This Festschrift  brings together 28 invited papers surveying the state of the art in language testing. The volume locates work in language assessment  in a context of social, political and ethical issues at a time when testing is increasingly expected to be publicly accountable.  It  is thus particularly appropriate as a tribute to Alan Davies, whose work in this field since the 1960s has been marked by its conceptual strength and social responsiveness, seeking constantly to clarify and challenge current practice and new trends.