Half a century of English language assessment in HK: A 50-year retrospective, augmented by a 35-year personal perspective

This lecture details not only my 35-year sojourn in Hong Kong and my long-standing association with its English language assessment situation but also a 50-year journey through assessment in Hong Kong, augmented by my own personal experience of years of English language teaching, teacher education and assessment. I present a historical and theoretical picture of how English language examinations have moved in Hong Kong – onwards and upwards, with me fortunate to be in the middle when big changes were taking place in English language assessment: from how assessment was conceptualised to how it has been delivered. To provide an anchoring backdrop of my experience, I frame issues within the context of the key test quality concepts Validity, Reliability, Washback. The lecture then moves through assessment in Hong Kong one decade at a time, with my experiences framed as appropriate against a relevant key test quality concept. Copyright © 2014 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.