“The University of Melbourne had a strong presence this year”: SOLL Researchers’ Presentations at LTRC 2024 in Innsbruck, Austria
Chenyang Zhang
Eight SOLL researchers attended and presented their research outputs at the Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) annual conference, which was held in Innsbruck, Austria between the 1st and the 5th of July 2024. The LTRC conference presents the most recent research trends in the language testing field and offers a valuable opportunity for researchers globally to meet in person, share ideas and forge future collaborations. The theme of the 45th LTRC is “Reforming language assessment systems – reforming language assessment research”.
Soll researchers had different presentation types at the conference. For research papers, Prof Ute Knoch talked about a sufficiency framework with different dimensions of sufficiency for receptive and productive skills in language tests, and Prof Carsten Roever spoke about which interactional features in monologues can tell us about a speaker’s interactional competence. For Symposia (a symposium focusing on a topic of scholarly interest and comprising multiple presentations), A/Prof Jason Fan advanced our knowledge on applying Open Science in language testing and its challenges and opportunities; Dr Kellie Frost shared her perspectives on language policies and practices for immigration and citizenship; as well as Dr Lu Yu shared her reflections about how dynamic and diagnostic assessment frameworks can contribute to the diagnosis of L2 abilities.
Also, SOLL Talk invites three PhD candidates – Shengkai Yin, Xiaoxiao Kong, and Chenyang Zhang – from the University of Melbourne to share their experiences and reflections after their paper presentation at the 45th LTRC conference.
“I had a wonderful time presenting, learning, and connecting at the LTRC at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.” – Shengkai Yin
I delivered a presentation entitled “Conceptualizing and operationalizing the construct of critical thinking in EAP speaking: The development and validation of a rating scale,” a significant milestone in my PhD project. In this talk, I pursued three specific aims: to conceptualize critical thinking (CT) within English for Academic Purposes (EAP) speaking assessment through a proposed CT framework, to develop a rating scale that encapsulates CT in the EAP speaking context, and to validate this rating scale using an argument-based validation framework. This study offers a nuanced understanding of CT within EAP speaking and suggests how EAP speaking assessments can be expanded to include CT. The proposed CT framework is especially timely given the rise of generative AI, which allows students to generate written prose with prompts, potentially bypassing their critical thinking abilities. This situation underscores the importance of EAP speaking assessments, which remain less susceptible to AI influence.
With hindsight and reflecting on the conference, it has undoubtedly left an indelible mark on my academic journey. Through the process of writing the proposal and preparing for the presentation, I received tremendous support from my supervisors, Yan, Jason, and Ute. I also had enriching discussions on the theoretical underpinnings of the CT assessment framework with Susy. Those small casual talks with Kellie, Mingwei, Xun, Liying, Jing, Gad Lim, and Jessica were always inspiring and encouraging. The feedback from the audience was invaluable, and the conference was brimming with great sessions, thought-provoking plenaries and ideas. Through LTMP, I engaged in intellectually stimulating conversations with my mentors Lyle and Talia.
Reuniting with old friends and making new ones was a highlight of the conference. I cherished the rooftop bar view with Carsten, Kevin, Lu, and David, and shared those intimate stories with colleagues Niles, Xiaoxiao, Chenyang, Yaqian, Yuanyue, Shishi, Andy and Coral. These moments created unforgettable memories and enriched my experience at the LTRC!
“I enjoyed the intellectually stimulating conversations with people from the audience after my talk, as well as with many renowned researchers from across the world” – Xiaoxiao Kong
My presentation at the LTRC2024 was of some initial findings from my PhD project in relation to the language and communication tasks of teachers working within early childhood, primary, and secondary education settings in Australia, as well as the implications for using the IELTS Academic for teacher registration in the Australian context. These findings were arrived at through a combination of literature review, document analysis, and focus groups. I discussed that while teachers working within the three settings shared many language and communication demands, some interesting differences could be seen, especially when comparing early childhood and school teaching. These differences, in turn, explained the differences in teachers’ perceptions of the relevance of the IELTS Academic test tasks to their workplace language demands. For instance, Part 2 of IELTS Speaking, delivering a monologue, was perceived as more relevant to the workplace by primary and secondary school teachers compared to early childhood teachers, as “doing a blurb” at the start of a lesson was more common in classroom teaching as opposed to interactions with children in the early childhood context. In addition, teachers commented on the lack of workplace relevance of some IELTS Academic test tasks from aspects such as the intended audience and language skills and subskills assessed. Such findings questioned the appropriacy of using the IELTS Academic for teacher registration purposes across the three education settings in Australia.
It was such a great experience attending the LTRC this year, as I had so many opportunities to connect and reconnect with graduate students and academics in language testing from across the world. I enjoyed the intellectually stimulating conversations with people from the audience after my talk, as well as with many renowned researchers from across the world, who not only allowed me to look at my project in a new light, but also offered valuable advice on work and life in general. I was also very lucky to have stayed at the same hotel as many other students and academics, and it was a real treat meeting with and talking to different people over breakfast, and then walking through the historic main street of Innsbruck to the conference venue together. The University of Melbourne had a strong presence this year, and I am grateful for the help and guidance from my supervisors and later-year students throughout the conference. I look forward to presenting more of my findings and meeting everyone again at future conferences.
“The presentation went well; thanks for all dry-run sessions provided before the conference” – Chenyang Zhang
My paper presentation in LTRC 2024 is based on the findings part of my PhD project. Now I would like to use this chance to introduce my research for this presentation. First, I would like you to know my research context. Following the promulgation of the Belt & Road initiative in 2013, increasing attention has been devoted to supporting foreign languages other than English (LOTE) education in China. Amid this trend, the national assessment policy encourages senior secondary students to select a LOTE subject instead of English in the National College Entrance Examination. This policy shift, however, has captured scant attention from the language assessment community. Given this, drawing on the dialogical approach to agency, I aimed to develop a test impact model to account for the role of policy actors’ agency in generating the LOTE test impact. In the context of senior secondary education in Shanghai, China, I collected data from multiple one-on-one semi-structured interviews with Shanghai Municipal Educational Examinations Authority officers, school administrators and LOTE teachers. Through using the constructivist grounded theory, my findings showed that policy actors’ agency played a key role in generating test impact in the three interrelated themes – the educational and political context, the discursive responses, and concrete actions. This test impact model contributes to language testing theories since the current theorisation of test impact does not pay sufficient attention to the agency of policy actors at multiple levels.
This was my first time participating in an academic conference in person. When I found out that I could attend LTRC 2024, I was thrilled and filled with excitement, imagining what the conference experience would be like. In preparation, I am deeply grateful to Professor Ute for organizing a practice session for all presenters from the University of Melbourne. Through this session, I received invaluable feedback, particularly from my supervisors, Associate Professor Jason Fan and Dr. Kellie Frost, Dr. Lu Yu, and Dr. Susy Macqueen. Additionally, the Peer Review Group of LTRC (Graduate Student Assembly) gave me with another opportunity to run a dry session alongside other PhD students who were also presenting at the conference, which greatly boosted my confidence. All this preparation allowed me to present my work smoothly. I also thoroughly enjoyed the coffee breaks during the conference, where attendees could grab a drink, take a short walk, and discuss their research projects and future plans. Another memorable highlight was the closing dinner; everyone enjoyed the meal with music, laughter, and relaxation, as the photo shared by Shengkai above. These cherished moments have energized me to dive deeper into my research and prepare for presenting more of my findings at the 46th LTRC conference.