Validity Argument In Language Testing

With examples of validation studies, this book demonstrates how to design research investigating the validity of language tests.

The Test of English as a Foreign Language TM (TOEFL®) is used by more universities worldwide than any other test to assess English language proficiency for academic admission and placement decisions, and to guide English language instruction. This landmark volume provides a detailed description and analysis of Educational Testing Service’s research and development efforts to develop a major revision of the TOEFL® test. The result is a book that serves as a case study of test design drawing upon theory in the complex domain of English language proficiency while attempting to meet standards of educational measurement. Building a Validity Argument for the Test of English as a Foreign LanguageTM is distinctive in its attempt to develop a coherent story of the rationale for a test or its revision, explain the research and development process, and provide the results of the validation process. Through its treatment of one test, it expands on and tests principles and approaches to educational measurement, providing an in-depth, integrated perspective on the overall process of test revision. Moreover, because the conceptual foundation and history are presented alongside the empirical studies and validity argument, these sometimes disparate areas are presented in a way that demonstrates their connections – an approach which represents a departure from, or extension of, conventional materials on test revision. This volume is particularly relevant for professionals and graduate students in educational measurement, applied linguistics, and second language acquisition as well as anyone interested in assessment issues.

Carol A. Chapelle shows readers how to design validation research for tests of human capacities and performance. Any test that is used to make decisions about people or programs should have undergone extensive research to demonstrate that the scores are actually appropriate for their intended purpose. Argument-Based Validation in Testing and Assessment is intended to help close the gap between theory and practice, by introducing, explaining, and demonstrating how test developers can formulate the overall design for their validation research from an argument-based perspective.

Over the years, various approaches to validation have emerged in psychological and educational assessment research, which can be classified into traditional approaches and modern approaches. Traditional approaches view validity as a multicomponential concept including, for example, content, construct, and predictive validity, while modern approaches conceptualize it as a unitary concept evaluated through argumentation. Drawing on the modern approach, this book builds a validity argument for an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) listening test sample. The book provides some insights into the listening sub-skills that the test engages, the psychometric dimensionality of the test, variables that predict item difficulty parameters, bias across age, nationality, test experience, and gender, as well as predictive-referenced evidence of validity. A variety of techniques including the Rasch model and structural equation modelling are used to answer the research questions and to build a validity argument framework; this argument organizes the thematically related findings into a coherent treatment of the validity of the listening test. The book presents the first treatment of validity argument and related analytical tools in one volume and maps the psychometric/statistical analysis tools onto the validity argument framework. It also provides an extensive literature review of listening comprehension, validation, and psychometric modeling and proposes both methods for developing and validating self-assessment instruments and novel approaches to improving the quality of language assessments.

This book is the first to examine implementation of tests for specific purposes.

Building a Validity Argument for the Test of English as a Foreign Language(TM) is distinctive in its attempt to develop a coherent story of the rationale for a test or its revision, explain the research and development process, and provide the results of the validation process. This volume is particularly relevant for professionals and graduate students in educational measurement, applied linguistics, and second language acquisition as well as anyone interested in assessment issues.

Winner of the SAGE/ILTA Book Award 2016 The Routledge Handbook of Language Testing will provide a comprehensive account of the area of language assessment and testing. Written by leading specialists from around the world, this volume brings together approximately 35 authoritative articles (around 8000 words each). The proposed outline for the Handbook (below) is divided into ten sections. The section titles reflect the contents of their Language Testing and Assessment –textbook in our RAL series and sketch a useful overview of the discipline. Each chapter has been carefully selected to relate to key issues raised in the respective topic, providing additional historical background, critical discussion, reviews of key research methods, and an assessment of what the future might hold.

A symposium focusing on problems in the assessment of foreign or second language learning brought seven applied linguists together to discuss three areas of debate: communicative language testing, testing of English for specific purposes, and general language proficiency assessment. In each of these areas, the participants reviewed selected papers on the topic, reacted to them on paper, and discussed them as a group. The collected papers, reactions, and discussion reports on communicative language testing include the following: "Communicative Language Testing: Revolution or Evolution" (Keith Morrow) and responses by Cyril J. Weir, Alan Moller, and J. Charles Alderson. The next section, on testing of English for specific purposes, includes: "Specifications for an English Language Testing Service" (Brendan J. Carroll) and responses by Caroline M. Clapham, Clive Criper, and Ian Seaton. The final section, on general language proficiency, includes: "Basic Concerns in Test Validation" (Adrian S. Palmer and Lyle F. Bachman) and "Why Are We Interested in General Language Proficiency'?" (Helmut J. Vollmer), reactions of Arthur Hughes and Alan Davies, and the subsequent response of Helmut J. Vollmer. (MSE)