Handbook of Second Language Assessment

This study examines the level of Language Assessment Literacy (LAL) of English language teachers at the university level in Pakistan by adopting a mixed-methods explanatory approach. The study offers a comprehensive analysis of language assessment awareness among English language teachers in the Pakistani context along with their language teaching-learning experiences. Likewise, English language teachers shared their perspectives regarding the role of LAL in enhancing language teaching and learning processes at the university level. The theoretical framework of the study, which is comprised of three seminal theories, viz. Classical Test Theory, Generalizability Theory and Item Response Theory, has informed the interview protocol used for qualitative data collection. In the same vein, the current study investigates three core areas including the current level of LAL among university English teachers, the challenges they face while assessing their students’ language proficiency, and the possible solutions for these challenges for the improvement of language assessment, teaching and research practices. For the said purpose, data is collected from 15 English language teachers who are currently serving at five different public sector universities including Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST) Kohat, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM), National University of Modern Languages (NUML) Islamabad, FATA University, Kohat, and Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad, through semi-structured questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Correspondingly, quantitative findings of the study reveal that most of the participants (73.33%) are PhD degree holders but many of them lack professional language assessment trainings both pre-service and post-service. The study highlights that English language teachers have limited exposure to standardized testing frameworks like CEFR, IELTS, and ELLT. Among them, only 13.33% had studied language assessment as a course at the PhD level while 46.66% of language teachers had not attended any training in the last five years of their professional life. Given the gaps between language teaching and assessment practices as the qualitative data highlights, language assessment trainings need to be offered to teachers and students at the university level with a view to enhance their theoretical as well as practical knowledge regarding language assessment which will furnish their language assessment skills. The major findings of the study also have significant implications for English Language Teaching (ELT) and assessment practices and language policies with a view to bridge the gulf between language teaching and assessment practices in multilingual contexts like Pakistan.

This chapter discusses the challenge of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) for language assessment. It introduces the issue of ELF and language assessment. The chapter connects the specific challenges of ELF with broader debates around the nature of communicative competence. It also discusses how research in language testing and assessment has addressed the ELF challenge thus far, showing that tangible progress has been slow and more work needs to be done. The chapter describes what an ELF construct for assessment purposes might look like, and how this construct could be operationalised through tasks. It concludes with future challenges for integrating ELF perspectives into language assessment. ELF assessment opens up the question of who is to be tested; removing the privileged status of the non-native speaker, who may have no natural advantage over a non-native speaker in achieving successful ELF communication.

Contents: Introduction. Part I: Important Social Contexts in Research on Second Language Teaching and Learning. Introduction. M.E. Brisk, Bilingual Education. M.R. Hawkins, ESL in Elementary Education. P.A. Duff, ESL in Secondary Schools: Programs, Problematics, and Possibilities. D.E. Murray, ESL in Adult Education. S. Carkin, English for Academic Purposes. P. Master, English for Specific Purposes. C. Roberts, English in the Workplace. B. Tomlinson, English as a Foreign Language: Matching Procedures to the Context of Learning. Y. Kachru, Teaching and Learning of World Englishes. Part II: Methods in Second Language Research. Introduction. L. Harklau, Ethnography and Ethnographic Research on Second Language Teaching and Learning. L. van Lier, Case Study. A. Lazaraton, Quantitative Research Methods. D. Nunan, Classroom Research. A. Burns, Action Research. Part III: Applied Linguistics and Second Language Research. Introduction. T. Pica, Second Language Acquisition Research and Applied Linguistics. S.L. McKay, Sociolinguistics and Second Language Learning. J. Zuengler, K.M. Cole, Language Socialization and Second Language Learning. G. Kasper, C. Roever, Pragmatics in Second Language Learning. J.P. Lantolf, Sociocultural and Second Language Learning Research: An Exegesis. N. Markee, Conversation Analysis for Second Language Acquisition. R.B. Kaplan, Contrastive Rhetoric. S. Conrad, Corpus Linguistics and L2 Teaching. Part IV: Second Language Processes and Development. Introduction. G. Ioup, Age in Second Language Development. R. DeKeyser, A. Juffs, Cognitive Considerations in L2 Learning. Z. Han, L. Selinker, Fossilization in L2 Learners. M. Swain, The Output Hypothesis: Theory and Research. E. Tarone, Speaking in a Second Language. M. Rost, L2 Listening. T.G. Wiley, Second Language Literacy and Biliteracy. P. Byrd, Instructed Grammar. D.E. Eskey, Reading in a Second Language. I.S.P. Nation, Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. J.S. Hedgcock, Taking Stock of Research and Pedagogy in L2 Writing. E. Hinkel, Analyses of Second Language Text and What Can Be Learned From Them. Part V: Methods and Curricula in Second Language Teaching. Introduction. S.J. Savignon, Communicative Language Teaching: Strategies and Goals. S. Fotos, Traditional and Grammar Translation Methods for Second Language Teaching. J. Williams, Form-Focused Instruction. M.A. Snow, A Model of Academic Literacy for Integrated Language and Content Instruction. R. Ellis, Instructed Language Learning and Task-Based Teaching. M. Celce-Murcia, E. Olshtain, Discourse-Based Approaches: A New Framework for Second Language Teaching and Learning. C.A. Chapelle, Computer-Assisted Language Learning. N.J. Anderson, L2 Learning Strategies. Part VI: Second Language Testing and Assessment. T. McNamara, Introduction. A.J. Kunnan, Language Assessment From a Wider Context. A. Davies, C. Elder, Validity and Validation in Language Testing. M. Chalhoub-Deville, C. Deville, A Look Back at and Forward to What Language Testers Measure. T. Lumley, A. Brown, Research Methods in Language Testing. D. Douglas, Testing Languages for Specific Purposes. C. Leung, Classroom Teacher Assessment of Second Language Development: Construct as Practice. Part VII: Identity, Culture, and Critical Pedagogy in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Introduction. T. Ricento, Considerations of Identity in L2 Learning. M. Byram, A. Feng, Teaching and Researching Intercultural Competence. S. Canagarajah, Critical Pedagogy in L2 Learning and Teaching. Part VIII: Language Planning and Policy and Language Rights. R.B. Baldauf, Jr., Introduction. R.B. Baldauf, Jr., Language Planning and Policy Research: An Overview. T. van Els, Status Planning for Learning and Teaching. A.J. Liddicoat, Corpus Planning: Syllabus and Materials Development. R.B. Baldauf, Jr., R.B. Kaplan, Language-in-Education Planning. D.E. Ager, Prestige and Image Planning. S. May, Language Planning and Minority Language Rights.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to educational systems around the world. In particular, language learning environments being impacted by the pandemic has resulted in a shift from traditional in-person to online language teaching. This paper examines the case of an English language program in South Korea to investigate how the sudden transition to online language teaching has influenced language instructors’ teaching and assessment practice. The current study also examines the level of satisfaction of instructors and students with the changing form of English language teaching and assessment practices. Results showed that a professional learning community was formed by instructors to engage in regular communication as an attempt to develop new forms of assessment practices that were process-oriented and formative. Instructors also assigned multimodal projects to promote sustainable assessments where students could actively utilize target language forms and structures. Students were highly satisfied with new forms of language assessment practices, whereas instructors’ level of satisfaction towards their language assessment practices were somewhat low. Findings provided educators with language assessment suggestions that can offer language instructors ideas to deliver more creative and sustainable language assessment strategies that can promote self-regulated learning and sustainable development.

This paper looks into the shifts from traditional to innovative and inclusive language testing methods, focusing on developments such as alternative assessment, AI integration, and computer-adaptive testing. This study employs a desk-based approach to the literature which synthesizes relevant theories in order to highlight the increased focus on fairness, inclusivity and authentic assessment. The key findings highlight that dynamic and performance-based assessments address the different learning needs of the learners; promote instrumentality towards language use and incorporate socio-political and ethical dimensions in test construction. The paper also underlines the transformative power of technology to improve access and efficiency considering the potential challenges and inequalities associated with its use. By integrating traditional and modern practices, this study contributes to both the theoretical discourse and practical advancements in language assessment that uphold equitable, ethical and effective testing methods consistent with twenty-first century educational standards and learner diversity.

Teacher assessment literacy (AL) is widely recognised as central to effective language assessment, yet its development in higher education EFL contexts remains under-theorised. This mixed-methods study examines factors shaping assessment literacy among in-service EFL teachers at Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT), Uzbekistan. Data were collected through an online questionnaire (n = 34) and two focus group discussions (n = 8), with analytic focus on 26 EFL teachers. The findings show that assessment literacy develops through experiential practice, reflective engagement, collegial interaction, and institutional participation rather than through formal training alone. Teachers predominantly evaluate their assessment literacy via colleagues’ feedback and reflective judgement, indicating that assessment literacy functions as a socially mediated and context-dependent professional capacity. Although most participants had undertaken assessment-related training, its perceived impact was uneven, pointing to a distinction between credentialised and enacted assessment literacy. References to digital assessment emerged as anticipatory concerns rather than empirically demonstrated competence. The study contributes to language assessment literacy research by conceptualising teacher assessment literacy as distributed, relational, and unevenly enacted, and by distinguishing between instrumental and pedagogical orientations to assessment practice in higher education EFL settings.

The concept of literacy has expanded significantly in the course of the last decade to include computer literacy or science literacy in academic and public discourse. The recent focus of attention on classroom-based language assessment has brought the aspect of language assessment literacy (LAL) to the forefront, with foreign language teachers as one important group of stakeholders whose professionalization of this concept is important. The current paper aims at relating the findings from part of a large-scale study that was undertaken in seven different European countries in order to shed light on perceived LAL levels of foreign language teachers and their training needs in language testing and assessment. The focus will be on the qualitative part of the mixed methods study that examines foreign language school teachers’ perceptions in three different educational contexts, namely Cyprus, Germany and Greece. The paper closes with an outline of the implications for teacher development and directions for future research.

Language assessment literacy (LAL) is a critical field for researchers, scholars, or anyone interested in improving the language teaching environment. Understanding the basics of testing and the ability to perform testing-related activities becomes more significant in test-oriented countries. As such, in the extremely exam-oriented milieu of Bangladesh, giving tests and preparing students for high-stakes tests are the two core tasks performed by language teachers. English teachers’ readiness and ability to perform various test-related tasks determine the quality of English education in the country. In this regard, earlier studies have investigated various factors related to English language teaching. However, the assessment literacy of teachers has rarely been investigated within the context of Bangladeshi language teaching. There is no publication or broader research to understand how LAL operates in English teachers in the country. Considering the test-oriented nature of Bangladesh, it is essential to explore if the LAL of language teachers is benefitting classroom teaching and learning. Hence, this research aims to examine the nature and functionality of LAL among English teachers in Bangladesh. The study focused on two central concerns: first, whether the English teachers in the country are academically and professionally ready to perform various testing tasks; and second, how the teachers perceive LAL in their teaching practices. Semi-structured interviews were used as the data collection method for this qualitative study. The results provided insights into how the inadequate academic and professional testing background of teachers hindered their performance in conducting assessment-related tasks and contributed to their limitations in the use of assessments to improve teaching. Based on the findings, the article concludes with suggestions that can be implemented to develop language assessment awareness of English teachers in Bangladesh.

This paper reports the findings of the qualitative diagnostic stage within an action research study whose purpose is to improve the language assessment literacy (LAL) of English teachers at a Colombian language institute. A questionnaire, interviews, and document analyses were used to inquire into beliefs and practices in the design of an achievement test. Findings suggest that these teachers believe tests should have core qualities that are partially mirrored in their practices. The research also highlights that beliefs and practices in test design exhibit a dynamic relationship. Conclusions are based on findings and provide information useful for professional development experiences in LAL.

Advances in natural language processing (NLP) and automatic speech recognition and processing technologies offer new opportunities for language testing. Despite their potential uses on a range of language test item types, relatively little work has been done in this area, and it is therefore not well understood by test developers, researchers or users in language assessment. This paper introduces NLP for language assessment as an area of inquiry and practice by describing the historical roots coming from computational linguistics, statistical NLP, speech recognition and processing technologies, language assessment, and computer-assisted language learning. It outlines uses of NLP and speech recognition and processing technologies in language assessment through illustrations of current testing projects, and identifies areas in need of further development.

This chapter examines the possibilities and pitfalls of classroom-based English language assessment, drawing on both the language testing and classroom assessment literature in English language education as well as educational assessment more generally. The chapter opens with a brief overview of different contexts for language testing and assessment: external, classroom-based, and second language acquisition research. The second part of the chapter presents research findings that highlight different facets of classroom-based assessment: the different meanings of and purposes for assessment, relationships between formative and summative assessment, approaches and frameworks used in teacher assessment, teacher perceptions and implementation of assessment, and the extent to which conventional measurement paradigms are appropriate for assessing the worth of instructional embedded assessment. These research findings lead into a discussion of current concerns and issues, as well as some of the potential pitfalls associated with classroom-based assessment. The final part of the chapter outlines future directions for the field and highlights some of the challenges for both research and professional practice in relation to classroom-oriented assessment.KeywordsLanguage AcquisitionSummative AssessmentLanguage TestApply LinguisticsAlternative AssessmentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The main objective of this research is to obtain an overview of pre-service English teachers' perceptions regarding the use of digital technology in making English language tests in the language assessment process. This research uses a mixed-method research model that combines qualitative research models and quantitative models to obtain more comprehensive and in-depth data regarding pre-service English teachers' perceptions on the use of digital technology in creating English tests. The research data source will be selected purposively, namely, pre-service teachers who have completed the Language Assessment course in the English Language Education study program, Faculty of Language and Literature, Universitas Negeri Makassar. In the data collection process, researchers used interviews, questionnaires, and document reviews. Qualitative data will be analyzed based on the stages of data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions or verification. Meanwhile, to analyze quantitative data, researchers will use descriptive statistical analysis. The result of this study reveals that the pre-service English teachers portrayed a positive attitude toward the use of digital technology to create English tests in language assessment

Validity in language testing and assessment has its long fundamental role in research along with reliability (Bachman & Palmer, 1996). This paper analyses basic theories and empirical research on language test validity in order to provide the notion, the classification of language test validity, the validation working frames and the trends of empirical research. Four key findings come out from the analysis. Firstly, language test validity refers to an evaluative judgment of the language test quality on the ground of evidence of the integrated components of test content, criterion and consequences through the interpretation of the meaning and utility of test scores. Secondly, construct validity is a dominating term in modern validity classification. The chronic division of construct validity into prior and post ones can help researchers have a clearer validation option. Plus, test validation can be grounded in light of Messick (1989), Bachman (1996) and Weir (2005). Finally, almost all empirical research on test validity the researcher has addressed concerns international and national high-stakes proficiency tests. The research results open gaps in test validation research for the future.

This study is a systematic examination of the open access status of research in two flagship language testing and assessment journals: Language Testing and Language Assessment Quarterly. Coding and analysing 898 articles, we investigated (a) the prevalence of open access in four aspects—open manuscripts, open materials, open data, and open code, and (b) the relationship between open access and various characteristics of research, tests, and researchers. Our study revealed a positive trend in the adoption of open access over time, with open manuscripts and materials showing notable increases. Open code and data have remained scarce, though with a recent uptick from a low base. Notably, logistic regression results suggest inequitable participation in open access as authors from the Global South were less likely to have open manuscripts. Recognising the potential role of flagship journals as trend and standard setters, we call on the field to (a) shift towards more equitable open access models, (b) balance intellectual property concerns with validation needs, (c) recognise open code and open data with protected access via dedicated badges, and (d) adopt Research Transparency Statements, a new reporting structure inclusive of methodological and epistemological differences in open research practices.

With the ever-increasing advancement of computer technology the number of language assessments that utilize computer technology in designing, developing, and delivering test content as well as scoring and reporting examinee test performance is growing steadily and rapidly. Many test authoring systems are currently available to language teachers in various forms, while taking a language test on a computer is becoming a familiar activity for language learners as well. Traditionally, various types of technologies other than computer technology have been utilized in language assessment. For example, audio, video, and telephone have been used for delivering speaking tests, recording examinee responses in oral interviews, and delivering stimuli in listening assessments. However, because many of these existing technologies are being replaced with computer technology, this chapter focuses primarily on the use of computer technology in language assessment. Following Chapelle and Douglas (2006), the term computer-assisted language testing (CALT) will be employed throughout to refer to language assessments that utilize computer technology in various ways. During the last few decades, language testers have been exploring the possible usage of CALT in order to make language assessment efficient and to design language tests that can provide us with more useful information about the L2 ability of learners than in traditional assessments. This chapter provides a brief overview of the historical development of CALT and current issues of concern, along with directions for future CALT research in the field of language assessment.