[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 8 | March 23, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]
Following a successful inaugural conference in the spring of 2014, the School of Education at Virginia International University(VIU) will be hosting its second Conference on Language, Learning, and Culture(CLLC) on April 10-11, 2015.
The 2015 theme, Next-Generation Assessment, intends to reframe assessment in terms of its ability to meet the needs and achieve the goals of all stakeholders: empowering students with awareness of their strengths and areas for development; giving educators additional diagnostic information and tools to adapt their instruction; and providing administrators, testing organizations, policy makers, and community members with rigorous data on outcomes that can be used to improve educational programs. The goal is to begin a solutions-oriented dialogue on the next generation of innovations in assessment by acknowledging the interplay among a variety of factors related to language, learning, and culture.
On behalf of the School of Education and the conference organizers (Kevin Martin and Rebecca Sachs), we are eager to launch the Conference and to collaborate on addressing areas in education and assessment which stand to benefit from our proactive efforts, creative reconceptualizations, and highlighting of current best practices and the state of the art. Please take a few moments to explore the Conference site in order to orient yourself to important dates and deadlines and to consider how you may be able to participate and contribute, whether as an attendee, presenter, workshop facilitator, volunteer, sponsor, or in any combination of these roles. We enthusiastically welcome and appreciate your involvement!
We are honored to announce that three prominent experts in the field of language assessment have agreed to give plenary addresses this year:
- Dr. Robert Mislevy, Frederic M. Lord Chair in Measurement and Statistics at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and Professor Emeritus of Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation at the University of Maryland College Park
- Dr. Paula Winke, Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages at Michigan State University, Director of the Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching program, and President of the Midwest Association of Language Testers
- Dr. Margaret Malone, Associate Vice President for World Languages and International Programs at the Center for Applied Linguistics, Co-Director of the National Capital Language Resource Center, and Secretary of the International Language Testing Association
For more information on the main Conference strands listed below, please visit the Call for Papers page:
- Innovations in Assessment
- Ethics, Accountability, and Education Policy
- Effective Assessment Design, Implementation, and Use
The Conference will take place at VIU’s main campus: 4401 Village Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030.
Mark your calendars for April 10-11, 2015, and please make plans to attend!