LTRG programme 2025–2026
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 alternate Thursdays, from 14:00 to 15:30. Meetings in 2025-26 will be a mix of in-person, online and hybrid events.
Term 2
Coordinator: Tineke Brunfaut
| Date | Time | Location | Presenter | Topic |
| 15 January | 14:00-15:30 | online | Rebecca Yeager (University of Illinois) | Investigating the cognitive validity of response formats in listening assessment: A review of data sources and methodologies |
| 29 January | 12:30-14:00 | online | Ellie Pham, Ozlem Terzioglu | Good-quality multi-text reading-into-writing tasks: From source-text item writing to test-taker task completion (Ellie)
Item writers’ Engagement with Traditional Guidance and AI-driven Tools: Perceptions, Practices and Performance in Producing Items for EFL Assessment (Ozlem) |
| 12 February | 14:00-15:30 | online | MA in Language Testing | An investigation of the validity of automated scoring in a high-stakes speaking test (Lisa Wang)
Aptis washback in a lower-stakes assessment context in Georgia: A perception study (Rusudan Bakhtadze) To what extent do global accents make high-stakes listening tests more difficult and what do test-takers think about their use (Petra Smelak) AI, anxiety and authenticity (Anita Handayani) |
| 26 February | 14:00-15:30 | online | Phillip Horne | The impact of degree of interaction in computer-based spoken language assessment of pragmatics: the discourse perspective |
| 19 March | 14:00-15:30 | online |
Zoe Handley (University of York) |
What can we learn from over 30 years of research on speech technology in language learning, teaching and assessment? |
Term 1
Coordinator: John Pill
| Date | Time | Location | Presenter | Topic |
| 23 October | 14:00-15:30 | In person Bowland North SR17 + online option |
All | Article discussion |
| 30 October | 14:00-15:30 | online | John Pill, Olena Rossi | IELTS for admissions in an era of technology: Investigating the language skills required by undergraduate students at a UK university [work in progress] |
| 6 November | 14:00-15:30 | online | Luke Harding | Imagined interlocutors and “authentic” chatbots: What can corpus linguistics reveal about constructs in computer-mediated speaking assessment? [a dry-run/practice presentation] |
| 13 November | 14:00-15:30 | online | Paul Fernandez (University of Surrey) |
Language in the sky: linguistics and airline safety |
| 4 December | 13:00-14:30 | In person Bowland North SR08 + online option |
1. Heather Gaddis
2. Rizki Anandi |
Introducing PhD studies:
1. Mixed methods research on mediation 2. Assessing L2 Arabic speaking: Developing a rating scale for L2 spoken Arabic performance |
| 11 December | 14:00-15:30 | online | Mary Forbes, Gareth Jones (Coventry University) |
Integrating GenAI into a Pre-Sessional English course – getting ahead or on the edge? |