The Handbook of Language Assessment Across Modalities
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Language assessment is the measurement of language proficiency, usually for the purpose of getting insight into one’s current skills or developmental pattern, or for the purpose of diagnosing language disorders. For a long time, language tests have mainly been developed for monolingual speakers, and have been aimed at English speakers in particular. Recently, more attention has been given to non-English languages (including sign languages), multilingualism, and to different approaches to testing in general (e.g. Thordardottir 2010; Mann et al. 2014). The handbook edited by Haug, Mann, and Knoch covers an impressive range of topics related to language assessment from two seemingly different perspectives: the spoken language assessment field and the sign language assessment field. Despite the latter being much younger than the former, it becomes clear in this book that both fields can learn much from each other. This book is a first attempt to bring the two fields closer together. The approach the editors took to this, explained in the next paragraph, is unique, and the editors explicitly state that they hope that the collaboration between the fields will only continue and grow closer. In my opinion, this book is a commendable start.
Source: Applied Linguistics
Author: Ulrika Klomp
Institution: Universität Hamburg
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4386980962