All Journals

Language Teaching Research Quarterly

European Journal of Studies in Management and Business

International Journal of Behavior Studies in Organizations

Studies in Educational Management

New Challenges in Accounting and Finance

Language Testing in Focus: An International Journal

Marketing and Branding Research

Individual Differences in Language Education: An International Journal 

Feedback Research in Second Language 

Management Issues in Healthcare System

Language Teacher Education Research

Artificial Intelligence Knowledge Development

<p style="text-align: justify;">The discussion in this article is organized in three parts. In the first part we acknowledge the significant contributions made by Carol Chapelle to the development of the argument-based approach to validation in English Language testing. The move away from a focus on the test itself (construct and content) to the use of test scores for validation purposes has been a significant conceptual shift. In the second part we suggest that productive operationalization of the argument-based approach rests on a stable and profession-wide taken-for-granted construct with specifiable and scalable features. Until recently the widely accepted construct of proficiency in internationalized English Language testing has been associated with the concept of communicative competence. However, this concept has been complexified by research in contingency in interactional language use and flexible multilingualism, some of which have been encapsulated in the expanded notion of language proficiency in the 2020 iteration of the CEFR Companion Volume. Language proficiency in this emergent dispensation embodies contingent, non-scalable and non-prescribable language use. Some of the questions and issues for test validation, including the argument-based approach, arising from this destabilization are discussed in the final section.</p>

ltrq.2025.50.11.pdf

Perspective Article

ltrq.2025.50.11.xml

Test Validation: Beyond Arguments

Guest-editors: 
Christine Coombe 
Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, UAE 
Tony Clark 
Cambridge University Press & Assessment, UK 
Hassan Mohebbi 
European Knowledge Development Institute, Turkey


Special Issue: In Honour of Carol A. Chapelle’s Contributions to Language Assessment and Learning (Volume 50-First Part)