Optimizing Language Assessment – Focus on Test Specification and Piloting

AbstractThe main focal point of the paper is represented by a proposal meant to enhance the quality of the language proficiency assessment process in the non-philological higher education, by emphasizing the role of the test specification and that of piloting in designing effective forms of evaluation by language teachers who embark upon test designing. Context-specific features of the concrete educational situation are discussed in their essential characteristics insofar as they can be influential upon the decisions conducive to the generation of the final format and content of a large-scale English proficiency test for the engineering undergraduates of the POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest. A framework of main principles to be taken into account is thus attempted at, as a response prompted by reasons of practicality to the range of contextual constraints to be faced, with the observance of the validity and reliability requirements in establishing test design priorities. The paper is also intended as an open expertise-sharing exercise of a reflective teacher/test designer addressed to fellow trainers, inviting debate and encouraging transferability of good practices in the foreign language teaching and evaluation