This book documents a major study comparing the Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE) with the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to investigate similarities in test content, candidature and use. While both tests were designed to measure many of the same abilities, they represent radically different approaches to language test development, reflecting deeper differences between educational measurement traditions in the US and UK. The thorough investigation of the fundamental characteristics and operational utility of two of the most widely used English tests for foreign students makes this study a valuable contribution to language testing research. As such, it will be of considerable interest to language testing specialists and examination boards, as well as to academic researchers and graduate students in the field of language assessment more generally.

This book enables practitioners to apply statistics effectively to the development and use of language assessments. The Workbook and CD contain datasets from actual language assessments and data analysis exercises.

Second language acquisition (SLA) and language testing (LT) research have largely been viewed as distinct areas of inquiry in applied linguistics. In recent years, however, there has been greater overlap, or interface, between these two areas, and an increasing commonality of interests, both in terms of the research questions addressed and the empirical approaches taken in dealing with these questions. This book provides a fresh look at areas of common interest to both SLA and LT research, and ways in which research in these two areas of applied linguistics can be fruitfully integrated. The volume includes original papers, especially written around a common theme, dealing with different aspects of the interface between SLA and LT research, by leading researchers in these areas. This collection thus constitutes a starting point for a continuing and expanding dialogue between SLA and LT researchers.