For information on professional development events, see our professional development page.
Upcoming Conferences
EAST COAST ORGANIZATION OF LANGUAGE TESTERS (ECOLT) CONFERENCE 2023
Working with team members at the Center for Applied Linguistics, the AELRC will host the twenty-first East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) Conference, scheduled for October 27, 2023 at Georgetown University. This year’s twentieth annual ECOLT conference took place at the University of Chicago in conjunction with the Language Assessment Research Conference (LARC) and the Midwest Association of Language Testers (MwALT) conference. The upcoming event will be the first in-person ECOLT conference hosted at Georgetown since 2019. The committee welcomes and encourages proposals from colleagues in academia as well as colleagues working in education, government, and for- and not-for-profit organizations. An official call for papers will be sent out in late February or early March. For more information and updates, please refer to the ECOLT website.
ECOLT represents an East Coast group of professionals, scholars, and students who are involved in language testing projects and research. One of the organization’s goals is to support connections between academia, K-12 education, government, and for-profit and not-for-profit testing organizations. In addition to providing a forum for continued learning and networking, ECOLT strongly supports the work of graduate students.
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE ON THE TEACHING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES (NCTFL) 2023
Members of our team are eager to represent the AELRC at NCTFL, a conference that aims to support educators in the teaching of world languages. By gathering together educators from the Northeast, the conference creates a space for innovation and collaboration. This year’s NCTFL will take place on March 2-4 in New York City. The theme of the 69th annual conference is “Reimagining the World Language ‘Classroom’: The Future Starts Today.”
2022
ACTFL ANNUAL CONVENTION AND WORLD LANGUAGE EXPO 2022
Date: November 18-20, 2022
Location: Boston, MA
Keynote Speakers: José Andrés (ThinkFoodGroup), Dr. Keisha Blain (Brown University), Wajahat Ali (Writer)
ACTFL Website
Director Meg Montee represented the AELRC at this year’s ACTFL Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. Designated “the world’s premier event for language educators,” ACTFL is an opportunity for individuals involved in all aspects of language education to gather- whether in industry, academia, or secondary language teaching. The event allowed the AELRC to share our current work and to connect with other Language Resource Centers from across the country.
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE (LARC) 2022
Date: September 15-17, 2022
Location: University of Chicago
LARC Website
From September 15-17, 2022, the AELRC and ECOLT partnered with the Midwest Association of LanguageTesters (MwALT) to support the Language AssessmentResearch Conference (LARC) at the University of Chicago. Meg Montee and Meg Malone presented poster sessions about C-test development and the AELRC’s work with K-12 language program evaluation. Jamie Morgan and Francesca Di Silvio from CAL presented work on developing an online assessment training tool for postsecondary educators.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS (AAAL) CONFERENCE 2022
Date: March 19-22, 2022
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
AAAL Website
The 2022 American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) annual conference was held in Pittsburgh, PA from March 19-22, 2022. This was AAAL’s first in-person conference since 2019 after holding virtual conferences in 2020 and 2021. Meg Montee and Jamie Morgan from CAL presented a poster presentation about dual language pre-service teacher education programs and discussed the availability of these programs nationally and the need to build dual language teacher capacity for K-12 world language education.
2021
ACTFL 2021 Virtual Convention
Date: November 19-21, 2021
Location: Virtual
Keynote Speakers: Omékongo Dibinga (American University), Marcia Tate, (DeKalb County School System), & Shiza Shahid (Malala Fund)
AELRC at ACTFL: ACTFL is an annual conference where language educators from around the country can connect around the current topics related to language education across all levels and ages. The 2021 ACTFL Convention was held virtually and members of AELRC along with our partners at ACTFL and CAL attended the conference and presented on world language research and assessment projects, connected online with world language educators, and shared about the work of the AELRC at a virtual booth.
EAST COAST ORGANIZATION OF LANGUAGE TESTERS (ECOLT) CONFERENCE 2021
Date: October 22 and 23, 2021
Location: Virtual
Plenary Speakers: Spiros Papageorgiou, ETS
About ECOLT: The East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) represents an East Coast group of professionals, scholars, and students who are involved in language testing projects and research. One of the organization’s goals is to support connections between academia, K-12 education, government, and for-profit and not-for-profit testing organizations. In addition to providing a forum for continued learning and networking, ECOLT strongly supports the work of graduate students
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ROUND TABLE (GURT) 2021
Date: March 4-5, 2021
Location: Virtual
Plenary Speakers: Chun Lai, University of Hong Kong | Pia Sundqvist, University of Oslo and Karlstad University | Bryan Smith, Arizona State University
The Georgetown University Round Table (GURT) is a peer-reviewed conference that welcomes contributions from scholars from all around the world. This year’s theme was very timely, and the theme was on providing multiple perspectives on online language learning and teaching during the current COVID-era and beyond.
2020
EAST COAST ORGANIZATION OF LANGUAGE TESTERS (ECOLT) CONFERENCE 2020
Date: October 29-31, 2020
Location: Virtual conference
Plenary speaker: Elvis Wagner
ECOLT website
The East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) represents an East Coast group of professionals, scholars, and students who are involved in language testing projects and research. One of the organization’s goals is to support connections between academia, K-12 education, government, and for-profit and not-for-profit testing organizations. In addition to providing a forum for continued learning and networking, ECOLT strongly supports the work of graduate students. The nineteenth annual conference was held from October 29-31, 2020, and was hosted virtually on Whova, a virtual conference platform.
2019
GEORGETOWN LINGUISTICS SPEAKER SERIES TALK
Date: December 6, 2019
Location: Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Speaker Series Website
Our director Meg Malone and the team give a talk outlining our history and approach to language assessment and evaluation, and how these principles are shown in our current research and outreach projects.
ACTFL 2019 ANNUAL CONVENTION AND WORLD LANGUAGES EXPO
Date: November 22-24, 2019
Location: Washington, D.C.
View the full conference program.
The ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo is where language educators from around the world come to meet! More than 8,000 educators from all languages and levels attend this event. The AELRC’s goal is to provide comprehensive professional development experiences that will have an impact on language educators at all levels of teaching and in turn help their students to succeed in their language learning process.
In 2019 at the Annual Convention, members of the AELRC presented on various projects, and we also staffed the AELRC table at the Language Resource Center info booth – one of hundreds of booths in the exhibit hall. We presented work on the Foreign Language Assessment Directory; digital assessment via the Intercultural, Pragmatic, and Interactional Competence assessment measure; and web-based methods for developing L2 Chinese proficiency. We were also excited to cosponsor the first annual ConnecTalks, a talk series on connections between language use and society. One of the ConnecTalks speakers was Georgetown’s own Dr. Lourdes Ortega!
THE CONSORTIUM ON USEFUL ASSESSMENT IN LANGUAGE AND HUMANITIES EDUCATION (CUALHE) 2019
Date: September 14, 2019
Location: Washington, D.C.
Plenary speaker: Lia Plakans
CUALHE 2019 website
The Consortium on Useful Assessment in Language and Humanities Education (CUALHE) is an inter-institutional collaborative effort that aims to share and to enhance useful assessment practices developed by college language and humanities programs. It also aims to develop a cadre of scholars who can serve as assessment experts/facilitators. The Consortium fosters a culture of reflective teaching in higher education and supports research into student learning, making useful assessment a regular part of the academic modus operandi.
The goals of the annual meeting and conference are: (a) to provide a forum for those working on outcomes assessment (and related endeavors) to present and exchange ideas, and (b) to enable strategic planning of the Consortium organization and activities.
The 2019 conference took place on September 14 and consisted of presentations and discussions on two assessment-related strands:
- assessment of academic literacy (reading/writing) across the curriculum; and
- standards-based learning outcomes.
CUALHE 2019 was pleased to partner with the East Coast Organization of Language Testers 2019 conference (see below).
EAST COAST ORGANIZATION OF LANGUAGE TESTERS (ECOLT) CONFERENCE 2019
Date: September 13, 2019
Location: Washington, D.C.
Plenary speaker: Lorena Llosa
The East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) represents an East Coast group of professionals, scholars, and students who are involved in language testing projects and research. One of the organization’s goals is to support connections between academia, K-12 education, government, and for-profit and not-for-profit testing organizations. In addition to providing a forum for continued learning and networking, ECOLT strongly supports the work of graduate students. The eighteenth annual conference was held on September 13, 2019, and was hosted at Georgetown University. ECOLT 2019 also included a pre-conference workshop by Troy Cox: “An Introduction to Using jMetrik for Psychometric Analyses”.
ECOLT 2019 was pleased to partner with the Consortium on Useful Assessment in Language and Humanities Education 2019 Conference (see above).
EXTENDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE IN MULTILINGUALS: APPLYING A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL, DYNAMIC MODEL TO DIGITAL AND NON-DIGITAL CONTEXTS
Cohosted with the Initiative for Multilingual Studies
Date: February 21, 2019 (reception followed)
Location: Poulton Hall 230, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Presenter: Dr. Julie Sykes, University of Oregon
The study of multilingual language learning necessitates a global perspective that considers a multiplicity of contextual variables concurrent with frameworks capable of operationalizing various dimensions of human interaction. Adding to this necessity is the continual emergence of digital technologies that have expanded the possibilities for communication in ways never before imagined (Taguchi & Sykes, 2013; Thorne, Sauro, & Smith, 2015). Moreover, the patterns for communicating and interpreting meaning are increasing difficult to define, isolate, and teach; however, they are, simultaneously, more accessible to multilinguals.
This presentation explored an empirically-based framework for addressing the pragmatic learning of multilinguals in global contexts. Utilizing digital and non-digital examples, the presentation used the framework to synthesize instruction and assessment in four critical areas – (1) knowledge, (2) analysis, (3) subjectivity, and (4) awareness. The model places skill development at the forefront of instructional necessity and, in combination with emerging digital tools, offers a means to overcome barriers to instruction and assessment of multilingual pragmatics in world language contexts. Implications for teaching and research were presented.
About the speaker:
Julie Sykes earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She is the Director of CASLS and an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics. Her research focuses on applied linguistics and second language acquisition with an emphasis on technological and pedagogical innovation for interlanguage pragmatic development and intercultural competence.
CAREERS FOR LINGUISTS IN THE FBI
Cohosted with the M.A. in Language and Communication Program
Date: February 13, 2019, 3:30 PM
Location: Poulton Hall 240, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Presenters: Shana Semler, Chief, Language Testing and Assessment Unit, FBI; Rachel Brooks, Language Testing Specialist, FBI
The FBI is hiring! FBI linguists use their linguistic knowledge and skills to support the mission of the FBI. Contract Linguists, Contract Testers, Contract Test Raters–attendees learned about these roles and how they can apply.
2018
ACTFL 2018 ANNUAL CONVENTION AND WORLD LANGUAGES EXPO
Date: November 16-18, 2018
Location: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA
(Pre-Convention Workshops – November 15, 2018) ACTFL 2018 Conference Program | LRC Booth: #1807
The ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo is where language educators from around the world come to meet! This global event brings together more than 8,000 language educators from all languages, levels, and assignments. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive professional development experience that will have an impact on language educators at all levels of teaching and in turn help their students to succeed in their language learning process.
Attendees participated in the world’s most comprehensive language education meeting of the minds featuring more than 800 educational sessions in a variety of formats that focused on innovative programs, emerging trends that impact the language profession, and research-informed practices. While the exhibit hall showcased more than 250 companies exhibiting their latest products and services, it was a learning experience within itself. Here there were exhibitor sponsored workshops, the ACTFL Collab Zone, the Social Media Lounge, a Career Café, the ACTFL Confer-sation Corner, and much more.
THE CONSORTIUM ON USEFUL ASSESSMENT IN LANGUAGE AND HUMANITIES EDUCATION (CUALHE) 2018
Date: October 27-28, 2018
Location: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
CUALHE 2018 Website
The Consortium on Useful Assessment in Language and Humanities Education (CUALHE) is an inter-institutional collaborative effort that aims to share and to enhance useful assessment practices developed by college language and humanities programs and to develop a cadre of scholars who can serve as assessment experts/facilitators. The Consortium fosters a culture of reflective teaching in higher education and supports research into student learning, making useful assessment a regular part of the academic modus operandi.
The goals of the annual meeting and conference are: (a) to provide a forum for those working on outcomes assessment (and related endeavors) to present and exchange ideas, and (b) to enable strategic planning of the Consortium organization and activities.
The 2018 conference spanned two days, October 27-28, and consisted of presentations and discussions on three assessment-related strands:
- working with standardized tests in a useful manner;
- assessing reading/writing across the curriculum; and
- assessment as a tool for articulation between community college and university programs.
Visit the CUALHE 2018 website for more information.
EAST COAST ORGANIZATION OF LANGUAGE TESTERS (ECOLT) CONFERENCE 2018
Date: October 12-13, 2018
Location: Princeton, New Jersey
ECOLT Website
The East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) represents an East Coast group of professionals, scholars, and students who are involved in language testing projects and research. One of the organization’s goals is to support connections between academia, K-12 education, government, and for-profit and not-for-profit testing organizations. In addition to providing a forum for continued learning and networking, ECOLT strongly supports the work of graduate students. The seventeenth annual conference was held on October 12-13, 2018, and was hosted by the Educational Testing Service. The theme was “Traditions of Language Testing Innovation.”
Plenary presentations included:
- Luke Harding, Lancaster University, “Innovation and ethics: Exploring the frontiers of language assessment literacy”
- Keelan Evanini, Educational Testing Service, “Automated spoken language assessment: Validity considerations for the use of innovative technology”
ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA AND LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
A Linguistics Speaker Series Event sponsored by the AELRC
Date: October 9, 2018
Location: Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Presenter: Luke Harding, Lancaster University
English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication represents one of the most significant challenges to language testing and assessment since the advent of the communicative revolution. On one hand, ELF destabilises the place of the native speaker, and the notion of assessing against a “stable variety” (Jenkins & Leung, 2014, p.4). At the same time, however, research emerging from ELF studies suggests opportunities for reconceptualising and expanding language constructs. In this talk I will discuss the challenges and opportunities afforded by an English as a Lingua Franca perspective on language assessment. In the first part of the talk, I will describe the two fundamental challenges ELF presents for language assessment, and connect these with broader debates around the nature of communicative competence. I will then discuss how the language testing and assessment community has addressed the ELF challenge thus far, with examples from both scholarship and testing practice. Third, I will sketch an ELF construct for assessment purposes, and present two cases of small-scale studies which have attempted to operationalise this construct. Finally, I will discuss some new directions for research at the interface of ELF and language assessment.
Watch the full talk:
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE (LARC) 2018
Date: March 21-23, 2018
Location: Iowa State University
LARC Website
Iowa State University hosted the 2018 Language Assessment Research Conference (LARC). This conference took place March 21-23, 2018, in Ames, Iowa. LARC was being held in an effort to fill the growing need for a language assessment conference that is accessible to researchers in North America.
2017
ACTFL 2017 ANNUAL CONVENTION AND WORLD LANGUAGES EXPO
Date: November 17-19, 2017
Location: Music City Center, Nashville, TN
(Pre-Convention Workshops – November 16, 2017)
The ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo is an international event bringing together more than 7,000 language educators from all languages, levels, and assignments. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive professional development experience that will have an impact on language educators at all levels of teaching and in turn help their students to succeed in their language learning process. Educators participate in the world’s most comprehensive language education meeting of the minds featuring more than 800 educational sessions in a variety of formats that focus on innovative programs, emerging trends that impact the language profession, and research-informed practices. While this year’s exhibit hall showcased more than 250 companies exhibiting their latest products and services, it was a learning experience within itself where attendees could find exhibitor sponsored workshops, the ACTFL Collab Zone, the Social Media Lounge, a Career Café, and an ACTFL Confer-sation Corner.
THE CONSORTIUM ON USEFUL ASSESSMENT IN LANGUAGE AND HUMANITIES EDUCATION (CUALHE) 2017
Date: October 28 – 29, 2017
Location: Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
CUALHE 2017 Website
The Consortium on Useful Assessment in Language and Humanities Education (CUALHE) is an inter-institutional collaborative effort that aims to share and to enhance useful assessment practices developed by college language and humanities programs and to develop a cadre of scholars who can serve as assessment experts/facilitators. The aim of the Consortium to foster a culture of reflective teaching in higher education and to support research into student learning, thereby making useful assessment a regular part of the academic modus operandi.
This year’s conference spanned two days and consists of presentations and discussions on three assessment-related strands: (1) assessment of experiential learning outcomes; (2) text-based assessment in language studies programs; and (3) useful assessment of language and humanities education. The conference began with an opening luncheon on Saturday, October 28th, followed by presentations and discussion. The first day concluded with a late-afternoon keynote and dinner. Presentations and discussions continued on Sunday, October 29th. Discussions were facilitated by an invited scholar with expertise in the respective strand. The conference ended with a box lunch and a “strategy session” (optional for participants).
EAST COAST ORGANIZATION OF LANGUAGE TESTERS (ECOLT) CONFERENCE 2017
Date: October 20, 2017
Location: Georgetown University
ECOLT 2010s Website | ECOLT 2017 Conference program
The East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) represents an East Coast group of professionals, scholars, and students who are involved in language testing projects and research. One of the organization’s goals is to support connections between academia, K-12 education, government, and for-profit and not-for-profit testing organizations. In addition to providing a forum for continued learning and networking, ECOLT strongly supports the work of graduate students. This year, the conference was titled “Language Assessment Literacy: Perspectives across Stakeholder Groups.”
Plenary Speaker: Dr. Meg Malone, Georgetown University and AELRC
Plenary Title: “Unpacking language assessment literacy: Differentiating needs of different stakeholder groups”
WORLD LANGUAGES DAY 2017
Date: April 20, 2017
Location: Georgetown University
The Georgetown community was invited to learn about the opportunities that world languages provide. Two panel discussions were available to learn more. The first panel featured student panelists discussing the experience and benefits of studying abroad to learn a new language. The second panel featured panelists from the greater Georgetown community, including current students and alumni with experience working for the Department of Education, the Finnish government, the World Bank, and the Georgetown Linguistics Department.
2016
CONSORTIUM ON USEFUL ASSESSMENT IN LANGUAGE AND HUMANITIES EDUCATION, ANNUAL MEETING AND CONFERENCE 2016
Date: October 7-8, 2016
Location: University of Notre Dame
CUALHE 2016 Website
The Consortium is an inter-institutional collaborative effort that aims to share and to enhance assessment practices developed by college language and humanities programs and to develop a cadre of scholars who can serve as assessment experts/facilitators. We hope to foster a culture of reflective teaching in higher education and to support research into student learning, thereby making useful assessment a regular part of the academic modus operandi.
The goals of the annual meeting and conference are: (a) to provide a forum for those working on outcomes assessment (and related endeavors) to present and exchange ideas, and (b) to enable strategic planning of the Consortium organization and activities.
Keynote speaker: Julie Sykes, University of Oregon
EAST COAST ORGANIZATION OF LANGUAGE TESTERS (ECOLT) CONFERENCE 2016
Date: October 28, 2016
Location: Georgetown University
ECOLT 2016 Website | ECOLT 2016 Conference Program
The East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) represents an East Coast group of professionals, scholars, and students who are involved in language testing projects and research. One of the organization’s goals is to support connections between academia, K-12 education, government, and for-profit and not-for-profit testing organizations. In addition to providing a forum for continued learning and networking, ECOLT strongly supports the work of graduate students.
Keynote speaker: Dr. Xiaoming Xi, Educational Testing Service
Watch the full keynote address:
GURT 2016: Useful Assessment and Evaluation in Language Education
Date: March 11-13, 2016
Location: Georgetown University
GURT 2016 Website | GURT 2016 Conference program | GURT 2016 Photos
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 and users 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 constraints and other factors that affect educational effectiveness, and determine 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. This conference focused 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 Speakers
Michael Kane (Keynote Speaker) | Educational Testing Service
“Making assessments useful in language education or ‘fine words butter no parsnips'”
John McE. Davis | Georgetown University
“Language program evaluation in contemporary language education: Current practices, future directions“
Richard Kiely | University of Southampton
“Developing students’ self-assessment skills: The role of the teacher“
Lorena Llosa | New York University
“The relationship between language proficiency and content knowledge in the assessment of English language learners in schools”
2015
East Coast Organization of Language Testers Conference 2015
Date: October 9, 2015
Location: Georgetown University
ECOLT 2015 Website | ECOLT 2015 Conference program
With the support of the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), Georgetown University, Second Language Testing, Inc. (SLTI), and the Assessment and Evaluation Language Resource Center (AELRC), the East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) held its fourteenth annual conference on Friday, October 9th, 2015, at Georgetown University, Washington DC.
Keynote speaker: Paula Winke, Michigan State University
Watch the full keynote address:
Consortium on Useful Assessment in Language and Humanities Education, Annual Meeting and Conference 2015
Date: October 10-11, 2015 (immediately following ECOLT 2015)
Location: Georgetown University
CUALHE 2015 Website | CUALHE 2015 Conference program
Theme: Outcomes assessment in support of foreign language education
Overview: The Consortium is an inter-institutional collaborative effort that aims to share and to enhance assessment practices developed by college language and humanities programs and to develop a cadre of scholars who can serve as assessment experts/facilitators. We hope to foster a culture of reflective teaching in higher education and to support research into student learning, thereby making useful assessment a regular part of the academic modus operandi. The goals of the annual meeting and conference are: (a) to provide a forum for those working on outcomes assessment (and related endeavors) to present and exchange ideas, and (b) to enable strategic planning of the Consortium organization and activities.
Keynote speaker: Judith Liskin-Gasparro, University of Iowa
Watch the full keynote address: