Top up your teaching skills - Principles and Pitfalls in Language Assessment

In this webinar, NILE Director Thom Kiddle will discuss key principles in developing and delivering valid and reliable language tests and assessments. We will look at what makes a test valid, and ways of ensuring that we are measuring what we claim to measure. We will also consider the impact of the CEFR and the rise of digital technology on testing practices in the 21st century. Finally, we will look at some of the pitfalls to avoid in item writing and test delivery, giving teachers clear principles to develop their own language assessment literacy.

Thom Kiddle has worked at NILE since 2011, after moving back to the UK from Chile where he was head of academic research and educational technology at the Chilean-British University. He has previously worked in Portugal, the UK, Australia and Thailand in language teaching, teacher training and language assessment. He has a Master’s degree in Language Testing from Lancaster University and the Cambridge Delta, and his role at NILE involves strategic and organisational management, and training and consultancy in a range of areas including testing and assessment, learning technologies, materials development and language teaching methodology. Thom is also treasurer and founding director of AQUEDUTO – the Association for Quality Education and Training Online; webmaster for the Testing, Evaluation and Assessment Special Interest Group of IATEFL; and a member of the Eaquals Board of Trustees.