Product description

Language Testing Matters explores the social and educational impact of language testing and assessment at regional, national and international level. It brings together a collection of 20 edited papers based on proceedings of the 2008 ALTE Conference in Cambridge.

The selected papers focus on three core strands addressed during the conference: new perspectives on testing for specific purposes; insights on testing policy and practice in the context of language teaching and learning in different parts of the world; reflections on the impact of testing among differing stakeholder groups.

With its broad coverage of key issues, combining theoretical insights and practical advice, this volume is a valuable reference work for academics, employers and policy-makers in Europe and beyond. It is also a useful resource for postgraduate students of language testing, for practitioners, and anyone else seeking a better understanding of the social and educational impact of language assessment.

Key features

• Considers the important role played by language assessment today in social contexts such as the aviation industry, the legal system, and migration and citizenship policy.
• Explores recent research into cheating in tests and potential measures to address this.
• Reports recent studies to describe and profile levels of language proficiency.
• Discusses the relationships among different stakeholder groups in language testing and assessment.
• Provides insights into new areas for testing and assessment, e.g. teacher certification, examinations in L2 school systems, testing of intercultural competence