Chapter 5. Language testers in the policy web

Chapter 5
Language testers in the policy web

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Article outline

Language testers as policy actors
The impact of language testers on policy
- Who is an ‘expert’?
- The policy environment mediates impact
- Types of expert interventions
- Policy literacy
Methodology
- Participants
- Data collection
- Analysis
Language testers’ perspectives about test use in migration policy
- Weighing benefits against critique
- Practical constraints and challenges
- Prestige and profit
Language testers’ interactions with policymakers
- Points of contact
- Maintaining contact
- Communication across institutional cultures
Language testers’ impact on policy
- Types of impact
- Negotiating agency and structural constraints
- Responsibility and accountability in test use
Reflections and implications
- How do participants perceive the use of language tests in migration policy?
- How do participants describe their interactions with policymakers?
- What do language testers regard as their impact on policy?
Concluding remarks