Abstract

Based on the articles written by mainland Chinese scholars published in the most influential Chinese and international journals, the present article analyzed the language testing research, compared the tendencies of seven categories between 2000-2009 and 2010-2019, and put forward future research directions by referring to international hot topics. Of all the seven categories of research topics, validity, performance test and China’s Standards of English Language Ability were three most popular themes, while classroom assessment, technology, rater/test taker differences and professionalization were much less popular. Except for research on performance test and technology, the other five aspects showed an increase in the second decade, with that of China’s Standards of English Language Ability rising the most dramatically. Referring to international research trends, the research predicted that validity, classroom assessment, China’s Standards of English Language Ability and professionalization, especially the ethics and social justice, might be the promising research topics for language testers.

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