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Aptis is based on what has become the most influential test validation theory in modern assessment – the socio-cognitive framework. This theory focusses on how three elements (the test taker, the test system and the scoring system) combine to give a measure of a candidate’s performance which relates meaningfully to their ability in English. You can read more about the development of Aptis by clicking on the documents at the bottom of the page. If you’re involved or work in research into assessment, then the British Council Assessment Research Awards and Grants might interest you. These awards recognise achievement and innovation within the field of language assessment and form part of the British Council’s extensive support of research activities across the world. Find out more below.

Assessment Research Awards

These awards (of up to £2,500) are designed to assist research students in their studies or dissemination activities. The award winners this year are:

Stéphanie Gaillard (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)

Ruslan Suvorov (Iowa State University, USA)

Tami Aviad (University of Haifa, Israel)

Download - Assessment Research Awards Application Form (Word Document 131kb)

Download - Assessment Research Awards Application Guidelines (Word Document 133kb)

Assessment Research Grants

Designed to support projects which are directly focused on Aptis or which are more exploratory in nature. Maximum award is normally £17,500. This year, the grants were made to:

Dr Tineke Brunfaut & Gareth McCray (Lancaster University, UK) for their project, which explores cognitive processing whilst reading

Prof Charlotte Mbali & Julie Douglas (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) for their project, which examines the use of APTIS with initial teacher training students

Dr John Field (University of Bedfordshire) for his exploration of the impact of single and double play on candidate behaviour in tests of L2 listening

Prof Steve Walsh & Prof Paul Seedhouse (Newcastle University) for their corpus-based study of interactive competence

Download - Assessment Research Awards Application Form (Word Document 131kb)

Download - Assessment Research Awards Application Guidelines (Word Document 133kb)

Innovation in Assessment Prize

The prize celebrates innovation in the area of language testing and assessment. This year’s prize goes to:

Carol Spöttl (Project Leader), Kathrin Eberharter & Doris Frötscher (Marker support coordinators) for their contribution to the SRP (Standardisierte Reifeprüfung) Project at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. The successful team developed real-time marker support for national high-stakes school-leaving examinations.

Download - Innovation in Assessment Prize Nomination Form (Word Document 149kb)

Download - Innovation in Assessment Prize Nomination Guidelines (Word Document 152kb)

International Assessment Award

Recognizes an individual working for the promotion of excellence in language assessment internationally. This year’s award is presented to Dr Christine Coombe of Dubai Mean’s College, UAE.

Dr Coombe has published widely on language testing and presented at over 80 international conferences. She is the driving force behind the growth of language testing interest in the Gulf and in many developing countries. She has been a co-organiser of the Current Trends in English Language Testing (CTELT Conference) and her charitable outreach work in the form workshops that have been conducted in every Emirate of the UAE and in 29 developing countries worldwide. She was president of TESOL from 2010 to 2013.

Download - International Assessment Award Nomination Form (Word Document 200kb)

Download - Innovation in Assessment Award Nomination Guidelines (Word Document 206kb)