ALTAANZ Online Research Forum 2021
The Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand (ALTAANZ) Online Research Forum was held from 2 to 3 December 2021 with the theme of “Current Issues in Language Testing and Assessment.” Several academics and students from the School of Languages and Linguistics (SOLL) participated in the research forum.
On the first day of the forum, our very own production team leader Yan (Niles) Zhao presented a paper entitled “‘We prioritise her study over our work’: Understanding parents’ role in mediating test impact”, which investigated how they perceive a high-stakes test, how they are impacted by the test and how they mediate the test impact on their children.
On the second day of the conference, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held. At this meeting, Associate Professor Ute Knoch, Director of the Language Testing Research Centre (LTRC) was re-elected as Vice President of the ALTAANZ and Ms. Leila Zohali, SOLL PhD student, was re-elected as Student Representative from Australia. Leila later shared her experience of co-organising and participating in the forum.
ALTAANZ Online Research Forum 2021 was the outcome of the organising committee members’ efforts and diligence. The initial planning for the forum commenced in late August with regular fortnightly meetings of the committee members. The programme featured research-based studies, conceptual papers, and presentations on assessment practice. There were also some opportunities for social interaction and networking. One of the highlights of the event was the student gathering session organized by ALTAANZ student representatives from Australia and New Zealand.
Following the AGM, Dr. Jason Fan, Deputy Director of the LTRC and co-editor of the Papers in Language Testing and Assessment (formerly known as Melbourne Papers in Language Testing), reported on the progress of the journal and offered advice on how to get papers published in academic journals together with Emeritus Professor John Read, The University of Auckland. Towards the end of the second day, Dr. Ivy Chen, Research Fellow at the LRTC, and Associate Professor Ute Knoch shared their findings from a recent project at the LTRC, Program evaluation of university language placement tests: Examining impact of placement for French and Chinese. The study is based on the placement tests developed by the LTRC for corresponding language subjects.
Reflecting on the two-day forum, Leila remarked, “It was with great pleasure and honour that SOLL was very well represented by our academic staff and PhD students. We look forward to future involvement of SOLL students with ALTAANZ.” Participation in the ALTAANZ Research Forum represents SOLL academics and students’ long-standing active involvement in and contribution to the field of language testing and assessment.