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vide (e.g., Tung, 1986), but which also presents a challenge not to complacently continue using familiar testing techniques simply because they can be administered easily via computer (Canale, 1986). Alderson (1988a) and the papers in Stansfield (1986) provide extensive discussions of the applications of computers to language testing. 　　The major advance in the area of statistical analysis has been the application of structural equation modeling to language testing research. (Relatively nontechnical discussions of structural equation modeling can be found in Long, 1983a, 1983b.) The use of confirmatory factor analysis was instrumental in demonstrating the untenability of the unitary trait hypothesis, and this type of analysis, in conjunction with the multitrait/multimethod research design, continues to be a productive approach to the process of construct validation. Structural equation modeling has also facilitated the investigation of relationships between language test performance and test taker characteristics (e.g., Fouly, 1985; Purcell, 1983) and different types of language instruction (e.g., Sang, Schmitz, Vollmer, Baumert, & Roeder, 1986). 　　A third methodological advance has been in the use of introspec-tion to investigate the processes or strategies that test takers employ in attempting to complete test tasks. Studies using this approach have demonstrated that test takers use a variety of strategies in solving language test tasks (e.g., Alderson, 1988c; Cohen, 1984) and that these strategies are related to test performance (e.g., Anderson, Cohen, Perkins, & Bachman, 1991; Nevo, 1989). 　　Perhaps the single most important theoretical development in language testing in the 1980s was the realization that a language test score represents a complexity of multiple influences. As both Alderson and Skehan point out, this advance has been spurred on, to a considerable extent, by the application of the methodological tools discussed above. But, as Alderson (1991) notes, “the use of more sophisticated techniques reveals how complex responses to test items can be and therefore how complex a test score can be” (p. 12). Thus, one legacy of the 1980s is that we now know that a language test score cannot be interpreted simplistically as an indicator of the particular language ability we want to measure; it is also affected to some extent by the characteristics and content of the test tasks, the characteristics of the test taker, and the strategies the test taker employs in attempting to complete the test task. What makes the interpretation of test scores particularly difficult is that these factors undoubtedly interact with each other. The particular strategy adopted by a given test taker, for example, is likely to be a function of both the characteristics of the test task and the test taker’s personal characteristics. This realization clearly indicates that we need to consider very carefully the interpretations and uses we make of language test scores and thus should sound a note of caution to language testing practitioners. At the same time, our expanded knowledge of the complexity of language test perfor-mance, along with the methodological tools now at our disposal, provide a basis for designing and developing language tests that are potentially more suitable for specific groups of test takers and more useful for their intended purposes. ADVANCES IN LANGUAGE TEST DEVELOPMENT 　　For language testing, the 1980s could be character