Testing Scandinavian Language Comprehension

This thesis highlights the language teaching controversies in Finland and Iceland, applying a critical eye on the outcome of the mandatory language teaching of Swedish in Finland and Danish in Iceland. But its aim is also secondly to describe and test criteria which are thought to underpin good language testing. Discussing the importance of the interface and different perspectives between Language Testing (LT) and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, the thesis interconnects these two main research areas in order to explore learners' test-taking scoring and assess the validity and reliability of the language test exclusively carried out. It is well needed research, since excellent testing of how much the students know and do not yet know helps the learning process immensely. Poor testing may however result in negative backwash for the test taker. This thesis suggests that it is essential to examine not only final linguistic products of tests but also that language tests be more communicatively relevant for the second language learning-process. The future of SLA requires proper student evaluation in order to illuminate the issues hindering second language advancement.