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.
