The goal of the joint ILTA/Duolingo Collaboration and Outreach grant is straightforward yet profound: to facilitate conversations between language testing experts and diverse groups, including educators, test takers, and policymakers.
This collaborative approach recognizes that language testing affects a wide array of stakeholders, and insights should not be confined within specialist circles; these grants allow the expertise from the niche field of language testing to be spread to areas where it can make a tangible difference.
Congratulations to the winners!
The committee has awarded three proposals with a grant of $3,000 each:
- Dr. Dusadee Rangseechatchawan: Developing English language proficiency tests for Thai university students: From theories to practices
- Dr. Rama Mathew: Promoting sustainable language assessment practices among middle school teachers in India
- Dr. Angel Arias and Dr. Jamie L. Schissel: Promoting meaningful assessment in the language classroom in the Dominican Republic
We're optimistic that these grants will play a pivotal role in founding enduring local organizations that will, in turn, continue to drive practical language testing initiatives in the future!
Making connections worldwide
We believe in the ripple effect of shared knowledge. The ILTA/Duolingo Workshop Awards were set up to promote global collaboration between language assessors and other stakeholders–teachers, test takers, program administrators, and policy makers. Workshop awards from previous years show the world-wide reach of this program:
- Empowering Francophone African Women Teachers to Use Performance-based Assessment in their English Language Programs;
- Professional Development Series for Language Educators at the Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, México;
- Language assessment literacy in English language contexts, Brazil;
- Promoting language assessment literacy and scenario-based language assessment in Italian;
- Promoting language assessment literacy around setting entry requirements for Australian health programs;
- Extending assessment literacy to non-English language teachers in Russia;
- First Latin American Conference on Language Testing and Assessment;
- Multilingual Language Assessment for Young Learners in the Context of State Primary & Secondary Schools in Greece;
- Promoting Sustainable Language Assessment Literacy Across Generations Via Pre-Set Teacher Training in Ukrainian Universities;
- Language assessment in multilingual contexts and the formal establishment of a Network of Expertise in Language Assessment in South Africa.
In addition to providing workshops and establishing new organizations, other activities covered by the grant include the development of materials, or meetings with stakeholders from beyond the field of language testing (i.e., experts in the specific domains for which assessments are developed).
Uniting for language education
In supporting the ILTA grants, we are joining a global chorus of voices dedicated to improving language education. It's through these collective efforts that we can truly make education universally accessible and deeply connected through shared knowledge and understanding.
Learn more about the ILTA/Duolingo Collaboration and Outreach grant