Language assessment: A linguametric perspective

Within the last few decades, there have been multidimensional advancements in language assessment. Some of the advancements have been in the direction of developing theoretical models of the construct of language ability, others in the line of measuring that construct, and still some others towards materializing the outcomes of measuring the defined construct. These developments can be attributed to three major areas of inquiry, namely, applied linguistics, psychometrics, and edumetrics. The purpose of this paper is to make certain arguments about the necessity of an eagle’s eye perspective on language assessment. First, it is argued that most of the developments in language assessment have been rooted in the above-mentioned disciplines, each of which has benefited from the findings of intra-disciplinary areas. Second, it is argued that most language ability models have been based on intra-disciplinary rather than inter-disciplinary perspectives. In fact, some of the inadequacies of the existing models can be attributed to the ignorance of such inter-disciplinary relationships. Third, it is argued that beyond intra and inter-disciplinary relationships, certain supra-disciplinary factors should also be included in the models of language competence. And finally, a comprehensive model for language assessment, which I call linguametric, is suggested and its implications and applications for research are discussed