Interfaces Between Second Language Acquisition and Language Testing Research

by Edited by Lyle F. Bachman , Andrew D. Cohen

• ISBN13: 9780521649636
• ISBN10: 0521649633
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The volume includes original papers dealing with different aspects of the interface between SLA and LT research. 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 paperback edition 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 dealing with different aspects of the interface between SLA and LT research. This collection thus constitutes a starting point for a continuing and expanding dialogue between SLA and LT researchers.

Table of Contents

1. Language testing - SLA interfaces: An update

2. Construct definition and validity inquiry in SLA research

3. Research in interlanguage variation: Implications for language testing

4. Strategies and processes in test-taking and SLA

5. Describing language development? Rating scales and second language acquisition

6. Testing methods in context-based second language research

7. Language testing and second language acquisition: How can one benefit from the other?

Appendix.