Book Review: Challenges in Language Testing Around the World: Insights for Language Test Users

Abstract

With the increasing role of tests worldwide, language professionals and other stakeholders are regularly involved in a wide range of assessment-related decisions in their local contexts. Such decisions vary in terms of the stakes associated with them, with many involving high-stakes decisions. Regardless of the nature of the stakes, assessment contexts tend to share something in common: the challenges that test users encounter on a daily basis. To make things even worse, many test users operate in an instructional setting with little knowledge about assessment. Taylor (2009) refers to the lack of assessment literacy materials that are accessible to different stakeholders, arguing that such materials are “highly technical or too specialized for language educators seeking to understand basic principles and practice in assessment” (p. 23). On a related note, assessment literacy training tends to be offered in a one-size-fits-all manner and does not tap into the unique characteristics of local contexts. This view is in contradiction with what different researchers reported in the literature since assessment literacy is perceived as “a social and co-constructed construct,” “no longer viewed as passive accumulation of knowledge and skills” (Yan & Fan, 2021, p. 220), and tends to be impacted by a number of contextual factors, such as linguistic background and teaching experience (Crusan et al., 2016). In light of these issues, the current volume taps into the existing challenges in different assessment/instructional settings. It is rare in our field to find a volume dedicated mainly to challenges in different assessment/instructional settings. Usually, there is a general sense that practitioners do not prefer such a negative tone when reading or writing about language assessment practices. In addition, practitioners generally do not have the incentives and resources needed for publishing, nor do they have access to a suitable platform for sharing such experiences. Challenges in Language Testing Around the World: Insights for Language Test Users by Betty Lanteigne, Christine Coombe, and James Dean Brown is a good addition to the existing body of knowledge since it offers a closer look at “things that could get overlooked, misapplied, misinterpreted, misused” in different assessment projects (Lanteigne et al., 2021, p. v.). Another perspective that the authors have to be commended on is related to the international nature of the experiences reported in this volume. 1113189 LTJ0010.1177/02655322221113189Language TestingBook reviews book-reviews2022