ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author finds considerable merit in engaging critically with the dominant understandings of language assessment and how transnational perceptions can disrupt Northern hegemonies on language education theory and praxis. He explores the prospect of replacing the epistemological boundaries of language assessment to include the attempt to undermine hegemonic understandings of language and how it is used as symbolic power. Decolonizing language assessment is a vocal shout against the coloniality of language that is even louder than decolonizing language education, especially in the contexts of mainstream and formal education where assessment is the main driving objective for both students and teachers. Power asymmetries and knowledge relations need to be discussed in language assessment scholarship because they provide critical perspectives on how the desired outcome and objectives of language education against which language assessment practices are developed may be theorized and inspired primarily by native speakers narratives and languaging.
