ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses assessment-related pronunciation issues within the paradigm of World Englishes (WE), including English as Lingua Franca (ELF) which arguably has emerged from the WE framework. It discusses the criticisms of the current practices in language testing and assessment that claims that the field has failed to adopt the WE perspective and realistically represent the variation of pronunciation norms in international communication. The chapter argues that embracing WE or ELF, particularly in relation to pronunciation, is a challenging task due to the existing constraints guiding the design of valid tests that accurately represent the domains of target-language use. The chapter concludes that despite these constraints, strides have been made towards encompassing a WE perspective in test construction and task design, especially in listening and speaking tests, in which pronunciation is implied, though the strides are not expected to result in radical changes in the current language testing practices.
