This Festschrift brings together 28 invited papers surveying the state of the art in language testing. The papers, by key figures in the field of language testing, cover issues ranging from test construct definition to the design and applications of language tests, including their importance as a means of exploring larger issues in language teaching, language learning and language policy. The volume locates work in language assessment in a context of social, political and ethical issues at a time when testing is increasingly expected to be publicly accountable. It is thus particularly appropriate as a tribute to Alan Davies, whose work in this field since the 1960s has been marked by its conceptual strength and social responsiveness, seeking constantly to clarify and challenge current practice and new trends.
Contents: Section 1 - The contribution of Alan Davies; 1. Alan Davies and British Applied Linguistics; 2. 10 years of the Language Testing Research Centre; Section 2 - Construct Definition in Language Testing; 3. Communicative Language Testing: the Art of the Possible; 4. Fossilisation or Evolution: the case of grammar testing; 5. The assessment of metalinguistic knowledge; Section 3 - Language Testing for Specific Purposes and Populations; 6. LSP: Three problems in testing language for specific purposes: authenticity, specificity and inseparability; 7. Assessing language skills for specific purposes: describing the behaviour domain; 8. The assessment of language impairment across language backgrounds; 9. A process for translating achievement tests; Section 4 - Judgement in Language Testing; 10. Revising raters and ratings in oral language assessment; 11. Establishing meaningful language test scores for selection and placement; Sectins...