Historically, research on spoken language testing dates back to the late 1920s with the majority of work starting around the time of World War II. In contrast, signed language assessment research is a young area, nested within signed language linguistics, deaf education, and applied linguistics. To this day, very few signed language tests that can be used in applied contexts are available for learners of a signed language.

This volume addresses issues that are inherent to language assessment development, regardless of the modality of the language. Comprised of 36 chapters, the book takes a new approach to exploring theoretical and practical issues related to assessment of signed and spoken languages by bringing together well known experts from both fields to engage in stimulating discussions about key issues related to language assessment. Grouped around twelve topics, the volume editors present different perspectives to emphasize the points of similarity and chart a path for future interdisciplinary collaborations .