The Sociopolitics of English Language Testing

by Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini (Editor), Peter I. De Costa (Editor)

Highlighting marginalized but significant perspectives about the sociopolitical essence of English language tests and testing processes worldwide, this book explores the social considerations of testing theories and practices from a critical perspective. Investigating concerns surrounding power inequalities, The Sociopolitics of English Language Testing takes a socially-situated view of language assessment, bringing sociopolitical understandings of language teaching, learning, and assessment to the forefront in the field.

Within the broader discussion of the politics of test use, an international team of language and education experts address the issues of ideology, diversity, power, and dominance in English language testing. Through socially-sensitive theoretical as well as empirical discussion and investigation of English language testing, this book offers valuable insights, not only to applied linguists and the language education community who have focused on positivistic and cognitively-oriented conceptions of language testing, but to anyone who wishes to venture beyond the traditional bounds of the field.

280 pages, Hardcover

Published February 20, 2020

About the author

Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini is Associate Professor of English Language Education at the Department of English Language and Literature, Alzahra University, Iran.