Abstract
Language assessment for professional purposes (LAPP) serves an important function in an increasingly globalized society where English is used as the lingua franca of communication among professionals or between experts and laypeople. However, this type of assessment is undertheorized as compared to assessments for general or other specific purposes in the language testing literature. Knoch and Macqueen’s book Assessing English for Professional Purposes fills this gap. Built upon Douglas’ (2000) work on language assessment for specific purposes, this book offers both a comprehensive conceptual framework and a systematized practical guide for LAPP. As such, it is a must-read for researchers, graduate students, and practitioners in the area of English for Specific Purposes.
This volume features an introduction, a conclusion, and six main chapters. The introduction chapter provides the definition of LAPP and gives a brief overview of the book; the conclusion chapter summarizes the topics discussed in the book and suggests directions of future research. The main chapters cover the core areas of LAPP research and practices, namely, scope, construct, needs analysis, test development, validation, and policy making. Although each chapter focuses on a different topic, they are interconnected to provide a comprehensive framework of best practices of LAPP. As suggested by Knoch and Macqueen, readers can choose to read the chapters in order, or start with any topic of interest before proceeding to other chapters.
Chapter 1, Scope, defines LAPP and introduces a range of assessment activities that fall under LAPP. Knoch and Macqueen conceptualize LAPP as risk management. That is, language assessment for professional purposes is vital because “language-associated risk” is involved in daily communication in the workplace. This risk has an impact on both experts in professional fields and the general public. The authors make a distinction between two forms of LAPP, namely, assessment for professionals and assessment for laypeople. Depending on the target test takers, the testing format and content might vary. However, the goal of both forms is to make valid inferences about the test takers’ language ability in professional contexts and help score users reduce and/or manage language-associated risks in the workplace.
Chapter 2, Construct, explicates four dimensions of test construct for LAPP (i.e., stated, operationalized, theoretical, and perceived constructs) and the interrelationships among them. The authors focus on the operationalized construct and propose three contextual layers for LAPP: societal, infrastructural, and simulation context. Assessment activities in each layer are examined, with examples provided. Based on the operationalized construct, a model of “Codes of Relevance” is introduced. This model shows how language-using behaviors such as dialects and registers can be sampled for the purpose of assessment in a professional context.
Chapter 3, Needs, discusses what a needs analysis would look like in LAPP. To Knoch and Macqueen, a strong quality management system of LAPP starts from a properly conducted needs analysis. Five types of analyses are usually performed in a needs analysis for LAPP, including domain, means, policy, test taker, and test requirement analysis. The authors elaborate what each analysis involves and what information test developers can gain during the process. The discussion is accompanied by an illustrative example from the needs analysis for the Occupational English Test (OET).
Chapter 4, Development, moves from needs assessment to test design. This chapter offers both theoretical considerations and methodological recommendations. Three illustrative examples in test design are also provided to demonstrate how LAPP developers create testing specifications, develop rating rubric from indigenous criteria, and link test scores to interpretable standards of test use. Throughout the different stages of test design, Knoch and Macqueen stress the importance of maintaining a strong connection between language proficiency and professional knowledge in test development and collaboration between language (testing) and domain experts.
Chapter 5 focuses on Validity, where Knoch and Macqueen adapt the argument-based validation framework into a validation framework specifically for LAPP. The chapter starts with an introduction of the argument-based validity framework (Chapelle et al., 2008; Kane, 1992, 2006, 2013), explaining the range of inferences test users can make for language tests for specific purposes. Then, the authors propose a validation framework for LAPP by delineating inferences (together with their associated warrants, assumptions, and potential sources for backing) in seven stages: domain description, evaluation, generalization, explanation, extrapolation, decisions, and consequences/ramifications. Towards the end of the chapter, Knoch and Macqueen recommend that researchers and practitioners select and prioritize inferences that bear more immediate importance to the local assessment context.
The final main chapter, Policy, discusses LAPP and policy-making. In this chapter, Knoch and Macqueen make a distinction between the notions of assessment as policy (i.e., language assessment itself can be a policy) vs. assessment in policy (i.e., language assessment can be utilized to reinforce policies that go beyond language, which they regard as “language-associated policies”). By focusing on assessment in policy, the authors stress the importance of evaluating the appropriateness and impact of language-associated policies across all stages of test validation. Continuing to build upon the argument-based validity framework, they propose a framework for policy evaluation that guides research and practices in evaluating LAPP use related to language-associated policies.
Assessing English for Professional Purposes is a pioneering book in language testing that can guide a wide range of audiences, including researchers, graduate students, and test developers and users interested in the field of LAPP. It can be used as a textbook for a graduate-level language testing course. Although there are only six chapters, the topics introduced are crucial to basic understanding of LAPP development, validation, and use. The volume is easy to read and follow. Most chapters feature tables or figures to help illustrate key concepts or theoretical principles, and the relationships between chapters can be clearly grasped. This book is a great resource for students not familiar with LAPP as they might benefit from terminology definition in the introduction as well as the discussion on scope, construct, and validity in Chapters 1, 2, and 5.
This book can also be of interest to language testing researchers and test developers as it is a “must-have” guidebook for LAPP-related research or practice. Overall, Knoch and Macqueen offer a clear conceptualization of different dimensions of LAPP by not only providing a well-structured theoretical framework but also supplementing the framework with real-life examples. Testing professionals can gain valuable insights from discussion on a variety of topics and important issues in the book. For LAPP test developers, Chapters 3 and 4 provide an outline of the test development process, from sketching a needs analysis to creating a test blueprint. For researchers investigating the relationship between language assessment and language-associated policies, Chapter 6 would help them better understand how the two relate and how language-associated policies can be evaluated.
LAPP test users can also benefit from this book. Language assessment for professional purposes involves different stakeholders such as private employers or governmental organizations. Knoch and Macqueen’s effort of introducing domain experts and policy makers into the discussion can promote closer collaboration between language testing professionals and domain experts in other fields. These stakeholder groups might find Chapter 4 useful as it explores how domain experts can be involved in the LAPP standard-setting process. Chapter 6 is a great reference for them if they are uncertain about the best practices in assessment use and policy enactment.
It is perhaps not possible to investigate all issues relevant to LAPP in the volume; however, this book is a great starting point to stipulate more principled LAPP research and practice in the fields of language testing and applied linguistics. The framework outlined in this book can guide design, validation, and evaluation of operational LAPP, connecting theory and practice. One topic that can be further explored is the impact of LAPP. This book explains in depth the range of language-associated risks in the workplace and LAPP. It would be interesting to explore how LAPP influences teaching and learning of English, especially in countries or continents with a booming industry of teaching English for professional purposes. It would also be interesting to examine the washback effect of LAPP and its association with test design.
Overall, Assessing English for Professional Purposes is a great addition to publications in language testing, as it introduces core concepts of LAPP in a clear and comprehensible manner. It is a useful handbook for readers interested in fundamental issues of assessment for professional purposes. We believe this book can facilitate learning, spark discussions on LAPP topics, and potentially help expand the area of research of English for specific purpose assessment.
