Local Language Testing

"Local Language Testing: Design, Implementation, and Development describes the language testing practice that exists in the intermediate space between large-scale standardized testing and classroom assessment, an area that is rarely addressed in the language testing and assessment literature. Local language tests and assessments are developed for use within a specific context and serve a variety of purposes (e.g., entry-level proficiency testing, placement testing, international teaching assistant testing, writing assessment, and program evaluation), i.e. purposes that cannot be addressed effectively through the use of either broadly-purposed, standardized, commercial alternatives or specialized, focused classroom assessments. Covering both theory and practice, this book focuses on the advantages of local tests, fosters and encourages their use, and provides suggested ideas for their development and maintenance. The authors include examples of operational tests with well-proven track records and discuss: local tests' ability to represent local contexts and values, explicitly and purposefully embed test results within instructional practice, and provide data for program evaluation a