A Technical Advisory Group, comprised of experts from both language testing and psychometrics, provides feedback, advice and critical assessment.
- Dr Alan Davies
- Professor Dr. John H.A.L. De Jong
- Arthur Hughes
- Miriam Jacob
- Dina Tsagari
Alan Davies (2007 to date)
Professor Dr. Alan Davies has a first-class degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford, a Diploma in General Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from the University of Birmingham, where he developed the English Proficiency Test Battery on behalf of the British Council. In 1964 he was appointed to the University of Edinburgh where he is now Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics. He has taught English and Applied Linguistics in the UK, Kenya, Nepal and Hong Kong and in the 1990s spent five years at the University of Melbourne as Director of its Language Testing Research Center. He has served as President of the British Association of Applied Linguistics, Secretary-General of AILA and President of the International Language Testing Association, which awarded him its first Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. He has also acted as editor of the journals Applied Linguistics and Language Testing. His publications include:
Language Testing Symposium (editor, Oxford University Press, 1968),
Testing and Experimental Methods (joint editor, Oxford University Press, 1977),
Principles of Language Testing (Blackwell, 1990),
Introduction to Applied Linguistics (Edinburgh University Press, 1999, 2nd edition 2007),
The Native Speaker: myth and reality (Multilingual Matters, 2003),
A Handbook of Applied Linguistics (joint editor, Blackwell, 2004),
A Glossary of Applied Linguistics (Edinburgh University Press and Erlbaum, 2005),
Assessing Academic English: testing English proficiency 1950-1989 (Cambridge University Press and Cambridge ESOL, 2008). In 2006 he was awarded a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship for a study entitled
Native Speakers and Native Users.
John H.A.L. De Jong (2006 to date)
Professor Dr. John H.A.L De Jong is Vice President, Test Development at Pearson Language Tests (PLT) and Professor of Language Testing at the Amsterdam VU University. He has more than 30 years experience in language testing. John graduated in General Linguistics, French and English languages from Leiden University and obtained a PhD in Educational Measurement from Twente University. He has published numerous articles and books on language acquisition and assessment and on educational measurement. He has specialized in empirical scaling of language proficiency and promotes the development of internationally standardised reporting scales of language proficiency. He was involved from the start in developing the Common European Framework for Languages. After teaching French for seven years John continued his career at CITO, the Dutch National Institute for Educational Management. In 2000 he set up a company, Language Testing Services (LTS), to provide advice and services in the areas of language curriculum development, language testing and assessment in general to national and international educational authorities, educational institutions and international business corporations. Among his clients were several national ministries of education, the World Bank, the OECD and the European Union. He joined PLT in September 2006.
Arthur Hughes (2007 to date)
Arthur Hughes taught Applied Linguistics at the University of Reading for 25 years, setting up and directing the Testing and Evaluation Unit. On sabbatical from Reading, he directed English language testing projects at Bosphorus University, Istanbul (1982-4) and in the Ministry of Secondary Education, Morocco (1992-3). He was joint founder-editor of the international journal Language Testing, has published widely in the field of testing and has carried out consultancies in the UK and in several countries overseas. His book, Testing for Language Teachers, now in its second edition, was first published in 1989 and continues to be a bestseller. Now retired, Arthur continues to write and act as a consultant.
Miriam Jacob (2007 to date)
Miriam Jacob moved into teaching English as a Foreign Language in the FE sector after teaching in Primary schools for 20 years in the UK. During this time she taught mainly in schools with a large ESOL intake and became interested and involved in methods of second language acquisition. She became involved in the development of syllabi and curriculum within the EFL section of the University of Westminster not only in General English provision but also that of EAP, particularly English for Tourism and Business English, designing her own courses and materials. More recently she was involved in the mapping of a series of course books to the CEF and the ESOL National Curriculum as well as linking courses within the English Language Section of the University of Westminster to CEF. For many years she has been an examiner for several writing papers for other examinations board.
Dina Tsagari (2007 to date)
Dr. Dina Tsagari holds a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Athens, an RSA dip. (UCLES/RSA Schemes for Teachers), an MA in ELT and a PhD (in language testing) from Lancaster University, UK. She has been involved in EFL teaching and teacher education in private and state school education in Greece since 1990. She is also a tutor at the Hellenic Open University teaching and a visiting lecturer at the University of Cyprus. In addition she is an oral assessor and marker of various international tests in Greece and an accredited assessor of trainers of adult educators for the Greek National Accreditation Center for Continuing Vocational Training. Dr. Tsagari has been involved in a number of projects (in Greece, Cyprus and Hong Kong) in areas such as test washback, teacher assessment practices, language testing of young learners, implementation of alternative methods of assessment and development of language proficiency tests for university graduate students. She has presented in various conferences and published a number of articles in ELT journals in Greece and internationally, has published a book on the complexity of washback (Peter Lang) and has written postgraduate long distance learning materials. She has also been an assistant editor of a new refereed e-journal (Directions in English Language Teaching and Testing). Her research interests include the washback effects of language tests, teacher education, placement testing, alternative methods of assessment, classroom-based assessment, exam-oriented textbook development and evaluation.