Neoliberalism and Language testing in Iran

A couple of months ago, a group of protesting students in Tehran chanted a slogan and called ‘neoliberalism’ as the common enemy of people from Chile, France, Lebanon, and Iraq to Iran. The slogan came as a surprise to some political activists, but to the people who are familiar with the views of the left, whether Marxism or Islamism, it wasn’t surprising. In their view, there are many similarities between the policies of the states and the aforementioned governments. Is that so?! Are the protesters in Chile, France, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran fighting against the same enemy? What is this so-called enemy which has surpassed capitalism in both ‘fame’ and ‘cruelty’? In this paper I want to discuss what neoliberalism is, how neoliberalism dominated education in general, language testing in particular, and finally I consider neoliberalism and language testing in Iran.

Keywords:

neoliberalism , language testing , Iran