This paper explores the role of language testing in English education, focusing on its theoretical foundations, methodologies and practical applications. It analyzes how language tests fulfill various purposes, such as placement, progress monitoring, achievement evaluation and diagnostic feedback, underlining the importance of a critical…

As the most prestigious and popular standardized achievement test to certify examinees' proficiency of the English language at the national level, Foreign Language Examination (YDS) has been mostly taken by academic staff, undergraduate and graduate students, state employees, and military personnel for years in Turkey. The current study set out to…

This study examines two kinds of French language tests originating from the Threshold-Level (T-Level) or Niveau-Seuil theory of language learning in the context of several linguistic and testing concepts: discrete-point testing with regard to notions and functions from T-Level theory, communicative context, and assessment of listening…

Six basic questions that are important to consider in foreign language testing are often taken for granted: (1) What is it that a student "knows" when he or she has acquired a foreign language, and is it measured in qualitative or quantitative terms or both? (2) What are the roles of skills and attitudes in learning a foreign language?…

Speaking a second language is probably the most difficult skill to test in that it involves a combination of skills that may have no correlation with each other, and which do not lend themselves to objective testing. In addition, what can be understood is a function of the listener's background and ability as well as those of the speaker. Another…

This report states the issues involved in the use of communicative tests, oral and written, to assess grammatical correctness among students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Experience with two English tests administered at the beginning and end of the practice teaching period of Dutch students training to become EFL teachers indicates…

The oral interaction examination used by Britain's Royal Society of Arts for testing communicative use of English as a foreign language is described. The underlying principles of the test, its structure, administration, issues of reliability and validity, and scoring are outlined. Three components of the test itself are included. One component is…

This handbook resulted from a project to develop a tape-based alternative test of language proficiency in less commonly taught languages. The objective was to produce a test that is modeled on and readily interpretable by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Interagency Language Roundtable (ACTFL/ILR) proficiency guidelines…

Reading skills are crucial to students learning and using English as a second language for academic purposes. Teachers can construct valid reading tests if they approach the task with care and focus on the test's ability to measure construct rather than face validity. In reading tests, the crucial elements of test design affecting validity are (1)…

This paper reviews eight major problem areas concerning testing practices of interest to professionals practicing psychology in the schools. These areas, identified by the Task Force on Psychology in the Schools of the American Psychological Association, include: (1) test use; (2) diagnostic versus placement tests; (3) informed parental consent…

The oral communication course for English majors at the National University of Malaysia includes testing designed by faculty and coordinated with the curriculum. This practice is based on the ideas that a teacher who has been actively involved in curriculum design is in a good position to design a test for that curriculum, and that teacher-made…