• How has your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of these standardized tests influenced your own EAP assessment practices?


Which good practices have you sought to adopt, and what have you tried to do differently?


Critical language assessment


Research undertaken by Shohamy (1998, pp. 331–332) shows that there is growing interest in the role played by language testing in society. Consequently, topics such as test ethicality and bias are now being discussed in research, publications and conferences. Shohamy (ibid., p. 332) advocates a critical approach to language testing, which acknowledges that the act of testing is not neutral. Shohamy (2001) probes the socio-political agendas and objectives which language testing practices involve. Similarly, Bachman (1990) supports this view when he refers to the fact that ‘tests are not developed and used in a value-free psychometric test-tube; they are virtually always intended to serve the needs of an educational system or of society at large’ (p. 279).


As advocated by McNamara & Roever (2006, p. 8), testers need to engage in debate on the consequential application of their tests and need to reflect on test usage after the point of operationalization, in addition to a customary focus on the test development stages. An example relevant to EAP is provided by Shohamy (2001, p. 102), who refers to the impact of an English test in the Middle East used for university entrance and the anxiety which was caused through only minor changes, given the high stakes associated with success.


Task 4


• Think about your own EAP assessment experience. Have you ever felt uncomfortable about how the results of your EAP assessment may have been interpreted or what the results of one of your assessments has indicated? If so, what were the circumstances and how did you seek to avoid the situation in future?


• Typically, how much time do you have to develop EAP assessments and what procedures do you follow to ensure that your assessments have a


level of construct validity?


• Read the email in Figure 1 and comment on the ethical implications which it raises and the problems which may emerge for the various


stakeholders involved. How could some of these problems have been avoided in advance?


54


Chapter 5: Preventing problems in EAP testing before they arise


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