LTRG programme 2022 – 2023
LTRG is open to staff members, visiting researchers, and PhD and MA students with an interest in language testing and assessment. Staff and students working away from campus can often attend the seminars online. Please contact Tineke Brunfaut (t.brunfaut ‘at’ lancaster.ac.uk), Luke Harding (l.harding ‘at’ lancaster.ac.uk) or John Pill (j.pill ‘at’ lancaster.ac.uk) for details.
LTRG usually meets on Thursdays, from 15:00 to 16:30. Meetings in 2022-23 will be a mix of in-person, online and hybrid events.
Term 3
Coordinators: John Pill, Xiao Cheng
| Date | Time | Where | Presenter | Topic |
| 27 April | 10:00-11:30 | In person County South C89 |
— (project group only) | BALEAP TAFSIG Piloting Network: Reading test consultancy (practical session; project group only) |
| 4 May | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 |
Philip Horne | Evaluating speaking tasks for a research project on computer-based interactive tasks (practical session) |
| 11 May | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 + online option |
Salomé Villa Larenas (Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile) | Developing an instrument to measure in-service English teachers’ language assessment knowledge |
| 18 May | 15:00-16:30 | Microsoft Teams (online only) | Beci Sickinger | An exploration of comparative judgement for evaluating the Austrian lower-secondary school EFL writing exam |
| 25 May | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 + online option |
Xiao Cheng (East China Normal University, China) | The impact study of the English Gaokao Reform in China |
| 1 June | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 + online option |
Emil Tangham | Linguistic adaptability across genres and modalities: A corpus-based investigation of a key component of L2 proficiency |
| 8 June | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 |
Tineke Brunfaut | Trying out a rating scale for assessing viewing-to-write performances (practical session) |
| 15 June | — | — | — | No session – EALTA Helsinki |
| 22 June | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 + online option |
Jennifer Morris | Investigating workplace communication for LSP assessments in the private business sector of Türkiye |
| 29 June | 15:00-16:30 | Microsoft Teams (online only) | Jing Xu (Cambridge University Press & Assessment, UK) | Theory and practice of validating automated language tests |
Term 2
Coordinators: Tineke Brunfaut, Camilo Ramos-Gálvez
| Date | Time | Where | Presenter | Topic |
| 19 January | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 + online option | Sally Ren | Bridging corpus linguistics to ITA assessment: The role of functional language in academic lectures |
| 26 January | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 | — (project group only) | BALEAP TAFSIG Piloting Network: Reading test consultancy (practical session; project group only) |
| 2 February | 15:00-16:30 | Microsoft Teams (online only) | Dylan Burton (Michigan State University, USA) | Nonverbal behavior in language assessment: Current research and future directions |
| TUESDAY 7 February | 11:00-12:30 | In person County South B89 | Tineke Brunfaut & Judit Kormos | Experimenting with viewing-to-write tasks (practical session) |
| MONDAY 20 February | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 | Camilo Ramos-Gálvez | Academic reading diagnostic tasks (practical session) |
| 9 March | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 + online option | Craig Grocott (University of Bergen, Norway) | Structural validity: a panel study of the scoring system and descriptors used in the Norwegian National Tests of English |
| 23 March | 15:00-16:30 | In person County South C89 + online option | Deise Amaral (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) | Phraseological sophistication discriminating between B2 and C1: A corpus study of IELTS candidates’ essays |
Term 1
Coordinator: Luke Harding
| Date | Time | Where | Presenter | Topic |
| 13 October | 15:00-16:30 | In person C89 (online option) | All | LTRG welcome session/catch-up/research updates |
| 20 October | 15:00-16:30 | In person D72 (online option) | — | LTRG writing retreat #1 |
| 27 October | 15:00-16:30 | In person D72 (online option) | — | LTRG writing retreat #2 |
| 3 November | 15:00-16:30 | In person C89 (online option) | Luke Harding & Dana Gablasova | Talking to an imagined interlocutor: Interactional and interpersonal discourse features in computer-mediated semi-direct speaking assessment [work-in-progress] |
| 10 November | 15:00-16:30 | Microsoft Teams (online only) | Francesca Pezzella (Università di Pisa, Italy) | TBC |
| 14 November (Monday) | 11:00-12:30 | In person FASS MR2 | Robyn Woodward-Kron (University of Melbourne, Australia) | A linguistic lens on health communication research and practice: gaps and opportunities, impact, strategies |
| 24 November | — | — | — | No session – LTF Bristol |
| 1 December | 15:00-16:30 | Microsoft Teams (online only) | Gary Ockey (Iowa State University, USA) | Spoken dialogue systems’ potential for assessing interactional competence |
| 8 December | 15:00-16:30 | In person C89 | Tineke Brunfaut & Judit Kormos | Experimenting with viewing-to-write tasks (practical session) |
| 15 December | 10:00-11:30 | In person D72 (online option) | Ari Huhta (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) | Dynamic-diagnostic assessment as a new approach to supporting learning and teaching of reading and writing in English |