Alternative Approaches to the Assessment of Achievement
Alternative Approaches to the Assessment of Achievement

Author: David L. McArthur

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 940093257X

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Ingrained for many years in the science of educational assessment were a large number of "truths" about how to make sense out of testing results, artful wisdoms that appear to have held away largely by force of habit alone. Practitioners and researchers only occasionally agreed about how tests should be designed, and were even further apart when they came to interpreting test responses by any means other than categorically "right" or "wrong." Even the best innovations were painfully slow to be incorporated into practice. The traditional approach to testing was developed to accomplish only two tasks: to provide ranking of students, or to select relatively small proportions of students for special treatment. In these tasks it was fairly effective, but it is increasingly seen as inadequate for the broader spectrum of issues that educational measurement is now called upon to address. Today the range of questions being asked of educational test data is itself growing by leaps and bounds. Fortunately, to meet this challenge we have available a wide panoply of resource tools for assessment which deserve serious attention. Many of them have exceptionally sOphisticated mathematical foundations, and succeed well where older and less versatile techniques fail dismally. Yet no single new tool can conceivably cover the entire arena.

Washback in Language Testing
Washback in Language Testing

Author: Liying Cheng

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-02-04

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1135643040

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Washback refers to the influence of language testing on teaching and learning. This volume, at the important intersection of language testing and teaching practices, presents theoretical, methodological, and practical guidance for current and future washback studies. In the field of language testing, researchers' major interest has traditionally been focused on issues and solving problems inherent in tests in order to increase their reliability and validity. However, the washback effect goes well beyond the test itself to include factors, such as curriculum, teacher and learner behaviors inside and outside the classroom, their perceptions of the test, and how test scores are used. Only recently have researchers started to empirically investigate the phenomenon of washback. This volume of such research serves two essential purposes by: *providing an overview of the complexity of washback and the various contextual factors entangled within testing, teaching, and learning; and *presenting empirical studies from around the world that offer insights into the effects of washback in specific educational contexts and models of research on which future studies can be based. The extensive use of test scores for various educational and social purposes in society nowadays makes the washback effect a high-interest phenomenon in the day-to-day educational activities of teachers, researchers, program coordinators/directors, policymakers, and others in the field of education. Washback in Language Testing: Research Contexts and Methods is a valuable resource for those who are interested in the application of findings to actual teaching and learning situations or conduct washback research in their own contexts, including educational and psychological testing experts, as well as alternative assessment people in all fields, and for policy- and decision-makers in educational and testing organizations.