English Language Test-taking Experiences from Nepal: An Ethical Perspective

As one recalls the Shibboleth tests of the Biblical times, the failure of which meant the end of life (McNamara& Roever, 2006), it is evident that language tests impinge upon the destinies of examinees in a way beyond the grip of the imagination of even the experts in this field. The postmodern air of rapidly changing socio-political and economic relations may not allow to set the pattern of anyone's thinking that way but for an examinee who has consumed a span of valuable time, effort and material in preparing for tests, as I feel, a language test is no less serious for it holds seen and unseen power to regulate the trajectories of the examinee's goals of career and, in turn, life. Beside the impenetrable technicalities of language testing dealt with until the late 1980s, the state-of-the-art currents of ethicality were, then, undergone in the arena of language testing in order that the seriousness of the issue could be addressed better. In line with the same development, this article strives for examining examinees' lived experiences of examination halls from ethical lenses.