that states'…

This paper reviews the International English Language Testing System's speaking sub-test in the East Asia region with reference to theoretical and practice-based perspectives and identifies future research opportunities to enhance the measures of test qualities found. The test's construct validity was seen to accurately measure the abilities…

Dynamic assessments in general, and game-based assessment (GBA) specifically, compel us to rethink prevailing language testing conceptualizations of context. Context has traditionally been portrayed with a cognitive orientation, which focuses on static abilities, ignores complex interactions, devalues the role of tasks in determining scores, and…

Background: A project has recently been proposed by the National Education Examinations Authority, P. R. China, to develop a national framework of reference for English language education, provisionally called China Standards of English (CSE). In this article, we argue for the necessity of developing the framework of reference in China and…

LSP performance assessment has become a special focus for language testers in recent years where experts have debated how testing tools and processes can be strengthened to more accurately and more validly assess professional communication at work. Suggestions to achieve this include ethnographic studies of the target language situation; authentic…

Feedback is a key component of teaching second language writing. As the field of second language writing instruction has recently placed greater emphasis on sociocultural considerations, issues related to the nature, negotiation, and delivery of feedback need to be re-examined. The present paper sought to provide a sociocultural basis for such a…

This paper reassesses the mainstream tasks used for evaluating Thai EFL learners' speaking skills: face-to-face interview and role-play. Based on final and preliminary findings from small-scale classroom research, it examines the capacity of these two tasks to assess the learners' conversation skills in particular and recommends a task that is…

This paper aims to analyse the fit between the "use" and "usefulness" of the EIKEN Grade 1 test as a valid and reliable instrument to measure second language proficiency. The recent re-positioning of the EIKEN Grade 1 test as an internationally recognised higher stakes test of English proficiency, which allows successful test…