In 1980 the first meeting of the UK-based Language Testing Forum was held in Lancaster. In 2010, 30 years later, the annual meeting celebrated that first meeting, basing the discussions, as in 1980, on three seminal papers: on the structure of language ability, on communicative language testing, and on testing Languages for Specific Purposes.…

This study describes research used for supporting a validity argument for a new Spanish Listening Exam, whose scores are intended to place examinees into appropriate levels of university Spanish classes. This study contributes to the field of argument-based approaches to language assessment by implementing Bachman's (2005) assessment use argument…

While research into classroom language assessment has expanded in recent years, the nature of thought processes used by teachers when conducting such assessment has received less attention. This article reports on research that explored these cognitions through case studies of two instructors teaching an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) course…

Two early publications are often cited as the genesis of the language testing field: (1) Lado's (1961) book on language testing; and (2) Carroll's (1961) fundamental considerations paper. The former is the first textbook on assessing foreign language ability. The latter is the first true statement of theory. The former is the first publication to…

Within the last few decades, there have been multidimensional advancements in language assessment. Some of the advancements have been in the direction of developing theoretical models of the construct of language ability, others in the line of measuring that construct, and still some others toward materializing the outcomes of measuring the…

This article presents an interview with Dr. John Bissell Carroll, who was considered by many to be the premier psychologist in the 20th century in terms of contributions to educational linguistics. In retrospect, this occasion has very special significance, as it was one of the last interviews that Dr. Carroll granted near the end of his…

In response to the American Association of Applied Linguistics' presentation of the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award for extraordinary contributions to the fields of language learning, teaching, and testing in May 2004, Merrill Swain described her own work as "moving in cycles of research, theory and practice." These "spirals" ("cycles…