Customer Reviews

Language Test Construction and Evaluation (Cambridge Language Teaching Library)

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This book isn't for the teacher who'd like to make a weekly quiz for their class. This is intended for those who are interested in large scale institutional testing, like TOEFL. It doesn't give much information on writing test items, but covers how to write testing guidelines in great detail. It also covers how to evaluate items and tests, and it goes into detail about reliability and validity without getting to deep into statistics. In general, I found the style of this book to be very easy to read since it is written with test administrators in mind rather than test writting techies. If you're interested in the process of making large scale institutional tests, then this is a good book, but if you're looking for a book to help you write test items, then you should look elsewhere.

After reading Language Testing (Oxford Introduction to Language Series), "Language Test Construction" formed a good further step into the theory that underlies various tests and considerations that go into construction.

As mentioned by a previous reviewer, this book is really not written for teachers who have to administer the tests themselves, (though some may be interested in having some knowledge of it anyway). It is more aimed at those who will be involved in the construction, testing and modifying of the tests themselves.

The book covers a lot of territory, though it does not get into overwhelming amounts of mind-boggling information. It draws some definite lines and sticks to brief overviews. However, should one wish to have some more boggling of the mind, the authors make suggestions aplenty about where to get it.

The topics that are covered in book include such things as exam testing, (reliability, validity and so on), statistical analysis of tests and results, the monitoring of test administrators, develop specfications and so on. While not overwhelming, some parts require some concentration, (well, they did with me), and may not really be all that light on the brain.

All things considered, I found this book a valuable read and an interesting insight into the murky world of language testing. It is well-organised, well-explained and realistic in what it attempts to achieve. I think it is a valuable resource for people wanting to get into the field of language testing, or wish to take their own testing to the next level.