Chapter in:
Advancedness in Second Language Spanish: Definitions, challenges, and possibilitiesEdited by Mandy R. Menke and Paul A. Malovrh
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 31] 2021
The (limited) contributions of proficiency assessments in defining advancedness
Mandy R. Menke | University of Minnesota
Paul A. Malovrh | University of South Carolina
Standardized proficiency tests are the primary
means of determining advancedness in educational settings and have
effectively established a common language for describing language
proficiency. Emerging evidence additionally identifies specific
linguistic features that correlate with each level; nonetheless, we
argue that the ability of such assessments to contribute to our
evolving understandings of advancedness are limited given their
conflation of cognition and language and inability to capture
contextually-dependent language use. In this chapter, we discuss the
contributions, challenges, and future of proficiency assessment.
Keywords: standardized assessment, advanced proficiency, linguistic correlates
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