Although much has been written about the testing and evaluation of language students, few books have dealt with the much broader issue of measuring the success of language programs. Filling a critical gap in the literature of applied linguistics, Language Program Evaluation provides teachers, researchers, and administrators with a complete introduction to both qualitative and quantitative approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of their programs. Through a careful blend of theory, research, and practice, the author presents a testing model that is specifically tailored to the concerns of language education programs and which can be adapted to different contexts and updated as teaching and learning situations evolve. He proposes a shift from purely quantitative studies that consider only end-of-program achievement gains to ones that include an investigation of program process using qualitative, naturalistic methods.

The creation of language tests is-and should be-a craft that is accessible and doable not only by a few language test experts, but also by many others who are involved in second/foreign language education, say the authors of this clear and timely book. Fred Davidson and Brian Lynch offer language educators a how-to guide for creating tests that reliably measure exactly what they are intended to measure. Classroom teachers, language administrators, and professors of language testing courses will find in this book an easy and flexible approach to language testing as well as the tools they need to develop tests appropriate to their individual needs. Davidson and Lynch explain criterion-related language test development, a process that focuses on the early stages of test development when the criterion to be tested is defined, specifications are established, and items and tasks are written. This process helps clarify the description of what is being measured by a test and enables teachers to give input on test design in any instructional setting. Informed by extensive research in criterion-referenced measurement, this book invites all language educators to participate in the craft of test development and shows them how to go about it.

This volume examines the overlapping areas of evaluation and assessment, where 'evaluation' is defined as the systematic use of information to make decisions about language teaching programmes and 'assessment' as the systematic use of information to make decisions about individuals and their language ability. A variety of topics are covered, including paradigms and purposes, design techniques, quantitative and qualitative methods for collecting and analysing data, and ethical, social and political considerations in the conduct of evaluation and assessment. The book has two important goals: to underscore the relationships between the enterprises of evaluation and assessment, and to encourage the use of new paradigms in our approaches to these enterprises. Features: *The first treatment of assessment and evaluation in one volume *Exercises and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter *Includes an extensive bibliography.