State-of-the-Art-Review: Language Testing and Assessment: J. Charles Alderson & Jayanti Banerjee

In Part 1 of this two-part review article, issues of washback, ethics, politics and standards were addresssed. After a discussion of trends in testing on a national level and in testing for specific purposes, developments in computer-based testing were surveyed and then finally self-assessment, alternative assessment and the assessment of young learners were examined.
In the second part, the authors began by discussing recent theories of construct validity and the theories of language use that help define the constructs that we wish to measure through language tests. The main sections of the second part concentrate on summarising recent research into the constructs themselves, in turn addressing reading, listening, grammatical and lexical abilities, speaking and writing. Finally, a number of outstanding issues in the field were discussed.


PART ONE

PART TWO