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Despite the increased use of integrated tasks in high-stakes academic writing assessment, research on rating criteria which reflect the unique construct of integrated summary writing skills is comparatively rare. Using a mixed-method approach of expert judgement, text analysis, and statistical analysis, this study examines writing features that discriminate summaries produced by 150 candidates at five levels of proficiency on integrated reading-writing (R-W) and listening-writing (L-W) tasks. The expert judgement revealed a wide range of features which discriminated R-W and L-W responses. When responses at five proficiency levels were coded by these features, significant differences were obtained in seven features, including relevance of ideas, paraphrasing skills, accuracy of source information, academic style, language control, coherence and cohesion, and task fulfilment across proficiency levels on the R-W task. The same features did not yield significant differences in L-W responses across proficiency levels. The findings have important implications for clarifying the construct of integrated summary writing in different modalities, indicating the possibility of expanding integrated rating categories with some potential for translating the identified criteria into automated rating systems. The results on the L-W indicate the need for developing descriptors which can more effectively discriminate L-W responses.

Effective test preparation for high-stakes English language tests is crucial for candidates whose futures depend on attaining a particular score. An increasing number of studies have investigated the role of test preparation; however, these studies have been exclusively conducted in individual contexts and countries around the world. This study draws upon data from multiple sources (classroom observations, interviews, focus-group discussions) gathered from learners, administrators, and teachers within three unique instructional contexts of Australia, Iran and China. The Australian and the Iranian case studies focussed on IELTS and the Chinese case study was conducted with TOEFL iBT. The multi-contextual approach enables a nuanced understanding and insight into the teaching of high-stakes test preparation classes "in context," and the ways in which the context and the test interact to influence instructional practices. As such, the findings of this study have important implications for understanding the nature and scope of test preparation.

In this paper we report on a project in which we developed tools to support the classroom assessment of learners' interactional competence (IC) and provided learning oriented feedback in the context of preparation for a high-stakes face-to-face speaking test. Six trained examiners provided stimulated verbal reports (n = 72) on 12 paired interactions, focusing on interactional features of candidates' performance. We thematically analysed the verbal reports to inform a draft checklist and materials, which were then trialled by four experienced teachers. Informed by both data sources, the final product comprised the following: (a) a detailed IC checklist with nine main categories and over 50 sub-categories, an accompanying detailed description of each area and feedback to learners, which teachers can adapt to suit their teaching and testing contexts; and (b) a concise IC checklist with four categories and bite-sized feedback for real-time classroom assessment. Interactional competence, a key aspect of face-to-face communication, is under-researched and under-explored in second/foreign language teaching, learning, and assessment contexts. This in-depth treatment of it, therefore, stands to contribute to learning contexts through raising teachers' and learners' awareness of micro-level features of the construct, and to assessment contexts through developing a more comprehensive understanding of the construct.

This article derives from a qualitative study that employed a sociocultural perspective to investigate the mediation of institutional policies on teachers' classroom practices of assessment for learning in one public and one private university in Vietnam. Data included observations of classrooms, interviews with teachers, executive officers and students, and documents such as institutional policies, curriculum, and tests. Findings included the impact of institutional language policies on language assessment practices, forms of institutional interactions, workplace conditions and compensation, and English language programme design. The study highlights how the Vietnamese national Project 2020 language policies are mediated by higher education institutions to manifest in particular ways in the micro-level classroom practices of teachers. Of interest is English language education and its provision in the established public sector as well as the non-public sector that is a growing feature of marketised higher education in Vietnam. The institutional differences and similarities are identified to illustrate the need for new working conditions and practices to assist policy makers and teachers as they seek to fulfil the English language priorities of the country.

This paper is positioned at the interface of second/foreign language (L2) assessment and Conversation Analysis-Second Language Acquisition (CA-SLA). It explores challenges of ratability in assessing interactional competence (IC) from three dimensions: an overview of the conceptual and terminological convergence/divergence in the CA-SLA and L2 assessment literature, a micro-analytic Conversation Analysis of test-taker interactions, and the operationalisation of IC construct features in rating scales across assessment contexts. It draws insights from these dimensions into a discussion of the nature of the IC construct and the challenges of IC ratability, and concludes with suggestions on ways in which insights from CA research can contribute to addressing these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "College English Curriculum Requirements," announced by the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2007, recommended the inclusion of formative assessment into the existing summative assessment framework of College English. This policy had the potential to fundamentally change the nature of assessment and its role in the teaching and learning of English in Chinese universities. In order to document and analyse these changes, case studies involving English language (EL) teachers and learners were undertaken in two Chinese universities: one a Key University in the national capital; the other a non-Key University in a western province. The case study design incorporated classroom observations and interviews with EL teachers and their students. The type and focus of feedback and the engagement of students in assessment were analysed in the two contexts. Fundamental to the analysis was the concept of enactment, with the focus of this study on the ways that policy ideas and principles were enacted in the practices of the Chinese university classroom. Understandings of formative assessment as applied in contexts other than the predominantly western, Anglophone contexts from where many of its principles derive are offered.

The promotion of educational equity and improvement of educational quality in China are contextualised in tenets of Confucianism and policy directives, inspiring educational research and practice. In this paper, we first explore the historical and cultural roots of educational equity and quality through Confucianism and elaborate on the current policy priority that aims to address educational equity and quality. We then present an overview of research on equity and quality in Chinese education. Informed by Confucianism, policy, and research, we pose a framework to structure our investigation and analysis of three illustrative examples, namely the Special Post Teacher Plan, amalgamation of rural schools, and schooling of floating children. Drawing insights from Confucianism, policy, research, and practice, we conclude that the promotion of educational equity through high quality provision of education for disadvantaged groups can help to narrow the gap in educational quality currently existing in China.

Formative assessment is increasingly being implemented through policy initiatives in Chinese educational contexts. As an approach to assessment, formative assessment derives many of its key principles from Western contexts, notably through the work of scholars in the UK, the USA and Australia. The question for this paper is the ways that formative assessment has been interpreted in the teaching of College English in Chinese Higher Education. The paper reports on a research study that utilised a sociocultural perspective on learning and assessment to analyse how two Chinese universities -- an urban-based Key University and a regional-based Non-Key University -- interpreted and enacted a China Ministry of Education policy on formative assessment in College English teaching. Of particular interest for the research were the ways in which the sociocultural conditions of the Chinese context mediated understanding of Western principles and led to their adaptation. The findings from the two universities identified some consistency in localised interpretations of formative assessment which included emphases on process and student participation. The differences related to the specific sociocultural conditions contextualising each university including geographical location, socioeconomic status, and teacher and student roles, expectations and beliefs about English. The findings illustrate the sociocultural tensions in interpreting, adapting and enacting formative assessment in Chinese College English classes and the consequent challenges to and questions about retaining the spirit of formative assessment as it was originally conceptualised.

With more constructivist approaches to learning in higher education and more value on teamwork skills, students' oracy (speaking and listening) features more prominently in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. The paper reports on a study of two first-year Australian university courses in disciplines with explicit industry orientations and high proportions of international students. Drawing on classroom observations and interviews with the lecturers, this paper investigates their pedagogical designs on oracy and the oracy demands of their assessment tasks. The study found that talk-based assessment tasks (a group project and a group oral presentation) featured in both courses but the two courses treated students' oracy differently: as product or process. The contrast between the two assessment designs explicates issues around EAL (English as an additional language) student needs, authentic links to industry, the provenance of criteria used to assess performance, perceptions about the relevance of talk and the "hidden assessment" of oracy. (Contains 1 table.)

Paired speaking tests are now commonly used in both high-stakes testing and classroom assessment contexts. The co-construction of discourse by candidates is regarded as a strength of paired speaking tests, as candidates have the opportunity to display a wider range of interactional competencies, including turn taking, initiating topics, and engaging in extended discourse with a partner rather than an examiner. However, the impact of the interlocutor in such jointly negotiated discourse and the implications for assessing interactional competence are areas of concern. This article reports on the features of interactional competence that were salient to four trained raters of 12 paired speaking tests through the analysis of rater notes, stimulated verbal recalls, and rater discussions. Findings enabled the identification of features of the performance noted by raters when awarding scores for interactional competence and the particular features associated with higher and lower scores. A number of these features were seen by the raters as mutual achievements, which raises the issue of the extent to which it is possible to assess individual contributions to the co-constructed performance. The findings have implications for defining the construct of interactional competence in paired speaking tests and operationalizing this in rating scales. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

The definition and operationalization of interactional competence in speaking tests that entail co-construction of discourse is an area of language testing requiring further research. This article explores the reactions of four trained raters to paired candidates who oriented to asymmetric patterns of interaction in a discussion task. Through an analysis of candidate discourse combined with rater notes, stimulated verbal recalls, rater discussions and scores awarded for interactional effectiveness, the article examines the extent to which raters compensate or penalize candidates for their role in co-constructing asymmetric interactional patterns. The article argues that key features of the interaction are perceived by the raters as mutual achievements, and it further suggests that the awarding of shared scores for interactional competence is one way of acknowledging the inherently co-constructed nature of interaction in a paired speaking test. (Contains 1 figure.)

Interactional competence has emerged as a focal point for language testing researchers in recent years. In spoken communication involving two or more interlocutors, the co-construction of discourse is central to successful interaction. The acknowledgement of co-construction has led to concern over the impact of the interlocutor and the separability of performances in speaking tests involving interaction. The purpose of this article is to review recent studies of direct relevance to the construct of interactional competence and its operationalisation by raters in the context of second language speaking tests. The review begins by tracing the emergence of interaction as a criterion in speaking tests from a theoretical perspective, and then focuses on research salient to interactional effectiveness that has been carried out in the context of language testing interviews and group and paired speaking tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the use of identity narratives to link home and school, the challenge of transcultural contact, and teaching and learning.