This book combines insights from language assessment literacy and critical language testing through critical analyses and research about challenges in language assessment around the world. It investigates problematic practices in language testing which are relevant to language test users such as language program directors, testing centers, and language teachers, as well as teachers-in-training in Graduate Diploma and Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics programs. These issues involve aspects of language testing such as test development, test administration, scoring, and interpretation/use of test results. Chapters in this volume discuss insights about language testing policy, testing world languages, developing program-level language tests and tests of specific language skills, and language assessment literacy. In addition, this book identifies two needs in language testing for further examination: the need for collaboration between language test developers, language test users, and language users, and the need to base language tests on real-world language use.

Current Issues in Language Evaluation, Assessment and Testing: Research and Practice is a collection of research papers, most of which were presented at the 17th World Congress of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA), which was held in 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. The volume comprises 15 chapters presenting current research projects and discussing issues related to language testing and the development of language assessment instruments in a variety of contexts around the world. This anthology will be of use to both new and seasoned researchers within the field of Applied Linguistics and TESOL. Teacher educators, language teachers, and language assessment professionals will find this volume equally useful as the papers present current trends in testing and evaluation.

English language programs depend on the effective assessment of the measure of student proficiency for purposes of placement, advancement, and completion. A variety of approaches may be adopted depending on the program, its objectives, and the students it serves. Teachers and administrators in many contexts may also be required to meet institutional accountability expectations, often externally imposed and related to accreditation standards. The need for appropriate and accurate assessment of student learning, whether internally sought or externally required, provides the opportunity for teachers and administrators to consider current practices, implement reforms, and because of ongoing assessment findings, improve student learning through curricular change, teacher training, and modification of classroom practice. Global Perspectives on Effective Assessment in English Language Teaching explores approaches, models, principles, and techniques related to effective assessment at the classroom and program levels. Covering topics such as language program evaluation, curriculum alignment, and alternative assessment methods, this book is ideal for classroom teachers, administrators, researchers, and students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed a new era in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning and teaching by shifting EFL education from the face-to-face learning paradigm to the online and distance learning paradigm. Teachers and students have faced several challenges such as choosing appropriate web tools for presenting content either synchronously or asynchronously, motivating students to participate, and assessing students’ learning. Additionally, this shift to emergency remote online learning represents a challenge for students, particularly with managing their own learning. Taking into account that many students attend low-income schools with limited resources that lack reliable access to the internet and computers, this shift has resulted in growing equity gaps. Likewise, transitioning to emergency remote teaching has revealed a lack of digital competency and readiness amongst teachers. English as a Foreign Language in a New-Found Post-Pandemic World presents an overview of various tools, designs, and strategies utilized to provide digital teaching and assessment of the English language, shares research on using digital technologies for supporting English language learning, and identifies promising areas and directions for future innovations, applications, and research in digital English language learning and teaching. Covering critical topics such as digital teacher education, language learning environments, and online instructional tools, this reference work is crucial for administrators, policymakers, teacher educators, special educators, educational technologists, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

This book provides an overview of recent trends and developments in the field of English language education. It showcases research endeavors from a heterogenous group of scholars from different parts of the world and brings together perspectives from both experienced and emerging scholars. This book provides a platform for established as well as emerging practitioners and scholars in the field of English Language Teaching to share their research. It synthesizes local expertise and culture with innovative ideas from other contexts and brings theory and practice together in one volume.

This book showcases how teacher educators from diverse backgrounds, contexts, and realities approach English language teacher education with a critical stance. Organized into nine parts that explore different facets of English Language Teaching, each section opens with theoretical considerations chapters and features 24 practical application chapters. Written by renowned scholars including Graham Hall, Lili Cavalheiro, and Mario López Gopar, among others, the theoretical considerations chapters offer concise insights into current issues and controversies in the field, point out opportunities for criticality, and discuss implications for teacher education. Written by critically-oriented teacher educators/researchers from various parts of the world including Brazil, Germany, Morocco, Sweden, Turkey, and the USA, among others, the practical application chapters exhibit various ways to incorporate critical approaches in reshaping current teacher education practices (ranging from critical and queer pedagogy to translanguaging to multilingualism) along with a critical reflection of the potentials and the challenges involved in their application.

Despite the fact that language assessment has become one of the most crucial aspects of language teaching, there have been many challenges faced by teachers and language test designers. New challenges include online language classroom assessment and language assessment for class teachers who use English as the medium of instruction (EMI). The time of covid-19 pandemic will not stop the increased need for language assessment. Therefore, issues in language testing and assessment are worth to be well documented through academic articles.

The Routledge Introductions to Applied Linguistics series takes an innovative 'practice to theory' approach, with a 'back-to-front' structure. This leads the reader from real-world problems and issues, through a discussion of intervention and how to engage with these concerns, before finally relating these practical issues to theoretical foundations. Exploring Language Assessment and Testing offers a straightforward and accessible introduction that starts from real-world experiences and uses practical examples to introduce the reader to the academic field of language assessment and testing. Extensively updated, with additional features such as reader tasks (with extensive commentaries from the author), a glossary of key terms and an annotated further reading section, this second edition provides coverage of recent theoretical and technological developments and explores specific purposes for assessment. Including concrete models and examples to guide readers into the relevant literature, this book also offers practical guidance for educators and researchers on designing, developing and using assessments. Providing an inclusive and impartial survey of both classroom-based assessment by teachers and larger-scale testing, this is an indispensable introduction for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students studying Language Education, Applied Linguistics and Language Assessment.

The Readings in Language Studies series presents international perspectives on important and emergent themes in language studies: critical pedagogy, language and power, language and identity, second language acquisition, conceptualizations of language, teachers and teaching. Each volume in the series is developed and edited in partnership with the International Society for Language Studies (www.isls.co), an interdisciplinary association of scholars who explore critical perspectives on language. A resource for students and scholars, each themed volume in the series represents the latest thought, literature, research, and methodology in language studies and features authors from across the globe. The series, which includes this current volume, is an essential scholarly resource for universities and personal libraries. ENDORSEMENTS: "This volume illuminates critical issues in language studies by questioning unequal relations of power regarding race, gender, sexuality, ability, language, multimodality, communication, and more. The authors’ critical engagement offers renewed understandings of identity, pedagogy, and policies." — Ryuko Kubota, University of British Columbia "ISLS continues to deliver on its mission of promulgating critical scholarship in language-related studies. This volume continues this now two-decades long mission and includes contributions from both well known and promising scholars. This volume belongs on the shelves of those who recognize the role languages play in sustaining and interrupting relationships of power. "— Terry A. Osborn, University of South Florida