Language testing in the modern language journal

The Modern Language Journal published on average two articles a year dealing with language tests in its first 80 years. This probably reflects the actual (if not the desirable) level of interest in language testing of the language teaching profession. For the early years, before more specialized journals appeared, it gives an excellent picture of the history of the field in the United States. Later, the coverage became spottier, but there continued to appear a number of important articles especially on topics like prognosis and aptitude tests, the cloze test, oral testing, and the controversy over the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. As a whole, the articles show a valuable concern with the use rather than the form of language tests.