In Chapter 1, the author begins by defining “language assessment” and “test” and discusses how people use them differently. A major aim of the chapter is to engage readers who have concerns about the use and effectiveness of language assessments by recognizing their potential for unfairness and discussing how users can avoid such negative consequences. To achieve this aim, the author introduces readers to some misuses of language assessment, including the infamous Shibboleth Test, the Australian Dictation Test, and the Louisiana Literacy Test. People used these assessments to intentionally discriminate against certain groups of individuals. The author then presents Kremmel and Harding’s nine aspects of language assessment literacy and discusses what this framework suggests about being language assessment literate and how following it can limit inappropriate uses of language assessments. At the end of the chapter, the author encourages readers to evaluate their own language assessment literacy.

In Chapter 13, the author takes readers through the process of reflecting on their language assessment literacy after going through the materials in the book, compared to when they began reading the book. The author encourages readers to identify areas of language assessment literacy that they want to continue to develop as they go further on their language assessment literacy journey. The chapter also includes two self-assessments to help readers determine how well they understood the concepts in the book and how well they can apply them to real-world language assessment contexts. One of the assessments is a multiple-choice reading assessment and the other is an oral communication performance assessment. The assessments target readers knowledge and application of the principles that they studied in the book.

In Chapter 7, the author introduces both content analysis and basic statistical analysis to help evaluate the effectiveness of assessments. The focus of the chapter is on guidelines for creating and evaluating reading and listening inputs and selected response item types, particularly multiple-choice items that accompany these inputs. The author guides readers through detailed evaluations of reading passages and accompanying multiple-choice items that need major revisions. The author discusses generative artificial intelligence as an aid for drafting inputs and creating items and includes an appendix which guides readers through the use of ChatGPT for this purpose. The author also introduces test-level statistics, including minimum, maximum, range, mean, variance, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis. The author shows how to calculate these statistics for an actual grammar tense test and includes an appendix with detailed guidelines for conducting these analyses using Excel software.

In Chapter 12, the author discusses approaches to judging the effectiveness of both criterion-referenced and norm-reference performance assessments. The chapter includes guidelines for helping create or evaluate performance assessments for particular contexts. It also describes how to use statistical techniques for the same purpose. The chapter presents actual ratings from a classroom-based group oral discussion test and shows how teachers used statistics to determine both score dependability and reliability. The author discusses how to calculate coefficient agreement to help determine the dependability of the assessment and Cronbach’s Alpha to help determine its reliability. A major point of the chapter is that when certain conditions exist, test users can exploit an assessment to determine test takers’ mastery of language criteria (criterion-referenced purpose) and to compare their abilities (norm-referenced purpose). The author provides an appendix that shows readers how to use Excel software to calculate the statistics in the chapter.

In Chapter 6, the author introduces dichotomously scored items and their common use with receptive language abilities, such as listening and reading, and knowledge-based language, including vocabulary and grammar. The author discusses some common dichotomously scored item types, including multiple-choice, true–false, and short-answer items. The strengths and weaknesses of each item type for particular contexts is a major focus. The chapter introduces various principles for creating or selecting inputs for listening and reading assessments, including when to use scripted, authentic, or authenticated speech, and particular speech varieties and visuals for listening. The author also discusses item preview, or the presentation of the questions and/or answer options prior to reading or listening, and the number of times test administrators should allow test takers to listen to an input. The focus is on the language assessment principles that underlie these decisions.

In Chapter 8, the author introduces readers to item-level statistics and Cronbach’s Alpha as an estimate of internal reliability, all of which are useful for analyzing and revising dichotomously scored language assessments. The chapter focuses on two item-level statistics: item facility, or how easy an item is for a group of test takers, and point-biserial, which provides an indication of how well an item measures the targeted language ability. The author shows readers how to calculate these values and interpret their meaning for particular language assessment contexts. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how to calculate and interpret reliability based on Cronbach’s Alpha. The author also provides guidelines for interpreting reliability estimates for various language assessment contexts. An appendix provides guidance for using Excel software to calculate these statistics.