Behind The Test

In this episode, Jo and Fiona discuss practical tools for test writers — from corpora and learner dictionaries to readability analysers and AI — and how they can help investigate language, judge levels, and generate test material.
The key message: use them to support your decisions, not to make them for you.

Jo and Fiona explore what makes a language test useful using Bachman and Palmer’s six qualities: reliability, validity, authenticity, interactiveness, impact, and practicality. They explain each quality in plain terms and show how improving one aspect can affect others.
The hosts discuss practical trade-offs with examples and emphasise that the right test isn't a 'perfect test' but one that's balanced for its intended purpose.

In this episode, Jo and Fiona discuss how listening practice tests can be used effectively by focusing on three things: ensuring test quality, diagnosing learners' strengths and weaknesses, and turning results into targeted learning.
Practical tips include checking scripts, analysing answers, involving learners in review, and using tests to track progress.

In this episode Jo and Fiona define washback and explore how tests influence teaching, learning, and wider stakeholders. They discuss positive effects like increased motivation and clear progression pathways, negative impacts such as narrow teaching to the test and missed skills, and the 'ugly' consequences including high pressure, lack of control, and test anxiety.
 

Hosts Jo and Fiona discuss writing effective grammar and vocabulary questions for language tests. They focus on three practical principles—keep it simple, plan your coverage, and target exactly what you want to test—using examples along the way.
They discuss what can go wrong when writing items and how to avoid some common pitfalls. 
 

This episode explains how to make assessment criteria work in practice by getting markers to share a clear, operational understanding. Jo and Fiona outline three stages—justify (explain the purpose), exemplify (show real examples), and standardise (maintain consistency)—and why each is essential.They stress that reliable marking is an ongoing, collaborative process that reduces bias and protects candidate fairness, with practical tips for training, sample use, and regular standardisation.