Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. 2014. № 3 ПРАКТИКА ПРЕПОДАВАНИЯ ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ В СИСТЕМЕ НЕПРЕРЫВНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ A.A. Korenev HIGH-STAKES LANGUAGE TESTING BETWEEN SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY IN RUSSIA, JAPAN AND THE UK (constructs and formats) The article compares formats, constructs and criteria of assessment between school and university in Russia, Japan, and the UK. <...> This comparison allows to analyse the experience of nations that adopted standardized testing for selection of potential students much earlier than the Russian Federation and whose examination systems have already experienced reforms and changes, as well as to discover the cultural values behind the three national examination systems. <...> Подобное сравнение позволяет проанализировать опыт стран, которые внедрили стандартизированное тестирование для отбора студентов намного раньше, чем Российская Федерация, и чьи экзаменационные системы уже пережили серию реформ и изменений, а также обнаружить культурные ценности, стоящие за тремя национальными экзаменационными системами. <...> Despite the immense influence that national examinations between school and university have on the development of the whole system of secondary and higher education in each country they have been given less attention in international research on the subject than international examinations, such as TOEFL, IELTS etc. <...> Research in the field of national assessment Коренев Алексей Александрович — канд. пед. наук, ст. преподаватель кафедры теории и методики преподавания иностранных языков факультета иностранных языков и регионоведения; e-mail: alexeykorenev@gmail.com 1 Ter-Minasova S. Learning and Teaching Languages in Russia: Old Traditions and New Problems // Moscow State University Bulletin. <...> When researchers do analyze national examinations, they usually publish in national journals, many of which are not issued in English, or in the media3, with the exception of the Japanese Center Test for University Admissions that has attracted widespread criticism from international researchers who work at Japanese universities4. <...> In general, the task is to compare three examinations in terms of their structure, format and test construct (sometimes indirectly, through analyzing the test structure, as the specifications for the Japanese examination are kept confidential), find out similarities and differences and explain them through the lens of the national culture, values, traditions and the context of higher education in each country. <...> This shall <...>