This book clarifies the concept of impact and related terms, such as washback, evaluation, monitoring and validation, and focuses on the impact of language tests and language programmes on a range of stakeholders, including test-takers, teachers, textbook writers, testers and institutions. First-hand experience is cited from two new impact studies. One analyses the impact of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), the second looks at the Progetto Lingue 2000 (Year 2000 Languages Project), a state-school foreign-language education improvement programme undertaken by the Ministry of Education in Italy. The main findings of these studies are presented, as well as theoretical and practical lessons to be learnt from them. The context is the role of impact studies in the test development and validation systems of Cambridge ESOL, the sponsor of both impact studies.

This critical history covers 70 years of two major UCLES / Cambridge ESOL international exams: the First Certificate in English (FCE) and the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE). The story begins with the development and first sitting of the FCE (then called the Lower Certificate in English) in 1939. The book then traces subsequent developments, including the initiation of FCE under its current name in 1975, the introduction of CAE in 1991, as well as reviews, major revisions, and modifications, leading to the update of FCE and CAE for December 2008. On the way, the history attempts to balance theory and practice, fact and opinion, insider and outsider perspectives, recurring themes and key innovations. We see the scale of the FCE and CAE exams grow from an initial candidature of just 144, to make a significant contribution to Cambridge ESOL's current total of over two million candidates in 130 countries.

This volume documents the development of the Cambridge ESOL Certificates in English Language Skills (CELS), a suite of modular examinations first offered in 2002. As context for the account of how CELS was conceived, developed, constructed, validated and managed, the book traces the history of various exams which have influenced CELS. The Royal Society of Arts (RSA), later UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) Communicative Use of English as a Foreign Language examinations (CUEFL) was one such influence, as were the Certificates in Communication Skills in English (CCSE), these exams being a development of the CUEFL. The University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) examinations, taken over by UCLES in 1995, were a further influence on CELS. UODLE itself had worked in partnership with the Association of Recognised Language Schools (ARELS) Examinations Trust, the Oxford EFL reading and writing exams for many years offered in tandem with the ARELS Oral English exams.