This book clarifies the concept of impact and related terms, such as washback, evaluation, monitoring and validation, and focuses on the impact of language tests and language programmes on a range of stakeholders, including test-takers, teachers, textbook writers, testers and institutions. First-hand experience is cited from two new impact studies. One analyses the impact of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), the second looks at the Progetto Lingue 2000 (Year 2000 Languages Project), a state-school foreign-language education improvement programme undertaken by the...

This critical history covers 70 years of two major UCLES / Cambridge ESOL international exams: the First Certificate in English (FCE) and the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE). The story begins with the development and first sitting of the FCE (then called the Lower Certificate in English) in 1939. The book then traces subsequent developments, including the initiation of FCE under its current name in 1975, the introduction of CAE in 1991, as well as reviews, major revisions, and modifications, leading to the update of FCE and CAE for December 2008. On the way, the history attempts to...