LTCM

One of the reasons why "in places, the submission reads like a flow of consciousness and ideas in development rather than a well-developed critique" is that, frankly, I haven't got fully engaged with it yet. I need to do more reading. I got started on the bigger picture of citizenship and language testing, but got distracted by the recent announcement of changes to spousal visas. 

Maintaining consistency with this morning's metaphor, I'm cantering back almost to the starting post. There are no other horses in this race, so, you know, no competition. And I'm taking a very careful second run-up to that first fence. 

 The gap in knowledge is to be found floating around somewhere in the yawning void between theoretical models of test validity (Bachman and Palmer, 2010; Kane, 2013; Chalhoub-Deville, 2015), and practical work published about the validity of (let's just say for now) language tests connected with migration. Most of the published work in this specific area, (see for example, the references I gleaned when doing a generic search on "Knowledge of Life and Language", which I've added into this post's reference section, below), forms a triangulation point around the discourse of integration and in-/ex-clusion. 



The gap, though, means it's not a triangulation, it's two things, (let's call them Integration and Validity for short) which don't connect in any way that has been researched, (insofar as I can tell, thus far). 

 That's where I'm at then, almost back at the starting post, with a lot of reading to do before the horse and I can square up to the summative submission fence again. Heigh ho and here we go...


REFERENCES

Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (2010). Language assessment in practice. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Baldi, G., & Goodman, S. W. (2013). Balancing Integration Obligations and Welfare Rights: An examination of membership policy in three European countries. In American Political Science Association Annual Meeting. Chicago. http://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-014-0173-7.2 [NB: Draft – Please Do Not Cite Without Authors’ Permission]

Blackledge, A. (2009). “As a country we do expect”: The further extension of language testing regimes in the United Kingdom. Language assessment quarterly, 6(1), 6-16.
Bocker, A., & Strik, T. (2011). Language and Knowledge Tests for Permanent Residence Rights: Help or Hindrance for Integration? European Journal of Migration and Law, (13), 157–184.
 
Chalhoub-Deville, M. (2015). Validity theory: Reform policies, accountability testing, and consequences. Language Testing. http://doi.org/10.1177/0265532215593312

Goodman, S. W. (2010). EUDO Citizenship Observatory Naturalisation Policies in europe: exploring Patterns of inclusion and exclusion. EUDO Citizenship Observatory. Florence.

Goodman, S. W. (2011). Controlling Immigration through Language and Country Knowledge Requirements. West European Politics, 34(2), 235–255. http://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2011.546569

Goodman, S. W. (2012). Fortifying Citizenship: Policy Strategies for Civic Integration in Western Europe. World Politics (Vol. 64). http://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887112000184


Johansson, M., & Śliwa, M. (2014). “It is English and there is no Alternative”: Intersectionality, Language and Social/Organizational Differentiation of Polish Migrants in the UK. Gender, Work & Organization, n/a–n/a. http://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12049


Jopke, et al. (2010). Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. Global Governance, RSCAS 2010(2), 30. http://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2481918
 
Kane, M. T. (2013). Validating the Interpretations and Uses of Test Scores. Journal of Educational Measurement, 50(1), 1–73
 
Kiwan, D. (2008). A journey to citizenship in the United Kingdom. International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 10(1), 60-75.
Orgad, L. (2010). lliberal Liberalism Cultural Restrictions on Migration and Access to Citizenship in Europe. The American Journal of Comparative Law, 58(1), 53–105.
Van Oers, R., Ersbøll, E., & Kostakopoulou, D. (Eds.). (2010). A re-definition of belonging?: language and integration tests in Europe. Brill.

Wright, S. (2008). Citizenship tests in Europe-editorial introduction. International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 10(1), 1-9.

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