"Validation in Language Assessment" contributes to the variety of validation approaches and analytical and interpretive techniques only recently adopted by language assessment researchers. Featuring selected papers from the 17th Language Testing Research Colloquium, the volume presents diverse approaches with an international perspective on validation in language assessment.

Evaluating Language Assessments offers a comprehensive overview of the theoretical bases and research methodologies for the evaluation of language assessments and demonstrates the importance of a fuller understanding of this widely used evaluative tool. The volume explores language assessment evaluation in its wider political, economic, social, legal, and ethical contexts while also illustrating quantitative and qualitative methods through discussions of key research studies. Suitable for students in applied linguistics, second language acquisition and language assessment and education, this book makes the case for a clear and rigorous understanding of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of language assessment evaluation in order to achieve fair assessments and just institutions.

Talking About Language Assessment is the first book to take an interview-based approach to the history of language assessment. This collection consists of interviews originally featured in Language Assessment Quarterly with renowned language assessment experts. Contextualized with commentary by the editor, the articles in this text cover many of the essential areas of language testing and assessment including assessment design, validation argument, epistemological issues in research, and language assessment policy. This text is a valuable compilation on the history of language assessment, and an ideal resource for researchers and students in the field of language testing and assessment.

Talking About Language Assessment is the first book to take an interview-based approach to the history of language assessment. This collection consists of interviews originally featured in Language Assessment Quarterly with renowned language assessment experts. Contextualized with commentary by the editor, the articles in this text cover many of the essential areas of language testing and assessment including assessment design, validation argument, epistemological issues in research, and language assessment policy. This text is a valuable compilation on the history of language assessment, and an ideal resource for researchers and students in the field of language testing and assessment.

"Validation in Language Assessment" contributes to the variety of validation approaches and analytical and interpretive techniques only recently adopted by language assessment researchers. Featuring selected papers from the 17th Language Testing Research Colloquium, the volume presents diverse approaches with an international perspective on validation in language assessment.

Most scholars consider the birth of modern language testing as a field of study to be the year 1961 with the publication of Robert Lado's book Language Testing and John Carroll's chapter 'Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing'. In the decades since it has grown in scope into a deeper and wider theoretical and intellectual field of study. The intellectual growth has come with the birth of psychometrics, specifically, in using statistical analyses for test development and research; with ideas from linguistics, in developing language tests that are communicatively oriented; with ideas from ethics, specifically, in developing qualities, codes, and standards so that tests are fair and just. This has been coupled with the growth of the field into a billion-dollar worldwide enterprise partly fuelled by the practical need to assess the English language ability of test-takers who want to study at English-medium universities or work in offices that mainly use English for communication. This new four-volume collection from Routledge captures this burgeoning field by offering a cogent and comprehensive state-of-the-art coverage of the very best material. The volumes have been conceptualized both as a scholarly contribution in terms of theories and research as well as a practical guide in terms of test development in the field of language testing and assessment.

This book investigates the influence of test taker characteristics on performance in tests of English as a foreign language by exploring the relationships between these two groups of variables. Data from a test taker questionnaire and performance on the First Certificate in English (FCE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) were used for the study. The research was conducted in a construct validation context and aimed to increase our understanding of the individual differences among test takers that influence their test performance. The application of a structural modeling approach to investigate the influence of test taker characteristics on test performance makes this study a valuable contribution to language testing research. As such, it will be of considerable relevance to academic researchers and graduate students in the field of language testing and assessment, as well as to others interested in second language acquisition and learning.

Fairness of language tests and testing practices has always been a concernamong test developers and test users. In the past decade educational and language assessment researchers have begun to focus directly on fairness and related matters such as test standards, test bias and equity and ethics for testingprofessionals. The 19th annual Language Testing Research Colloquium heldin 1997 in Orlando, Florida, brought this overall concern into sharp focus by having “Fairness in Language Testing” as its theme. The conference presentations and discussions attempted to understand the concept of fairness, define the scope of the concept and connect it with the concept of validation of test score interpretation. The papers in this volume offer a first introduction to fairness and validation in the field of language assessment.

Evaluating Language Assessments offers a comprehensive overview of the theoretical bases and research methodologies for the evaluation of language assessments and demonstrates the importance of a fuller understanding of this widely used evaluative tool. The volume explores language assessment evaluation in its wider political, economic, social, legal, and ethical contexts while also illustrating quantitative and qualitative methods through discussions of key research studies. Suitable for students in applied linguistics, second language acquisition and language assessment and education, this book makes the case for a clear and rigorous understanding of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of language assessment evaluation in order to achieve fair assessments and just institutions.

As one of the most recognized names in the fields of language assessment and applied linguistics, Lyle F. Bachman has published extensively and contributed a very high volume of journal articles, books, and conference presentations to the field. These writings have strongly influenced the discipline and over the last three decades have played a hand in shaping the field into what we know today. Until now, Bachman’s work has been spread across various mediums and not existed in one place. The Writings of Lyle F. Bachman is the first book to pull together Bachman’s work into a single, comprehensive volume. The text is split into eight major sections, with each section beginning with an introduction by the editors to provide contextualization, and ending with a set of thought provoking discussion questions. Sections cover some of the major areas of the field, including Validation, Test Methods Facets, Program Design and Evaluation, and Language Testing as related to Second Language Acquisition, and papers within each section are presented chronologically so that the evolution of Bachman’s ideas and research insights can be clearly traced. Due to Bachman’s strong impact in the field, this volume not only presents a collection of his writings, but rather an overview of the discipline as it stands today that the Editors have put in a context that will be useful to both researchers and graduate students in the areas of Language Assessment & Testing and Applied Linguistics.

As one of the most recognized names in the fields of language assessment and applied linguistics, Lyle F. Bachman has published extensively and contributed a very high volume of journal articles, books, and conference presentations to the field. These writings have strongly influenced the discipline and over the last three decades have played a hand in shaping the field into what we know today. Until now, Bachman’s work has been spread across various mediums and not existed in one place. The Writings of Lyle F. Bachman is the first book to pull together Bachman’s work into a single, comprehensive volume. The text is split into eight major sections, with each section beginning with an introduction by the editors to provide contextualization, and ending with a set of thought provoking discussion questions. Sections cover some of the major areas of the field, including Validation, Test Methods Facets, Program Design and Evaluation, and Language Testing as related to Second Language Acquisition, and papers within each section are presented chronologically so that the evolution of Bachman’s ideas and research insights can be clearly traced. Due to Bachman’s strong impact in the field, this volume not only presents a collection of his writings, but rather an overview of the discipline as it stands today that the Editors have put in a context that will be useful to both researchers and graduate students in the areas of Language Assessment & Testing and Applied Linguistics.