Dr Liying Cheng

Queen's University
Canada

Liying Cheng is an Associate Professor and a Director of the Assessment and Evaluation Group (AEG) at the Faculty of Education, Queen’s University. Her primary research interests are the impact of large-scale testing on instruction, and the relationship between assessment and instruction. Her major publications include articles in Language Testing, Language Assessment Quarterly, Assessment in Education, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, and Studies in Educational Evaluation. Her recent books are Changing Language Teaching through Language Testing (Cambridge University Press, 2005); Washback in Language Testing: Research Contexts and Methods (co-edited with Y. Watanabe with A, Curtis, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004); and Language Testing: Revisited (co-edited with J. Fox et. al., University of Ottawa Press, 2007).

Prof Liz Hamp-Lyons

Liz Hamp-Lyons is an Honorary Professor in the Division of Language and Literature, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, as well as at the Universities of Nottingham, UK and Melbourne, Australia. Her interests include: English language test development and validation; test developer and rater training; ELT teacher professional development, especially in teacher-led assessment and in local and large-scale testing. She is co-author of Study Writing (Cambridge University Press, 2nd Ed. 2006). She is the Editor of Assessing Writing and Co-Editor with Ken Hyland of the Journal of English for Academic Purposes.

Dr Janna Fox

Janna Fox is an Associate Professor in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies (SLALS). She is the recipient of the prestigious 3M Teaching Fellowship (2002), awarded to "individuals who not only excel in the teaching of their own courses, but also demonstrate an exceptionally high degree of leadership and commitment to the improvement of university teaching across disciplines." (STHLE, 2007) She teaches courses in language testing, language curriculum, research methodologies, and the scholarship of teaching, and is appointed as a Faculty Associate to the Educational Development Centre, to mentor faculty and improve the quality of teaching and learning within the university. Her research has focused on issues of validity in language testing, and the impact of language policy and curriculum on learning. She completed her M.A. in Applied Language Studies at Carleton University, and her PhD in Education at McGill University. In 2003 she received the Jacqueline A. Ross Award from the Educational Testing Service (TOEFL), for her doctoral dissertation research. This award recognizes research that "makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge about second or foreign language tests and testing." (ETS, 2007) She was the principal developer of the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment (1989-2002) and directs the Language Assessment and Testing Research Unit within SLALS.

Dr Ari Huhta

Ari Huhta is a researcher in the Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä. He specialises in the assessment of language proficiency. He has participated in the development of several national and international language testing systems, as well as in two international comparative studies of language education and assessment systems. Recently, he was test development coordinator in the DIALANG project which created an Internet-based diagnostic language assessment and feedback system for 14 languages. In this research project, he studies the assessment and feedback practices, contents of the assessments, and the role of school-external language tests and examinations in the teaching/learning/assessment practices on grade 9. In addition, he examines factors that might contribute to learners’ perceptions of themselves as ‘good’ or ‘poor’ language users. He is in charge of analysing the national tests and examinations in the first stage.

Dr Alan Urmston

Alan Urmston is Assistant Professor in the English Language Centre at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and head of the team responsible for the Graduate Students' Language Proficiency Assessment. He was formerly (2001-2005) Subject Officer for the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers of English at the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. He holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Luton and has extensive experience of teaching ESL at both tertiary and secondary levels in Hong Kong.