Emergent Trends and Research Topics in Language Testing and Assessment

Abstract

This study, which is of descriptive nature, aims to explore the emergent trends and research topics in language testing and assessment that have attracted increasing attention of language testing and assessment researchers. To this end, 300 articles published within the last seven years (2012-2018) in two leading journals of the field were analyzed by using thematic analysis method. Overall, the results demonstrated that the assessment of language skills still constitute the backbone of language testing and assessment research. While the term communicative has become the established norm in language testing and assessment, the field has grown more interested in professionalization, understanding the dynamics that underlie test performance and validation. Moreover, the results revealed that even though the latest advancements in the fields of computer, cognitive sciences and information/communication technologies seem to make their way into language testing and assessment, more research is needed to make the most of these advancements and keep up with the rapidly changing nature of communication and literacy in the 21st century. The results are discussed and the implications are made.