Chapter 1. Overview of research to enhance score interpretation

Abstract

The primary motivation for administering a language test is to use its scores to facilitate decisions of various kinds about language proficiency. Score-based decisions can be extremely consequential, both for test takers but also for test score users, such as universities and employers, and society overall. This book presents research efforts to enhance the interpretation of English language test scores provided by Educational Testing Service (ETS), and ultimately their usefulness for decision making. The different approaches for the enhancement of score interpretation are discussed. The research reported in each chapter is then briefly presented in relation to the various score enhancement approaches. The chapter concludes with a summary of challenges related to (mis)interpretation of language test scores.