«But I know the word in English, just not in German!» – The unfairness of vocabulary: translation testing and lists

Due to convenience and expectations from parents, learners and other levels of schooling, Vocabulary-translation lists and test tests are one of the most frequent teaching and testing formats used in Swiss primary and lower secondary schools. This style of testing in ELT is, however, is fraught with problems ranging from the unfairness to learners who do not speak the local language (here German) at home, to the measures of what constructs are actually being assessed through such tests. Such tests are a frequent topic of discussion and discord in pre and in-service teacher training. In this paper, reasons for not using such tests and suggestions for alternative list forms and test types serving similar purposes are presented.