The state of the art in language assessment: Notes for the third millennium

Authors

• Bernard Spolsky

Keywords

language proficiency, knowledge, development, examinations

Abstract

In the 2000 years during which human abilities have been assessed formally, tests and examinations have grown more powerful. A century ago, critics launched a strong attack on examinations, citing their “inevitable uncertainty,” but a growing testing industry and governmental cries for “accountability” have managed a stubborn defense. More recently, appreciation of the complexity of notions such as “language proficiency” and acceptance of the resulting impossibility of finding a single measure of those notions have led testing experts to a realization that assessing language knowledge is multipart and intricate—and more likely to be served by profiles than by simple scores.

Recommended Citation

Spolsky, B. (2005). The state of the art in language assessment: Notes for the third millennium. Russian Language Journal, 55(1). https://doi.org/10.70163/0036-0252.1252