Each year on February 2nd, some people in the US celebrate a little-known holiday called Groundhog Day. As the tradition goes, the future (short-term) weather can be predicted by the behavior of a groundhog called Punxsutawney Phil. On this date in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the groundhog (also called a “woodchuck”) comes
Editor’s note: Portions of the following piece have been adapted from this website section of the British Council. If you are involved or work in language assessment research, the British Council’s Assessment Research Awards and Grants (ARAGs) might interest you. These awards recognize achievement and innovation within the field of
During this time of the pandemic, it can be very difficult to stay positive and keep up our spirits. I’m sure the stay-at-home conditions are truly challenging for families, especially for people trying to raise young children and educate them at home or support their online learning. For those of
We are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2021 TIRF James E. Alatis Prize for Research on Language Planning and Policy in Educational Contexts. Dr. Kate Seltzer, Assistant Professor of Bilingual and ESL Education at Rowan University, has been named as this year’s recipient of TIRF’s Alatis Prize. Her
ETS, a long-time partner of TIRF, has recently published a new volume in its series co-produced with Routledge. Assessing Change in English Second Language Writing Performance, by Khaled Barkaoui and Ali Hadidi, is the fifth volume published in the “Innovations in Language Learning and Assessment at ETS” series. According to text
In late October last year, TIRF issued a call for support of the Foundation, and our donors stepped up to the challenge. When the pandemic first took hold of the world in early 2020, TIRF decided to forgo its midyear appeal and plan ahead for a matching campaign, in which
Editor’s note: The following text has been adapted from the Center for Applied Linguistic’s website. The virtual migration of student learning and interaction from the classroom to the cloud is leaving many behind. Now that we are nearly one year into the pandemic, policymakers have access to the latest studies,
Editor’s note: The following text is being shared with TIRF supporters via Joyce Chin and Ingrid Chao at LTTC. The Language Training and Testing Center (LTTC) in Taipei, Taiwan, is pleased to announce that online submissions for the 2021 LTTC Teaching and Research Grants Joint-Funded Research Program are now being
We are happy to share with our supporters that Dr. Anna Krulatz has been elected to serve as TIRF’s newest Board of Trustees member. Just this month, she was unanimously approved to serve alongside her fellow Board members. Dr. Krulatz is a Professor of English in the Department of Teacher
By now, you’ve likely received several announcements from TIRF’s central office, regarding our year-end appeal. In case you have not, TIRF’s Trustees are matching the public’s gifts – up to $15,000 – made by December 31st. We have had tremendous support of our Trustee matching campaign over the last two
We are pleased to announce the opening of the 2021 TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grants (DDG) competition. The commencement of the current DDG program offering marks the 20th consecutive year the Foundation will make awards to doctoral students around the world. Once again, there are two types of DDGs being offered
It is with great delight that we share with TIRF supporters the following exciting news: Our very own TIRF Trustee Dr. Joyce Kling has been voted as President-Elect of the International TESOL Association! Starting next year, Joyce will officially commence her tenure in TESOL’s presidential line, which is a three-year
Part of TIRF’s mission is to collect, organize, and disseminate information and research on the teaching and learning of language. One way the Foundation addresses this goal is by sharing reference lists on topics of interest to language teachers, researchers, test developers, teacher educators, materials developers, and program administrators. There
Saturday, December 12th was the day of our virtual commencement ceremony at my school – the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS). The graduation speaker this year was my colleague, Thor Sawin. He was being honored as the speaker because the students had selected him for the school’s
