ETHICAL ISSUES IN TESTING LANGUAGE COMPETENCES
Keywords:
ethical issues in language testing, test bias, standardized language tests, testing immigrantsAbstract
Considering the fact that language tests are developed and administered within communities so as to serve a multitude of purposes and goals, as well as the fact that serious decisions are made on the basis of test scores, in this paper we take ethical perspective to examine test use in relation to test design. In the first part of the paper we emphasise the central role that construct definition plays in eliminating or reducing test bias and constructirrelevant variance effects, which may contaminate test scores and jeopardize validity of decisions made on the basis of such scores. Then we move on to analyse standardized language tests which may disfavour economically vulnerable groups of test takers, thus disabling them from pursuing professional and educational mobility. Finally, we underline the most disputable practice which language testing has been engaged in – testing immigrants in order to achieve not only explicit but also implicit political and ideological goals. Since all the ethical issues we observe here can be resolved in practice, the purpose of this paper is to urge test developers and test users that they should mitigate the negative effects which may emerge.
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