Yu-Chen Lin

Yu-Chen Tina Lin is the Spoken English Assessment Coordinator for the Intercultural English Language Programs (IELP) in the Department of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Lin’s research focuses on integrated language assessments. In her role, she designs testing materials, rating systems, and rater training resources. She collaborates with the assessment team to update and enhance materials, ensuring the validity, reliability, and fairness of Ohio State’s in-house English language assessments.

From October 2013 to August 2024, prior to the expansion of IELP’s assessment structure, Dr. Lin oversaw language testing for the Spoken English Program (SEP), which evaluates around 500 prospective International Teaching Associates (ITAs) annually, as well as the Academic English Writing Program (AEWP), which assesses approximately 1,500 incoming international graduate and undergraduate students each year.

Dr. Lin was awarded the ETS TOEFL Grant for Doctoral Research in Second or Foreign Language Assessment and was a finalist for the 2018 Jacqueline Ross TOEFL Dissertation Award. She has presented at academic conferences in the fields of Language Testing, Applied Linguistics, and TESOL. She has also taught graduate-level courses, including Issues and Research in Foreign Language Testing and Assessment, Balanced Assessment for Teaching and Learning, and Individual Studies (focused on English Assessment Projects).

• PhD, Literacy, Cultural, and Language Education (with a focus in Language Testing), Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 2016
• PhD, Minor, Inquiry Methodology: Educational Assessment and Psychological Measurement; Multivariate Statistics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 2016

• Assisted in analyzing large-scale educational and institutional data as a Statistical Graduate Assistant for more than three years at Indiana University, including for Division of Extended Programs, Campus Instructional Consulting, and Department of Literacy, Cultural, and Language Education.
• Taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) for six years in a variety of settings in Taiwan, including Tunghi University, Shinmin High School, Nanhua Elementary School, Joy English School, and Gram English Center.
• Designed and taught English pronunciation classes to adults and children so her master’s research in the field of TESOL focused on phonetics and phonology, issues in instruction of pronunciation and English phonics (letter-sound correspondences), early literacy, and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL).

• Grant for Doctoral Research in Second or Foreign Language Assessment, Educational Testing Service (ETS), Princeton, New Jersey, USA
• Finalist for the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award for Second/Foreign Language Testing (2018 Jacqueline Ross TOEFL® Dissertation Award), Educational Testing Service (ETS), Princeton, New Jersey, USA
  • This award is to recognize doctoral dissertation research that makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge about second or foreign-language tests and testing and/or the use and development of such tests and testing.
• Staff Career Development Grant, Office of Human Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
• Professional and Development Fund, Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
• International Conference Fund from Cultural Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, Chicago, USA

• Lin, Y.-C. T. & Chen, S.-B. A. (October 5, 2024). Enhancing Test Reliability and Practicality: Streamlining English Writing Placement with Technological Integration for Cost-Effective Independent Rating and Automated Score Reporting. Demo, Midwest Association of Language Testers (MwALT) 2024 Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (September 9, 2023). The construct of summary writing: how do reading, writing, text features, cognitive operation difficulty impact summarization as an integrated task? Paper, Midwest Association of Language Testers (MwALT) 2023 Conference, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T., Trevarrow, A., Yin, C.-H., Kim, N., & Weng, Z. (September 16, 2022). Developing an objective rating criterion to assess the integrated reading and writing task: key ideas in summary writing. Work in Progress, the 2022 Language Assessment Research Conference (LARC) in conjunction with the Midwest Association of Language Testers (MwALT) and East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) 2022 Conferences, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (June 23, 2017). Assessing cognitive operation difficulty in integrated reading-writing tasks: The test taker instrument development using summary writing tasks as stimuli. Paper, the 4thAsian Association for Language Assessment (AALA) Conference, The Language Training and Testing Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
• Lin, Y.-C. T., Chen, S.-B. (June 24, 2016). An Innovative Online Testing and Rating System for the Integrated Reading-Writing Assessment Research. Demo, Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) 2016, University of Palermo, Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (April 10, 2016). Comparison of Evaluating English Writing with the e-Rater and Human Raters. Poster, American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2016 Conference, Orlando, Florida, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (June 24, 2011). Exploring Integrated Reading-Writing Constructs through SEM: Relationships among L2 Proficiency, Strategy Use, and Summary Performance. Work in Progress, the 33rd Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC 2011), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (March 27, 2010). Scoring Integrated English Writing: Use of Holistic and Analytic Rubrics. Workshop, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) 2010 Convention, Boston Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (March 9, 2010). Assessing EFL Learners’ Integrated Writing Skills and Related Factors: Validity and Reliability Issues in Scoring. Paper, American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2010 Annual Conference, Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (November 7, 2009). Assessing EFL Integrated Writing and Related Factors: Test Task Development. Paper, Midwest Association of Language Testers (MwALT) 2009 Conference, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (June 13, 2009). An EFL Teacher’s Education on Critical Literacy in the USA and Practice in Taiwan. Paper, International Society for Language Studies (ISLS) 2009 Conference, Crowne Plaza Orlando Universal, Orlando, Florida, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (January 5, 2009). Readers’ Perceptions of First and Second Languages: Does L1 Reading Influence L2 Reading? Paper, the 7th Hawaii International Conference on Education, Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (2006). Taiwanese EFL Learners’ Difficulties in English Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences. The Proceedings of 2006 International Conference and Workshop on TEFL and Applied Linguistics, 278-286, Taipei, Taiwan.
• Chen, S.-B., Hsu, Y.-C., Hu, C.-W., Lin, Y.-C. T. (2006). Applying S-P Chart Analysis as Feedback Mechanism in SCORM Assessment Material. Demo, International Plugfest in conjunction with The 2006 International Conference on SCORM—SCORM 2004 Product Demonstrations, Taipei, Taiwan.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (2005). Letter-Sound Correspondences that Taiwanese EFL Teachers Need to Emphasize to Learners. Paper, the 14th International Symposium and Book Fair on English Teaching, Taipei, Taiwan.
• Lin, Y.-C. T. (2002). Native Chinese Speakers’ English Pronunciation Problems with Consonants: A Review with Theoretical and Practical Suggestions. Paper, the 4th Pan-Asian Conference and 11th International Symposium and Book Fair on English Teaching (ETA-ROC), Taipei, Taiwan.