Developing Web-Based Language Tests

The heart of this book is a system designed to help language researchers and teachers design, deliver and evaluate language tests. A lot of current research in Applied Linguistics relies heavily on home-made tests, developed by a single teacher for a single situation, but a lot of these tests arę never properly evaluated before they arę deployed. One conseąuence of this is that it is often difficult to mąkę sense of f ne resułts these tests generate, and almost impossible to extrapolate from smali classroom studies to larger populations with different characteristics. This book describes a set of tools that will allow you to develop morę reliable tests, deliver them in a consistent way, and evaluate the data they generate in a considered fashion. I wish WebClass had been around when I was a young researcher. Paul Meara Swansea University, UK Wojciech Malec is a rare case of expertise in software design and computational linguistics coupled with language teaching methodology and educational testing. The present book is uniąue not only because it is a highly comprehensive treatment of all possible aspects of web-based language testing, but, morę importantly, because the practice of developing the WebClass testing system informs and reinforces the theoretical claims madę throughout the book. As a user of WebClass, I can confirm the efficiency and versatility of this test authoring system.