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154 ELT Journal Volume 59/2 April 2005 Q Oxford University Press
doi:10.1093/eltj/cci030
in which language testing is characterized as the exercise of power by one
party over another (Shohamy 2001).
Assertions about the nature, extent, and direction (positive/negative) of
impact in language testing have often been based on assumptions rather
than on empirical evidence. Alderson and Wall (1993) argued the need
for empirical investigation and were among the first to develop
appropriate research hypotheses. Since then, language testers have
developed various instruments for measuring washback and impact, and
evaluating the degree to which they may be considered positive or
negative (Saville and Hawkey 2004). Empirical findings from washback
and impact studies are now being reported at conferences and published
in the literature (see studies reported in Cheng, Watanabe, and Curtis
2004).
Interest in this important area for teachers, learners, and other
stakeholders will undoubtedly grow as testsespecially high stakes
testsare used more widely at regional, national, and international level,
and as the consequences of test useespecially the valid and ethical use
of test resultscome under greater scrutiny in the public domain.