Language Assessment in Practice

by Bachman, Lyle; Palmer, Adrian

• ISBN13: 9780194422932
• ISBN10: 0194422933
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Become competent in the design, development, and use of language assessments. This is a theoretically-grounded and easily applied approach to language assessment and development.

Author Biography

Lyle Bachman is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles. His authorship includes Language Testing in Practice and Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing, both published by Oxford University Press. In 2004 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Language Testing Association and he is the 2010 recipient of the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award from the American Association for Applied Linguistics. Adrian Palmer is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Utah. He is a co-founder of the Language Testing Research Colloquium and author or co-author of eleven foreign language tests and thirteen books, including Language Testing in Practice published by Oxford University Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Objectives and expectations, or why we need another book about language testing	p. 1
Conceptual foundations	p. 17
Issues and considerations	p. 19
Describing language use and language ability	p. 33
Describing characteristics of language use and language assessment tasks	p. 59
Justifying the use of language assessments	p. 85
Constructing an Assessment Use Argument	p. 137
Overview of assessment development and use	p. 139
Initial planning	p. 146
Constructing an Assessment Use Argument for developing and justifying a language assessment	p. 156
The intended consequences of using language assessments	p. 177
The decisions to be made on the basis of language assessments	p. 193
Interpretations	p. 209
Assessment records	p. 242
Developing and using language assessments in the real world	p. 247
Real world conditions and constraints on language assessment	p. 249
Developing a Design Statement	p. 269
Developing assessment tasks	p. 306
Recording and interpreting assessment performance	p. 321
Blueprints	p. 368
Preparing effective instructions	p. 383
Collecting feedback and backing	p. 394
Identifying, allocating, and managing resources	p. 411
Using language assessments responsibly	p. 428
Projects
Kindergarten ELL speaking and writing assessment in support of instruction and learning	p. 440
University ESL reading test for making placement/exemption decisions	p. 449
University Elementary Modern Chinese speaking assessment	p. 477
Bibliography	p. 486
Index	p. 495
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