October 21 Meeting

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=me16ed661609d507fc57af5a535de7a23

Time: 1-2 PM

Agenda

  • Brief introductions and sharing recent activities and talking about research interests
  • Guest speaker: If you have not nominated a guest speaker, you can do so here.
  • Discussing initiatives for the rest of this academic year
  • How to turn the next EALTA webinar by Professor Isaacs on November 3 into a LASO event
  • Your expectations and needs related to LASO
  • Discussing the idea of forming reading groups

Minutes

  • All the attendees introduced themselves and talked about their research areas, current projects, and recent publications and presentations.
  • It was decided that we continue adding to the suggested guest speaker document until Monday, October 24, 11:59 PM. Then, we will have an online preliminary voting for top three choices out of the suggested speakers list. The result of this voting will be discussed in our next meeting on November 4 before the final voting.
  • Several initiatives were suggested:
    • Ananda mentioned a research grant at Michigan Language Assessment that offers $5000. They provide the data, and Ananda will give a talk about what kind of data they have and what kind of projects we can write proposals for.
    • Burak suggested having reading groups. He will send out an email giving more details.
    • Burak suggested holding workshops about NLP.
    • Yasin and Reza suggested holding SDS workshops.
    • Yasin suggested more publicizing regarding the SDS capabilities of ISU, and suggested creating a Google Website about activities that we do. He also suggested opening the SDS workshops to public to add to this publicity.
    • Burak suggested having semester-based goals as "reason for existence" of LASO. Please bring ideas to the next meeting on November 4.
  • Professor Chapelle suggested turning Dr. Isaacs' webinar into a LASO event. However, the webinar will be at 2PM UK time which is 8PM Ames time, and this may not be possible.
  • We did not cover the expectations of the members of LASO due to time constraints, but we will discuss it during our next meeting.

November 4 Meeting

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=mb3439e18168872d78a888ab79af68d42

Time: 1-2 PM

Agenda

  • Discussing the shortlisted suggested guest speakers before final voting
  • Semester-based project ideas
  • Your expectations and needs related to LASO

Minutes

  • Meeting slides: The meeting slides can be reached at https://go.iastate.edu/CB5ECY
  • The majority voted for Luke Harding as this year's guest speaker
  • Reading groups
    • Burak presented reading group survey results
    • The majority chose weekly meetings for one hour
    • Most people will be presenting in these meetings
    • Candidate papers will be added to a Google sheet by everyone interested and top voted papers will be presented. This process will happen twice in each semester.
    • It was commented that none of these procedures is final, and different options will be experimented with until the majority is happy with one.
  • What expectations do members have of LASO?
    • Providing community service such as helping other departments and entities on campus with testing
    • Doing group papers as a main part of the organization, not as a side activity
    • Creating more publicity for the group; advertising what people in the group are doing
    • Connecting the reading group with the publication projects
    • Suggesting projects at the beginning of the semester, and inviting people interested to collaborate
  • Semester-based projects
    • Creating a website for LASO hosted at ISU or a non-ISU hosting service
      • Including personal shots in the website
      • Including member biographies
      • Including personal pages to present a member's work
      • Adding podcasts to the webpage about different topics related to language testing
      • Advertising workshops related to different language testing topics

November 18 Meeting

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m68b03c30932c3d18218d22c7ac2c6baf

Time: 1-2 PM

Agenda

  • Introducing the LASO online presence brochure prepared by Burak and Ananda for feedback
  • Voting on specific topic/work the members want the guest speaker to present about
  • Reading groups progress
  • Spring and summer assessment and applied linguistics conferences
  • Upcoming assessment webinars

Minutes

  • Introducing the LASO online presence brochure prepared by Burak and Ananda for feedback
    • Creating an online platform for current students and alumni to connect - a central location for our organization
    • wearelaso.com 
    • Can interview former students, make blogs, and podcasts, work on papers... 
    • Each member will have their own page - got greenscreen from English Department for taking pictures, have a uniform look 
    • Dr. Hegelheimer and Dr. Gray know about the project
    • Logo update - 
      • Past logo
        • Not allowed to use university colors
        • Current logo is generic; colors don’t mean anything 
        • Doesn’t work well with dark backgrounds
      • New logo - has a ruler as the L
        • Comments - it looks like “ASO,” rule is too “cute” 
      • Get feedback on it and finalize it 
        • Members can send other design ideas 
  • Voting on specific topic/work the members want the guest speaker to present about
    • Want to contact Luke Harding and give tell him some ideas 
      • Editor of Language Testing - broad expertise, where are we going 
      • Go beyond the paper - some want to hear something new, upcoming publication, etc. 
      • LAL, listening assessment, pronunciation assessment
    • As a group, watch Luke Harding’s video and think of topics to ask
  • Reading groups progress
    • Last meeting: share spreadsheet twice a semester - choose topics to present on. 
    • Will send out file over winter break - 
      • put in papers they would want to present on
      • Could also make a list of topics they would like to hear 
      • Make order of interest to present on
  • Spring and summer assessment and applied linguistics conferences
    • Sidenote on internships
    • Shared file with everyone - let’s add onto this list and find conferences to present at as a group 
  • Reza is building an interface - to see how fast raters make a choice on grade
    • Kate - sounds like something computational linguistics is doing 
    • Talking about collaboration etc. 
  • Upcoming assessment webinars

December 9 Meeting

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m55478202c4b3926b9043f97226e023af

Time: 1-2 PM

Agenda

  • Guest speaker topic choice
  • Group research projects
  • ...

Minutes

  • Updates
    • Kate’s colleagues presenting in Poland their research on minimal pairs, Jeanne’s paper based on her WIDA research was accepted for a conference in Spain (ALTE)
    • P-card application submitted
    • Conferences reject works in progress quickly b/c of the lack of results - is this unfair? 
  • LTRC
    • Some were accepted, some were rejected, and one waitlisted for LTRC (January 31st) 
    • People who got feedback were accepted 
    • Carol suggests going to conferences as an onramp for publications
  • Guest speaker topic choice: Luke Harding
    • Yasin: assessment literacy, technology and assessment, NLP, artificial intelligence
    • Ananda: Critical areas in language assessment literacy 
    • Ask him to talk about: the connection between assessment literacy and technology / new directions 
    • Will email him soon
  • Group research projects 
    • Reza - study he proposed seems more viable; see which is more common - raters who rate at the end, raters who give an initial score and go up and down, raters who rate earlier and never change theirs score- and how this effects scores (speaking study)
    • Kate - wants to do a similar thing with writing and the 2018 data. Kate has a parallel project that revolves around writing (versus Reza’s speaking one). She talked to Dr. Hegelheimer about it. One limitation was the data used was rated by one person. Rescoring is needed. Rating constructs like “spelling” - build a model to assign a scale. 
    • New EPT project with Shireen - IRB needs to know there is FERPA approval via the registrar
  • Notes
    • Reza - interface for putting quality EPT data online
    • Burak bought website wearelaso.com - 
      • will send two emails about reading groups and logos

January 23 Meeting (2023)

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m9813340b0a53cf4f648d07bf26c1d771

Time: 1-2 PM

Minutes

  • Updates
    • Luke Harding agreed to be our guest speaker.
    • Burak has completed designing LASO's website and is awaiting content.
    • Burak has purchased a domain name for LASO's website: wearelaso.com
    • A new logo for LASO must be designed to avoid copyright issues related to the used colors in the current logo.
  • ChatGPT and Language Assessment Discussion
    • Jeanne: ChatGPT can create quizzes but they are not of a high quality from an assessment standpoint.
    • Kate: How AI can be used in classroom teaching.
    • ?ebnem: Introduced an article titled "the potential disservice/service of ChaptGPT to testing."
    • Burak: Caution must be exercised before making any value judgements regarding ChatGPT. We need to study this tool as researchers.
    • Jeanne: Poor performance of ChatGPT in tasks related to ESL writing. For instance, it ignores idiosyncratic ESL writing features and can paraphrase a long essay into a much shorter one failing to meet the assignment length requirements.
    • Kate: How can tools like ChatGPT lower the burden of teachers, especially of the writing courses who have to spend long hours grading student work.
    • Jeanne: ChatGPT can be used by students for useful purposes such as finding good APA styling references by asking ChatGPT.
  • Opportunities
    • ETS, Michigan Assessment, and WIDA internships
    • Scholarships such as TIRF doctoral dissertation grant (Reza talked about his experience of receiving this award)
  • Upcoming conferences
    • ECOLT has its CFP out
    • MwALT has not made an announcement yet
  • Dr Ockey's Webinar

February 10 Meeting (2023)

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m0dbf95dc480745832a79995ddac1d0e5

Time: 1-2 PM

Minutes

  • TSLL
    • There will be clusters of topics covered in the conference. Students are encouraged to propose their topics and discuss how they can contribute to the conference organization.

    • The first task to contribute to is creating the call for papers.

    • TSLL will be in October, but there is no exact date. The date will be announced after the football schedule is made public.

    • Interest groups are encouraged to use TSLL to meet with people with similar interests attending the conference.

    • The conference will be in hybrid format. The pronunciation group is thinking of in-person attendance.

  • CALICO

    • CALICO 2023 will be in Minneapolis

    • You can volunteer to work for 10 hours for CALICO and receive free conference admission

 

  • ChatGPT
    • The group has met twice so far and to brainstorm and organize research topics.
    • Preliminary ideas have been discussed
    • Research questions and designs were elicited on February 10 after the LASO meeting
  • Genera Assessment Chat
    • The potential for Bayesian statistics for assessment research was discussed
    • Reza will present his dissertation proposal at the February 24 LASO meeting.

February 10 Meeting (2023)

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m0dbf95dc480745832a79995ddac1d0e5

Time: 1-2 PM

Minutes

  • TSLL
    • There will be clusters of topics covered in the conference. Students are encouraged to propose their topics and discuss how they can contribute to the conference organization.

    • The first task to contribute to is creating the call for papers.

    • TSLL will be in October, but there is no exact date. The date will be announced after the football schedule is made public.

    • Interest groups are encouraged to use TSLL to meet with people with similar interests attending the conference.

    • The conference will be in hybrid format. The pronunciation group is thinking of in-person attendance.

  • CALICO

    • CALICO 2023 will be in Minneapolis

    • You can volunteer to work for 10 hours for CALICO and receive free conference admission

 

  • ChatGPT
    • The group has met twice so far and to brainstorm and organize research topics.
    • Preliminary ideas have been discussed
    • Research questions and designs were elicited on February 10 after the LASO meeting
  • Genera Assessment Chat
    • The potential for Bayesian statistics for assessment research was discussed
    • Reza will present his dissertation proposal at the February 24 LASO meeting.

February 24 Meeting (2023)

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m144dc6e2c84c9206ab5ad3666f6e67f0

Time: 1-2 PM

Minutes

  • Reza Neiriz presented his dissertation proposal and answered questions about his oral prelim exam.

March 10 Meeting (2023)

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m1fdc390d52590e0ff5f54f9bf8762555

Time: 1-2 PM

Minutes

  • TSLL 2023 Call for Paper is out and students are invited to contribute to the conference organization. This will be a hybrid conference.
  • Hannah and Shireen shared their internship experiences. They both did an internship with WIDA.
    • Hannah said that the relevance of your research focus to WIDA's research projects is important. She focused on narrative writing for language assessment, which was relevant to young learners. She also has K-12 experience.

    • Shireen worked on interpretation/use argument, and she worked on a test validation project with a focus on communication with public and stakeholders at WIDA. Her interest and background in validity helped her get the position.

    • Hannah believed that the interview process was nice and not intimidating. She talked about her research interests and presented on one of the four prompts the interview team had given her.

    • Shireen did not focus on young learners, but since the project was related to IUA, she was offered the internship.

    • Both Hannah and Shireen were expected to work 10 AM–4 PM, but they worked beyond those hours.

    • They found the work expectations clear so they could work at their own pace.

    • Shireen worked on two projects: a small leadership project to be completed by a deadline and data analysis.

    • They both had to attend many meetings (approximately six hours a week). This included a variety of meetings such as weekly check-in meetings and networking.

    • During the orientation, both Hannah and Shireen were asked about their research, which they found as a good opportunity to receive feedback from professionals on their research.

    • Jeanne also did an internship with WIDA. Her experience as a K-12 teacher, an ESL coordinator, and an administrator of WIDA's ACCESS test in Missouri made her work closely related to WIDA's research.

March 31 Meeting (2023)

Location: Ross Hall 212

For those who cannot attend in person: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m0f97e7180b92c18596c87960e3a07d62

Time: 1-2 PM

Minutes

  • The attendants were reminded to complete their Ph.D. Annual Review
  • Daniel Coffey could not attend the meeting, so his presentation was postponed to a later date.
  • Professor Chapelle shared the call-for-paper page of the TSLL 2023, and she invited volunteers to help with organizing the conference. The CFP can be accessed from here.
  • Three other upcoming conferences related to language testing were also announced. Below are the links to these conference:
  • Open call for book review from Language Assessment Quarterly was discussed. Some of the titles were selected by the attendants, and some of them are open to more collaborators. Reza has also contacted Dr. Xie about the deadline and the deadline for submission and the titles that are already taken. He will notify the group as soon as he hears back from her. Below are the list of titles and the name of those how have selected the title to review.
    • De Florio, I. (2022). From Assessment to Feedback: Applications in the Second/Foreign Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press. (Jeanne and Widya - open to collaborators)

    • ???Duckor, B., & Holmberg, C. (2023). Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities. Sage.

    • Fox, J., & Artemeva, N. (2022). Reconsidering Context in Language Assessment: Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Social Theories, and Validity. Routledge. (Erika - open to collaboration)

    • ???Haug, T., Mann, W., & Knoch, U. (Eds.). (2021). The Handbook of Language Assessment Across Modalities. Oxford University Press.

    • Heritage, M., & Harrison, C. (2019). The power of assessment for learning: Twenty years of research and practice in UK and US classrooms. Sage

    • Nisbet, I, & Shaw, S. (2020). Is assessment fair? Sage.

    • Sadeghi, K. (Ed.). (2022). Technology-Assisted Language Assessment in Diverse Contexts: Lessons from the Transition to Online Testing during COVID-19. Routledge.

    • ????Xi, X., & Norris, J.M. (Eds.). (2021). Assessing Academic English for Higher Education Admissions. Routledge. (Erika and Widya, Sebnem)

      Send a Resume and a short paragraph about why you are interested in the book and your qualifications.