Guoxing Yu and Yan Jin (eds): Assessing Chinese Learners of English: Language Constructs, Consequences and Conundrums.

Abstract

Language testing has a long history in China, dating back to the Qing Dynasty and the training and testing of diplomats and translators for the Chinese government (Cheng 2008). Language testing continues to be an important issue in China, not least because of the potential washback effects of assessment. Investigations into how Chinese learners of English are assessed, and how they prepare for different English tests, have the potential to shed light both on the validity of the tests and also on the impact of test results, both locally and internationally. In addition, there is an increasing tension in China between traditional Confucian values, which highlight social harmony and respect for educational authority, and a shift toward an emphasis on individual achievements. This tension also influences the learning and assessment of individual Chinese learners of English (Bachman 2009). With a huge number of Chinese learners of English taking English tests in China, it is worthwhile to research the characteristics of Chinese learners of English. This book, Assessing Chinese Learners of English: Language Constructs, Consequences and Conundrums, edited by two researchers of language testing and assessment, Guoxing Yu and Yan Jin, is thus a timely contribution to the field. The central aim of the book is to examine and consolidate the existing literature on assessing Chinese learners of English.