Assessing Chinese Learners of English Language Constructs, Consequences and Conundrums

This volume brings together a large group of researchers from across the world to provide in-depth coverage of a number of perennial and important issues in assessing Chinese learners of English. The empirical studies included here highlight the constant challenges and conundrums in understanding the language constructs of assessment, the various assessment methods, innovations and policies, Chinese learners' preparation for and performance on English language tests, as well as the consequences of assessing Chinese learners of English at different educational levels and institutions and for varying purposes. This volume will appeal to language testing professionals and policy makers as well as researchers in the areas of language testing, applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and international/comparative education.

Guoxing Yu is Reader in Language Education and Assessment at University of Bristol, UK. He was the winner of Jacqueline Ross TOEFL Dissertation Award in 2008. He has published in international journals including Applied Linguistics, Assessing Writing, Assessment in Education, Educational Research, Language Assessment Quarterly, and Language Testing.

Yan Jin is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Chair of the National College English Testing Committee in China. She is currently on the editorial boards of Language Testing and Classroom Discourse. She is also co-editor of Language Testing in Asia.

1. Assessing Chinese learners of English – the language constructs, consequences and conundrums: An Introduction; Guoxing Yu and Yan JIN
2. Implementing a learning-oriented approach within English Language assessment in Hong Kong schools: practices, issues and complexities; Liz Hamp-Lyons
3. Contriving authentic interaction: Task implementation and engagement in school-based peer group speaking assessment in Hong Kong; Daniel M. K. Lam
4. The impact of test mode on the use of communication strategies in the paired discussion task; Yan Jin and Lin Zhang
5. Fact-to-face interaction in a speaking test: A corpus-based study of Chinese learners' basic spoken vocabulary; Shasha Xu
6. Features of formulaic language used by Chinese EFL learners in their performance in a story-retelling assessment task; Lei Wang and Chan Chen
7. Assessing incidental vocabulary learning by Chinese EFL learners; Chanchan Tang and Jeanine Treffers-Daller
8. Chinese users' reactions to automated scoring of speech and validity implications; Xiaoming Xi, Jonathan Schmidgall and Yuan Wang
9. Project-based group assessment in the second language classroom: Understanding university students' perceptions; David Qian
10. The Chinese students' response to an assessment policy change: A case study; Qiuxian Chen and Lyn May
11. Students' voices: What factors influence their English learning and test performance?; Ying Zheng
12. Standard English or Chinese English? Native and non-native English teachers' perceptions; Ying Zhang
13. The power of the General English Proficiency Test on the Taiwanese society and its tertiary English education; Shwu-wen Lin
14. Twenty years of Cambridge English in China: Investigating the impact; Xiangdong Gu and Nick Saville