ALTAANZ Conference 2025 - Featured sessions
Information about the Tim McNamara lecture and the plenary keynote can be found here.
Apart from the two keynote presentations, we also offer a variety of featured sessions.
Roundtables
Assessing oral communication using GenAI
Haeun (Hannah) Kim, Gary Ockey, Inyoung Na, Gi Jung Kim, Rena Gao, Carsten Roever
Pragmatic and interactional competence are integral components of L2 communicative competence, yet they remain difficult to assess systematically (Roever, 2022). Assessment of these competencies requires interactive tasks (e.g., role plays, paired discussions), which provide the necessary context and input to elicit ratable discourse. However, such tasks pose challenges for validity due to interlocutor variability (e.g., personality, proficiency) and the co-constructed nature of interaction, which make it difficult to isolate and score an individual’s performance reliably. With these challenges in mind, the series of talks in this session will begin by proposing directions for using generative AI to assess pragmatic and interactional competence. The opening talk will be followed by three studies examining various applications of generative AI as a standardized interlocutor, feedback provider, and rater in oral communication assessments.
Reconceptualizing the traditional provision of student feedback with AI innovation
Peter Davidson, Dan Zhao, Barry O'Sullivan
This roundtable explores how AI is reshaping EFL academic writing assessment through personalized, corrective feedback. Speakers will examine the benefits and challenges of integrating AI into feedback processes, from prompt design and student engagement to learner trust and large-scale assessment. The session highlights how AI is transforming teacher roles, feedback strategies, and assessment constructs. Practical and ethical concerns will be addressed, with insights from educators and researchers on how to balance AI-driven innovation with meaningful human involvement in language learning.
Airing and sharing: Responses to challenges for English language learner assessment in school policy in Australia, New Zealand, United States and England/UK
Catherine Hudson, Denise Angelo, Julie Luxton, Sue Creagh, Rosalie Grant, Susy Macqueen
This (Roundtable discussion) explores current concerns at the forefront of assessment policy for school-aged English language learners (ELLs) in four English speaking majority countries. A climate of continual educational policy change affects each jurisdiction. However, assessment of and for this cohort plays out differentially according to previous policy/legislative moves along with educational agendas of the day. Each speaker will address current processes and tools for identifying the full ELL cohort and for classifying their level of English L2 proficiency along with sticking points. In addition, speakers will describe systemic accountability measures that follow from ELL assessment, such as data collection, funding allocation and cut off, requisite teaching interventions, performance disaggregations, and student accommodations. Presentations will address research evidence for the usefulness of ELL assessment tools in disaggregating national and local achievement data and guiding policy responses to support successful ELL student learning (e.g. among others Creagh, 2014; Strand & Lindorff, 2020). Through this transnational exchange, we will realise global synergies that can inform interventions in the “discursive web” of policy making (Goldberg, 2006; Elder, 2021).
Featured teacher practitioner sessions *in collaboration with University English Centres Australia (UECA - https://ueca.edu.au/)
Apart from the two keynote presentations, we also offer a variety of featured sessions.
Roundtables
Assessing oral communication using GenAI
Haeun (Hannah) Kim, Gary Ockey, Inyoung Na, Gi Jung Kim, Rena Gao, Carsten Roever
Pragmatic and interactional competence are integral components of L2 communicative competence, yet they remain difficult to assess systematically (Roever, 2022). Assessment of these competencies requires interactive tasks (e.g., role plays, paired discussions), which provide the necessary context and input to elicit ratable discourse. However, such tasks pose challenges for validity due to interlocutor variability (e.g., personality, proficiency) and the co-constructed nature of interaction, which make it difficult to isolate and score an individual’s performance reliably. With these challenges in mind, the series of talks in this session will begin by proposing directions for using generative AI to assess pragmatic and interactional competence. The opening talk will be followed by three studies examining various applications of generative AI as a standardized interlocutor, feedback provider, and rater in oral communication assessments.
Reconceptualizing the traditional provision of student feedback with AI innovation
Peter Davidson, Dan Zhao, Barry O'Sullivan
This roundtable explores how AI is reshaping EFL academic writing assessment through personalized, corrective feedback. Speakers will examine the benefits and challenges of integrating AI into feedback processes, from prompt design and student engagement to learner trust and large-scale assessment. The session highlights how AI is transforming teacher roles, feedback strategies, and assessment constructs. Practical and ethical concerns will be addressed, with insights from educators and researchers on how to balance AI-driven innovation with meaningful human involvement in language learning.
Airing and sharing: Responses to challenges for English language learner assessment in school policy in Australia, New Zealand, United States and England/UK
Catherine Hudson, Denise Angelo, Julie Luxton, Sue Creagh, Rosalie Grant, Susy Macqueen
This (Roundtable discussion) explores current concerns at the forefront of assessment policy for school-aged English language learners (ELLs) in four English speaking majority countries. A climate of continual educational policy change affects each jurisdiction. However, assessment of and for this cohort plays out differentially according to previous policy/legislative moves along with educational agendas of the day. Each speaker will address current processes and tools for identifying the full ELL cohort and for classifying their level of English L2 proficiency along with sticking points. In addition, speakers will describe systemic accountability measures that follow from ELL assessment, such as data collection, funding allocation and cut off, requisite teaching interventions, performance disaggregations, and student accommodations. Presentations will address research evidence for the usefulness of ELL assessment tools in disaggregating national and local achievement data and guiding policy responses to support successful ELL student learning (e.g. among others Creagh, 2014; Strand & Lindorff, 2020). Through this transnational exchange, we will realise global synergies that can inform interventions in the “discursive web” of policy making (Goldberg, 2006; Elder, 2021).
Featured teacher practitioner sessions *in collaboration with University English Centres Australia (UECA - https://ueca.edu.au/)
- Irma Basu & Mohammed Sameer (CET, Sydney): Academic integrity, innovation and university demands: finding the balance in our new integrated assessments
- John Gardiner (CET, Sydney): From Many to One: Balancing Innovation with Established Practice in Curriculum-wide Rubric Design
- Kate Randazzo & Amelia Mercieca (UNSW College): Making meaning visible: Rubrics that capture the full picture’
Penny McKay award winner presentation
The winner of the Penny McKay award, Susanne Stanyer, will present her work entitled 'Teacher Assessment Literacy: The relationship between language awareness and writing assessment behaviour'.
Abstract: This paper describes a mixed method PhD study into the relationship between the language awareness of primary school teachers in Victoria, Australia, and the behaviour of these teachers as they assessed writing produced by young learners of English as an additional language. The key finding of the study is that teacher language awareness is a vital component of teacher assessment literacy.
ALTAANZ student session: Research, careers, and connections
ALTAANZ Student Session: Date & Time
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (AEDT), November 12, 2025
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM (NZDT), November 12, 2025
4:00 AM - 5:00 AM (GMT), November 12, 2025
9:00 PM - 10:00 PM (CST), November 11, 2025
This session is designed to provide a space for students to connect with one another, share their research interests, and explore career pathways. The format will be interactive and student-led, ensuring everyone has the chance to participate and contribute. More information can be found here.
Activities
The session will consist of three parallel Zoom breakout discussions. Students are free to join whichever breakout room best suits their interests or move between them.
- Research Interest Sharing: A space to present your current projects and research areas.
- Professional Career Exploration: Conversations about academic and non-academic career pathways and opportunities.
- General Interests and Connections: An open space to share broader personal interests and build connections beyond research.
Organisation
- Each breakout room will be facilitated by a student representative.
- Representatives will help guide the discussion, ensure everyone has the chance to contribute, and keep time.
- Participants are encouraged to bring questions, ideas, or experiences to share.