Local language testing: design, implementation, and development

Abstract

Throughout the language testing literature, there is a clear distinction between standardized tests, which are produced by testing companies and designed to be used across multiple institutions, and local tests, which are developed and used at a specific institution but are larger in scale than a classroom test. Local language tests are important because they can be tailored to meet the needs of the local instructional context in terms of which constructs and ability levels they assess. Nevertheless, stakeholders who are in a position to develop local language tests (e.g., language instructors and program or level coordinators) often lack formal assessment training. Local Language Testing: Design, Implementation, and Development addresses this concern by offering accessible, comprehensive guidance for non-testing experts (as well as more seasoned language testers) who are interested in developing, administering, and maintaining local language assessments at their institution. Each chapter of the book illustrates various types of constraints and challenges local language testers may face and offers solutions that can be exploited according to the available resources and expertise. In addition, one of the main objectives of this book is to draw readers’ attention to the educational benefits of local language tests. A vital characteristic of local tests which the authors emphasize throughout the book is their basis in the instructional context, a sufficient understanding of which should dictate and guide the development, administration, and maintenance of the test. For this reason, the authors bring their personal experiences with four different local tests to offer real examples and practical advice on how their local contexts shaped and affected how they approached the development of the tests. These four local contexts are namely, the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) at Purdue University, the Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff (TOEPAS) at the University of Copenhagen, the English Placement Test (EPT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Assessment of College English, International (Ace-IN) at Purdue University. The first three chapters cover foundational principles for local testing and highlight the features that differentiate it from standardized testing and classroom assessment. The first chapter is an introductory chapter, and its take-away message is the centrality of understanding the local context (i.e., the educational goals and values at a particular institution or program) for successfully developing a local test. The second chapter discusses different aspects of local instructional contexts that influence language test design, such as the status of English and preferred instructional approaches. Understanding these variations enables test developers to better define and operationalize test constructs, enhancing the quality of the assessments. The third chapter introduces the authors’ conceptual model to local test development and explicates how this model differs from other test development models. In the authors’ model, activities in local test development are overlapping and interconnected, meaning that the stages of planning and design are taking place concurrently before implementation and persist after the administration of the test. Their model offers a potentially more realistic picture of the test design process to aid local test developers in carrying out this task.