Keynote Speakers

Language learners can vary along a wide range of cognitive, affective, social, educational, and contextual dimensions. Second language acquisition research has long acknowledged the importance of cognitive factors in the effective learning of additional languages but cognitive diversity among learners is rarely considered from the perspective of inclusion and access in our field. The concept of neurodiversity views individual variability along cognitive and neurological dimensions as integral to how people experience and interact with the world around them. Neurodiverse language learners can face several challenges in instructed language learning and assessment contexts, most of which could be alleviated if the barriers to their success were identified and principles of inclusive education were implemented. 

In this presentation, I will give a narrative overview of the series of research projects I have conducted over the past 15 years to enhance neurodiverse students’ access to language learning and to promote inclusive language teaching and assessment practices.  Research findings, derived from interviews, questionnaires, observational studies and the analysis of second language performance, yield insights into the complexities of cognitive and affective challenges neurodiverse students are confronted with. The studies also highlight that policy-level, institutional, curricular, and pedagogical factors and practices can constitute significant barriers for neurodiverse language learners.  The talk will also describe how, based on these findings, I have initiated several teacher education programs on inclusive language teaching, and I will identify the measurable impact of these initiatives on language teachers. I will also summarize the results of our recent research projects in the area of accessible language assessment and the benefits of testing adjustments for test-takers with diverse cognitive abilities. The presentation will conclude with an action plan for future research and implications for inclusive multilingual pedagogies and educational policies. 

Note: Professor Judit Kormos’s keynote presentation will be delivered via Zoom.

For the last decade, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLaN) has been the primary measure used to make judgements about the literacy and numeracy outcomes of Australian students, and more broadly the performance of Australian schools. While NAPLaN may be working for monolingual English speaking students attending mainstream schools, there are concerns about whether Australia’s education system is delivering equitable outcomes for all students, particularly Indigenous students living in remote communities where Standard Australian English is not widely spoken.

Kane’s (2013) interpretation/use argument is used to frame this project’s evaluation of the appropriateness of both interpretations and uses of Year 3 Aboriginal students’ NAPLaN reading test scores. First, I reviewed education reports and interviewed school educators to identify claims based on NAPLaN reading test scores. Then we measured the English language and word recognition (decoding) skills of seventy Aboriginal Year 3 students (age 8) who had completed NAPLaN the same year. Statistical analyses investigated the degree to which students’ English grammar, vocabulary, word recognition skills, school attendance rate and remoteness explained their NAPLaN reading comprehension test scores. These analyses indicate that many Aboriginal students have not yet mastered the foundational English language and literacy skills required to engage with standardised reading comprehension tests. For these students, NAPLaN does not identify which English language and word-reading skills the child needs to develop, suggesting that NAPLaN is not a useful assessment tool of or for their learning. 

In today’s globalized society, interaction plays a pivotal role in teaching, learning, and assessing second languages. This significance arises from learners’ aspirations to enhance communication skills in their second language, opening doors to employment, education, migration, and international experiences. Educators, recognizing these needs, have embraced communication-oriented methodologies like CLT and TBLT. These approaches aim to immerse learners in real-life language contexts beyond the classroom, nurturing the development of communication skills. Researchers across the fields, have delved into understanding learner performance characteristics, drawing on varied theoretical frameworks.

In language assessment, the speaking test format has evolved significantly, from reading aloud tasks and monologues to oral proficiency interviews and pair/group interview formats. As the assessment format has adapted to mirror real-life communicative scenarios, the construct of speaking has undergone substantial changes. Recent trend of speaking assessments increasingly incorporate test-takers’ interactional abilities, referred to as interactional competence, within the speaking construct.

This research trajectory builds on studies focused on the paired/group interaction format of speaking assessment. Numerous investigations in language assessment and classrooms have explored how variables such as task type, learner characteristics, and contextual factors impact the overall quality of interaction. Despite the extensive literature, a relative gap persists in understanding how test-taker backgrounds, particularly those related to their first language (L1), such as communication style rooted in their culture, identity (membership category), learning experience, and the culture of learning, contribute to characterizing interaction and the demonstration of interactional competence in the second language (L2).