学术助力∣《奥德森语言测试文集（英文版）》

John Charles Alderson教授是国际语言测试界公认的最为知名的专家之一。多年以来，Alderson教授一直致力于语言测试的研究，著作等身，取得了异常丰硕的成果。《奥德森语言测试文集（英文版）》收录了其1986年至2011年期间发表的部分主要论文，内容涵盖了阅读理解测试、语言测试研究方法、特殊用途语言测试、语言测试的反拔作用、基于计算机考试等14个研究方面。这14个研究方面是语言测试者开展研究所必须涉及到的研究领域，具有很高的学术价值，在语言测试研究领域中具有开拓性的意义。本书所收录的论文不仅包括了语言测试的经典理论，也代表了语言测试的未来发展方向，同时也为语言测试研究者提供了方法论，从而形成了一套完整、全面、系统的语言测试的理论。本书为从事语言测试研究的学者、大学英语教师及语言测试专业的研究生提供学术参考。

In the language testingcommunity, a classic example to illustrate the power of language tests is apronunciation test of the word “shibboleth” documented in the Hebrew Bible. Ihad such an interesting experience when Professor Charles Alderson and I firstmet in his office at Lancaster University (LU) more than a decade ago. Charlesjoked that I must have been trained in the University of Reading, because Italked about “backwash” instead of “washback”. The inference made from the“test” was correct! One outcome of that visit paid by Professor Yang Huizhong,former Chair of the National College English Testing Committee, and me, was theinitiation of a dual-degree master program between the Department of Linguistics and English Language at LUand the School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Withfull support from Charles, the collaboration between the two departments wassuccessful. In recognition of his contribution to the collaboration, our schooldecided to support the publication of a collection of articles sole-authored orco-authored by Charles, and hence, this edited volume.

From the early 1980s till hisrecent retirement, Charles had been working as senior lecturer and laterProfessor of Linguistics and English Language Education at the Department ofLinguistics and English Language,Lancaster University. Among his many awards, the most prestigious one isprobably the 2008 International Language Testing Association (ILTA) LifetimeAchievement Award. Professor Alderson was the first elected President of theILTA, and is also best known for his initiation of and contribution to thefounding of the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment(EALTA), a professional association for language testers in Europe. Theinterview with Charles that I conducted for the inauguration issue of Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies in2010 provides a detailed overview of his career and contribution to languagetesting. I also learnt through the interview that the Department of Linguistics and English Language at LUhas long connections with China, dating back to Professor Leech’s visit toBeijing in 1979 and the workshops that Professor Mick Short, Professor DavidCarroll and Charles ran in Nan Jing University in 1981. The publication of thisedited volume, therefore, is not only to recognize Charles’ contribution to aproject at SJTU but also the long-term collaborative relationship betweenapplied linguists in China and the UK.

The book is organized intothree parts, each comprising a number of topic-related articles and covering awide range of important topics, from ESP testing to general proficiencytesting, from diagnostic and placement assessment to achievement testing, fromitem types to score reporting, from computer-based language testing to test impact.Part One focuses on the two major types of language tests: proficiency andachievement. Articles in this part discuss item types such as sequencing andcloze, which enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1990s. An important issueraised by Charles in Chapter 4 (Bands and Scores) is the distinction amonglanguage scales for different purposes: user-oriented scales for reportingresults, assessor-oriented scales for guiding the rating process, andconstructor-oriented scales for controlling test construction. Charles’elaboration of the three distinguishable purposes of language scales hasexerted considerable influence on the development and use of language scalesand frameworks.

Part Two is about testingEnglish for Specific Purposes (ESP), a familiar, recurrent, but never trulydominant theme in modern language testing. As Charles commented in Chapter 13(Testing and its Administration in ESP), “Language testers, with very fewexceptions, have ignored the ESP challenge, and there are very few papers, articlesor books discussing testing in ESP.” With hindsight, it seems that morearticles should have been collected in this part to reflect Charles’ continuinginterest in both theory and practice of testing ESP, the most prominent ofwhich was his contribution to the development and revision of the EnglishLanguage Testing Service (ELTS), later labelled IELTS, and English assessmentsfor the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Part Three is a collection ofthen state-of-the-art or crystal-ball gazing articles on language testing. Itwas interesting to note that Charles paid much attention to the use ofinformation technology (IT) in testing in the 1990s, when the University ofCambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) (now Cambridge Assessment)developed its CD ROM versions of English language tests and the EducationalTesting Service (ETS) launched its computer-based TOEFL. At the time, computerswere used mainly as a means to deliver tests. Productive skills such asspeaking and writing could not be assessed in meaningful ways. In Chapter 20(Technology in testing: the present and the future), Charles commented that“(I)f IT-based assessment can help us relate assessment more closely to thelearning process… exactly how does this happen ― if it does?” It was noted thattest validity might be sacrificed for convenience, speed, and efficiency inIT-based assessment.

In the 24 articles publishedin the book, we can see that Charles has devoted continuous attention to theinterface between language learning and assessment, the crucial missing link inlanguage testing and assessment. Taking some of his major projects as examples,the Sri-Lankan impact study, the DIALANG project, and program evaluationprojects, all bear heavily on improving teaching and learning through testing.In Charles’ words (Chapter 13, Testing and its Administration in ESP), “Testingis far too important to be left to testers: it is the legitimate concern of allinvolved in language teaching.” Charles admitted that the consequential aspectof test validity was not well conceptualized at that time (see Chapter 1,Testing proficiency and achievement). Despite the fuzziness of the concept, theimportance of empirical investigation of test washback was greatly emphasizedand problematized in the impact studies conducted by Charles and his team inthe 1990s. Test misuse was also considered in his investigation of test impact.Though in a much milder form, language tests were misused by educationaladministrators, sometimes with the best of intentions. The validity of a testrelates crucially to the purpose for which it is developed and used. Charlesstressed that tests could be valid for one purpose, and used invalidly forother purposes (see Chapter 1, Testing proficiency and achievement).   

More than four decades ago,Carroll (1973) identified four persistent problems associated with testvalidity: 1) whether the assessments reflect what they are intended to reflect,2) whether all the varied components of foreign language competence and skillare measured, 3) whether best assessments have been obtained within the limitsof time and resources available, and 4) whether assessments enhance instructionor distort it through undesirable feedback effects. It is true that test validityhas now been better conceptualized, that we are now equipped with much advancedtechnology and measurement models, and that language testing and assessment istaking a clear social turn. However, the outstanding issues of test validitywill persist. Bachman (2000) pointed out that “Validity and fairness are issuesthat are at the heart of how we define ourselves as professionals, not only aslanguage testers, but also as applied linguists.” (p.25) To publish an editedvolume of the articles by a distinguished researcher like Professor CharlesAlderson, therefore, is not only valuable for documenting the past, but alsofor the profession to reflect on what has been known, what remain, usingBachman’s (2000) words, “lacunae in our knowledge”, and more importantly, whathas been neglected and why.

By YanJin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

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