(Not just) a question of style: new literacies and visual authenticity in online test design.

This article discusses a research project set up to explore the possibility of creating an online screening test for European students intending to take English-taught courses at home or abroad. The focus is on the impact that Information and Communications Technology has on all areas of social, professional and academic life, with reference to the effects of ICT on language testing and, in particular, on the needs and expectations of the digitally literate potential test takers. The rapid evolution of increasingly sophisticated computer hardware, software and developments in Web 2.0 has been accompanied by a change in the concept of literacy. In a context of social media, informationsharing and user-centred design, the ability to retrieve and process information requires new and multiple literacies. The important question of the visual and navigational authenticity of the test tasks is also discussed as it is directly connected with the concept of multiliteracies.