Collaboration and Sharing: Building LAL expertise in Latin American Countries

Abstract Summary

Abstract :

Language testing and assessment (LTA) has been an integral part of the language education agenda in Latin American countries (Bustos Gonzalez, 2017; Tonelli and Quevedo-Camargo, 2018; Giraldo, 2019). In their attempt to align with international standards and practice (mainly with English speaking countries, e.g. USA, UK, Canada and Australia), Latin American countries have re-shaped and adapted international knowledge in a dynamic and unique relationship with local expertise in search for solutions to challenges and problems in their respective educational contexts leading eventually to the development of local expertise and knowledge in LTA. This situation has motivated the current symposium that aims at creating a forum for sharing and learning from LTA experiences and practices enacted in Latin American countries. The papers of the symposium are expected to cover an exciting range of topics in LTA e.g. development of stakeholders' language assessment literacy, classroom language assessment, development of high-stakes language exams in various Latin American contexts. This presentation will position the papers within the larger framework of Language Assessment Literacy (LAL) (Fulcher, 2012; Harding & Kremmel, 2016; Taylor, 2013) foregrounding issues and discussing recent developments in the field. The presentation will then compare and discuss similarities and differences across the various systems of assessment through an emic perspective taking into consideration the country social, historical and educational diversity. The discussion will conclude with recommendations as to how to enhance stakeholders’ LAL levels in the respective systems through collaborative and involvement LAL models (Erickson and Åberg-Bengtsson, 2012; Kremmel at al. 2018; Tineke and Harding, 2018) and will offer suggestions for future research directions that can inform international practice too.