In square one, I would like to express my deepest debt of gratitude to all dear students, friends, and colleagues of mine who help me in this journey by being there for me. As an ardent supporter of the cause of education, a dedicated teacher and adaptable researcher, I have always had this plan in mind to create an educational and academic hub, primarily in the form of an educational-informative website, to spot, meet, and work with creative, genuine, resourceful, authentic, inventive, and diligent individuals with avid desire to enhance their knowledge and skills in various branches of applied linguistics particularly teaching, translation, language assessment, and research.
Esmaeil Bagheridoust
September 9, 2024
There are a number intervening reasons to start and run assessment research foundation:
- To aid and support in EFL instructor’s recruitment, employment, edification, motivation, publication, improvement, and retention
- To facilitate and incubate scientific assessment and research collaboration
- To hold assessment research seminars, workshops, conventions, symposiums, courses, journals, and projects
- To secure assessment research resources and provide assessment research support and research grants
- To offer sense of community and promote lifelong learning
- To train and educate young assessment researchers (Statisticians, SPSS experts, Data collection experts, Topic developers, and Data analysts)
- To publish research results and reports in revered journals as well as LARF journal
- To hold research journals and quarterly magazines (LARF) for assessment researchers to publish their works
- To afford organizational flexibility and tractability (both virtual and actual)
- To focus on societal problems and raise funds by LARF as well as Governmental funds and Research grants
Mission
- Designing language tests of multifarious genre (Test banks) for various objectives (Various test battery pools)
- Categorization of linguistic/psychological tests and questionnaires based on (Four Skills and various related subskills, Three Areas of knowledge, Competency levels, gender, background, objectives, etc.)
- Validating tests for customization purposes (both virtual and actual testing objectives)
- Employing appropriate statistical analyses software, LISREL in particular, and accurate item and test analyses formula and procedure
- Designing customized test rubrics and related benchmarks for rating productive skills reliably
- Designing regression (prediction) platform using line of best fit (SLOPE) and regression-prediction technique based on locally designed tests to predict performance on various standard and non-standard tests (This test generator platform (software) would provide less stressful ground for various test applicants to get the maximum from the minimum performance).
- Expanding the testing and assessing spectrum and scope of internationally qualified examinations such as GRE, SAT, PSAT, LSAT, GESE, ISE, etc.
- Establishing a Standard Valid Assessment Center to Validate various tests locally and internationally
- Establishing Language Assessment Research Foundation (LARF) under the Holding of Safir Academy
- Establishing and running LARF journal to put the assessment and testing importance in perspective
Research
Research fosters understanding and awareness, creates new knowledge, changes situations and conditions to better, and helps people embrace changes.
- Connecting researchers (Master’s and Doctoral candidates) with the LARF before/while/after choosing a topic for research project
- Provision of budget for the research projects (the details should be discussed)
- Publishing the research results (How, What, Why) in revered journals by the affiliation of LARF + University
- Practical implementation of the research results and findings by LARF in learning and teaching contexts
LARF Testimonial
LARF will exert a tremendously positive impact on EVERY educated person and elite inside and outside Iran. We spare no efforts to ask questions and challenge our professors, scholars, language instructors, and students in their contacts with us. The assessment research methodology is making its way into every part of our educational settings, in order to provide them with full assessment research support and leadership. We want to shift our focus as research planners away from what was NOT working over the past to what is possible now and future. Together, we prove that we are truly a visionary in moving individuals to higher levels of performance.
Expected Achievements and Accomplishments
There are a number of factors that lead to the success of a research center. First is experience. A successful research center should have enough experience in the fields that it is intended to manage and accomplish. The truth is that newly established research centers can offer services that are good, however, a research center that gathers experienced researchers with great research experience can handle huge projects more effectively and efficiently. This very fact will guarantee a part of success of a research Center. Second is to focus on individuals and their career development. Third is to find a small corner of the market to make the research center profitable. The Center for Research on Electronic Commerce (CREC) at The University of Texas at Austin, is a real case in point. Fourth is collaboration and we should do it well. We need to find a sweet spot in the research market. This is critical in our situation. In the world today, researchcenters that plan to be successful also require collaboration across disciplines, and often, across other research institutions. Fifth is engaging in public forums as a natural move for our researchers who deal with topics at the forefront of today’s world. In simple terms, we act like other researchers today, who share their research results with the public via online newsletters, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms, as well.