Assessing Chinese learners of English: Language constructs, consequences and conundrums - An Introduction

In this chapter, we introduce the context and the rationale for the edited volume on assessing Chinese learners of English as a foreign language. In specific, we will discuss the constant challenges and conundrums in understanding the language constructs, the various assessment methods, Chinese learners’ preparation for and performance on English language tests, as well as the wide-reaching consequences of assessing Chinese learners of English. This introduction chapter also presents the logic of the sequence of the individual chapters and the overall organisation of the edited volume. The central question that we keep asking ourselves throughout this edited volume – What have we learned from research on assessing Chinese learners of English? – helps us to draw together, though very much tentatively, the implications of the findings of the studies reported in this volume which represents our collective endeavours as researchers to contribute to solving part of the conundrums.