Jessica Wu is Research and Development Program Director at the Language Training and Testing Center (LTTC) in Taipei, Taiwan. Jessica has been deeply involved in the development and validation of the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) in addition to a number of other foreign language testing programs. Her research focuses on speaking…

John Read is about to retire as Professor in Applied Language Studies at the University of Auckland. He previously taught applied linguistics, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at Victoria University of Wellington, the SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, the University of Texas El Paso,…

In the assessment of speaking, a psycholinguistically based speaking construct has predominated. In this paper, we argue for the integration of the construct of interactional competence (IC) in speaking assessments to broaden the range of defensible inferences from speaking tests. IC emphasizes the co-constructed nature of interaction and enables…

This interview with James E. Purpura via Zoom comes in uncertain times, with CVOID-19 turning into a global pandemic. The author delves into different issues related to James E. Purpura's early career and his Language Assessment Quarterly (LAQ) editorial experience. Then moves on and talk about his research and teaching. The final part will…

Test-takers' voices in relation to high-stakes language tests have received growing attention in recent years. While the perspectives of this stakeholder group can be utilised to improve test quality, test-taking experience, and test impact, we argue that this goal needs to be achieved by considering a fundamental shift in our conceptualisation of…

This conceptual paper advances the notion of "English as corporate language" in the multilingual reality of multinational companies (MNC) with novel insights from the English as lingua franca (ELF) paradigm of sociolinguistics. Inspired by Goffman, Erving. 1959. "The presentation of self in everyday life." New York: Doubleday.…

The present paper looks at the issue of standardization in L2 oral testing. Whereas external examiners are frequently used globally, some countries opt for test-takers' own teachers as examiners instead. In the present study, Sweden is used as a case in point, with a focus on the mandatory, high-stakes, summative, ninth-grade national test in…

Diagnostic assessment is increasingly being recognized as a potentially beneficial tool for teaching and learning (Jang, 2012). There have been calls in the research literature for students to receive diagnostic feedback and for researchers to investigate how such feedback is used by students. Therefore, this study examined how students…

The debate over the Foreign Language Test (English) in the University Entrance Examination (PAU) has become a critical issue in the Spanish Educational system. Despite the Ministry of Education's interest in changing a test that has its strong emphasis on reading, writing and grammar but a general negligence towards listening and speaking, limited…

Training of pre- and in-service teachers constitutes one of the most important aspects in the quality assurance of language testing and assessment (LTA). For instance, foreign language (FL) teachers have to deal with standardised tests as well as their own classroom-based assessment procedures. This means they need the necessary expertise that can…

This paper reviews the progress made in washback studies over the quarter century since Hughes' (1989) placed it at the centre of his textbook "Testing for Language Teachers." Research into washback and the development of models of washback are described and an agenda is suggested for test developers wishing to build washback into…

Despite a number of research studies investigating the Yes-No vocabulary test format, one main question remains unanswered: What is the best scoring procedure to adjust for testee overestimation of vocabulary knowledge? Different scoring methodologies have been proposed based on the inclusion and selection of nonwords in the test. However, there…

This study investigates the validity of the Diagnostic College English Speaking Test (DCEST) in the context of EFL teaching and learning in China. The experiment was conducted in three stages over the course of eight weeks at a national key university in China. By means of test administration and questionnaire survey, the researcher gathered…

Videoconferencing offers new opportunities for language testers to assess speaking ability in low-stakes diagnostic tests. To be considered a trusted testing tool in language testing, a test should be examined employing appropriate validation processes [Chapelle, C.A., Jamieson, J., & Hegelheimer, V. (2003). "Validation of a web-based ESL…

The present study investigates English language teaching (ELT) curriculum planning in Iran's Ministry of Education and its implementation by teachers. We studied programme evaluation; needs analysis; the ELT-specific documents; communication channels between planning and practice levels; teacher evaluation and student assessment; interpretation…