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Focusing on the key concepts and principles of second language assessment, this textbook offers an up-to-date, accessible, and transparent introduction to the topic. It explores how to select, create, score, and analyze language assessments within various sociopolitical, cultural, and educational contexts.
List of contents
Preface; Part I. Engaging with Language Assessments: 1. Language assessments and tests: what do we need to know, and why should we care?; 2. Making sense of the many approaches to language assessment; Part II. Gaining Knowledge of Language Assessment Principles: 3. Context, purpose, and impact: the situation matters; 4. What and who are we measuring? Validity and alignment; 5. Language assessment consistency: uniformity and reliability; Part III. Right or Wrong: 6. Assessing comprehension and knowledge with dichotomously scored item types; 7. Analyzing dichotomously scored items for selecting the most proficient test takers; 8. Judging the effectiveness of items scored as right or wrong; 9. Identifying the masters: evaluating criterion-referenced assessments; Part IV. Judging Test Taker Performances: 10. Being creative: types and delivery of performance assessments; 11. Scoring performance assessments: rating, rating scales, and raters; 12. Judging the effectiveness of performance assessments: validity, reliability, and dependability; Part V. Reflecting and Self Assessment: 13. Evaluating our language assessment literacy; Glossary; References; Index
About the author
Gary J. Ockey is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and Technology at Iowa State University, USA, and has taught English as a second or foreign language in elementary, high school, university, and adult language schools in Asia and the US. He has co-authored/edited several books, has been published in various journals, and previously served as the editor of TOEFL Research Report Series and Language Assessment Quarterly.
Summary
Focusing on the key concepts and principles of second language assessment, this textbook offers an up-to-date, accessible, and transparent introduction to the topic. It explores how to select, create, score, and analyze language assessments within various sociopolitical, cultural, and educational contexts.
