BAAL TEASIG Online Conference    25th September 2020

The 2020 conference theme was ‘Language assessment literacy in a digital age.’
The importance of language assessment literacy was put forward by Davies in his 2008 seminal article but assessment literacy is still largely under-represented in research output. Yet as we move through the C21st, advances in new technology are reshaping language assessment requirements, possibilities and opportunities.

It is time to consider some important questions such as how educational digitalisation has influenced the construct and nature of language assessment. What do and will teachers, students and stakeholders know and need to know about ‘new’ assessment in a digital age? What would be the best ways to communicate research outcomes and the rationales behind the design of future digital language assessments? Is it possible that test takers may be more assessment literate in a digital future than their teachers? Can the test designers keep up with the digital linguistic skills of the test takers themselves? What might the implications be for the digital assessment literacy of test providers?

Conference programme

Keynote speakers

Professor Denise Whitelock (Open University, UK)

Professor of Technology Enhanced Assessment & Learning

Tools and trends for assessment in a digital age

Dr Benjamin Kremmel (University of Innsbruck, Austria)

Head of the Language Testing Research Group

Tools and trends for assessment in a digital age

Presentations

1) Dr Susan Sheehan (University of Huddersfield, UK)

Online self-access materials: developing LAL materials which respond to teachers’ needs

2) Dr Carla Pastorino (Cambridge Assessment International Education, UK)

Are on-screen tests more engaging than paper-based tests? A systematic literature review

#3minutes - alternative poster presentation and students' work in progress

Maryana Natsiuk and Liudmyla Babii (Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, Ukraine)

Digital tools for peer- and self-assessment of ESL writing (Alternative poster presentation)

Tuyet Nhi Nguyen  (University of Northampton, UK)

 Language assessment literacy in the context of Vietnam (Student work-in-progress)

Helena Wall  (Warwick University, UK)

Using technology to facilitate the assessment of oracy in children (Student work-in-progress)