LTF 2018
LTF 2018 was hosted by CRELLA (Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment) at the Putteridge Bury campus of the University of Bedfordshire from 23rd to 25th November 2018. The theme of the conference was Assessing Language across General and Specific Contexts, with sub-themes: Assessing academic language proficiency; Assessing languages for/in the workplace; Assessing languages other than English; Assessing the language skills of young learners; Assessment literacy; Language assessment and technology.
This year LTF also hosted a Tribute to the life and work of the late Professor Cyril J. Weir OBE, FAcSS.
The event was organised by Fumiyo Nakatsuhara & Sathena Chan (CRELLA) and chaired by Barry O’Sullivan (British Council).
Speaking were Barry O’Sullivan (British Council), Hanan Khalifa (Cambridge Assessment English), Nick Saville (Cambridge Assessment English), Jin Yan (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Sathena Chan (CRELLA), Lynda Taylor (CRELLA), Tony Green (CRELLA), and Fumiyo Nakatsuhara (CRELLA).
This year’s Cyril J. Weir lecture was delivered by invited speaker John Williams from the University of Cambridge on the topic: Distinguishing implicit and explicit knowledge of language.
He discussed the subjective, behavioural, and neurological criteria for distinguishing implicit and explicit knowledge types in the context of language. During the talk he described how these criteria relate to methods of knowledge measurement, and illustrated how they have been applied in laboratory-based language learning experiments. This was contextualised for the LTF audience in terms of potential relevance to the assessment of second language knowledge more generally.
The LTF 2018 pre-conference workshop was on the topic of Qualitative Analysis and Coding using NVivo and was facilitated by Dr. Debra Allnock (University of Bedfordshire). LTF 2018 Pre-conference Workshop: Introduction to Qualitative Analysis and Coding using NVivo. Workshop date: Friday 23 November 2018 (9:30 to 17:00)
LTF 2018 Presentations
Interactional competence in the workplace: challenges and opportunities: Evelina Galaczi (Cambridge Assessment English) & Lynda Taylor (CRELLA, University of Bedfordshire)
How policy makers view language tests for professional registration: John Pill (Lancaster University) & Susy Macqueen (Australian National University)
Language Proficiency Testing in Aviation – 10 years of challenges and solutions: Neil Bullock (International Civil Aviation English Association)
A model for developing a localised test for teenagers: Sheryl Cooke, Jamie Dunlea, Judith Fairbairn, Kevin Rutherford & Richard Spiby (British Council)
The Impact of Formative Assessment on Young English Learners’ Motivation and Achievement: April Jiawei Zhang (University of Sheffield)
Revisiting the CEFR Manual for Relating exams with the CEFR Companion Volume: Neus Figueras (University of Barcelona) & Jamie Dunlea (British Council)
The IELTS Speaking Test: What can we learn from examiner voices?: Chihiro Inoue, Nahal Khabbazbashi, Daniel Lam & Fumiyo Nakatsuhara (CRELLA, University of Bedfordshire)
A Bayesian approach to improving measurement precision over multiple test occasions: Alistair van Moere & Sean Hanlon (Metametrics Inc)
The effects of task type and proficiency on L2 pausing behaviours in writing: Andrea Revesz (UCL), Marije Michel (University of Groningen), Xiaojun Lu (UCL), Nektaria Kourtali (University of Bath) & Lais Borges (UCL)
The effects of task type and proficiency on L2 pausing behaviours in writing: Nathaniel Owen (Open University)
Revalidating a CEFR benchmark study in a virtual environment: Voula Kanistra (University of Bremen / Trinity College)
A Knowledge-based Vocabulary List (KVL): A Progress Report and Initial Findings:
Norbert Schmitt (University of Nottingham) and Karen Dunn (British Council)
Symposium: Combining stakeholder perspectives to improve the selection of tests for university entrance. Organiser: Jamie Dunlea (British Council); Discussant: Carolyn Westbrook (British Council); Speakers: Anthony Keeble (Reading University), Diane Schmitt (Nottingham Trent University), Mark Griffiths (Freelance Testing Consultant) & John Pill (Lancaster University)
The winner of the Outstanding Student Presentation Award (sponsored by Cambridge Assessment English) was Voula Kanistra who spoke about “Revalidating a CEFR benchmark study in a virtual environment”.
The winner of the poster presentation prize (sponsored by Text Inspector) was Thuy Thai, presenting on “Teacher-raters’ beliefs and their practices in scoring a high-stakes speaking test”.
LTF 2018 Posters
- Investigating the consequential validity of TEAP in the Japanese high school context (David Allen & Diane Nagatomo, Ochanomizu University)
- English requirements for administrative staff in universities: different profiles, different levels (Julia Zabala & Cristina Perez Guillot, Universitat Politècnica de València)
- Test takers’ predictive processing in C-tests: a comparison between native speakers and advanced learners of English (Michael Daller, University of Reading; Guoxing Yu, University of Bristol & Roopa Leonard, University of Reading)
- Validity of international and local English tests used in an EMI university (Myriam Iliovits, Lancaster University)
- Examining international students’ classroom and test anxiety in UK Pre-sessional course (Napol Artmungkhun, University of Southampton)
- Validating a group oral task in a university entry test: interactional resource usage in an academic context (Noor Asbahan Shahizan, Lancaster University)
- Teacher-raters’ beliefs and their practices in scoring a high-stakes speaking test (Thuy Thai, University of Huddersfield)
- Bridging the gap: IELTS preparation in China and Japan and ‘relearning’ academic conventions (Tony Clark, Cambridge Assessment English)
- The cognitive appropriateness of the explanation speaking tasks for young EFL learners (Wenjun (Elyse) Ding, University of Bristol)
- The connection between Chinese high-stakes test preparation school teachers’ language assessment literacy and their choice of teaching methods (Yuan Liu, University of Leicester)
- Be specific: informational density in integrated writing tasks in an EAP test (Yuanyue Hao, University of Oxford)
- Assessing academic English among Central European students for UK university admissions (Zoltán Lukácsi & Borbála Fűköh, Euroexam International)
- Construction of the Malay Cross-linguistic Lexical Task (Jeanine Treffers-Daller, University of Reading; Ngee Thai Yap, Universiti Putra Malaysia; Ewa Haman, University of Warsaw; Magdalena Łuniewskac, University of Warsaw; Rogayah Razak, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia)
