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Book review: Penny McKay (2006) Assessing young language learners.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 388 pp. (main text). ISBN 13 978
0521841382 (hardback). ISBN 13 9780521601238 (paperback)
Constant Leung
Language Testing 2009 26: 145
DOI: 10.1177/0265532208097340

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 Language Testing 2009 26 (1) 145154

Book reviews

Penny McKay (2006) Assessing young language learners.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 388 pp. (main text). ISBN
13 9780521841382 (hardback). ISBN 13 9780521601238
(paperback)

Increasing numbers of young people in primary or elementary school

are learning a second/additional language (L2 from now on) around
the world for a variety of economic, educational, political and social
reasons. In a large number of countries young people are expected to
learn an L2 because a non-native (often ex-colonial) language such
as English or French has been adopted as an official language;
Singapore and India are obvious examples. For countries where
international trade is vital economic activity, foreign language learn-
ing is regarded as part of a basic curriculum. In Japan it is estimated
that 90% of state primary schools have already introduced English
lessons; in South Korea English has been a compulsory primary
school subject since 1997. In linguistically diverse societies like
Britain and the USA significant numbers of their school populations
are learning and using English as an L2. For instance, current student
population statistics in England show that 14.4% of all elementary
school students in England are classified as L2 speakers (DCFS,
2008); and in California 25% of the states K-12 student population
are classified as English language Learner (EDResource, 2008). In
addition there are countless international schools located in different
parts of the world which provide second/foreign language medium
education. This widespread learning and use of L2 is accompanied
by an increasing need to better understand and define what counts as
L2 proficiency for young language learners and how to assess it in
diverse circumstances. This book is a timely contribution to the field.
L2 proficiency has been of course a subject of study for a long
time and it has been operationalized in many standardized language
assessment schemes. There are now a number of well-informed L2
assessment texts designed for practitioners and graduate students.
2009 SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore) DOI:10.1177/0265532208097340

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146 Book reviews

However, much of the published work to date has been focussed on

language learners at secondary age and beyond; relatively little is
available for practitioners working with young language learners
between the ages of five and twelve. This book plugs that gap. The
organization and division of the 10 chapters in this 388-page text
represent a systematic effort to provide a research-informed discus-
sion on some of the key issues directly relevant to classroom prac-
tice. The informed teacher is, in a very real sense, at the centre of the
aspirations of this book.
The first two chapters offer an account of the special learning and
assessment issues involving young language learners. These chap-
ters are very important because they help to foreground the signifi-
cance of age-related maturation processes and other matters, and to
tie language use and language learning in a conceptually coherent
way. Chapter 3 is a succinct discussion on the research into the
assessment of the performance of young language learners. The
author has a clear sense of how assessment is normally carried out
by teachers in schools and kindergartens, and what the key assess-
ment issues and challenges are. This professional knowledge is
reflected in the section headings, e.g., investigating teacher class-
room assessment, investigating teachers use of externally developed
criteria for formative assessment, investigating the assessment of
language and content (there is further treatment of this topic in
Chapter 9) and investigating ways to ensure valid and fair assessment
tasks and procedures for young learners. The author raises some very
useful critical points in relation to the nature and appropriateness of
assessment standards, and cites some potentially beneficial uses of
assessment procedures for language learners at a relatively young age.
The discussion in this chapter is rounded off with some comments on
the potential impact of assessment which include an observation that
standardized language tests, through certification, may be used to
motivate young language learners.
The next four chapters address more classroom-oriented assess-
ment concerns covering the use of pedagogic tasks as well as the
assessment of spoken and written language. Chapter 4, Assessing
language use through tasks (p. 97ff.), goes into a detailed discussion
on different aspects of a task-based approach. Practically minded
classroom practitioners will find the section on Some first-principles
to guide the selection of assessment tasks and procedures (p. 109ff.)
useful. Issues such as selecting the right kind of tasks to suit the char-
acteristics of young learners in different curriculum environments
are addressed. For the more analytically minded the section on

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 Book reviews 147

Frameworks to analyse assessment tasks and procedures systemat-

ically for selection (p. 112ff.) provides a helpful list of questions to
consider. Questions such as To what extent is the assessment task
authentic? (p. 114) and To what extent is the assessment task inter-
active? (p. 115) can in fact be seen as a checklist. In this chapter the
discussion is illustrated by the use of examples drawn from extant
assessment frameworks and practices developed in different educa-
tional contexts. At the same time this practical orientation is enriched
by theoretical concerns such as the relationship between task char-
acteristics and expected learner response.
Chapter 5 looks at classroom assessment. This chapter covers a
wide range of topics that are distinctive to classroom assessment, as
opposed to standardized testing. For instance, there is a section on
how to embed the design, operationalization and administration
phases of assessment into classroom processes. Two practical ex-
amples, one set in an intensive English language centre and the other
set in an elementary mainstream school context, are given to show
the assessment processes at work. The uses of observation schedules,
student portfolios and assessment criteria are discussed as part of this
complex classroom enterprise. Readers interested in formative
assessment, what the author calls on-the-run assessment, will find
a checklist of questions to guide their thinking.
Chapters 6 and 7 focus on the assessment of oral (speaking and lis-
tening) and written language (reading and writing). Chapter 6 opens
with a discussion on the similarities and differences between spoken
and written language in terms of context and purpose of use. This pro-
vides a useful set of basic parameters for the deliberations in these
two chapters. A theoretical characterization of oral language ability
(based on an earlier Bachman and Palmer framework) which empha-
sizes the importance of contextualized uses of language is presented;
readers are invited to pay attention to both productive and receptive
knowledge and skills in oral language. The notion of task-based
assessment is re-introduced at this point with a specific focus on the
use of spoken language. Chapter 7 addresses the issues of assessing
reading and writing. The discussion begins with an account of the
linguistic and cultural influences associated with students first lan-
guage on second language literacy development. The presentation of
a theoretical characterization of reading ability (again based on an
earlier Bachman and Palmer model) precedes a discussion on select-
ing reading texts and tasks for young language learners. This is fol-
lowed by a section on assessment of reading in the classroom.
Evidence gathering techniques such as reading and re-telling and

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148 Book reviews

read and do, and diagnostic procedures such as miscue analysis are
discussed. The second half of this chapter focuses on the assessment
of writing. Again, in keeping with the treatment of the other three lan-
guage domains, a theoretical characterization of writing ability (also
based on an earlier Bachman and Palmer model) opens this part of the
discussion. Issues such as how to select assessment tasks and whether
to assess vocabulary and grammar together in holistic tasks or separ-
ately are dealt with next. The chapter ends with an account of strate-
gies for the assessment of writing that are useful in the classroom.
Chapters 8 and 9 are more technically oriented. Chapter 8 focuses
on some of the technicalities in assessing language performance and
progress, such as how teachers, qua raters, arrive at a mark or score,
and the extent to which a set of rating scales and the criteria adopted
can be said to benefit language learners. Chapter 9 looks at the devel-
opment and use of large-scale standardized language testing. This dis-
cussion provides an informative account of the processes in test
development and some of the insights gained in terms of how to move
forward to make standardized testing educationally helpful. The com-
plex issues of (curriculum) content in language testing and the use of
accommodations in testing early-stage language learners are raised.
The final chapter highlights the inter-connections between pedagogy,
theory and research in a context-sensitive way. The author also
reminds us that assessing young language learners is an enterprise
that encompasses both assessment and general educational principles,
and that future developments will require teachers, professional
assessors and researchers to take account of one anothers work.
Although this book is explicitly concerned with L2 assessment,
the very high quality of scholarship the author has brought to bear on
the discussion has made some sections of the text informative and
helpful for student language teachers who are interested in the central
concepts in second language education generally. For instance, the
opening discussion on how young language learners learn embraces
both developmental growth and bilingualism in terms that would be
helpful for any teacher interested in working with linguistically
diverse young students. The discussion on language ability in Chapter
2 can be just as easily used as a digest of recent work in L2 compe-
tence and L2 acquisition. In the chapters covering the assessment of
oral and written language, the contextualization of the principles
through descriptions of classroom activities is in itself an account of
research-informed pedagogy.
This substantial text is highly accessible because it has been writ-
ten in a very readable prose, even where considerable technicality is

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 Book reviews 149

involved. The organization of content and the breadth of the discus-

sion in this book reflect a dedicated professionals concern for thor-
oughness and completeness of coverage; the practitioner-oriented
perspective signals the concerns of a committed teacher educator. In
many ways the chapters can be read as independent units for those
who are in haste; readers can return to the book time and again to
look up specific themes or issues. The references are comprehensive
and supportive of further research. L2 language assessment special-
ists will find this a valuable teaching text for advanced postgraduate
diploma and masters level language assessment courses. L2 practi-
tioners interested in assessment will find a good deal of informed
advice as well as background information to enrich their under-
standing of what lies behind recommended principles. Student teach-
ers will find plenty in this book to help them understand some of the
pedagogic and assessment principles and the research base upon
which these principles are built. In a fundamental sense this book is
as much about L2 language assessment as it is about L2 education.
And it has more than succeeded in showing us the importance of
embracing both.

References
Department for Children, Schools and Families. (2008). Pupil characteris-
tics and class sizes in maintained schools in England, January 2008 (pro-
visional). Retrieved 4 July 2008 from http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/
DB/SFR/s000786/SFR_09_2008.pdf.
EdResource. (2008). English learners in California: What the numbers say.
Mountain View, CA.

Constant Leung
Kings College London, UK
constant.leung@kcl.ac.uk

Chapelle, C. A., and Douglas, D. (2006). Assessing language

through computer technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. 138 pp. ISBN 0 521 54949 3 (paperback)

Assessing language through computer technology by Chapelle and

Douglas (2006) is the latest volume from the Cambridge Language
Assessment Series, edited by Charles Alderson and Lyle Bachman.

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