Language Assessment Fit for the Future

The opening talk to the conference will focus on the overall conference theme, considering how language assessment shapes, and is shaped, by wider society, in order to be fit for the future in this decade. It sets the context for the plenary and featured speakers, as well as the other presentations, workshops and forums taking place during the conference. For language assessment to be fit for the future, it needs to have a clear understanding and ambition of theory, practice and policy in several areas, including those taken as strands within this conference: being fit for the digital age, diversity and inclusion and language assessment, and the implementation of relevant frameworks.

Dr Nick Saville is Director of Thought Leadership, English for Cambridge University Press & Assessment, and is Secretary-General of the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE). His research and policy interests include: English language learning and plurilingualism; Learning Oriented Assessment (LOA) and the integration of learning with assessment (ILA); EdTech combined with EdAI for the automation of language assessment; language assessment literacy; and ethical frameworks in language education. He co-edits the Studies in Language Testing series (CUP).

Back to basics to be fit for the digital age: Reflecting on advancements, opportunities and challenges of technology-enhanced language assessment

Some of the most fundamental questions in language testing and assessment are: What are we testing? How are we testing? Why are we testing? Despite a solid and sophisticated body of research and research-informed language assessment practice, these questions and their answers remain at the heart of everything we do in the field. In this talk, I will discuss and illustrate advancements and opportunities of technology-enhanced language assessment guided by these three basic questions. This includes the role of technology in the changing nature of language use domains, in ways to describe language use domains, and in evaluating domain coverage by language tests and assessments (What?); technological innovations in administrative procedures of test development and rating, item generation and test compilation, test delivery, test security, and automated scoring and feedback generation (How?); and ethical uses of technology for language testing and assessment (Why?). At the same time, I will highlight risks of technology-driven rather than technology-enhanced practices, and discuss requirements for meaningful and justifiable uses of technology to inform critical issues and principles in the field.

Tineke Brunfaut is Professor of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, UK, where she specializes in language testing and second language listening and reading research. Her work explores topics such as cognitive and affective factors in language testing, methodological innovations in language testing, and issues in language test development. Her research has been published in journals such as Language Testing, Language Assessment Quarterly, Assessing Writing, Assessment in Education, and Applied Linguistics. With Paula Winke, she edited The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Language Testing (2021). Tineke is a recipient of the ILTA Best Article Award, the e-Assessment Award for Best Research, and the TOEFL Outstanding Young Scholar Award. At Lancaster, she supervises doctoral research in language testing, and teaches on the Language Testing and TESOL masters programmes. Tineke regularly conducts language test development and consultancy work for professional and educational bodies around the world.

Reframing assessment literacy: putting diversity and inclusion firmly in the picture

Language testing has long been a locus for investigating the social context, consequences and power of testing and assessment. During the 1990s, exploration of language test washback and impact led to growing interest in ‘assessment literacy’, a concept defined broadly as the skills, knowledge and abilities that different test stakeholders (e.g. teachers, curriculum designers, policy-makers) need to carry out their assessment-related roles and responsibilities.

More recently there has been growing awareness that some stakeholders in the world of language testing and assessment may not be adequately acknowledged or represented in our theory and practice. They include stakeholders working with so-called ‘minority’ languages, i.e. languages that are less widely used or spoken in society, or which are taught, learned and tested with relatively small population cohorts. They also include stakeholders involved in assessment accommodations for those who have special needs or requirements due to life circumstances or to a temporary or permanent disability.

This plenary talk considers how the concept of assessment literacy is continuing to evolve so as to take greater account of how specific features of testing context and purpose shape our theory and practice, and particularly the nature of communication between different stakeholder constituencies. We shall explore how assessment literacy can be reframed to give greater prominence to matters of diversity and inclusion as part of our commitment to professional ethics and social justice.

Lynda Taylor is Visiting Professor at the Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA) at the University of Bedfordshire, UK. She holds a PhD and MPhil in Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge and she has worked for over 35 years in the field of language teaching, learning and assessment, particularly with IELTS and the full range of Cambridge Assessment English qualifications. Her research interests include speaking and writing assessment, testing accommodations for language learners with special needs and the development of language assessment literacy. For several years she was Assistant Research Director with Cambridge Assessment English and she has advised on test development and validation projects around the world, including the Baltic States, mainland China, Taiwan and Japan. She has presented invited plenaries, research papers and workshops internationally, published extensively in academic journals and authored or edited many of the volumes in CUP’s Studies in Language Testing (SiLT) series, for which she is also series co-editor. She is an Individual Expert Member for ALTE and is currently President of the UK Association for Language Testing and Assessment (UKALTA) (2020-2022). In 2022 she was awarded Fellowship of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

Aligning language education to the CEFR: Whys, whats and hows

The publication of the CEFR-CV (2020)has resulted in a renewed interest in the principles that underlie the CEFR’s descriptive scheme, from which level labels and descriptors (often referred as the vertical dimension in the CEFR) have tended to divert attention. The contents and recommendations in the CEFR, what they mean, what they imply, how they can be implemented, and why they are key in language education are currently being revisited and theorized, fifty years after John Trim and David Wilkins sketched out the action-oriented approach that became the basis of The Threshold Level’ published in 1980.

This session will address why it is necessary to ‘go back to’ and to ‘go deeper into’ a document which was published 20 years ago and has been widely influential but is seemingly still not fully understood. It will outline the issues raised re. the use(s) and implementation of the CEFR worldwide and in Spain in particular, by professionals working in different fields: curriculum developers, textbook writers and publishers, assessment specialists, teacher trainers or practitioners. The  Handbook for aligning education to the CEFR will be discussed in this context, as it aims at contributing to a fuller understanding of the CEFR, and at facilitating the use of the document, by outlining the processes to follow when aligning curricula, materials and assessments to the CEFR and by providing guidelines to complete them. Published in April 2022, the Handbook is currently being put to use in alignment projects by different stakeholders and it is hoped that their views and experiences can be incorporated in a future edition.

La situación actual de la evaluación certificativa de lenguas en España: una rápida (r)evolución

Esta ponencia proporciona una visión panorámica de la situación actual de la evaluación certificativa de lenguas en España, prestando especial atención al trabajo realizado en los últimos años por universidades, escuelas oficiales de idiomas y el Instituto Cervantes. En ella se analiza cómo estas instituciones han afrontado los actuales desafíos de la certificación de lenguas a través de actividades formativas que han tenido como consecuencia un mayor nivel de alfabetización en la disciplina y la puesta en marcha de proyectos cada vez más ambiciosos. A lo largo de la presentación observaremos la respuesta a retos como la incorporación de la mediación en las pruebas evaluativas, la integración de las tecnologías, el desarrollo de pruebas con fines específicos o el cumplimiento de estándares de validez y calidad. Ejemplos paradigmáticos de las acciones de formación y colaboración tanto a nivel individual como institucional son, entre otros, el Grupo de Interés en la Evaluación de Lenguas en España (GIELE), en el que los miembros han aunado esfuerzos para mejorar sus prácticas y compartir conocimientos, herramientas y estrategias; y el Sistema Internacional de Certificación del Español como Lengua Extranjera (SICELE), asociación l en la que entidades educativas de España colaboran con instituciones de numerosos países hispanohablantes.

Manuela Gil-Toresano Berges Manuela Gil-Toresano es profesora del Instituto Cervantes y formadora de profesores. Actualmente trabaja en la Unidad de Certificación Lingüística del Instituto Cervantes en Madrid donde se dedica principalmente a los exámenes DELE en tareas de elaboración de pruebas, formación de examinadores y apoyo a centros de examen. Manuela es licenciada en Filología Hispánica (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) y posee el máster en Enseñanza de ELE (Universidad Nebrija de Madrid).

Javier Fruns Giménez Javier Fruns es Responsable de la Unidad de Certificación Lingüística del Instituto Cervantes. Ha participado en el diseño y la elaboración de los exámenes DELE y SIELE, así como en la elaboración de los cursos para examinadores. Regularmente imparte cursos sobre evaluación de lenguas en universidades y escuelas oficiales de idiomas. Javier es doctor en Letras por la Universidad de Massachusetts y licenciado en Filología HIspánica. .

The current situation of language testing in Spain: a rapid (r)evolution

This presentation provides a panoramic view of the current situation of language testing in Spain, paying special attention to the work carried out in recent years by universities, official language schools and the Cervantes Institute. It analyzes how these institutions have faced the current challenges of language testing through training activities that have resulted in a higher level of literacy in the discipline and the implementation of increasingly ambitious projects. Throughout the presentation we will look at the response to challenges such as the incorporation of mediation in proficiency tests, the integration of technologies, the development of tests for specific purposes or the compliance with validity and quality standards. Paradigmatic examples of training and collaboration actions both at an individual and institutional level are, among others, the Group of Interest in the Evaluation of Languages in Spain (GIELE), in which members have joined forces to improve their practices and share knowledge , tools and strategies; and the International Certification System for Spanish as a Foreign Language (SICELE), an association in which educational entities from Spain collaborate with institutions from numerous Spanish-speaking countries.

Manuela Gil-Toresano Berges Manuela Gil-Toresano is a Spanish teacher (Instituto Cervantes) and a teacher trainer. She is now working at the Language Certification Unit in the Instituto Cervantes’ headquarters in Madrid where she is mainly involved in the development of the DELE exams and in the examiners’ training courses. Manuela has a degree in Hispanic Philology (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) and a master’s degree in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language (Universidad Nebrija de Madrid).

Javier Fruns Giménez Javier Fruns is Head of the Unit of Language Certification of the Instituto Cervantes. He has participated in the design and preparation of the DELE and SIELE exams, as well as in the preparation of courses for examiners. He regularly teaches courses on language assessment at universities and official language schools. Javier has a Doctor of Letters from the University of Massachusetts and a degree in Hispanic Philology from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. .

An initial exploration of current language policies, national and local tests in Latin America

This presentation will share perspectives from different Latin American contexts: Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Argentina. It will especially focus on the contextualization process that each country has undergone to design, and/ or to adapt global and governmental language policies to the design of localized language tests. The report is based on archival work and informal interviews conducted by LAALTA members in each of these contexts. The presentation aims to start a conversation with fellow academics about language testing in Latin America concerning language abilities in official, native/indigenous, and foreign languages, and also the policies for language testing that have been adopted in specific countries throughout the region. The conversation will also include government policies concerning other stakeholders (i.e citizenship tests and how they are operationalized) and whether or not these policies are linked to specific national or local tests. In relation to tests, it will report on official language tests delivered in the country (including where and how they are delivered, test taker target audience, intended test use, etc.).

Nayibe Rosado Mendinueta is the head of the Spanish Department at Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is currently the president of LAALTA. Her general research interests reside in the intersection of student learning and teacher learning and how language affects the construction of reality in contexts such as classrooms and in other institutions that surround us. Nayibe also studies curriculum and assessment as sites for exploring possibilities that support both student and teacher learning and development. Current research is strongly supported by action research: Academic literacy development and assessment, teacher identity, visible pedagogies to enable learning, and curricular development.

Assessment Design for Language Teaching in Vietnam

Together with the comprehensive reform in education, since 2010, different activities have been implemented to enhance the teaching of foreign languages in Vietnam. In 2014, the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam issued Circular No.1/2014 stipulating the Framework of references for foreign language competences for Vietnam (the CEFR-VN), which was developed based on the CEFR. The CEFR-VN includes 6 levels of from Level 1 to Level 6, corresponding to Level A1 to Level C2 of the CEFR. This presentation will discuss how the CEFR-VN was developed and used in the education system of Vietnam, focusing on its application in English language assessment to form an assessment design for Vietnam. For general education, the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam promotes formative assessment, still highlights the importance of testing, specially proficiency testing across levels from A1 to B1. For tertiary education and life-long learning, standards were formed following the CEFR-VN levels of from Level 1 to Level 5 and assessment activities were designed accordingly. With supports of international assessment and testing experts, assessment activities in English language teaching in Vietnam have made Vietnam a considerable case study for other countries when applying the CEFR in their contexts and provide significant information for scholars as well.

Huu Nguyen was assigned to be the director of the National Foreign Languages Project, Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam in January 2017 and has been in her office since then. She has engaged in a wide range of national projects, professional conferences, education activities and has made contribution to the development of Vietnam’s national foreign languages education. Huu Nguyen delivered lectures and worked for years at Vietnam National University where she gained knowledge base for teaching and research profession. She served as the Deputy Director of Language Testing and Assessment Center of University of Languages and International Studies (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), where she was involved in the development of the Vietnam Standardized Test of English Proficiency (VSTEP), which is now a national test format of Vietnam. Huu Nguyen has been a visiting scholar at the Institute of Education - Massey University. Her research interest includes language test development and validation, test specifications, formative assessment, ESP, CLIL and EMI.