The paper reports on trends in language testing taking place over the years and aim at critical perspectives of testing and promoting inclusion, equity and justice. It begins with critical theories by Messick, Foucault and Bourdieu, leading to critical language testing (CLT) which focused on consequences and uses of tests. Given the power of tests…

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) standardized English language proficiency (ELP) exam is widely accepted proof of ELP at Canadian universities. The majority of Canadian universities set very similar IELTS cut scores for admission; however, these differ from the IELTS-recommended minimum cut scores. The use of the IELTS…

Possessing strong communication skills is essential in contributing to effective teaching. This paper investigates graduating student teachers' English language proficiency, as measured by IELTS tests scores, of graduating EL student teachers. The paper considers what teachers need to know about the English language given that English has been the…

This review departs from current practice in reviewing tests in that it employs an "argument-based approach" to test validation to guide the review (e.g. Bachman, 2005; Kane, 2006; Mislevy, Steinberg, & Almond, 2002). Specifically, it follows an approach to test development and use that Bachman and Palmer (2010) call the process of "assessment…

The Lau Remedies, federal recommendations to help school districts comply with the law in providing education for non-English-speaking children, raised questions of language assessment and resulted in a variety of language tests. Four years later, an examination of 46 currently available language tests, in the context of commonly accepted notions…

Articles in this issue of a journal on applied linguistics include: "Multilingualism as a Relaxed Affair: The Case of the Western Canadian Halfbreeds" (Patrick C. Douaud); "Testing a Group of Bilingual Children with the Bilingual Syntax Measure" (Christine Helot); "Two Years On: A Sample of Mother Child Interaction in a…