Pearson Education Home Higher Education HomeInstructor SupportStudent SupportAbout UsCareers
Bookshop
Texts & Technology
ABOUT THIS PRODUCT
Description
Table of Contents
Features
About the Author(s)
 
RESOURCES
First Day of Class
 
SERIES
Applied Linguistics And Language Study
 
RELATED TITLES
Business English (English: Composition)
Applied Linguistics (Linguistics)
Testing Second Language Speaking
View Larger Cover Image
View Larger Image

Glenn Fulcher, English Language Institute, University of Surrey

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 2003
Format: Paper; 312 pp

ISBN-10: 0582472709
ISBN-13:9780582472709Help icon

Our Price: £30.99
Status: Instock
Published: 27 Aug 2003
Add this item to my shopping basket


Add to Exam Copy BookbagAdd to Exam Copy Bookbag PrintPrint Product Information

Description

This title brings together in one volume a comprehensive account and critical analysis of testing second language speaking. It contains a wealth of examples; including task types that are commonly used in speaking tests, approaches to researching speaking tests, and specific methodologies that teachers, students and test developers may use in their own projects. Annotated examples are presented to enhance understanding of practical testing projects. But it is not just a practical text. There is a theoretical framework, drawing on our evolving understanding of validity in language testing. We argue that practical decisions in speaking test development only make sense when we understand why we make those decisions. There is no one 'correct' decision in any testing context. We are faced with many possible choices, and the process of making those choices is a crucial aspect of understanding what the scores from our tests might mean. Establishing meaning is part of constructing, or evaluating, a validity argument. Validity arguments are never 'static'. They are dynamic, fallible, endlessly evolving attempts to investigate test score meaning. Ultimately we judge them by their utility and plausibility. Practice, theory, evaluation and research methodology are brought together in a single argument for test validity. 

 
Pearson Education Home