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      Book

      The Power of Tests
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      Book

      The Power of Tests

      DOI link for The Power of Tests

      The Power of Tests book

      A Critical Perspective on the Uses of Language Tests

      The Power of Tests

      DOI link for The Power of Tests

      The Power of Tests book

      A Critical Perspective on the Uses of Language Tests
      ByElana Shohamy
      Edition 1st Edition
      First Published 2001
      eBook Published 2 October 2014
      Pub. Location London
      Imprint Routledge
      DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315837970
      Pages 208
      eBook ISBN 9781315837970
      Subjects Language & Literature
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      Shohamy, E. (2001). The Power of Tests: A Critical Perspective on the Uses of Language Tests (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315837970

      ABSTRACT

      Language in Social Life is a major series which highlights the importance of language to an understanding of issues of social and professional concern. It will be of practical relevance to all those wanting to understand how the ways we communicate both influence and are influenced by the structures and forces of contemporary social institutions.

      In all modern societies individuals are subject to tests, whether to enter educational programs, to pass from one level to the next or to grant certificates to practice. Yet, tests are powerful tools which are often introduced in undemocratic and unethical ways as disciplinary tools for carrying out various policy agendas. Tests can be detrimental to people's lives as they are capable of affecting and defining the knowledge and behaviour of those who are being tested.

      The Power of Tests applies a critical perspective of language tests by examining their uses and consequences in education and society and by viewing tests not as isolated events but rather as embedded in social, educational and political contexts.

      The book is divided into four parts: the first part establishes the power of tests through echoing the voices of test takers, describing the features of the power of tests, and the temptations that tests offer to bureaucrats who use them for power and control. The second part reports on studies that provide empirical evidence about intentions and effects of a number of large scale language tests. The third part interprets the results by examining their consequences on education and society, arriving at a model of tests' use. The final section of the book offers strategies for controlling and minimising the misuses of tests by introducing the notion of Critical Language Testing which calls for the examination of the consequences and misuses of tests, monitoring of power and pointing to their unethical uses. It also provides a comprehensive discussion of the responsibilities of language testers, including a new Code of Ethics, as well as strategies for guarding and protecting the rights of test takers.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      part |2 pages

      Part 1 The power of tests

      chapter 1|4 pages

      'Use-oriented' testing

      chapter 2|8 pages

      Voices of test takers

      chapter 3|5 pages

      Powerful uses of tests

      chapter 4|5 pages

      Features of power

      chapter 5|12 pages

      Emergence of power

      chapter 6|6 pages

      Temptations

      part |2 pages

      Part 11 Uses of tests: studies and cases

      chapter 7|5 pages

      Domains of inquiry

      chapter 8|10 pages

      A reading comprehension test

      chapter 9|14 pages

      An Arabic test

      chapter 10|12 pages

      An English test

      chapter 11|9 pages

      Cases of the use of tests

      part |2 pages

      Part III Uses of tests: conclusions and interpretations

      chapter 12|7 pages

      Conclusions

      chapter 13|5 pages

      Process of exercising power

      chapter 14|8 pages

      Consequences

      chapter 15|12 pages

      Symbols and ideologies

      part |2 pages

      Part IV Democratic perspectives of testing

      chapter 16|4 pages

      Critical language testing

      chapter 17|8 pages

      Collaborative approaches to assessment

      chapter 18|11 pages

      Responsibilities of testers

      chapter 19|5 pages

      Rights of test takers

      chapter 20|4 pages

      Epilogue

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