Dr Nick Glasson studied for his PhD with the University’s Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA) and the award-winning dissertation – titled ‘Left to their own devices: Exploring interactional practices in an online group speaking task’ – was praised by the external selection committee for its exceptional scholarship and significant contribution to the field.

The study investigates how interactional competence emerges in an online task completed by learners with different proficiency levels, offering valuable insights into its role in language assessment and overall language development.

Dr Glasson will receive the award at the Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) in Bangkok this June, where he will be formally recognised for his outstanding research and receive a $2,500 (USD) prize.

Speaking about the win, Dr Glasson said: “I was genuinely shocked to have won this prestigious award, but I think it’s a testament to the excellent support I have had from my supervisors and CRELLA more generally. I wanted to look at interactional competence in my thesis because it’s an area of language testing research that is of perennial interest but has been slow to develop in some ways. More than anything, my hope for the future is that language testing as an academic field takes a more active interest in the kind of insights qualitative methods like conversation analysis can provide.”

“I’m obviously proud to have won the award for myself but actually just as proud to have won it for CRELLA and their excellent team. I could not have completed the PhD nor won this award without them!”

One of Dr Glasson’s PhD supervisors, Dr Nahal Khabbazbashi – Associate Professor in Language Assessment – added: “I am so incredibly proud of Nick's wonderful achievement. The Jacqueline Ross TOEFL Dissertation Award is the most prestigious PhD award in language testing and is a testament to Nick's excellent scholarship, dedication, and significant contribution to the field. And he managed to achieve this with a full-time job, a family, and an unwavering sense of humour! This is a huge win not only for Nick but also for CRELLA and the University of Bedfordshire. Many congratulations and wishing Nick every success in the future.”

Dr Glasson’s success reinforces CRELLA’s position as a leading research centre in language assessment and highlights the University of Bedfordshire’s commitment to pioneering research that advances the field. In the last Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), CRELLA placed above both Oxford and Cambridge in the English unit of assessment, ranking 3rd out of 92 submissions, with a huge 72% of their research classed as world-leading.