Each year, the Duolingo English Test Doctoral Dissertation Awards recognize emerging scholars whose research advances how language is taught, learned, and assessed. The 2025 award winners address real challenges facing learners, educators, and institutions—from fairness and digital innovation to professional communication and multilingual realities.
Together, these projects reflect a shared commitment to evidence-based, accessible, and future-ready language assessment.
Erika Latham
Iowa State University
Development and evaluation of a university-level academic listening assessment
Academic listening is central to student success, yet difficult to assess authentically. Erika Latham’s research develops and evaluates a university-level English listening assessment designed to reflect the real demands students face in academic settings, supporting more accurate instructional decisions and feedback to students.
I-Chun Vera Hsiao
Fairness, validity, and impact of standardized English language assessments
I-Chun Vera Hsiao examines how a standardized English assessment functions within a diverse university test-taker population. Her work focuses on fairness, validity, and score use, providing evidence that supports more equitable and responsible decision-making across educational and professional contexts.
Kelly Kendro
Situating language attrition within bilingualism
Language proficiency changes over time, especially for bilingual speakers. Kelly Kendro’s research situates language attrition within broader bilingual experience, encouraging assessment practices that better reflect how multilingual language use evolves across contexts and exploring whether ‘lost’ language knowledge is really ‘gone.’
Mi-Jin Chung
Assessing novice engineers’ pragmatic and interactional competence
Professional success depends on effective communication, not just technical knowledge. Mi-Jin Chung’s dissertation explores how novice engineers demonstrate pragmatic and interactional competence, informing assessment approaches that align more closely with real workplace communication.
Minkyung Kim
Developing and validating a digital-first paradigm for language assessment
Minkyung Kim develops and validates a digital-first English paraphrasing assessment designed for online environments. Her research provides evidence for how technology-enabled assessments can measure learners’ writing and paraphrasing ability flexibly, while maintaining rigorous standards for quality and validity.
Muhamad Firdaus Mohd Noh
National University of Malaysia (UKM)
Developing cognitive diagnostic assessment for language learning
Understanding why learners struggle is as important as knowing how they perform. Muhamad Firdaus Mohd Noh’s work develops cognitive diagnostic assessments that provide more detailed insights into learners’ strengths and needs, supporting targeted instruction and learning support.
Sanshiroh Ogawa
The University of Maryland, College Park
Exploring the use of AI voices in the TOEFL Junior Standard Test listening section
As AI-generated voices are increasingly considered for use in assessments, Sanshiroh Ogawa’s research evaluates how young test takers respond to listening test items when hearing AI voices instead of human speakers. His findings inform decisions about fairness, accessibility, and test-taker experience in technology-mediated assessments.
Shanshan He
Exploring cognitive engagement in multimodal listening tasks
Shanshan He investigates how language learners' brain activity changes as they cognitively engage with multimodal listening tasks that integrate auditory and visual input. Her research informs assessment designs that better reflect how language is processed in modern, media-rich environments.
Yue Li
Experimental validation of role-play-based interactive speaking tasks
Yue Li’s dissertation validates role-play-based speaking tasks that assess interactive communication. By focusing on dialogue and response, her work contributes evidence for speaking assessments that more closely mirror real-life language use.
Zhuohan Chen
The impact of exposure to Global Englishes accents on listening comprehension
Restricting English listening input to “standard” British or American accents is no longer ecologically valid in a globalised context. Zhuohan Chen examines how exposure to a range of Global Englishes accents affects listening comprehension and pronunciation. This research supports more inclusive assessment practices that reflect the linguistic diversity learners encounter in academic and professional contexts.
Supporting emerging leaders in language assessment
The Duolingo English Test Doctoral Dissertation Awards celebrate research that connects theory with real-world impact. The 2025 award winners highlight how language assessment can evolve to better serve learners in a global, digital, and multilingual world.
We’re proud to support their work and excited to see how their research continues to shape the field.
🏆 Read about past winners of this award: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024