ABSTRACT

As the demand for English language education grows in Asia, there has been a parallel growth in the development and implementation of standardized tests at the local level. Offering much-needed context on locally produced tests in Asia, contributors examine emerging models for English language assessment and the impact these large-scale tests have on the teaching and learning of English. Chapters address the following well-known and developing high-stakes tests in different regions across Asia: the GEPT, the TEPS, the VSTEP, the CET, the EIKEN and TEAP, and the ELPA.

Brought together by world-renowned testing assessment scholar Cyril Weir and the Language Training and Testing Center (LTTC), one of Asia’s leading testing institutions based in Taiwan, this volume is a useful reference for evaluating, developing, and validating local tests of English and their societal impact. Comprehensive and research-based, chapters cover historic backgrounds, sociocultural contexts, test quality, international standing, and future considerations.

Ideal for graduate students, researchers, and scholars in language assessment, TESOL/TEFL, and applied linguistics, this book will also be of interest to language teaching professionals, language test developers, and graduate students in Asian studies and international education, intercultural communication, and intercultural studies.

chapter 1|8 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|33 pages

The General English Proficiency Test in Taiwan

Past, Present, and Future

chapter 5|30 pages

Testing Tertiary-Level English Language Learners

The College English Test in China

chapter 6|31 pages

EIKEN and TEAP

How Two Test Systems in Japan Have Responded to Different Local Needs in the Same Context

chapter 8|33 pages

Global, Local, or “Glocal”

Alternative Pathways in English Language Test Provision