LANGUAGE TEST DEVELOPMENT
LANGUAGE TEST DEVELOPMENT

Summary/Abstract: The necessity to provide quality, coherence and transparency in language skill assessment during tests and exams implies the implementation and development of modern evaluation strategies, meant to acknowledge the actual level of language learners and to anticipate their needs in the changing environment of the job market. The European initiatives to promote multilingual and intercultural education represent new challenges for teachers to elaborate language tests designed not only to assess the students’ level, but also to raise their awareness regarding their strengths, weaknesses and potential. Therefore, it is important to make these tests relevant both for the students, who must become aware of their abilities, and for the examiners, who should dwell on this experience to improve their teaching and testing methods. The purpose of this article is to propose some new criteria to have in mind when designing a test, to give some examples of well-structured or poorly elaborated exam subjects and to offer insights into the concepts of test validity, reliability and usefulness.

• Details
• Contents