Towards transparency and accountability : the story of the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate students (TALPS)

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dc.contributor.author Rambiritch, Avasha
dc.date.accessioned 2015-08-31T05:40:32Z
dc.date.available 2015-08-31T05:40:32Z
dc.date.issued 2014
dc.description.abstract Unfair tests, unfair testing methods and the use of tests to restrict and deny access have ensured a negative attitude to tests. The move in the recent past (Shohamy 2001, 2008; Fulcher & Davidson 2007; McNamara & Roever 2006) has been to promote the design and development of fair tests, by test developers who are willing to be accountable for their designs. A first step in this process is to ensure that every step of the design process is documented, and that this information is available to the public. Making this information available means that test takers are now equipped with information about the test and can now ask questions about the test. Test developers become real, not just experts ‘hiding behind their designs’. Importantly, this kind of transparency ensures a channel of communication, not just between test developers and other experts in the field, but also between test developers and test takers. Applied linguists should strive to ensure that the tests they design and use are fair, socially acceptable and have positive effects. This paper will illustrate that these concerns become important when one works within a framework that challenges test developers to consider questions related to every aspect of the test. In employing a framework that incorporates a concern for the empirical analyses of a test, as well as a concern for the social dimensions of language testing, one is compelled to ensure transparency and accountability in the testing process, as well as giving a voice to those often ignored, but most affected by the use of the test scores: the test-takers. In telling the story of the design and development of TALPS, this article is the first step in ensuring the transparency and accountability of the test developers of TALPS. en_ZA
dc.description.librarian hb2015 en_ZA
dc.description.uri http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jlt en_ZA
dc.identifier.citation Rambiritch, A 2014, 'Towards transparency and accountability : the story of the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate students (TALPS)', Journal for Language Teaching / Tydskrif vir Taalonderrig, vol. 48, no.1, pp. 78-87. en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn 0259-9570
dc.identifier.other 10.4314/jlt.v48i1.4 7i2.4
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/49655
dc.language.iso en en_ZA
dc.publisher South African Association for Language Teaching en_ZA
dc.rights South African Association for Language Teaching (SAALT). en_ZA
dc.subject Academic literacy en_ZA
dc.subject Construct en_ZA
dc.subject Specifications en_ZA
dc.subject Task types en_ZA
dc.subject Sub-tests en_ZA
dc.subject Descriptive statistics en_ZA
dc.subject Transparency en_ZA
dc.subject Accountability en_ZA
dc.title Towards transparency and accountability : the story of the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate students (TALPS) en_ZA
dc.type Article en_ZA


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