Tearing us apart again: The paradigm wars and the search for validity

Abstract

Language testing research is an increasingly divided field, as it responds to the paradigm shifts in broader applied linguistics research. One the one hand, language testing validation research places a fundamental emphasis on the generalisability of results and the appropriateness of inferences based on observed learner performances. This involves a rigorous interrogation of the elicitation instruments, judgments, and observations used to make inferences about individual test takers. At the same time, input from non-measurement traditions are leading to the exploration of new insights into the limitations of such inferences, and to a greater understanding of the social values which imbue tests. This epistemological ferment is as much productive as problematic, and its implications extend to research in other areas of applied linguistics, including SLA.