Article published in:
ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 168:2 (2017) ► pp. 143–163
Critical position paper

Just testing

Applying theories of justice to high-stakes language tests

| KU Leuven

Justice has been the topic of comparatively few papers in the fields of applied linguistics or language assessment. This may be due to the lack of a clear and agreed-upon definition on the one hand, or to the difficulty of operationalizing justice for test development on the other. This paper aims to remedy both problems by discussing prior conceptualizations of justice and by introducing six justice principles, which are based on theories of distributive justice that focus on human rights, fairness, equal opportunity, and dignity. The overarching aim of this paper is to advance the debate on justice, and to provide a consistent way of considering ethical and moral dilemmas that language testers face today.

Keywords: language testing, high-stakes test, justice, justice, language testing policy
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Approaches to justice
    • 2.1Taking position
    • 2.2 Rawls, Rawls, Rawls
    • 2.3Justice in language testing
  • 3.Six principles of just testing
    • 3.1Even a coercive testing policy should be just
    • 3.2 A just testing policy treats test takers with dignity
    • 3.3A just testing policy relies on empirical evidence
    • 3.4All primary stakeholders should be consulted
    • 3.5Agency implies accountability
    • 3.6Test takers have a right to privacy
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
Published online: 30 December 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.00001.dey
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