ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the ways in which assessment practices are shaping students' academic identity in the contemporary transnational higher education (TNHE) market in the Arabian Gulf region. Drawing on Foucault's notion of power and discourse, this chapter argues that the power of language testing practices within TNHE contexts in the Arabian Gulf region is creating a new self (new academic identity) for students. Within this new academic identity, students conform to a more transnational education provider-oriented definition of knowledge and membership of academia perpetuated by language testing practices. The chapter explores two cases of assessment within TNHE programs within the Arabian Gulf region and their impact on students' academic identity and educational experiences. Proposals are made for the adoption of a posthumanist orientation to relocate the power of language in language testing and assessment practices within TNHE programs in the Gulf region.
