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Policy and Social Considerations in Language Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2010

Tim McNamara
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Extract

There has been great recent interest in the social and policy context of language testing and assessment, to the point where it represents perhaps the most significant area of new thought and debate in the field of language testing. The topic has also produced a ferment of activity, reflected in policy statements, special symposia, and special issues of professional journals devoted to aspects of the subject. These discussions have been accompanied by the beginnings of a movement away from the traditional positivist, asocial paradigm for language testing research as traced in Lynch and Hamp-Lyons (1996; Hamp-Lyons and Lynch in press).

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Type
Integrated Perspectives on Learning and Assessment
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 18 , March 1998 , pp. 304 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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