ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 introduces the concept of performance assessment and discusses its characteristics. The remainder of the chapter focuses on the evaluation of vocabulary performed by human raters as part of holistic assessment of language proficiency or specifically as assessment of lexical proficiency. Global and analytic scales used in the most popular exams of language proficiency are examined, in particular the role of the overall lexical proficiency as well as its components in these scales. The descriptors related to vocabulary use for each proficiency band are also scrutinised. The chapter ends with a review of research on confounding variables in vocabulary assessment related to tasks, scales and raters.
