Sha is an Emerging Researcher with the Assessment Research Group. Her work involves the development and validation of technology-based learning and assessment platforms, with a special emphasis on automated feedback generation.

Prior to joining the British Council in 2023, Sha served as a lecturer in tertiary education in China. During this period, she acquired extensive experience in teaching and assessing academic writing and in developing and validating in-house tests. Her research interests span automated writing and speaking evaluation, feedback provision, engagement and literacy, and eye-tracking techniques.

Sha has published in journals including Language Learning & Technology, Assessing Writing, and the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO), and co-authored a chapter on automated writing assessment. She regularly reviews articles for leading journals in language testing and serves on the Early Career Research Board of Assessing Writing. Additionally, Sha has presented her research at various conferences, where her work has been recognised with multiple awards.

Areas of expertise

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

Publications

  1. Cushing, S, & Liu, S. (forthcoming). Automated writing assessment. In A. J. Kunnan (Ed.), The Concise Companion to Language Assessment. Wiley.
  2. Yu, G., Liu, S., Clark, T., & R´ev´esz, A. (forthcoming). A qualitative analysis of the writing processes and features of IELTS test-takers with reference to their eye-movements. IELTS Research Reports.
  3. 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
  4. 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.
  5. 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

 

Education

  • 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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