"Language Testing" on WWW

Kenji Kitao : Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan S. Kathleen Kitao : Doshisha Women's ollege, Kyoto, Japan
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!ntro"u#tion
There are many postgraduate students who are interested in language testing, and language testing courses were among the most popular classes at the Department of Linguistics of Lancaster University. The Language Testing Research Group is one of the most active research groups, and many faculty members, research associates, and students attend the meetings every week. In order to help those postgraduate students find resources for their studies or research, including writing MA dissertations, we made this web page, " Language Testing" (URL : http: www!ling!lancs!ac!u" staff #isitors "en$i test!htm%! This web page is intended for people who do not ha#e much "nowledge and information about language testing! &owe#er, there are great man' resources which are useful e#en for specialists in language testing, and this web page is useful as a (uic" reference for an'one stud'ing or doing research in the area of language testing! It is also useful for )*L )+L teachers who prepare students for )nglish language tests, such as I)LT+, T,)*L, and T,)I-! .e will e/plain how this web page is organi0ed and how to use it efficientl'!

$rgani%ation o& "Language Testing"

This web page includes information and links to resources such as materials in the T !L"L archives, organi#ations and universities, mailing lists, publications, nglish language tests used internationally, and non" nglish language tests. The resources include gatewa's to man' lin"s related to language testing! The best "nown one is "The Resources in Language Testing ... 1age" (URL: http: www!surre'!ac!u" )LI ltr!html%! It has an enormous amount of information about testing, including organi0ations, publications and tests! If 'ou are a specialist, it is worth #isiting "Assessment 2 )#aluation on the Internet" (URL : http: www!cua!edu www eric3ae intass!html%! It has a great deal of information related to assessment, including language testing! +ince T)+L4L has man' resources in language testing, we included the list of all items there! .e also included information about organi0ations that administer )nglish language tests, professional organi0ations related to language testing, and uni#ersities which ha#e special pro$ects or acti#ities

related to language testing! 5ou ma' find some of them useful for obtaining information on #arious language tests, e#ents, and trends in the profession! LT)+T4L is the mailing list most directl' related to language testing! &owe#er, T)+L4L is the largest mailing list in )+L )*L and has a huge archi#es! .e included the lin" to the e/planation of how 'ou can ma"e use of it! .e also included "Useful Mailing Lists for T)*L T)+L " (URL : http: www!ling!lancs!ac!u" staff #isitors "en$i lis4tefl!htm%, with lin"s to about 67 mailing lists related to foreign language teaching, since the' ha#e occasional discussions on language testing! .e included a publications section! 5ou will find information on articles published in Language Testing Update and Language Testing! .e included lin"s to #arious papers, articles, and re#iews on language testing! If 'ou are interested in publishing articles or papers related to testing, 'ou can submit them to one of these $ournals or to the )RI- -learninghouse on Assessment and )#aluation! .e included www sites of #arious )nglish language tests, such as -ambridge, I)LT+, T,)*L, and T,)I-! .e included www sites in "8arious )nglish Language Tests" if the' ha#e information for more than one particular test! ",ther )nglish Language Tests" includes information about tests other than -ambridge, I)LT+, T,)*L, and T,)I-! The' ha#e information about what t'pes of tests the' are, what is included, who the' are intended for, where and when the' are administered, some sample (uestions, e/ercises for those tests, etc! 5ou can get information about those tests and how to prepare for them or help 'our students to prepare for them! *inall', we included some information on a 9erman language test!

'&&i#ient Ways to Use "Language Testing"

$e would like you to understand how this web page is organi#ed. Then you will know what to look at according to your purpose. If 'ou do not ha#e an' specific purpose, and 'ou are interested in finding some useful information in general about language testing, we suggest to go through www sites in resources! 5ou will find fairl' large amount of interesting information! If 'ou do not "now much about testing, we suggest to s"ip an'thing technical! +ome technical information about testing will not be of much interest to people who do not ha#e much "nowledge about testing! Also, if 'our interest is in language testing, tr' to a#oid getting sidetrac"ed, because testing sites ma' include information about measuring other sub$ects and all human beha#iors, and the' are fairl' complicated! ,f course, if 'ou want to speciali0e in testing, 'ou need much more bac"ground in measurement, ps'cholog', education, etc! If 'ou need to re#iew pre#ious publications for 'our studies or research, the publication section is #er' useful! 5ou will find man' useful articles in two $ournals, Language Testing and Language Testing Update! &owe#er, 'ou need to chec" to see whether 'our librar' has those $ournals! There are some articles a#ailable on line! If 'ou are interested in an' particular )nglish language test, 'ou can #isit sites related to that test! .e suggest that 'ou s"im all sites related to that particular test! Then if 'ou find an' information which might be useful, read that part #er' carefull'!

If 'ou are interested in )nglish language testing, we strongl' suggest to subscribe to two mailing lists, LT)+T4L and T)+L4L! If 'ou are interested in using computers for research or testing, we suggest to subscribe to T)+L-A4L, a branch list of T)+L4L which handles topics related to computers!

on#lusion
Though %Language Testing% is a small web page, we hope that this gives you useful information on language testing. !ince it includes some basic information, it should be informative to postgraduate students and !L& 'L teachers who do not know much about nglish language testing or tests. (f you need more information related to resources for !L& 'L, we have developed % )n"line Resources and *ournals Related to LT and Linguistics% +URL , http,&&www.ling.lancs.ac.uk&staff&visitors&ken-i&onlin.htm., which includes information about resources for teachers and students, keypals, -ournals and newsletters, organi#ations, useful mailing lists, -ob information, publishers and teaching nglish in *apan. ach section has a great deal of information which might be useful for you. homepage & )n"Line Resources & Useful /ailing Lists & Useful $$$ !ites & Language Testing & top of the page If 'ou find an' problems, let me "now! 0opyright +1223. by Dr. 4en-i 4itao and Dr. !. 4athleen 4itao +$ritten on *uly 15, 1223. k.kitao@lancaster.ac.uk