ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION

SECOND EDITION

Encyclopedia of Language and Education

VOLUME 7: LANGUAGE TESTING AND ASSESSMENT

General EditorNancy H. Hornberger, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

Editorial Advisory BoardNeville Alexander, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Colin Baker, University of Wales, UKMarilda Cavalcanti, UNICAMP, Brazil

Caroline Clapham, University of Lancaster, UKBronwyn Davies, University of Western Sydney, Australia

Viv Edwards, University of Reading, UKFrederick Erickson, University of California at Los Angeles, USA

Joseph Lo Bianco, University of Melbourne, AustraliaLuis Enrique Lopez, University of San Simon, Bolivia

Allan Luke, Queensland University of Technology, AustraliaTove Skutnabb-Kangas, Roskilde University, Denmark

Bernard Spolsky, Bar-Ilan University, IsraelG. Richard Tucker, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Leo van Lier, Monterey Institute of International Studies, USATerrence G. Wiley, Arizona State University, USA

Ruth Wodak, University of Vienna, AustriaAna Celia Zentella, University of California at San Diego, USA

The volume titles of this encyclopedia are listed at the end of this volume.

Encyclopedia of Language and EducationVolume 7

LANGUAGE TESTING AND ASSESSMENT

Edited by

ELANA SHOHAMY

Tel Aviv UniversitySchool of Education

Israel

and

NANCY H. HORNBERGER

University of PennsylvaniaGraduate School of Education

USA

Volume Editors:Elana ShohamyTel Aviv UniversitySchool of EducationTel Aviv, 69978Israelelana@post.tau.ac.il

Nancy H. HornbergerUniversity of PennsylvaniaGraduate School of EducationPhiladelphia, PA 19104-6216USAnancyh@gse.upenn.edu

General Editor:Nancy H. HornbergerUniversity of PennsylvaniaGraduate School of EducationPhiladelphia, PA 19104-6216USAnancyh@gse.upenn.edu

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007925265

ISBN-13: 978-0-387-32875-1

The electronic version will be available under ISBN 978-0-387-30424-3The print and electronic bundle will be available under ISBN 978-0-387-35420-0

Printed on acid-free paper.

# 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part withoutthe written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC., 233Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection withreviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage andretrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodologynow known or hereafter developed is forbidden.The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks and similar terms,even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as towhether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME 7: LANGUAGE TESTING AND ASSESSMENT

General Editor’s Introduction ixNancy H. Hornberger

Introduction to Volume 7: Language Testing and Assessment xiiiElana Shohamy

Contributors xxiii

Reviewers xxv

Section 1: Assessing Language Domains

1. Assessing Oral and Literate Abilities 3Alister Cumming

2. Assessment in Multilingual Societies 19Rama Mathew

3. Assessing Content and Language 37Heidi Byrnes

4. Assessing Communicative Language Ability: Modelsand their Components 53James E. Purpura

5. Assessment at the Workplace 69Kieran O’Loughlin

6. Testing Aptitude for Second Language Learning 81Charles Stansfield and Paula Winke

Section 2: Methods of Assessment

7. Alternative Assessment 97Janna Fox

8. Task and Performance Based Assessment 111Gillian Wigglesworth

9. Utilizing Technology in Language Assessment 123Carol A. Chapelle

10. Large Scale Language Assessments 135Antony John Kunnan

11. Criteria for Evaluating Language Quality 157Glenn Fulcher

E. Shohamy and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education,2nd Edition, Volume 7: Language Testing and Assessment, v–vii.#2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.

12. Methods of Test Validation 177Xiaoming Xi

13. Utilizing Qualitative Methods for Assessment 197Anne Lazaraton

14. Utilizing Psychometric Methods in Assessment 211Micheline Chalhoub-Deville and Craig Deville

15. Training in Language Assessment 225Margaret E. Malone

16. Using Corpora for Language Assessment 241Lynda Taylor and Fiona Barker

Section 3: Assessment in Education

17. Classroom-based Language Assessment 257Pauline Rea-Dickins

18. Dynamic Assessment 273James P. Lantolf and Matthew E. Poehner

19. Language Assessment Culture 285Ofra Inbar-Lourie

20. Assessing Second/Additional Language of DiversePopulations 301Constant Leung and Jo Lewkowicz

21. Assessment in Indigenous Language Programmes 319Cath Rau

22. Utilizing Accommodations in Assessment 331Jamal Abedi

23. Washback, Impact and Consequences 349Liying Cheng

24. Educational Reform and Language Testing 365Geoff Brindley

25. Assessing the Language of Young Learners 379Alison L. Bailey

Section 4: Assessment in Society

26. High-Stakes Tests as de facto LanguageEducation Policies 401Kate Menken

27. The Socio-political and Power Dimensions of Tests 415Tim McNamara

28. Ethics, Professionalism, Rights and Codes 429Alan Davies

29. Language Assessment in Historical and Future Perspective 445Bernard Spolsky

vi TA B L E O F CONT EN T S

Subject Index 455

Name Index 463

Tables of Contents: Volumes 1–10 473

TAB L E O F CONT EN T S vii

GENERAL EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION1

ENCYCLO P ED I A O F LANGUAGE AND EDUCAT I ON

This is one of ten volumes of the Encyclopedia of Language andEducation published by Springer. The Encyclopedia bears testimonyto the dynamism and evolution of the language and education field,as it confronts the ever-burgeoning and irrepressible linguistic diversityand ongoing pressures and expectations placed on education aroundthe world.The publication of this work charts the deepening and broadening of

the field of language and education since the 1997 publication of thefirst Encyclopedia. It also confirms the vision of David Corson, generaleditor of the first edition, who hailed the international and interdisciplin-ary significance and cohesion of the field. These trademark characteris-tics are evident in every volume and chapter of the present Encyclopedia.In the selection of topics and contributors, the Encyclopedia seeks to

reflect the depth of disciplinary knowledge, breadth of interdisciplinaryperspective, and diversity of sociogeographic experience in our field.Language socialization and language ecology have been added to theoriginal eight volume topics, reflecting these growing emphases in lan-guage education theory, research, and practice, alongside the enduringemphases on language policy, literacies, discourse, language acquisition,bilingual education, knowledge about language, language testing, andresearch methods. Throughout all the volumes, there is greater inclusionof scholarly contributions from non-English speaking and non-Westernparts of the world, providing truly global coverage of the issues in thefield. Furthermore, we have sought to integrate these voices more fullyinto the whole, rather than as special cases or international perspectivesin separate sections.This interdisciplinary and internationalizing impetus has been immea-

surably enhanced by the advice and support of the editorial advisory boardmembers, several ofwhom served as volume editors in the Encyclopedia’sfirst edition (designated here with*), and all of whom I acknowledgehere with gratitude: Neville Alexander (South Africa), Colin Baker(Wales), Marilda Cavalcanti (Brazil), Caroline Clapham* (Britain),

1 This introduction is based on, and takes inspiration from, David Corson’s generaleditor’s Introduction to the First Edition (Kluwer, 1997).

E. Shohamy and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education,2nd Edition, Volume 7: Language Testing and Assessment, ix–xi.#2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.

NANCY H . HORNBERGER

BronwynDavies* (Australia), Viv Edwards* (Britain), Frederick Erickson(USA), Joseph Lo Bianco (Australia), Luis Enrique Lopez (Bolivia andPeru), Allan Luke (Singapore and Australia), Tove Skutnabb-Kangas(Denmark), Bernard Spolsky (Israel), G. Richard Tucker* (USA), Leovan Lier* (USA), Terrence G. Wiley (USA), Ruth Wodak* (Austria),and Ana Celia Zentella (USA).In conceptualizing an encyclopedic approach to a field, there is

always the challenge of the hierarchical structure of themes, topics,and subjects to be covered. In this Encyclopedia of Language andEducation, the stated topics in each volume’s table of contents are com-plemented by several cross-cutting thematic strands recurring acrossthe volumes, including the classroom/pedagogic side of language andeducation; issues of identity in language and education; language ideol-ogy and education; computer technology and language education; andlanguage rights in relation to education.The volume editors’ disciplinary and interdisciplinary academic inter-

ests and their international areas of expertise also reflect the depth andbreadth of the language and education field. As principal volume editorfor Volume 1, Stephen May brings academic interests in the sociologyof language and language education policy, arising from his work inBritain, North America, and New Zealand. For Volume 2, Brian Streetapproaches language and education as a social and cultural anthropologistand critical literacy theorist, drawing on his work in Iran, Britain, andaround the world. For Volume 3, Marilyn Martin-Jones and Anne-Mariede Mejía bring combined perspectives as applied and educational lin-guists, working primarily in Britain and Latin America, respectively. ForVolume 4, Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl has academic interests in linguis-tics and sociolinguistics, and has worked primarily in the Netherlandsand the USA. JimCummins, principal volume editor for Volume 5 of boththe first and second editions of the Encyclopedia, has interests in the psy-chology of language, critical applied linguistics, and language policy,informed by his work in Canada, the USA, and internationally. ForVolume 6, Jasone Cenoz has academic interests in applied linguisticsand language acquisition, drawing from her work in the Basque Country,Spain, and Europe. Elana Shohamy, principal volume editor for Volume 7,approaches language and education as an applied linguist with interestsin critical language policy, language testing and measurement, and herown work based primarily in Israel and the USA. For Volume 8, PatriciaDuff has interests in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, and hasworked primarily in North America, East Asia, and Central Europe.Volume editors for Volume 9, Angela Creese and Peter Martin, drawon their academic interests in educational linguistics and linguistic eth-nography, and their research in Britain and Southeast Asia. And forVolume 10, Kendall A. King has academic interests in sociolinguistics

x NANCY H . HORNBERGER

and educational linguistics, with work in Ecuador, Sweden, and theUSA. Francis Hult, editorial assistant for the Encyclopedia, has aca-demic interests in educational and applied linguistics and educational lan-guage policy, and has worked in Sweden and the USA. Finally, as generaleditor, I have interests in anthropological linguistics, educational linguis-tics, and language policy, with work in Latin America, the USA, and inter-nationally. Beyond our specific academic interests, all of us editors, andthe contributors to the Encyclopedia, share a commitment to the practiceand theory of education, critically informed by research and strategicallydirected toward addressing unsound or unjust language educationpolicies and practices wherever they are found.Each of the ten volumes presents core information and is international

in scope, as well as diverse in the populations it covers. Each volumeaddresses a single subject area and provides 23–30 state-of-the-artchapters of the literature on that subject. Together, the chapters aim tocomprehensively cover the subject. The volumes, edited by internationalexperts in their respective topics, were designed and developed in closecollaboration with the general editor of the Encyclopedia, who is aco-editor of each volume as well as general editor of the whole work.Each chapter is written by one or more experts on the topic, consists of

about 4,000 words of text, and generally follows a similar structure. Alist of references to key works supplements the authoritative informationthat the chapter contains. Many contributors survey early developments,major contributions, work in progress, problems and difficulties, andfuture directions. The aim of the chapters, and of the Encyclopedia asa whole, is to give readers access to the international literature andresearch on the broad diversity of topics that make up the field.The Encyclopedia is a necessary reference set for every university

and college library in the world that serves a faculty or school of edu-cation. The Encyclopedia aims to speak to a prospective readership thatis multinational, and to do so as unambiguously as possible. Becauseeach book-size volume deals with a discrete and important subject inlanguage and education, these state-of-the-art volumes also offer highlyauthoritative course textbooks in the areas suggested by their titles.The scholars contributing to the Encyclopedia hail from all continents

of our globe and from 41 countries; they represent a great diversity oflinguistic, cultural, and disciplinary traditions. For all that, what ismost impressive about the contributions gathered here is the unity ofpurpose and outlook they express with regard to the central roleof language as both vehicle and mediator of educational processesand to the need for continued and deepening research into the limitsand possibilities that implies.

Nancy H. Hornberger

G EN ERAL ED I TOR ’ S I N T RODUCT I ON xi

INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME 7: LANGUAGE TESTINGAND ASSESSMENT

This volume addresses the broad theme and specific topics associatedwith current thinking in the field of language testing and assessment.Interdisciplinary in its nature, language testing and assessment buildon theories and definitions provided by linguistics, applied linguistics,language acquisition and language teaching, as well as on the disci-plines of testing, measurement and evaluation. Language testing usesthese disciplines as foundations for researching, theorizing and con-structing valid language tools for assessing and judging the quality oflanguage.The field of language testing is therefore viewed as consisting of two

major components: one focusing on the ‘what’, referring to the con-structs that need to be assessed (also known as ‘the trait’); and the othercomponent pertaining to the ‘how’ (also known as ‘the method’),which addresses the specific procedures and strategies used for assessingthe ‘what’. Traditionally, ‘the trait’ has been defined by the languagetesting field; these definitions have provided the essential elements forcreating language tests. The ‘how’, on the other hand, is derived mostlyfrom the field of testing and measurement which has, over the years,developed a broad body of theories, research, techniques and practicesabout testing and assessment. Language testers incorporated thesetwo areas to create the discipline of language testing and assessment,a field which includes theories, research and applications; it has itsown research publications, conferences and two major journals, Lan-guage Testing and Language Assessment Quarterly, where many ofthese publications appear.An examination of the developments in the language testing and

assessment field since the 1960’s reveals that its theories and practiceshave always been closely related to definitions of language proficiency.Matching the ‘how’ of testing with the ‘what’ of language uncoversseveral periods in the development of the field, with each one instan-tiating different notions of language knowledge along with specificmeasurement procedures that go with them. Thus, discrete-point testingviewed language as consisting of lexical and structural items so that thelanguage tests of that era presented isolated items in objective testingprocedures. In the integrative era, language tests tapped integrated

E LANA SHOHAMY

E. Shohamy and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education,2nd Edition, Volume 7: Language Testing and Assessment, xiii–xxii.#2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.

and discoursal language; in the communicative era, tests aimed to repli-cate interactions among language users utilizing authentic oral andwritten texts; and in the performance testing era, language users wereexpected to perform tasks taken from ‘real life’ contexts. Alternativeassessment was a way of responding to the realization that languageknowledge is a complex phenomenon, which no single procedure canbe expected to capture. Assessing language knowledge thereforerequires multiple and varied procedures that complement one another.While we have come to accept the centrality of the ‘what’ to the

‘how’ trajectory for the development of tests, extensive work in the pastdecade points to a less overt but highly influential dynamic in anotherdirection. This dynamic has to do with the pivotal roles that tests playin societies in shaping the definitions of language, in affecting learningand teaching, and in maintaining and creating social classes. Thismeans that contemporary assessment research perceives its obligationsas being to examine the close relationship between methods and traitsin broader contexts and to focus on how language tests interact withsocietal factors, given their enormous power. In other words, as lan-guage testers seek to develop and design methods and procedures forassessment (the ‘how’) they become mindful not only of the emerginginsights regarding the trait (the ‘what’), and its multiple facets anddimensions, but also of the societal role that language tests play, thepower that they hold, and their central functions in education, politicsand society.In terms of the interaction of society and language, it is evident that

changes are currently occurring in the broader contexts and spaces inwhich language testing takes place. It is being realized nowadays thatlanguage testing is not occurring in homogenous, uniform and isolatedcontexts but, rather, in diverse, multilingual and multicultural societiesand thus posing new challenges and questions with regards to whatit means to know language(s) in education and society. For example,different meanings of language knowledge may be associated withlearning foreign languages, second languages, language by immersion,heritage languages, languages of immigrants arriving to new placeswith no knowledge of the new languages, and the languages of thosedefined as ‘trans-nationals’. Knowing the English language, the currentworld’s lingua franca, is different from knowing other languages.Similarly, the language of classrooms and schools may be differentfrom that of the workplaces or communities where bi- or multi-lingualpatterns are the norm. Each of these contexts may require different andvaried theories of language knowledge and hence different definitions,applications and methods of measuring these proficiencies.In other words, the languages currently being used in different socie-

ties in different contexts, no longer represent uniform constructs as

xiv E LANA SHOHAMY

these vary from one place to another, from one context to another,creating different language patterns, expectations and goals, and oftenresulting in hybrids and fusions, especially with regards to English.Such dynamic linguistic phenomena pose challenging problems to lan-guage testers. What is the language (or languages) that needs to beassessed? Where can it be observed in the best ways? Is it different athome, in schools, in classrooms and in the workplace? Should hybridsand fusions be assessed and how? Can levels of languages even bedefined? How should language proficiency be reported and to whom?What is ‘good language’? Does such a term even apply? Who shoulddecide how tests should be used? Do testers have an obligation toexpress their views about language and testing policy? What is theresponsibility of testers to language learning and language use in class-rooms and communities? How can ethical and professional behaviourswith regards to tests be maintained?These are some of the questions that language testers are currently

pre-occupied with. Language testers are not technicians that just inventbetter and more sophisticated testing tools. Rather, they are constantlyin search for and concerned with the ‘what’ and its complex meanings.Going beyond ‘general testing’, the unique aspect of language testingis that it is an integral part of a defined discipline, that of ‘language’.In this respect, language testers and the field of language testing are dif-ferent from the field of ‘general testing’ in that language testers are con-fined to a specific discipline and are therefore in constant need ofasking such language-related questions as listed above in order todevelop valid language assessment tools.The concern of language testers in the past decade about the use of

tests and their political, social, educational and ethical dimensionshas made the field even more complex and uncertain and in need ofnew questions and debates. The current era can be described as theera of uncertainty, where questions are being raised about the meaningof language and the possibilities for measuring this complex anddynamic variable. At the same time, it is an era of an ever more com-pelling need to ensure that these tests are reliable and valid, wherevalidity includes the protection and guarding of the personal rights ofothers, as well as positive washback on learning by addressing thediverse communities in which the tests are used. Thus, the current erais not only concerned with a broader and more complex view of whatit means to know a language, or with innovative methods of testingand assessment of complex constructs, but also with how these testscan be more inclusive, democratic, just, open, fair and equal and lessbiased. Even within the use of traditional large-scale testing, the fieldis asking questions about tests’ use: Why test? Who benefits, wholoses? What are the impacts on, and consequences for definitions of

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language in relation to people, education, language policy, and society?Tests are not viewed as innocent tools, but rather as instruments thatplay central roles for people, education and societies. Language testers,therefore, are asked to deal with broader issues: to examine the uses oftests in the complex multilingual and multicultural societies where testsare used, not only as naïve measurement tools, but also as powerfuleducational, societal and political devices.This is the conceptual premise of this volume of the Encyclopedia of

Language and Education on Language and Assessment. It aims tocover (and uncover) the multiple versions and perspectives of the‘what’ of languages along with the multiple approaches developedfor assessment of the ‘what’, especially given the multiplicity of lan-guages used by many diverse groups of learners in many different con-texts. It aims to focus on the societal roles of language testers and theirresponsibility to be socially accountable and to ensure ethicality andprofessionalism. A special focus is given in this volume to the multilin-gual and diverse contexts in which language testing and assessmentare currently anchored, and the difficult task of ‘doing testing’ in thiscomplex day and age.Accordingly, the first part of the volume addresses the ‘what’ of lan-

guage testing and assessment. It no longer divides language into neatand clear-cut skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening, butrather examines the ‘what’ of language in the diverse contexts in whichit is used. Rather than proposing one uniform way of defining the lan-guage construct, the chapters in Part 1 present language from multipleperspectives. It begins with a chapter by Alister Cumming who reviewsresearch and practices of language assessment from the perspectives oforal and literate modes of communication and their meanings in rela-tion to language competencies, language learning and multimodalities.He notes that language assessment needs to be informed and extendedby multiple forms of evidence in relation to educational purposes aswell as diverse societies. Rama Mathew surveys developments in lan-guage assessment from the perspective of multilingual competenciesas manifested in the case of India. She highlights the legitimacy of amultilingual reality in many societies nowadays, and emphasises theneed to answer this call for different ways of thinking about languageassessments. This is demonstrated through a survey of multilingualand multi-dialectical tests for assessing English. She then raises a num-ber of assessment issues that emerge in these complex realities. HeidiByrnes focusses on the role of ‘content’ as part of language proficiencyas it is closely embedded with language. By using a Hallidayanapproach to texts and knowledge, she shows how assessment can beinterpreted as part of a set of sophisticated text meanings as well as partof knowledge that is relevant to handling content and granting differing

xvi E L ANA SHOHAMY

priority to various elements of texts and their contribution to content.These approaches are anchored within multilingualism, mainstreamL2 curricula and second language literacy of diverse professionalcontexts, needed for ‘global literacy’.Jim Purpura applies the ‘Communicative Language Ability’ frame-

work to the task of defining language and uses it as the basis for testdevelopment. By surveying the different theoretical models (and thetests developed based on them), he argues that these models representtargets of assessment that can be adapted for a range of test purposesand contexts, which consist of both grammatical and pragmatic knowl-edge. Accordingly, tests which are developed based on such modelscan help to better understand the components underlying communica-tive language ability, and can also help to provide useful diagnosticinformation to learners. Kieran O’Loughlin examines language fromthe angle of the workplace, focussing on language as related to theoccupational purposes of professional duties. He provides a review ofhistorical and current practices of performance-based tests related to‘real world’ functions and tasks in a number of professional areas. Atthe same time, he is sceptical of the future of these tests, given thespread of large-scale standardized tests. Stansfield and Winke providea somewhat different perspective of the language construct by re-visitinglanguage aptitude. They re-define language aptitude by expanding itsmeaning to include second language learning aspects such as the diagno-sis and treatment of L2 learning problems in order to inform curriculardesign and to examine the relationship between working memory andL2 learning across a range of cognitive abilities. They survey the typesof aptitude tests that are in line with these new theoretical constructsand raise questions about the validity of these tests and their uses.Together, these six chapters provide multiple perspectives of the lan-guage construct and assessment practices associated with it. As thesechapters demonstrate, definitions of language cannot be detached fromthe diverse contexts in which they are used.The second part of the volume addresses the diverse methodological

issues that language testers face in assessing the complex construct oflanguage: that is, the ‘how’. These chapters demonstrate the sophisti-cated issues and deliberations as well as specific procedures used forassessing language. In the first chapter, Janna Fox reviews the develop-ments in, and outlines the procedures of alternative assessment. Sheexpands the theoretical perspective not only by providing a longer listof ‘alternatives’, but also by asking whether alternative assessmentrepresents a real paradigm shift or just additional procedures that actu-ally preserve traditional methods of testing. She then exapand thenotion by incorporating different ways of thinking about testing inalternative modes, including accommodations, dynamic assessment

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and ethical, democratic, and equitable values. One of the dominant casesof alternative assessment is that of task and performance, issues that JillWigglesworth reviews in a chapter which focusses on the tasks designedto measure learners’ productive language skills through performancesrelated to real world contexts (e.g. the workplace). She surveys the vastresearch literature on this topic, demonstrating the value of certain per-formance tests, the effect on task quality of certain variables, such as dif-ficulty levels, cognitive demands, type of discourse they produce, aswell as the extent to which they indeed represent ‘real life’. In continua-tion with the discussion of the variety of possible assessment methods,Carol Chapelle delineates the new and current methods of utilizingtechnology in language assessment—(i.e. Computer-Assisted Testing(CAT)) by reviewing tests using Micro computers and the Internet,and analysing them not only in terms of their greater efficiency but alsoin terms of the serious problems that they pose. She surveys researchon multimedia testing and its effects on learners in relation to specificskills such as listening, natural language processing, and written andspoken language. Issues of cost, training, access to infrastructure,and the intersections with construct validity are brought up, along withthe question of whether computerized testing has been evolutionary orrevolutionary.While the debates on the appropriate methods of assessment are tak-

ing place, large-scale testing continues to be administered with evenmore force than ever before by governments and educational systemsworldwide. In schools, tests are used for diagnostic purposes and tomonitor students’ progress (through standardized tests); at collegeand university levels, tests are used for the screening and selection ofapplicants. Antony Kunnan discusses these issues and raises questionsabout the advantages of uniformity of tests for the sake of fairness. Hereviews the history of large-scale testing and provides safeguards forfairness in the form of descriptive test information, codes of practices,test design and psychometric qualities.Criteria for language assessment, such as the Common European

Framework, have been receiving major attention and gaining domi-nance over the past decade, especially with regards to their effects onthe definitions of language and language policy. Glenn Fulcher pro-vides a comprehensive description of the methods used for examiningthe quality of language via rating scales, standards, benchmarks, bandlevels, frameworks and guidelines. He shows the advantages and disad-vantages of these tools in terms of validity of progression, equivalenceacross languages, hierarchies, false claims and their effects on defini-tions of language beyond serving as criteria for langauge evaluation.The field of psychometrics has gone through major changes as it has

attempted to accommodate the more complex tests and tasks so that

xviii E L ANA SHOHAMY

they will pass criteria of reliability, validity and ethicality. The chapterby Xiaoming Xi provides a comprehensive examination of these issuesand updated methods of test validation. She shows how advances invalidity benefit from progress in educational measurement, psycho-metrics and statistics, qualitative methods, discourse analysis, cognitivepsychology as well as introspective methods about tasks’ complexity.Anne Lazaraton introduces new ways of utilizing qualitative methodsfor designing, describing and validating language tests, a topic that isgaining acceptance and legitimacy within the field of language testing,especially given the limitations of traditional statistical methods. Shedemontrates how qualitative methods can provide indication of thequality of tests both on the process and the product levels. The chapterco-authored by Micheline Chaloub-Deville and Craig Deville examinesthe common psychometric methods that are used in the field through areview and analysis of language testing research as reported in highlyregarded testing journals. They show the multiple and varied methodswhich are used in testing research.Margaret Malone introduces the topic of training and teaching about

language testing given the vast amount of knowledge available todayso that testers can make informed decisions throughout the assessmentprocess about test development, scoring, interpretation, selection andadministration of tests. She introduces the term ‘assessment literacy’to refer to the required knowledge about testing and its multiple inter-pretations. Another new topic relates to the emerging field of corpuslinguistics. In the chapter by Linda Taylor and Fiona Baker they illus-trate how the field of corpus linguistics has become an important andrelevant source of accurate language data which is useful for construct-ing tests based on scientific and empirical language documentation.Together, the chapters in Part 2 present multiple methods of languageassessment while responding to current changes in the definitionsof language.Part 3 of the volume addresses issues of language testing as they

are embedded in educational systems and contexts, where languagetests are so widely used. It is in the educational system that testsand various assessment methods serve as major tools for: assessing lan-guage for learning and teaching, making decisions about programmes,teachers and learners, and finally creating changes that lead to schoolreforms and that bring intended and un-intended washbacks in class-rooms and schools. Pauline Rae-Dickins opens Part 3 with a chapterfocusing on classroom assessment, an area which is rather overlookedin relation to external high-stakes testing. She makes the distinctionbetween assessment of learning (that is focused on achievement andsummative in orientation) and assessment as learning (formative inits purpose, providing feedback to learners so that they can improve

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their learning). She points to the ample progress in the latter area in thepast decade and surveys studies of the many uses of different assessmenttools in the classroom for feedback and effective instructional methods.Another new topic receiving recognition recently is that of DynamicAssessment. Lantolf and Poehner introduce the topic in the context oflanguage testing by applying Vygotsky’s sociocultural theories to showhow testing and learning are closely connected. This approach leadsto effective learning through testing, as it is revealed that tests areembedded in learning and can therefore also contribute to its improve-ment. Another new development is the increased attention to assessmentas part of effective learning and teaching in schools. Ofra Inbar reviewsstudies that address the topic of ‘testing culture’, showing how the use ofongoing assessment in schools is an integral part of effective and bene-ficial learning, as well as of school organization.It is the realization that current schools are diverse in terms of stu-

dents’ languages and cultural backgrounds that has led to differentassessment approaches especially with regards to immigrants andindigenous populations. Using tests in the dominant school languagesposes great difficulties for these students who are engaged in langaugeacquistion while attempting to acquire school contents. Several chap-ters in Part 3 address these issues. Constant Leung and Jo Lewkowiczprovide an overview of the types of assessment procedures used indiverse multilingual and plurilingual communities in the context ofsecond language assessment designed to measure language develop-ment of linguistic minority students where another language is themajority language. They note that new developments in this area areindicative of more progressive views, which recognize the multi-faceted value of language proficiency. Cath Rau discusses assessmentstrategies for indigenous populations in schools in places where indig-enous groups make up a big part of the population, as in the case ofthe Maöri and other groups in New Zealand. She surveys descriptionsof a number of strategies used to practice testing in fairer ways, incor-porating existing language knowledge.Test accommodations refer to strategies used for language learners

to assess their content knowledge while compensating for lack oflanguage knowledge in order to create fairer testing conditions forthose for whom the language of assessment is their second language.Jamal Abedi reviews the extensive research that has been conductedin the past decade on the topic, examining effective accommoda-tions for language learners, mostly in the context of English languagelearners in the USA. He brings evidence from research about differ-ent types of accommodations in content areas such as Mathematicswhile being critical of the uses of some accommodations that have noempirical bases.

xx E LANA SHOHAMY

Issues of washback and impact of large-scale testing on teaching andlearning have stimulated ample research and writings in the pastdecade. The chapter by Liying Cheng surveys the large number ofempirical studies that have documented the effects and impacts that testshave on learning, teaching and curriculum development. It is evidentthat test washback is considered nowadays as an intergral part of con-struct validity since it is incorporated in developments of large-scale tests. Geoff Brindley demonstrates how language tests are usedby governments to reform educational systems, pointing to seriousproblems related to the practice of relying exclusively on tests for educa-tional reform. Alison Bailey addresses methods and techniques usedfor assessing the language of young learners in schools, pointing to thedifferent strategies of these kinds of tests compared with those used foradults. This topic is gaining major attention nowadays with the growingnumber of young learners of English worldwide. Taken together, thechapters in Part 3 cover a wide range of topics related to broad issuesof language assessment in education, especially amidst the changingrealities of school demographies with regards to diverse populationsand the use of tests in bringing about educational reform.The fourth and concluding part of the volume addresses societal,

political, professional and ethical dimensions of tests; a topic that hasbeen a major concern in the language testing field over the past decade.Each of the four chapters addresses different aspects of these dimen-sions. The chapter by Kate Menken illustrates how national languagetests, especially those administered by government initiatives (e.g. theNo Child Left Behind mandate in the US) affect language policy inschools and societies and deliver direct messages about the significanceand insignificance of certain languages and language instruction poli-cies. She shows how language testing and language policy are closelyconnected, arguing that language tests have a greater effect than isviewed on the surface. This is especially relevant in contexts that includelearners for whom the language of the test affects their ability to performacademically. Tim McNamara explains the need for taking into accountthe social and political dimensions of tests versus the structualist andpsychometric dimensions which have previously dominated academicdiscussions around language testing. In his chapter, he surveys varioussocial theories of linguistics and their important input into the field oflanguage testing, with special attention to the work of Messick, whodescribed the values and consequences of tests as part of construct valid-ity. He surveys studies and cases where language tests are used unjustly,such as in determining citizenship, employment and the status of asylumseekers. Alan Davies, who has written extensively on the ethical dimen-sions of tests and especially on the professional aspects related to ethical-ity, addresses these issues by covering the developments in the language

I N T RODUCT I ON xxi

testing field, showing how the Code of Ethics and Code of Practice,developed by the language testing profession via the International Lan-guage Testing Association (ILTA), can lead to the more ethical use oftests. He warns against the use of such codes as face-saving devices,action which, Davies argues, overlooks the real commitment to ethicsthat is instrumental for the profession itself, for its stakeholders and forthe rights of individual test-takers. The final chapter, by BernardSpolsky, examines the past, present and future of the field of languagetesting, providing guidance and direction for future vision. He surveysthe history of the field with its advances as well as the ample questionsand uncertainties that emerge and that need to be addressed in the future,while pointing to the contradictions, problems and difficulties of mea-suring and assessing such a complex construct as ‘language’. He endsthe chapter by stating that he remains sceptical given the role of indus-trial test-makers in computerizing tests and in reducing multidimen-sional profiles into uniform scales, and also given that educationalsystems continue to interpret test scores as if they are meaningful. Atthe same time, he expects the quality research that has been conductedin the field of language testing to continue—especially that which hasbeen conducted in relation to the ‘nature’ of language proficiency andthe diverse approaches to assessing it in defined social contexts.I would like to thank each and every author of these chapters, which

together make up a most valuable contribution to current thinking inthe field of language testing and applied linguistics. The authorsselected to write these chapters are among the most distinguishedscholars and leaders in the field of language testing. The chaptersherein reveal that the language testing field is dynamic, striving andvital. It is clear from these chapters that the field of language testingraises important and deep questions and does not overlook problems,difficulties, contradictions, malpractices and new societal realities andneeds. While viewed by some as a technical field, this volume con-vincingly demonstrates that language testing and assessment is aboveall a scholarly and intellectual field that touches the essence of lan-guages and their meanings. The need to get engaged in testing andassessment forces testers to face these issues head-on and attempt todeliberate on creative and thoughtful solutions.Finally, special personal and deep thanks to Caroline Clapham who

in her 1997 volume on Language Testing in the first edition of theEncyclopedia of Language and Education set the foundations andgrounds for the field in such insightful and thorough ways that it hasnow been possible to expand and create this very comprehensive andstimulating volume.

Elana Shohamy

xxii E L ANA SHOHAMY

CONTRIBUTORS

VOLUME 7: LANGUAGETESTING AND ASSESSMENT

Jamal AbediUniversity of California,School of Education, Davis, USA

Alison L. BaileyUniversity of California, Department ofEducation, Los Angeles, USA

Fiona BarkerUniversity of Cambridge, ESOLExaminations, Cambridge, UK

Geoff BrindleyMacquarie University,Department of Linguistics, Sydney,Australia

Heidi ByrnesGeorgetown University, McLeau, USA

Micheline Chalhoub-DevilleUniversity of North Carolina,Educational Research Methodology,Greensboro, USA

Carol A. Chapellelowa State University, Ames, USA

Liying ChengQueen’s University, Faculty of Education,Kingston, Canada

Alister CummingUniversity of Toronto, Ontario Institute forStudies in Education, Toronto, Canada

Alan DaviesUniversity of Edinburgh, Department ofTheoretical and Applied Linguistics,Scottland, UK

Craig DevilleUniversity of North Carolina, Center forEducational Research & Evaluation,Greensboro, USA

Janna FoxCarleton University,School of Linguistics and AppliedLanguage Studies, Ottawa, Canada

Glenn FulcherUniversity of Leicester, School ofEducation, Leicester, UK

Ofra Inbar-LourieTel Aviv University, School of Education,Tel Aviv, Israel

Antony John KunnanCalifornia State University,Charter College of Education,Los Angeles, USA

James P. LantolfPennsylvania State University,Center for Language Acquisition,University Park, USA

Anne LazaratonUniversity of Minnesota, ESL/ILES,Minncapolis, USA

Constant LeungKing’s College, Department ofEducation and Professional Studies,London, UK

Jo LewkowiczAmerican University of Armenia,Department of English Programs,Yerevan, Armenia

Margaret E. MaloneCenter for Applied Linguistics,Washington DC, USA

Rama MathewDelhi University, Department ofEducation, Delhi, India

Tim McNamaraThe University of Melbourne,Victoria, Australia

Kate MenkenCity University of New York,Graduate Center/Queens College,Linguistic Department,New York, USA

E. Shohamy and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education,2nd Edition, Volume 7: Language Testing and Assessment, xxiii–xxiv.#2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.

Kieran O’LoughlinUniversity of Melbourne, Faculty ofEducation, Victoria, Australia

Matthew E. PoehnerThe Pennsylvania State University,Linguistics and Applied Language Studies,University Park, USA

James E. PurpuraColumbia University, Teachers College,New York, USA

Cath RauNgāti Pūkeko, Agāki Awa, Tūhoc andKia Ata Mai Educational Trust,Ngaruawahia, New Zealand

Pauline Rea-DickinsUniversity of Bristol, Graduate School ofEducation, Bristol, UK

Bernard SpolskyBar-Ilan University, Jerusalem, Israel

Charles W. StansfieldSecond Language Testing Inc.,Rockville, USA

Lynda TaylorUniversity of Cambridge, ESOLExaminations, Cambridge, UK

Gillian WigglesworthUniversity of Melbourne, School ofLanguages, Victoria, Australia

Paula M. WinkeMichigan State University, SecondLanguage Studies Program,East Lansing, USA

Xiaoming XiCenter for Validity Research,Research & Development Division,Educational Testing Service, Princeton, USA

xxiv CONTR I BU TOR S

REVIEWERS

VOLUME 7: LANGUAGE TESTING AND ASSESSMENT

Lyle F. BachmanGeoff BrindleyAnnie Brown

Jeff Connor-LintonSara Cushing Weigle

Fred DavidsonAlan DaviesCathie ElderBruce EvansJanna Fox

Glenn FulcherLiz Hamp-Lyons

Nancy H. HornbergerFrancis M. HultOfra Inbar-LourieAntony KunnanConstant LeungMike McCarthyTim McNamaraTrent NewmanHarold OrmsbyJames E. PurpuraCharlene RiveraAliza SacknovitzElana ShohamyCarolyn TurnerMari Wesche