Albert Weideman is Professor of Applied Language Studies and Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, South Africa.

John Read is Professor Emeritus at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Theo du Plessis is Professor of Language Management at the University of the Free State, South Africa.

Introduction. John Read and Colleen Du Plessis: A Global Perspective on the South African Context

Part I: Conceptual Foundations: Policy, Construct, Learning Potential

Chapter 1. Theo du Plessis: Institutional Language Policy and Academic Literacy in South African Higher Education

Chapter 2. Albert Weideman: A Skills-neutral Approach to Academic Literacy Assessment

Chapter 3. Tobie van Dyk, Piet Murre and Herculene Kotzé: Does One Size Fit All? Some Considerations for Test Translation

Chapter 4. Alan Cliff: The Use of Mediation and Feedback in a Standardised Test of Academic Literacy: Theoretical and Design Considerations

Part II: Assessing Academic Literacy at Secondary School Level

Chapter 5. Colleen du Plessis: Basic Education and Academic Literacy: Conflicting Constructs in the South African National Senior Certificate (NSC) Language Examination

Chapter 6. Jo-Mari Myburgh-Smit and Albert Weideman: How Early Should We Measure Academic Literacy? The Usefulness of an Appropriate Test of Academic Literacy for Grade 10 Students

Chapter 7. Sanet Steyn: Pathways to Parity between Parallel Tests of Language Ability: Lessons from a Project

Part III: Assessing Discipline-specific Needs at University

Chapter 8. Kabelo Sebolai: Generic Academic Literacy Testing: A Logical Precursor for Faculty-specific Language Teaching and Assessment

Chapter 9. Avasha Rambiritch, Linda Alston and Marien Graham: Diagnosing with Care: The Academic Literacy Needs of Theology Students

Chapter 10. Laura Drennan: Assessing Readiness to Write: the Design of an Assessment of Preparedness to Present Multimodal Information (APPMI)

Postscript. Tobie van Dyk: What the Data Tell us: An Overview of Language Assessment Research in South Africa's Multilingual Context