Multiple Voices in Tests: Towards a Macro Theory of Test Writing

Tests, especially high-stakes ones, occupy a prominent role in education and impact on students' personal and professional trajectory. Therefore, it is crucial that they are well understood. Enhancing understanding of the workings of tests requires a multidisciplinary approach, one that treats tests not only as assessment instruments, but also as sociolinguistic and sociopolitical products. Using data collected by means of non-participant observation, stimulated recall and one-to-one interviews with writers of GCSE and IGCSE tests, this paper attempts to provide a macro-analysis of the process of test writing. It does so by identifying the various actors and discourses that directly or indirectly take part in test writing. It uses Bakhtin's framework of voice as a tool to facilitate this. The paper concludes by proposing a macro model of test writing, one that explains the macro process of test writing by capturing the main voices involved in it and their interrelationships.