We are pleased to announce that the 27th Midwest Association of Language Testers Conference (MwALT 2026) will be hosted at the University of Iowa on October 10, 2026 (Saturday) in Iowa City, Iowa. Join us as we welcome MwALT back to Iowa City for the fifth time this October! The conference website with information on proposal submissions, registration, hotel accommodations, and more is here:
https://education.uiowa.edu/27th-midwest-association-language-testers-conference
This year’s MwALT conference is themed Language Assessment Through Multiple Lenses: Uses, Innovations, and Impacts, highlighting three interrelated dimensions of our field:
- Uses: the practical applications of language assessments in educational, professional, and social contexts.
- Innovations: emerging methodologies, technologies, and tools shaping language assessment.
- Impacts: the broad effects of language assessments on learners, educators, institutions, and society.
2026 Plenary Speakers
- Dr. Jamie L. Schissel, Professor of TESOL, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- Humanizing Approaches for Language Assessment in the Age of GenAI: Peoples and Possibilities
- Dr. Ping-Lin Chuang, Language Measurement Scientist, Duolingo
- Technology as a Mediator of Language Assessment: From Construct Representation to Test-Taker Experience
Past Conferences
If you have information on a previous MwALT conference that does not appear on this page, please email Paula Winke (winke@msu.edu) with the information so she and the MwALT members with access through Humanities (Knowledge) Commons can post the information on this site. Thank you!
| Year | Host | Links |
|---|---|---|
| MwALT 2026 | University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. More information about the Fall 2026 MwALT conference is forthcoming. | |
| MwALT 2025 | Big Ten Conference Center, Rosemont Illinois (hosted by Michigan State University). Theme: Language Testing Principles and Practices in an Age of Rapid Innovations. | Conference Call, Conference Schedule in PDF form with pre-conference workshop information and plenary speaker Slobodanka Dimova’s abstract |
| MwALT 2024 | Duolingo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Theme: Bridging competing priorities in language assessment: Connecting validity, reliability, and practicality. | Conference Call, Conference website archive with info on pre-conference workshops, plenary speakers Eunice Eunhee Jang & Xun Yan, schedule, etc., Conference Schedule in print form, Photo Gallery |
| MwALT 2023 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL. Theme: Language Assessment in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts. | Conference Call, Conference Schedule, Plenary speakers, Business Meeting Agenda, Pre-Conference Workshops |
| MwALT 2022 | University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, held in conjunction with ECOLT and LARC in 2022. Theme: The Role of Assessment in Transforming Second Language Pedagogy. | Conference Call, Conference Schedule, Plenary Speakers Alison L. Bailey, Catherine C. Baumann, Lia Plakans |
| MwALT 2021 | Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, held in conjunction with the 18th annual Technology for Second Language Learning (TSLL) conference. Theme: The evolving role of technology for second language assessment. | Conference Call, Conference Schedule, Plenary Speaker Elvis Wagner info. |
| — | The 2020 conference was postponed due to the COVID-19 world pandemic. We missed you all so much! | |
| MwALT 2019 | Indiana University, Bloomington, Bloomington, IN. Conf. Theme: Building Pathways Between Language and Assessment | Conference Call, Conference Program, Plenary Speaker Okim Kang, Business Meeting Agenda |
| MwALT 2018 | WIDA Consortium, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, WI. Conf. Theme: Ready, steady, grow! Measuring language development from pre-K through college and beyond | Conference Call, Conference Program, Business Meeting Agenda |
| MwALT 2017 | Wright State University, TESOL/Applied Linguistics Programs, Dayton, OH. Conf. Theme: Language Assessment and its Sociopolitical Context | Conference Call, Conference Program |
| MwALT 2016 | Purdue University, Department of English, Linguistics, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, West Lafayette, IN | Conference Program |
| MwALT 2015 | English Department at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA | Conference Program, Meeting Minutes |
| MwALT 2014 | Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments (CaMLA) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI | Meeting Minutes |
| MwALT 2013 | Michigan State University and the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program, the MATESOL Program, and the College of Arts and Letters, East Lansing, MI | Meeting Minutes |
| MwALT 2012 | University of Illinois, Urbana Campaign, Urbana, IL | Conference Program, Meeting Minutes |
| MwALT 2011 | Iowa State University, Ames, IA | Conference Program |
| MwALT 2010 | Wright State University, Dayton, OH | |
| MwALT 2009 | Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN | |
| MwALT 2008 | University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | Meeting Minutes |
| MwALT 2007 | University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI | Conference Schedule, Meeting Minutes |
| MwALT 2006 | University of Illinois, Urbana Campaign, Urbana, IL | Conference Program, Meeting Minutes |
| MwALT 2005 | Iowa State University, Ames, IA | General information, Meeting Minutes |
| MwALT 2004 | Wright State University, Dayton, OH | |
| MwALT 2003 | Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN | |
| MwALT 2001 | English Language Institute, University of Michigan, and the Department of English Language & Literature, Central Michigan University, conf. held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI | Conf. info. from Mary Spaan |
| MwALT 2000 | University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | |
| MwALT 1999 | Inaugural MwALT Conference, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA | Conference Program |