When the Test Developer Does Not Speak the Target Language: The Use of Language Informants in the Test Development Process

Abstract

ABSTRACTIt is not unusual for tests in less-commonly taught languages (LCTLs) to be developed by an experienced item writer with no proficiency in the language being tested, in collaboration with a language informant who is a speaker of the target language, but lacks language assessment expertise. How this approach to item writing works in practice, and what factors play a role in it, is largely unrecorded, as are item-writing processes and practices in language assessment in general. Through a case study approach, this study sought to gain insights into test development practices in cases when essential item writer traits are spread across different people. Seven in-depth interviews with language assessment specialists and language informants involved in LCTL reading test development revealed a number of specific characteristics, and also challenges, to test developer recruitment and test development in this context. Findings indicate that this inherently collaborative approach brings with it a sophisticated system of “checks and balances” that may benefit item writing in some respects.