Includes bibliographical references (p. 355-373) and indexes.

Chapter 1: Assessment Concepts and Issues
Assessment and Testing -- Measurement and Evaluation -- Assessment and Learning -- Informal and Formal Assessment -- Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Tests -- Types and Purposes of Assessment -- Achievement Tests -- Diagnostic Tests -- Placement Tests -- Proficiency Tests -- Aptitude Tests -- Issues in Language Assessment -- Behavioural Influences on Language Testing -- Integrative Approaches -- Communicative Language Testing -- Performance-Based Assessment -- Current "Hot Topics" in Classroom-Based Assessment -- Multiple Intelligences -- Traditional and Alternative Assessment -- Computer-Based Testing

Chapter 2: Principles of Language Assessment
Practicality -- Reliability -- Validity -- Authenticity -- Washback

Chapter 3: Designing Classroom Language Tests
Four Assessment Scenarios -- Reading Quiz -- Grammar Unit Test -- Midterm Essay -- Listening/Speaking Final Exam -- Determining the Purpose of a Test -- Designing Clear, Unambiguous Objectives -- Drawing Up Test Specifications -- Devising Test Items -- Designing Multiple-Choice Items -- Administering the Test Scoring, Grading, and Giving Feedback

Chapter 4: Standards-Based Assessment
Role of Standards -- Standards-Based Education -- Designing English Language Standards -- CASAS and SCANS -- Test Bias -- Test-Driven Learning and Teaching -- Ethical Issues: Critical Language Testing

Chapter 5: Standardized Testing
Advantages and Disadvantages -- Developing a Standardized Test -- Determining the Purpose and Objectives for the Test -- Design Test Specifications -- Design, Select, and Arrange Test Tasks/Items -- Making Appropriate Evaluations of Different Kinds of Items -- Specifying Scoring Procedures and Reporting Formats -- Performing Ongoing Construct Validation Studies -- Standardized Language Proficiency Testing

Chapter 6: Beyond Tests: Alternatives in Assessment
The Dilemma of Maximizing Both Practicality and Washback -- Performance-Based Assessment -- Rubrics -- Portfolios -- Journals -- Conferences and Interviews -- Observations -- Self- and Peer-Assessments

Chapter 7: Assessing Listening
Integration of Skills in Language Assessment -- Assessing Grammar and Vocabulary -- Observing the Performance of the Four Skills -- The Importance of Listening -- Basic Types of Listening -- Micro- and Macroskills of Listening -- Designing Assessment Tasks: Intensive Listening -- Recognizing Phonological and Morphological Elements -- Paraphrase Recognition -- Responsive Listening -- Selective Listening -- Listening Cloze -- Information Transfer -- Sentence Repetition -- Extensive Listening -- Dictation -- Communicative Stimulus-Response Tasks -- Authentic Listening Tasks

Chapter 8: Assessing Speaking
Basic Types of Speaking -- Imitative Speaking -- Versant -- Intensive Speaking -- Directed Response Tasks -- Read-Aloud Tasks -- Sentence/Dialogue Completion Tasks and Oral Questionnaires -- Picture-Cued Tasks -- Translation -- Responsive Speaking -- Question and Answer -- Giving Instructions and Directions -- Paraphrasing -- Test of Spoken English (TSE Test) -- Interactive Speaking -- Interview -- Role Play -- Discussions and Conversations -- Games -- ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) -- Extensive Speaking -- Oral Presentations -- Picture-Cued Storytelling -- Retelling a Story, News Event -- Translation (of Extended Prose)

Chapter 9: Assessing Reading
Genres of Reading -- Microskills, Macroskills, and Strategies for Reading -- Types of Reading -- Perceptive Reading -- Reading Aloud -- Written Response -- Multiple-Choice -- Picture-Cued Items -- Selective Reading -- Matching Tasks -- Editing Tasks -- Gap-Filling Tasks -- Interactive Reading -- Cloze Tasks -- Impromptu Reading Plus Comprehension Questions -- Short-Answer Tasks -- Scanning -- Ordering Tasks -- Information Transfer: Reading Charts, Maps, Graphs, Diagrams -- Extensive Reading -- Skimming Tasks -- Summarizing and Responding -- Notetaking and Outlining

Chapter 10: Assessing Writing
Genres of Written Language -- Types of Writing Performance -- Imitative Writing -- (Hand)Writing Letters, Words, and Punctuation -- Spelling Tasks and Detecting Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences -- Intensive (Controlled) Writing -- Dictation and Dicto-Comp -- Grammatical Transformation Tasks -- Vocabulary Assessment Tasks -- Short-Answer and Sentence-Completion Tasks -- Issues in Assessing Responsive and Extensive Writing -- Paragraph Construction Tasks -- Strategic Options -- Scoring Methods for Responsive and Extensive Writing -- Holistic Scoring -- Primary Trait Scoring -- Analytic Scoring -- Beyond Scoring: Responding to Extensive Writing -- Assessing Initial and Later Stages of the Process of Composing

Chapter 11: Assessing Grammar and Vocabulary
Defining Grammatical Knowledge -- Discrimination Tasks -- Noticing Tasks or Consciousness-Raising Tasks -- Limited Production -- Gap-Filling Tasks -- Short-Answer Tasks -- Dialogue-Completion Tasks -- Extended Production -- Information Gap Tasks -- Role-Play or Simulation Tasks -- Assessing Vocabulary -- The Nature of Vocabulary -- Defining Lexical Knowledge -- Receptive Vocabulary -- Productive Vocabulary

Chapter 12: Grading and Student Evaluation
Philosophy of Grading: What Should Grades Reflect? -- Guidelines for Selecting Grading Criteria -- Methods for Calculating Grades -- Teachers' Perceptions of Appropriate Grade Distributions -- Institutional Expectations and Constraints -- Cross-Cultural Factors and the Question of Difficulty -- What Do Letter Grades 'Mean'? -- Calculating Grades -- Alternatives to Letter Grading -- Some Principles and Guidelines for Grading and Evaluation

"Language Assessment, Second Edition, provides a clear, comprehensive survey of the essential principles of assessing second language learning, as well as the critical tools needed to evaluate student performance fairly and effectively. The second edition of this text has been revised to include current research, updated standardized tests, an expanded section on standards-based assessment, and a concise glossary of assessment terms. -- Features: Fundamental principles for evaluating and designing assessment procedures; Practical examples to illustrate principles and guidelines; Systematic treatment of assessment for all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing; Thorough explorations of standards-based testing, standardized testing, and alternative assessment; End-of-chapter exercises and further readings -- New Features: Chapter objectives that preview content and goals; A new chapter on form-focused assessment; An appendix of commercially available tests; A concise glossary of assessment terms." (Book Cover)