Giving LESLLA Learners a Fair Chance in Testing

Abstract

LESLLA learners have two specific challenges, which both affect their results on language tests: their lack of general literacy on the one hand, and their lack of test literacy on the other. Both challenges need to be taken into account when large-scale language test developers design their tests in order to give LESLLA learners a fair chance to show their language abilities. This paper shows how Skills Norway (Kompetanse Norge) has worked to construct a standardized language test that gives this group of learners a fair chance. The results presented in this paper show that despite some room for improvement, we are on the right track towards a fair test for this group of learners. A main point of the paper is that in order to construct a fair test for LESLLA learners, collaboration between test developers and LESLLA teachers and researchers is necessary.