International tests can benefit teachers and learners

In this paper, I present a set of arguments in support of the proposition that international standardized tests (IST) are beneficial to teachers and learners. The arguments are designed to defend the proposition from the IATEFL debate and not to offer a balanced discussion and are based on my experience as a teacher, researcher, and test developer, with some support offered from the published literature. Before presenting my arguments, I take time to briefly reflect on the drivers and objectives that lay behind the origins of standardized testing. I then consider the benefits of ISTs to learners and teachers before reflecting on the obligations of developers to teachers and learners. Without a recognition of these obligations, ISTs can never meet the needs of language learning systems.