Introduction to the Special Issue / Introduction au numéro spécial

Two interrelated themes dominate the submissions that we received, reviewed, and now publish in this special issue on assessment: (a) the usefulness of language assessment for educational purposes, and (b) the need to better understand the complexities of ordinary practices of language assessment. The authors of articles, research notes, in-the-classroom advice, and reviews all emphasize these issues. On the one hand, the authors are of the view that assessment should be useful for language teachers and learners. On the other hand, they were motivated in their inquiries by a sense that the complexities of language assessment are not well described or understood. How can we make language assessment more useful? The present authors offer four sets of insights. Each suggests future directions for research and the enhancement of educational policies and practices in Canada and elsewhere.

First, we need to systematically investigate the formative functions of classroom language assessment. The articles by Colby-Kelly and Turner and by Lee, in particular, draw on studies and theories developed in the United Kingdom over recent decades that urge educators to conceptualize assessment as having the guiding purpose of informing learning and teaching. Assessment should be for learning in classrooms and elsewhere, not just of learning, as in formal, standardized tests. But to realize this aim, research needs to describe and evaluate what language teachers and students actually do with formative assessments. To this end, Colby-Kelly and Turner analyzed the curriculum policies, teachers' beliefs about formative assessment, and students' perceptions of their learning in one adult ESL program in Quebec. Lee and Klein, in turn, draw upon the wealth of their teaching experiences to recommend numerous useful practices for classroom language assessment. All these authors suggest that good assessment practices can reinforce the link between teaching and learning.

Second, we need to link classroom practices and students' life experiences directly to curriculum standards and formal tests. The articles by Shih, by Cheng, Fox, and Zheng, and by Glisan, Uribe, and Adair-Hauck emphasize disjunctures between the learning opportunities that educational programs provide, the experiences of test-taking and language use of specific student groups, the standards espoused in educational policies, and the content of formal language tests. Shih argues that current models of test washback need to be reconceptualized to account for these diverse elements. Cheng, Fox, and Zheng question whether the validity of a literacy test designed for English-dominant students in Ontario is compromised by the unique knowledge, abilities, and strategies that English-as-a-second language students apply in the test. Glisan, Uribe, and Adair-Hauck demonstrate how a performance-based assessment, based on widely accepted curriculum standards, can expose limitations in the communicative abilities that students have developed during their Spanish language studies in secondary schools. All of these authors would ideally like curriculum expectations, students' communicative abilities, and assessment practices to be more closely and integrally aligned.

Third, we need to synthesize commonalities, as well as appreciate differences, where languages are learned, taught, and assessed. In one respect, principles of the value of language assessment should extend across educational contexts. In another respect, assessment practices necessarily vary with specific populations, curriculum policies, and evaluation instruments. As in the diverse settings of Canadian literature, the contexts of the research conducted for the present articles span locations in Canada and internationally. Colby-Kelly and Turner focus on a pre-university English program for adult international students in Quebec. Cheng, Fox, and Zheng address the perspectives of minority-background students in Ontario taking a high-stakes, province-wide test to fulfil their completion of secondary school. Glisan, Uribe, and Adair-Hauck analyze the variable achievements of adult students of Spanish at a military academy in the United States. Shih investigated the viewpoints of college students, their instructors and program administrators, and their family members and friends on a standard test of English in Taiwan. Bruton writes from Spain but evaluates prior research on lexical learning done by Canadians, among others. Barkaoui focuses on a wide range of published literature about writing tests internationally. Klein highlights her experiences teaching French in schools...