The Representativeness of the Sample
The sample of English language embedded in the Practice Test is atiny fragment of possible English language content, and of the manykinds of patterns found in systems of natural language. It does notcontain patterns or content which are deviant from general standardEnglish, but cannot claim to represent the totality of those patternsin any comprehensive manner. The tester has already argued that acomprehensive language test is impossible in principle. However, auseful language test
is
possible, and the sample of language in thePractice Test has already served a useful function of checking,elicitation and motivation, if we are to believe feedback from theindividual tested.The tester feels from his own experience that the single candidate’sEnglish has a great deal in common with that of many otherstudents in East Asia, especially South Korea. However, the presentcontext offers no statistical base for establishing this