Wednesday, July 1

Location

9:30-10:00

Workshop registration

PAB, Department of English Programs (4^th floor)

10:00-12:30

Workshop 1: James Purpura

Teachers College, Columbia University

Assessing Grammar

Room 414W at PAB

12:30- 14:00

Lunch Buffet

AUA Cafeteria

14:00-16:30

Workshop 2: Purya Baghai

Islamic Azad University, Mashad Branch

Fundamental Measurement with the Rasch Model

Computer lab 9d at AUA Main Building

16:30-17:00

Tour of Paramaz Avedisian Building (PAB)

Thursday, July 2

9:00-9:30

On-site registration

Alex and Marie Manoogian Hall at PAB, AUA

AUA Cafeteria

Departure from AUA entrance

9:30-10:00

Opening Ceremonies:

AUA Provost Welcoming Address

Conference Chair Report

10:00-10:45

Plenary talk 1: Bernard Spolsky

Bar-Ilan University, Jerusalem, Israel

Modernizing Language Assessment

10:45-11:15

Coffee break (Compliments of Cambridge ESOL)

Session chair 1: Gayane Manukyan

11:15-11:45

Invited Speaker 1: Kourosh Lachini

Qatar University

Evaluation Methods in Research

11:45-12:15

Paper presentation 1: Elham Foroozandeh

Teacher Trainer and Researcher

Evaluation of the MA TEFL Program in Iran

12:15-13:30

Lunch Buffet

Session chair 2: Syuzanna Gasparyan

13:30-14:00

Invited Speaker 2: S. Susan Marandi

Al-Zahra University

Bridging the Gap among Language Testers: Introducing EFL Teachers to Online Assessment

14:00-14:30

Paper presentation 2: Laurial Mehdi

American University of Sharjah

Using Self-Assessment for a Less Stressful Learning Environment 

14:30-15:00

Paper presentation 3: Hajar Khanmohammad 

Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran

Development of a Rubric for Translation Assessment

15:00-15:30

Coffee break (Compliments of Cambridge ESOL)

15:30-16:00

Paper presentation 4: Irena Gyulazyan

American University of ArmeniaThe European Language Portfolio in the Armenian Learning/Teaching Context

16:30-21:00

Afternoon tour to Garni and Geghard

Friday, July 3

Alex and Marie Manoogian Hall at PAB, AUA

9:00-9:30

On-site registration

9:30- 10:45

Plenary talk 2: James E. Purpura

Teachers College, Columbia University

A Learning-Oriented Approach to Assessing Grammar in Classroom Contexts

10:45-11:15

Coffee break (Compliments of Carleton University)

AUA Cafeteria

Session chair 4: Arevik Aboyan

11:15-11:45

Invited speaker 3: Annie Brown

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, United Arab Emirates

Assessing Interactional Competence through Paired Tasks

11:45-12:15

Paper presentation 1: Mohammad Forouzani

Islamic Azad University of Qom

The Need for a New Perspective in the Present Trends of Language Testing

12:15-13:30

Lunch Buffet

Session chair 5: Naira Stepanyan

13:30-14:00

Invited Speaker 4: Zohre Eslami

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture, Texas A&M University

Assessing Second Language Pragmatics

14:00-14:30

Paper presentation 2:  Is'haaq Akbarian

University of Qom

Investigating the Interaction between Vocabulary Breadth, Depth, and Academic Vocabulary for ESP/EAP Learners

14:30-15:00

Paper presentation 3: Sepideh Rahimpour

Islamic Azad University-Quchan Branch

Pattern Types of Rater Bias in an EFL Writing Performance Assessment

15:00-15:30

Coffee break (Compliments of Carleton University)

Session chair 6: Mariam Karapetyan

15:30-16:00

Paper presentation 4: Eva Barta

Foreign Language Examination Center of Budapest Business School, Hungary

Test-takers' Listening Comprehension Sub-skills: A Retrospective Study 

16:00-16:30

Paper presentation 5: Arman Abednia & Mahsa Izadinia

Allameh Tabatabai University

A Critical Appraisal of ILTA Code of Ethics: Morality of Proximity or Hegemonic Ethics?

20:00-24:00

Banquet at "Parvanna" restaurant

Hrazdan gorge, Yerevan

Saturday, July 4

Alex and Marie Manoogian Hall at PAB, AUA

AUA Cafeteria

9:00-9:30

On-site registration

9:30- 10:15

Plenary talk 3: Jared Bernstein

Linguistics Department, Stanford University & Knowledge Technologies, Pearson

Automatic Evaluation of Speaking in Historical Perspective

10:15-10:45

Paper presentation 1: Hamid Ashraf

Islamic Azad University, Torbat H.

Questioning the Content Validity of iBT    TOEFL Speaking Test

10:45-11:15

Coffee break (Compliments of Cambridge ESOL)

Session chair 7: Sona Martirosyan

11:15-11:45

Paper presentation 2: Khalil Motallebzadeh

Islamic Azad University

The Effect of Strategy-Based Instruction on the Improvement of IELTS Speaking Scores

11:45-12:15

Paper presentation 3: Masoomeh Estaji

Allameh Tabataba'i University

Interrelationship between Assessment

and Instruction: Teachers' Beliefs and Practices toward IELTS Writing Task

12:15-13:30

Lunch Buffet

 Session chair 8: Narine Varosyan

13:30- 14:00

Invited Speaker 5: Reza Kiani & Sarah Jalali

Trabiat Modares University

Detecting Differential Item Functioning through Two DIF Procedures: IRT and Logistic Regression

14:00-14:30

Paper presentation 4: Abbas Ali Rezaee & Enayat A. Sha'bani

University of Tehran

Gender Differential Item Functioning Analysis of Dichotomously Scored Items of the University of Tehran English Proficiency Test

14:30-15:00

Paper presentation 5: Mohammad Salehi 

Sharif University of Technology

The Application of Differential Item Functioning and Factor Analysis

15:00-15:30

Coffee break (Compliments of Cambridge ESOL)

15:30-16:00

Paper presentation 6: Hossein Siahpoosh

Ardabil University of Medial Sciences

Test-Taking Strategies of High and Low English Achievers

16:00-16:30

Invited Speaker 6: Antony Kunnan

California Sate University, Los Angeles

The U.S. Naturalization Test: Enabler or Barrier to Civic Nationalism

(If technology permits for a teleconference)

Sunday, July 5

Departure from AUA entrance