Assessing Language through Computer Technology

Although many publications in the use of computers in language teaching and second language acquisition have included sections on computer and web-based language testing, there are few if any devoted to just this subject. The book under review includes different interrelated issues from discussion topics such as the benefits of, or controversies about computer language testing (CALT), to very practical ones like how to work with WebCT. Researchers and students in the field will see its potential due to the large number of well-informed sources, its bibliography, and proposals for further study. Assessing Language through Computer Technology begins with a very short preface by Alderson and Bachman. They point out what most practitioner teachers already know about the use of CALT such as its use for item banks, and facility of test delivery but they also mention the latest developments in the field due to the ‘advances in natural language processing or latent semantic analysis’ (p. ix) and also the concurrent problems such as the effect of multimedia or validity or even security.