Keynote Speakers

This talk examines how language policies at international, national and local levels shape assessment practices in educational contexts. Building on the CEFR Companion Volume (Council of Europe, 2020) and Jones and Saville’s systemic approach to learning-oriented assessment (2016), the talk considers how assessment functions within wider ecosystems of language education and how frameworks of reference can support the principled adaptation of policy in local contexts. It relates this argument to recent work on comprehensive learning systems, in which policy aims, curricular goals, classroom practices, teacher development and assessment design are treated as interdependent components that are developed through the active involvement of diverse stakeholders (see Figueras et al., 2022). From this perspective, assessment is not a discrete technical endpoint but a central mechanism through which language policy is interpreted, enacted and evaluated in local contexts. Examples will be used to illustrate this, including Mexican projects such as SEPAinglés and EXAVER.

Language learning and teaching in Mexico is rooted in the discourses and ideologies emerging from colonialism and the current Eurocentric hegemony. These colonial ideological discourses, disseminated through social media and IA platforms, position certain languages over others through the use of language assessment practices. Hence, the purpose of this presentation is to challenge these colonial ideological discourses by interrogating the current assessment practices in Mexico used to discriminate against people. Based on my longitudinal critical-ethnographic-action-research work that I have conducted with language teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico, I present their views and the material consequences they have suffered due to standardized tests and the narrow view about proficiency in Indigenous languages. Specifically, I present the working principles of Asociación Mexicana de Evaluación de Lenguas Indígenas (AMELI) to illustrate the need to engage minoritized peoples in language assessment practices should we want to use assessment to validate rather than discriminate against people.

The abstract for this presentation will be added soon on October 12,2026.