https://www.iltaonline.com/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1732437 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:31:45 GMT Wed, 29 Mar 2023 01:29:44 GMT Copyright © 2023 International Language Testing Association https://www.iltaonline.com/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1732437 https://www.iltaonline.com/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1732437
Born in Northampton, UK on 25th May 1946 in the aftermath of the Second World War, Liz was always a pacifist and had a reputation for standing up for what she believed in. As a teenager, she ran away from her convent school to join an anti-nuclear ‘ban the bomb’ demonstration in London and she would bring same campaigning spirit to her professional life. She was well known for her strong stand on ethics and care for people was always at the heart of Liz's work. Her research was motivated by what she called the humanistic dimension of writing assessment: the impact and consequences of assessment on test-takers and students, the powerless upon whom assessments are often imposed.

After initial teacher training, Liz worked in adult education, switching her focus to language teaching after encountering many English language learners in her classes. Following spells teaching English for Academic Purposes in Greece, Iran, Malaysia and the USA, she went to Edinburgh in 1982 to pursue a PhD at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Alan Davies. While there, Liz developed and validated empirically derived scales for the British Council's ELTS writing and created rater training materials for staff in British Council centres around the world. Her work demonstrated the benefits of developing analytic, multiple trait rating scales to replace holistic scales and proved influential in changing practice. Her dissertation on ELTS (the precursor to IELTS) was a landmark in the assessment of second language writing and is still widely cited more than 30 years later.

After completing her PhD, Liz moved to the USA to take up the position of Assistant Professor and head of the writing assessment programme at the University of Michigan. There, she worked with Bill Condon to introduce portfolios as a form of assessment at the University of Michigan's English Composition Board. The eventual product of this collaboration was, Assessing the Portfolio (2000), the first book-length treatment of the topic.

After working at the University of Colorado at Denver, Liz moved to Hong Kong in 1996 as Chair Professor and Head of English and Director of the Asian Centre for Language Assessment Research (ACLAR) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Subsequently, she was appointed as Distinguished Professor in Language and Education at the Open University of Hong Kong and Honorary Professor in Education at the University of Hong Kong, while there she co-led a series of government projects which resulted in the introduction of school-based assessment of speaking in all senior classes across the territory. Liz's career also included leadership of assessment research teams at the Language Testing Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, and the Centre for English Language Education at the University of Nottingham. She was a Guest Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where she was the senior consultant to the College English Test (CET) and the Profile of Advanced Competence in English (PACE).

Liz made key contributions to scholarship in the fields of both English for Academic Purposes and writing assessment through her editorship/co-editorship of the Journal of English for Academic Purposes, which she founded in 2002 and edited from 2003 until 2016, and Assessing Writing, which she edited from 2008 to 2017. Believing that broadening the conversation on writing assessment to take in a more international perspective would benefit the whole community, one of Liz's first acts as editor of Assessing Writing was to expand the journal from its American origins. Liz committed much of her energy to nurturing these journals and infused the editorial process with a strong regard for mentoring new authors.

Liz's collaborations with colleagues and graduate students were similarly motivated by a desire to help others flourish. Among the founding members of ILTA, hosting LTRC in Hong Kong in 2002 and serving as President in 2003, Liz made a tremendous contribution to the development of the professional community of language testers. She supported young colleagues and advised on a wide range of practical problems in language test development and implementation. Many of those who responded to the news of her death wrote of how they had benefitted from Liz's warm and insightful advice and support even though they didn't know her personally. With her passing, we have lost a generous spirit and strong advocate for fairness.

With thanks to Bill Condon, David Slomp, Norbert Elliott and colleagues on L-Test-L and the BALEAP Listserv.]]> Wed, 29 Mar 2023 02:29:44 GMT