Useful Assessment and Evaluation in Language Education

GURT 2016

Georgetown University, Washington, DC

March 11-13, 2016

Theme

Assessment and evaluation offer considerable potential for helping educators understand, deliver, improve, and judge the effectiveness of language teaching, classes, and programs. On the one hand, assessment provides essential insights into the knowledge, abilities, and dispositions of language learners for purposes ranging from admissions and placement decisions to the provision of learning-oriented feedback to the certification of job-related proficiencies. On the other hand, program evaluation provides a framework and methodology for educators and other stakeholders to design educational experiences, illuminate how and how well they are realized, understand factors that affect educational effectiveness, and judge the value and impact of language teaching efforts on individuals and society. The quality of assessment and evaluation processes is determined not only by their technical merit, but increasingly in light of the uses to which they are put and the consequences that ensue for language learners, educators, and others. GURT 2016 focuses on the uses for assessment and evaluation in relation to language learning and teaching, with a primary emphasis on how assessments and evaluations are designed to maximize their usefulness as well as how the uses of assessment and evaluation impact a variety of stakeholders.

Keynote speaker:Michael Kane, Educational Testing Service

Plenary speakers:John McE. Davis (Georgetown University ), Catherine Elder(University of Melbourne),Richard Kiely (Southampton University), Lorena Llosa(New York University)

Call for Papers || Deadline – Thursday, October 15th, 2015

GURT 2016 is seeking proposals for papers, posters, colloquia,or works-in-progressthat address the theme, “Useful assessment and evaluation in language education” and relate to any of the following topics:

  • Language program evaluation at work: Uses, frameworks, methods, examples
  • Learning-oriented assessment: Design and validationfor use in language classrooms
  • Student learning outcomes assessment: Accreditation, accountability, and improvement
  • Assessment consequences: Investigating the impact of assessments on language learners, teachers, schools, communities, and societies
  • Validity evaluation: Determining and improving the quality of assessments in use
  • Social dimensions of language assessment
  • Assessment innovations for testing new constructs and meeting new demands

Generalsubmission guidelines:

  • Proposals should be submitted online at the following website:
  • Deadline for proposal submissions is October 15, 2015.
  • Contact the conference organizers for alternative submission formats:

All submissions should include the following:

  • Author(s) contact information and other details:
  • Full name of principal presenter along with contact information: affiliation, telephone, email. All return correspondence will be to this individual only.
  • Full names, affiliations, and email addresses of co-presenter(s) if any
  • Type of presentation (paper, poster, colloquium, works-in-progress)
  • AV equipment required
  • Presentation/Abstract details
  • Presentation title (15 word limit)
  • Presentation Summary (50 word limit): A brief description to be included inthe conference program
  • Abstract (300 word limit): Extended description ofthe presentation for committee review
  • Abstract should be prepared for blinded review (no reference to the author or the author’s home institution included in the abstract)
  • Presentation formats: Please indicate the type of presentation format being proposed, from the following:
  • Paper: Papers should be formal presentations on a topic related to language assessment or evaluation research or practice,by one or more authors within a 20-minute period, plus5 minutes for discussion.
  • Poster: Posters should be visual displays of assessment or evaluation research, practice, or development efforts by one or more authors, to be displayed for 1 hour and accompanied by presenter (for discussion with poster audience).
  • Colloquia: Colloquia entail thepresentation of multiple prepared papers on a related topic or theme, followed by structured discussion of those papers. Colloquia proposals should be clear about the overall theme/topic, objectives, and participants involved (e.g., the organizer, paper presenters, discussants). One of the main goals of this format is to foster dialogue among attendees, and time should be allocated for audience discussion (2-hour time slots).
  • Works-in-progress: Works-in-progress are short (10-minute) presentations by one or more presenters on assessment or evaluation research or practice, to be delivered in a block with other works-in-progress presentations, followed by breakout discussion sessions.

Review criteria

Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of language assessment and program evaluation expertsfor:

  • Relevance to the GURT 2016 theme and topics
  • Expectation of a novel, interesting contribution to knowledge/practice of assessment or evaluation in language education
  • Clarity and evidence of a well-organized, engaging presentation
  • For colloquia: a clearly indicated schedule of activities, with appropriate amount of time for discussion and audience participation

Notification of acceptance decisions will be made byDecember 01, 2015.

For more information on GURT 2016, please visit the website: