Faculty

Lorena Llosa

Associate Professor of Education
Faculty Fellow in Residence, Carlyle Court

Lorena Llosa

Phone: 212 998 5485
Email:

Lorena Llosa is an Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Her interests include language assessment, second and foreign language teaching and learning, and program evaluation. Her scholarship in assessment addresses validity issues related to the uses of assessments to evaluate English learners' language and academic skills in K-16 contexts. Her main focus has been on teacher judgments and the role they play in summative, formative, and diagnostic uses of classroom assessments. Prior to joining New York University she worked as a research analyst for the Los Angeles Unified School District where she directed a large scale evaluation of a computer-based literacy program. She also served as a research analyst at the Center for the Study of Evaluation/CRESST at UCLA where she worked on the development of performance assessments in English and Spanish. Her current research projects address validity issues related to the use of standards-based classroom assessments of English proficiency in large urban school districts, the development of a diagnostic assessment of high school students' academic writing, and the testing and placement of language minority students in California's community colleges.


Degrees Held

  • Ph.D. UCLA
    Applied Linguistics
  • M.A. UCLA
    Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL)
  • B.A. Santa Clara University
    English and Spanish

Awards

  • 2009 : NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2007 : New York University W. Gabriel Carras Award
  • 2006 : AERA Division H Outstanding Dissertation Award
  • 2005 : Lado Award for Outstanding Student Paper at the Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC)
  • 2005 : CATESOL Graduate Student Research Award
  • 2004 : Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for Research Related to Education
  • 2004 : UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute (LMRI) Dissertation Grant
  • 2004 : TOEFL Small Grant for Doctoral Research in Second or Foreign Language Assessment
  • 2004 : Marianne Celce-Murcia Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant

Publications

  • Llosa, L. (in press). Assessing English learners’ progress: Longitudinal invariance of a standards-based classroom assessment of English. Language Assessment Quarterly.
  • Beck, S. W., Llosa, L., & Fredrick, T. (in press). The challenges of writing exposition: Lessons from a study of ELL and non-ELL high school students. Reading and Writing Quarterly.
  • Llosa, L. (in press). Language testing and accountability. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. To be published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2013.
  • Llosa, L., Beck, S. W., and Zhao, C. G. (2011). An investigation of academic writing in secondary schools to inform the development of diagnostic classroom assessments. Assessing Writing, 16, 256-273.
  • Llosa, L. (2011). Standards-based classroom assessments of English proficiency: A review of issues, current developments, and future directions for research. Language Testing, 28(3), 367-382.
  • Llosa, L. & Bunch, G. C. (2011). What’s in a test? Constructs, characteristics, and implications of ESL and English placements tests for language minority students in California’s community colleges. Report prepared for The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Available at http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/10g691cw (link)
  • Bunch, G. C., Endris, K., Panayotova, D., Romero, M., and Llosa, L. (2011). Language Testing and Placement Policies and Practices for Language Minority Students in California’s Community Colleges: Mapping the Terrain. Report prepared for The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Available at http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/31m3q6tb (link)
  • Newton, X. & Llosa, L. (2010). Towards a more nuanced approach to program effectiveness assessment: Hierarchical linear models (HLM) in K-12 program evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation, 31(2), 162-179.
  • Frazier, S. and Llosa, L. (2009). Meaning differences in the use of the null vs. the definite articles: the case of the seasons. English Text Construction, 2 (1), 1-17.
  • Llosa, L. & Slayton, J. (2009). Using program evaluation to inform and improve the education of young English learners in U.S. schools. Language Teaching Research, 13 (1), 35-54.
  • Rosalia, C. & Llosa, L. (2009). Assessing the quality of online peer feedback in L2 writing. In R. de Cassia Veiga Marriott & P. Lupion Torres (Eds.), Handbook of Research on E-Learning Methodologies of Language Acquisition (pp. 322-338). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
  • Llosa, L. (2008). Building and supporting a validity argument for a standards-based classroom assessment of English proficiency based on teacher judgments. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 27(3), 32-42.
  • Zhao, C. G. and Llosa, L. (2008). Voice in high-stakes L1 academic writing assessment: Implications for L2 writing instruction. Assessing Writing, 13, 153-170.
  • Llosa, L. (2007). Validating a standards-based classroom assessment of English proficiency: A multitrait-multimethod approach. Language Testing, 24(4), 489-515.
  • Jensen, L. & Llosa, L. (2007). Heritage language reading in the university: A survey of students’ experiences, strategies, and preferences. The Heritage Language Journal, 5(1).
  • Llosa, L. (2005). Assessing English learners' language proficiency: A qualitative investigation of teachers' interpretations of the California ELD Standards. The CATESOL Journal, 18(1), 7-18.
  • Slayton, J. & Llosa, L. (2005). The Use of Qualitative Methods in Large-Scale Evaluation: Improving the Quality of the Evaluation and the Meaningfulness of the Findings. Teachers College Record, 107(12), p. 2543-2565.
  • Llosa, L. (2003). A lifetime of dedication to language education: An interview with Russ Campbell. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 14(1), 70-81.

Research Interests

  • Language testing
  • Second and foreign language teaching and learning
  • Program evaluation

Courses

  • Language Evaluation and Assessment
  • Doctoral Seminar in Language Assessment Research
  • Teaching Second Languages: Theory and Practice
  • Doctoral Seminar in Multilingual Multicultural Studies
  • Advanced Research Seminar in Multilingual Multicultural Studies
  • Culminating Experience in Multilingual Multicultural Education

Editorial Boards

  • Language Assessment Quarterly, Editorial Board Member

Presentations

  • Llosa, L. & Bunch, G. (2011, June). Validity issues in the placement testing of language minority students in community colleges. Paper presented at the 33rd annual Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC), Ann Arbor Michigan.
  • Beck, S. W., Llosa, L., & Clark-Gareca, B. (2011, April). High school teachers’ knowledge of writing and writing instruction: Evidence from think-aloud protocols and interviews. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Researc
  • Llosa, L., Beck, S. W., Zhao, C. G. (2009, April). Developing a diagnostic assessment of academic writing for high school students: The construct definition phase. Paper presented at the AERA annual meeting, San Diego, CA.
  • Beck, S. W., Llosa, L., Fredrick, T, Smith, A. (2009, April). High school students' difficulties with academic writing: Implications for instruction and assessment. Paper presented at at the AERA annual meeting, San Diego, CA.
  • Llosa, L., Beck, S. W., Zhao, C. G. (2009, March). Defining the construct of academic writing to inform the development of a diagnostic assessment. Paper presented at the 31st annual Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC), Denver, CO.
  • Llosa, L. and Beck, S. W. (2007, June). Developing a diagnostic assessment of academic writing: The construct definition phase. Work-in-Progress presented at the 28th annual Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC), Barcelona, Spain.
  • Llosa, L. (2007, April). Can we trust teacher judgments? Supporting a validity argument for a standards-based classroom assessment. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Measurement in Education (NCME), Chicago,
  • Frazier, S. and Llosa, L. (2007, March). Meaning Differences with Null / Definite Articles. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Convention (TESOL), Seattle, WA.
  • Llosa, L. (2006, April). Defining language ability: The role of ESL standards for assessment and instruction. Plenary Address presented at the 28th Annual NYSTESOL Applied Linguistics Conference,Teachers College, Columbia University, New Y
  • Llosa, L. (2006, June). A longitudinal approach to the validation of a standards-based classroom assessment of English. Paper presented at the 28th annual Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC), Melbourne, Australia.
  • Llosa, L. (2005, July). Validating the use of a standards-based classroom assessment of English proficiency: A multitrait-multimethod approach. Paper presented at the 27th annual Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC), Ottawa, Canada.
  • Ai, X., Llosa, L. & White, J. (2004, November). Application of hierarchical linear modeling in K-12 program evaluation. Paper presented at the 19th annual meeting of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), Atlanta, GA.
  • White, J. & Llosa, L. (2004, March). English learners' performance on state-mandated content and English language assessments. Paper presented at the 26th annual Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC), Temecula, CA.