Sha is a Test Development Researcher with the English Language Research team. Her work centres on the development and validation of AI-mediated learning and assessment platforms, with a particular focus on automated feedback design for second language speaking and writing.

Prior to joining the British Council in 2023, Sha served as a lecturer in tertiary education in China, where she gained extensive experience in teaching and assessing academic writing and in developing and validating in-house tests. Her research interests span automated speaking and writing assessment, feedback provision and engagement, AI literacy in language assessment, and eye-tracking methodologies.

Sha has published in journals including Language Learning & Technology, Assessing Writing, and the CALICO Journal, and co-authored a chapter on automated writing assessment. She serves as Co-Convenor of the EALTA AI Special Interest Group and sits on the editorial boards of Language Assessment Quarterly, Assessing Writing, Research Synthesis in Applied Linguistics, and Artificial Intelligence in Language Education. She is also guest co-editing a forthcoming double issue of Language Assessment Quarterly on AI-mediated L2 speaking assessment. Sha regularly reviews for leading journals in the field and has presented at conferences, where her work has received multiple awards.

  • Computer-assisted language learning and assessment; Automated Writing Evaluation
  • Feedback; feedback engagement; feedback literacy
  • Eye-tracking 

Liu, S. (forthcoming). Reflecting on scoping review methodology with a language testing example. In S.-W. Chong (Ed.), Research synthesis methodologies in applied linguistics. John Benjamins.

Cushing, S.T., & Liu, S. (2024). Automated writing assessment and feedback. In A. J. Kunnan (Ed.), The concise companion to language assessment (pp. 285–302). Wiley.

Yu, G., Liu, S., Clark, T., & Révész, A. (forthcoming). A qualitative analysis of the writing processes and features of IELTS test-takers with reference to their eye-movements. IELTS Research Reports.

Liu, S., & Yu, G. (2022). L2 learners' engagement with automated feedback: An eye-tracking study. Language, Learning and Technology, 26(2), 78–105. https://doi.org/10125/73480

Liu, S., & Kunnan, A. J. (2016). Investigating the application of automated writing evaluation to Chinese undergraduate English majors: A case study of WriteToLearn. CALICO Journal, 33, 71–91.

Aryadoust, V., & Liu, S. (2015). Predicting EFL writing ability from levels of mental representation measured by Coh-Metrix: A structural equation modeling study. Assessing Writing, 24, 35–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2015.03.001

  • PhD, Language Testing, University of Bristol, 2024
  • MA, Language Assessment, Nanyang Technological University, 2015
  • MA, Applied Linguistics, Southwest Jiaotong University, 2008
  • BA, English Education, China West Normal University, 2006
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