ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how corpora can be used in the field of language testing. Referred to as Language Testing and Assessment (LTA), this field is concerned with measuring the language proficiency of individuals in a variety of contexts and for a range of purposes, assessing language knowledge, performance or application. The general aim of language testing is to measure a latent trait in order to make inferences about an individual's language ability. Language tests allow us to observe behaviours which can be evaluated by attaching test scores which provide evidence for an individual's ability in a specific skill or their overall language competence. For an introduction to LTA and its terminology see ALTE Members (1998), McNamara (2000) and Hughes (2003).
