Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate, TEFL Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University

2 Assistant Professor, TEFL Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University

Abstract

Critical Language Assessment (CLA) argues that language testing is a form of social practice and an agent of cultural, social, educational as well as ideological agendas. As such this article scrutinized the power that different groups of people including, teachers, students and their parents own at the levels of developing, administrating and interpreting Iranian University Entrance Examinations (IUEE). The study revealed that tests could be tools of power that serve the empowered parties’ policies and manipulate individual lives. Supported by the findings, the article (1) could be conducive to developing critical thinking among students to see behind the tests, and (2) suggests more democratic testing methods to moderate high-stakes tests consequences so that individual rights get protected.

Keywords

Akiyama, T. (2003). Assessing speaking in Japanese junior high schools: Issues for the senior high school entrance examinations. JALT Journal, 7(2).p. 2–11. Retrieved Jan. 12,  2012 from jalt.org/test/PDF/Akiyama1.pdf
Auerbach, E. (1995). The politics of the ESL classroom: Issues of power in pedagogical choices. In J. Tollefson (Ed.). Power and Inequality in Language Education (pp. 933). Cambridge: CUP.
Barootchi, N., & Keshavarz, M.H. (2002). Assessment of achievement through portfolios and teacher-made tests. Educational Research, 44, 279-288.
Bloor, M. and Bloor, Th. (2007) The Practice of Critical Discourse Analysis. An Introduction. London: Hodder Arnold.
Bourdieu, P.  (1991) Language and symbolic power. Oxford: polity Press.
Broadfoot, P. (1996) Education, assessment and society. Buckingham: Open University Press
Coleman, D.,  Starfield, S., & Hagan, A.  (2003). Stakeholder perceptions of the IELTS test in three countries.  IELTS Research Reports, 5, 159-235.  Canberra: IELTS Australia. Retreived April, 12,  2011 from  www.ielts.org/pdf/Vol5_Report4.pd
Dornyei, Z. (2003). Questionnaires in second Language Research. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erl- baum.
Dornyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: quantitative, qualitative andmixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hanson, F. A. (1993). Testing testing: social consequences of the examined life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
 Hamayan, E. V. (1995). Approaches to alternative assessment. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 15, 212-226.
Kramsch, C.  (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Farhady, H. (1998). A critical review of the English section of the BA and MA University Entrance Examination. Twenty-five years of living with applied linguistics: Collection of articles. Farhady, H. (2006). Iran, Tehran. Rahnama press.  
Farhady, H. (2006). Twenty-five years of living with applied linguistics: Collection of articles. Iran, Tehran. Rahnama Press.
Farhady, H., & Hedayati, H. (2009). Language assessment policy in Iran. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 29, 132–141.
Foucault, M. (1975). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage.
Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. London: Rutledge.
Lynch, B. K. (2001). Rethinking assessment from a critical perspective. Language Testing, 18. 351–372. Retrieved Jan.12,  2012, from www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/groups/crile/docs/crile58tsagari.pdf
Mahdavinia, M.  Rahimi, A. (2011). An evaluative case study: Reflection-focused assessment performance. On line Journal  Language Testing in Asia 1(3) 7-33
McNamara, T. (1996). Measuring second language performance. London: Longman.
McNamara, T., & Roever, K. (2006). Language testing:  The social dimension. Oxford: Blackwell.
McIntyre, A. (1984). After virtue: A study in moral theory. Notre Dame, Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press.
Messick, S. (1994). The interplay of evidence and consequences in the validation of performance assessment, Educational Researcher, 23, 13–23.
Messick, S. (1996). Validity and wash back in language testing, Language Testing, 13(4), 241–57.
Pennycook, A. (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language. London: Longman
Pennycook, A. (1999). Introduction: Critical approaches to TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 33(3), 329-48.
Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical applied Linguistics: A critical introduction. London: Rutledge.
Rahimi & Sahragard. (2006,). A critical discourse analysis of euphemization and derogation in e-mails on the late Pope. The Linguistics Journal, 2.
Rea-Dickins, P. (1997). So why we need relationship with stakeholders in language testing? A view from UK. Language Testing. 14 (3), 304-314.
Riazi, A.M.  & Razavipour, K. (2011). Agency of EFL teachers under the negative backwash effect of centralized tests. International Journal of Language Studies (IJLS), Vol. 5(2), 122-142. Retrieved Jan. 12, 2012, from www.ijls.net/volumes/volume5issue2/riazi1.pdf
 Saif, S. (2006). Aiming for positive washback: a case study of international teaching assistants. Language Testing, 23 (1), 1-34.
Shepard, L. (1991). Psychometricians’ beliefs about learning. Educational Researcher, 20 (7), 2-9.
Shohamy, E. (1997). Testing methods, testing consequences: Are they ethical? Are they fair? Language Testing, 14(3), 340–349.
Shohamy, E. (1998) Critical language testing and beyond, Studies in Educational Evaluation, 24(4), 331–345.
Shohamy, E. (2001a) Democratic assessment as an alternative. Language Testing, 18(4), 373–392.  Retrieved Jan., 12, 2012 from
       www.people.iup.edu/.../Democratic%20Assessment%20as%20an%20...
Shohamy, E. (2001b). The power of tests: a critical perspective on the uses of language tests. Harlow: Longman.
Shohamy, E.  (2007) Language tests as language policy tools. Assessment in Education 14, (1), 117–130. Retrieved March 20, 2012,  from https://cmap.helsinki.fi/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid...1TD
Spolsky, B. (1997). The ethics of gatekeeping tests: What have we learned in a hundred years? LanguageTesting, 14, 242–247.
Spolsky, B. (2007). Towards a theory of language policy. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 22(1),1-14.
Tsagari, D. (2004). Is there life beyond language testing? An introduction to alternative language assessment. CRILE Working Papers, 58. (Online) Retrieved  March,10, 2011, from http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/groups/crile/docs/crile58tsagari.pdf. 
 Van Dijk, T. A. (2003). The discourse-knowledge interface. In G. Weiss, & R. Wodak (Eds.). Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and Interdisciplinarity. (pp. 85-109). Houndsmills, UK: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Wade, C. (1995). Using writing to develop and assess critical thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 22, 24-28.
Weir, C. J. (2005). Language testing and validation: An evidenced-based approach. Basingstoke, ENG: Palgrave Macmillan.