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| Acknowledgements | |
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| Preface | |
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| Introduction: the rubber ruler | |
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| Why test language learning? | |
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| What is a language test? | |
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| What are the properties of measuring devices? | |
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| The rubber ruler | |
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| Tests, measurement and evaluation | |
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| Evaluation without measurement | |
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| Measurement without a test | |
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| Tests | |
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| Ethical uses of language tests | |
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| Reliability | |
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| Validity | |
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| Further reading | |
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| Exercises | |
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| Measuring language ability and making decisions | |
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| Measuring language ability | |
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| Making decisions about learners, teachers, programmes, and policies | |
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| Contexts of language use | |
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| Contextual features | |
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| Authenticity | |
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| Making valid interpretations of test performance | |
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| Consistency of measurement | |
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| Validity: evidence for interpretations of test performance | |
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| Conclusion: bias for best | |
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| Further reading | |
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| Exercises | |
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| Test development | |
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| What do I need to test? Needs analysis | |
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| Define the purpose of the test | |
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| Conduct a preliminary investigation | |
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| Collect primary data | |
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| Collect secondary data | |
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| Analyse target language use task and language characteristics | |
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| How am I going to test language abilities? Turning target language use tasks into test tasks | |
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| Developing a test task | |
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| Developing a blueprint for the test | |
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| Options for test tasks | |
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| How am I going to give the test? Test administration | |
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| Test environment | |
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| Personnel | |
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| Procedures | |
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| Scoring | |
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| How can my computer assist me in test development? Computer-based tools | |
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| Hot Potatoes | |
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| Moodle | |
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| WebCT | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Further reading | |
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| Exercises | |
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| Alternatives in assessment | |
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| Norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests | |
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| Communicative language tests | |
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| 'General' and 'specific purpose' language tests | |
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| Discrete-point and integrative tests | |
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| Formative and summative assessment | |
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| Alternative approaches to assessment | |
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| Conference assessments | |
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| Portfolio assessment | |
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| Self- and peer-assessments | |
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| Task-based and performance assessment | |
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| Dynamic assessment | |
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| Summary | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Further reading | |
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| Exercises | |
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| By the numbers: a statistics mini-course | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Normal distribution | |
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| The average or mean | |
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| Standard deviation | |
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| Standard deviation as a unit of measurement | |
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| Correlation | |
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| Probability and statistical significance | |
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| The t-test of the difference between two averages | |
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| Analysis of variance | |
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| Reliability | |
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| Split-half method | |
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| Internal consistency method | |
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| Standard error of measurement | |
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| The reliability of human raters | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Further reading | |
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| Exercises | |
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| Technology and language testing | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Issues in technology and language testing | |
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| Technology and test taker attitudes | |
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| Language performance and different media | |
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| Technology and the construct to be measured | |
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| Technology and assessment tasks | |
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| The limits of automated scoring | |
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| Technology and language task types | |
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| Listening tasks | |
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| Integrated listening and speaking tasks | |
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| Writing tasks | |
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| Reading tasks | |
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| The promise and threats of automated scoring | |
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| Examples of current automated scoring programs | |
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| Concerns about automated scoring | |
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| Test feedback and reporting | |
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| Online and computer-based resources for statistics | |
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| Microsoft“ Excel | |
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| Online resources | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Further reading | |
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| Exercises | |
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| Afterword: the rubber ruler revisited | |
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| References | |
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| Index | |