Abstract :
In their paper, Professors Pishghadam and Zabihi have presented the language testing profession with a challenge to begin to produce tests that measure not only language ability but also “issues of primary concern in learners’ life” (p. 7). They argue that English language teaching has matured to the point where it can be viewed as independent of other domains of knowledge and thus should abandon “the traditional linguistic syllabuses which are typically used in ELT” and focus more on “useful aspects of learners’ lives in the ELT curriculum” (p. 9). Consequently, they reason, English language testing should likewise change from a focus solely on language to “the incorporation of useful aspects of learners’ lives into a comprehensive test which underpins practical life issues as well as language-related issues” (p. 7). As a language tester who has a professional interest in assessing language for specific purposes (LSP), I was immediately attracted to this philosophy since LSP is all about assessing the ability to use language in situations of importance in the lives of language learners. I have argued, in fact, that a specific purpose language test is one in which “test content and methods are derived from an analysis of a specific purpose target language use situation” in which language users wish to engage (Douglas 2000, p. 19). Certainly the notions of “English for Life Purposes” and “Life-Language Test” that the authors of this paper outline appear to fit particularly well with my own vision of the importance of language for specific purposes and LSP testing.
