Language Testing and Assessment: An Advanced Resource Book

Abstract

Testing and assessment have been challenging areas which have sparked a great deal of controversy. This might be one of the reasons why so many books have been written in these areas. Emphasis has been placed on various aspects of testing and assessment: classroom evaluation (Gronlund 1976), the principles and procedures of test construction (Valette 1977), theory and practice of testing and statistical concepts (Henning 1987), the stages of test construction, test techniques, and the principles of testing (Hughes 1989), guidance on test writing, administering, and scoring at a practical level (Heaton 1990), communicative language testing (Weir 1990), practical approaches in using authentic assessment (O'Malley and Pierce 1996), and fundamental principles of assessment (Brown 2004). Even this brief look at the literature may imply that there is no need for another book on testing and assessment as the market is already saturated. But the book under consideration disproves this assumption as it differs in many ways from those mentioned above.