About this webinar

In any given context, learning systems, be they a classroom, a school, a teacher training institute or a ministry of education, include a multitude of stakeholders. These stakeholders can be within the learning system for example, academic or administrative staff, or they can be commercial or non-commercial stakeholders who work with the learning system. 

The term learning system implies an integrated whole in which all the different parts of the system (teaching, materials, curriculum, assessment, policy etc.) work together towards those educational outcomes. To make this happen the relevant stakeholders in each part and at the different levels of the learning system need the appropriate knowledge, skills and expertise to enable smooth functionality and effective implementation of the system. 

In the session, the presenters will discuss the role of assessment in the learning system, who the key stakeholders are and what it means to professionalise English Language assessment in learning systems in different contexts.

Speakers

Barry O’Sullivan - Head of Assessment Research & Development, British Council

He has worked on numerous test development and validation projects globally and advises ministries and institutions on assessment policy and practice. He has undertaken research across many areas on language testing and assessment and its history and has worked on the development and refinement of the socio-cognitive model of test development and validation since 2000.

Beverly Baker - Associate Professor and Director of Language Assessment at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute, University of Ottawa

Her research focusses on intersections among stakeholders during language test development and validation. She is also a visiting professor at the ISUP-EMATECH (L’Institut Supérieur et universitaire professionnalisé en éducation, management, technologie, et sciences du développement) in Port-Margot, Haiti.

Fumiyo Nakatsuhara - Reader in Language Assessment at the Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA), University of Bedfordshire

Her main research interests lie in the nature of co-constructed interaction in various speaking test formats (e.g. interview, paired and group formats), the impact of test-taker characteristics on test performance, task design, rating scale development, and the relationship between listening and speaking skills.

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