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4 - Issues in Arabic Language Testing and Assessment

from Part I - Arabic Applied Linguistics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2021

By
Michael Raish
Edited by
Karin Ryding  and
David Wilmsen
Karin Ryding
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
David Wilmsen
Affiliation:
American University of Beirut
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Summary

Language tests are a widely used form of educational evaluation that provide information about various aspects of test takers’ language abilities, and often represent a crucial component of the ongoing assessment process that ideally characterizes the healthy functioning of a language curriculum. In the context of teaching Arabic as a foreign language (TAFL), learners, instructors, and other language professionals are likely familiar with formats such as the in-class multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank exam, as with more comprehensive end-of-term examinations. Many are likewise familiar with performance-based testing formats, such as the oral proficiency interview (OPI), a proprietary instrument of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). In the context of second language acquisition (SLA) studies, Arabic language tests often take the form of diagnostic instruments such as the cloze or C-test, or of discrete measures of structural aspects of linguistic production elicited via an experimental task.

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The Cambridge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics , pp. 83 - 105
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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