Foreign language testing is a multi-dimensional phenomenon and obtaining objective and error-free scores on learners' language skills is often problematic. While assessing foreign language performance on high-stakes tests, using different testing approaches including Classical Test Theory (CTT), Generalizability Theory (GT) and/or Item Response…

K-12 English language proficiency tests that assess multiple content domains (e.g., listening, speaking, reading, writing) often have subsections based on these content domains; scores assigned to these subsections are commonly known as subscores. Testing programs face increasing customer demands for the reporting of subscores in addition to the…

This study, framed within sociocultural theory, examines the interaction of adult ESL test-takers in two tests of oral proficiency: one in which they interacted with an examiner (the individual format) and one in which they interacted with another student (the paired format). The data for the eight pairs in this study were drawn from a larger…

This study examined the multiple true-false (MTF) test format in second language testing by comparing multiple-choice (MCQ) and multiple true-false (MTF) test formats in two language areas of general English: vocabulary and reading. Two counter-balanced experimental designs--one for each language area--were examined in terms of the number of MCQ…

This paper discusses recent developments in language testing. It begins with a review of the traditional criteria that are applied to all measurement and outlines recent emphases that derive from the expanding range of stakeholders. Drawing on Alderson's seminal work, criteria are presented for evaluating communicative language tests. Developments…