@lang-assess-policy.bsky.social 'Weeks after a Tibetan-speaking five-year-old started preschool, she had “completely stopped speaking Tibetan” ... Nine months later, although the child could still understand Tibetan, she only answered in Mandarin...' www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Can't help but feel slightly annoyed every time I waste 3 seconds of my human life verifying my non-malicious humanity.

"The IELTS partners concluded that the Home Office’s approach to contracting a new English test for immigration does not sufficiently align with our standards on security, quality and integrity in high-stakes assessment." ielts.org/news-and-ins...

Because of the way generative AI works, there is no real way to prevent false information being presented as truth – or to correct it permanently.

I’m hiring an 18-month postdoc to work on physics-informed machine learning for acoustic-articulatory speech inversion at @phoneticslab.bsky.social 🗓️ Deadline: Friday 10 April. 🔗 More info & applications: hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... 📣 Please share with anyone who might be a good fit!

China's new 'ethnic unity' law requires minorities to be taught Mandarin before kindergarten until the end of high school. www.bbc.com/news/article...

This is an interesting discussion by Hilary Smith about the proposal to legislate "official language" status to English in New Zealand. She draws attention to debates about English language test scores, calling for a "proper national language policy". theconversation.com/the-debate-n...

The recently introduced English Language Bill will change little, but highlights a deeper issue. NZ still lacks a coherent framework for language policy.

New Zealand conservatives copying the US move to designate English as an "official language". Totally unnecessary, but suggesting that that status of English might be vulnerable is an effective populist move that rouses fear and linguicism. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

ILTA Guidelines for Practice: "basic information about best practice in language assessment to promote fair, valid and transparent uses of language assessments". Includes standardized tests and learning-oriented assessment practices. www.iltaonline.com/page/ILTAGui...

Concordance studies link scores on one test to scores on another. They provide an empirical basis for score equivalence tables, but they do have limitations🚧, e.g., similarity of test constructs, population used, number of test takers at each score level, length of scales. Image: Mediamodifier

The timeline for the projects discussed in this book roughly maps onto my time with @corpussocialsci.bsky.social and will stand proudly on my bookshelf. Was fun to write, too. www.cambridge.org/core/books/a...

Colourless green vegetative electron microscopy ideas sleep furiously.

Once errors creep into the AI knowledge base, they can be very hard to get out.

Submit your proposal for ALTAANZ 2025: Balancing innovation and tradition in language assessment Online Conference, 11-13 November 2025 Submission deadline: 30 April Submission portal: www.altaanz.org/call-for-pro...

Funded PhD opportunity at Lancaster: 'The sharing of personal lived experience by peer support workers working in mental health services in NHS, social care and third sector organisations.' Open to applicants with a background in Linguistics as well as Psychology www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A great post-doc opportunity in GP education and healthcare communication: jobs.unimelb.edu.au/caw/en/job/9...

A-Irony: AI developer gets upset when other AI developer steals their IP

#LanguageTesting’s Jan 2025 issue is now out. Read what has been happening behind the schemes in my Editorial w/Xun Yan. A highlight of the issue: a tribute to Tim McNamara & reflections on his work by John Pill, @kelliefrost.bsky.social & @susymacqueen.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/toc/ltja/42/1