Construct and content in context: implications for language learning, teaching and assessment in China

Context is vitally important in conceptualizing the construct and specifying the content of language learning, teaching, and assessment. In a rapidly changing globalized world, it is difficult but very important to identify and capture the unique features of local contexts. In this article, the experience of China will be used to discuss the impact of contextual features on policies and practices of English language education. The features of interest to the article are China’s fast-growing economy in a globalized world and its recent dramatic progress in information and communications technology. To illustrate the importance of contextualized construct definition and content specification, I will use two cases to examine the alignment of contextual features with the aims and practices of English language education. In the first case, the development of the China's Standards of English shows that stakeholders’ conceptualization of the construct of English language proficiency interacts with the macro-level features of the context in which activities of English language learning, teaching, and assessment are taking place. In the second case, the application of modern information and communications technology to the College English Test demonstrates the need for broadening the construct of language proficiency by adopting an interactionalist approach to construct definition, and the challenges of such an innovative approach presents for language assessment practices. The article makes the case that contextual features play a mediational function in conceptualizing and operationalizing the construct of English language proficiency and influence the policies and practices of teaching, learning, and assessment. The recognition of the role of contextual mediation in language education has important implications for language policy design and implementation in a rapidly changing world.