LTRG programme 2023–2024

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 meets on Thursdays, usually from 12:30 to 14:00. Meetings in 2023-24 will be a mix of in-person, online and hybrid events.

Term 3

Coordinators: John Pill; Sally Haoshan Ren

Date Time Where Presenter Topic
25 April 12:30-14:00 In person
County South C89
+ online option
William Agius Mock viva: Exploring the features of language performance indicative of air traffic controllers’ workplace language socialisation
2 May 12:30-14:00 In person
County South C89
+ online option
All LTRG writing retreat
9 May (session postponed)
16 May 12:30-14:00 Microsoft Teams (online only) Burak Senel (Iowa State University) Enhancing authenticity in TOEFL Listening: Moving from transactional to interactional listening tasks with generative AI
23 May 14:00-15:30 In person only
County South C89
Judit Kormos The test-taking processes, experiences and perceptions of candidates with specific learning difficulties in the TOEFL iBT: Panel review of research instruments
30 May 12:30-15:00 In person
County South C89
+ online option
William Agius
Tineke Brunfaut
Geisa Davila Perez
Philip Horne
Olga Ukrayinska
Practice presentations for upcoming conferences (EALTA, LTRC)
6 June No session – EALTA 2024 conference
13 June 12:30-14:00 In person
County South C89
+ online option
Shangchao Min (Zhejiang University) Developing and validating an in-house EFL diagnostic assessment
20 June 12:30-14:00 In person
County South C89
+ online option
Tineke Brunfaut & Judit Kormos
Luke Harding
Practice presentations for upcoming conference (LTRC)
27 June 13:30-15:00 In person
County South C89
+ online option
Olena Rossi (Independent Language Testing Consultant & Researcher) Item writing with AI: Opportunities, challenges, and future directions

Term 2

Coordinators: Tineke Brunfaut; Yejin Jung

Date Time Where Presenter Topic
18 January 12:30-14:00 Microsoft Teams (online only) Peter Cormack;

Andrew Fleck

MALTD dissertation presentations:

  • Intraparticipant consistency of task difficulty judgements on a multi-level reading proficiency test
  • Multiple-choice versus open-ended listening items: difficulty, perceived comprehension, and completion approaches
25 January 12:30-14:00 Microsoft Teams (online only) Henry Emery (Latitude Aviation English Services) Role play in aviation English language assessment
1 February 12:30-14:00 In person County Main SR4 + online option All LTRG writing retreat
8 February 12:30-13:30 Microsoft Teams (online only) Yejin Jung Mock viva: Linguistic features of opinion expression in the context of English L2 language tests
15 February 12:30-14:00 In person County South C89 + online option Myriam Iliovits Mock viva: Language use in an English-Medium Instruction university in Lebanon: Implications for the validity of international and local English tests for admissions
22 February Reading week – no session
29 February 12:30-14:00 In person County South D72 + online option All Article discussion
7 March 12:30-14:00 In person County South C89 + online option John Pill Promoting quality in assessment design and validation
14 March 11:00-12:30 In person County South C89 + online option Laura Schildt (Ghent University, Belgium) Language testers in policy contexts: A discourse analytical approach
21 March 12:30-14:00 In person County South D72 + online option Jiayue Yin;

Mi-Jin Chung

PhD work-in-progress:

  • Research on multimodal metaphors about the Gaokao in China on WeChat
  • Assessing second language pragmatic competence in intercultural workplace setting

Term 1

Coordinators: Luke Harding; Jiayue Yin

Date Time Where Presenter Topic
12 October 12:00-13:00 In person County South D72 + online option All who can attend Welcome for new members, introductions, and research updates
19 October 12:30-14:00 In person County South D72 + online option All who can attend LTRG writing retreat
2 November 12:30-14:00 Microsoft Teams (online only) Curtis Gautschi (University of Bern) Evaluating general language proficiency speaking test assessment criteria: Evidence from non-language specialists
9 November 12:30-15:30
[Note: extended session]
In person County South D72 + online option Camilo Ramos Gálvez
Geisa Dávila Pérez
Myriam Iliovits
Olga Ukrayinska
Practice presentations for LTF2024 (presentation + feedback) x 4
16 November 12:30-14:00 In person County South D72 + online option Luke Harding Article discussion
23 November No session – LTF2024 Stratford
29 November (Wednesday) 12:30-14:00 Microsoft Teams (online only) Yi Tan (Laura) (Georgetown University, USA) Towards Including Second Language Varieties of English on High-stakes International Tests of English Proficiency: A Perceptual Adaptation Study
12 December (Wednesday) 11:30-13:00 Microsoft Teams (online only) Azrifah Zakaria (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Language Assessments and Corpus Linguistics: Approaches, Challenges and Future Directions