Elaine Wylie

BA (Qld), DipEd (Melb), MEdSt (Qld)

Elaine is Co-Director, with David Ingram, of ISLPR Language Services Pty Ltd.

Previously (1991 to 2006) she was a Research Fellow and then Senior Research Fellow at Griffith University. Before that (1988 to 1990) she was the Director of Studies of the ELICOS program at the Queensland University of Technology. In 1987 she was a member of the Assessment Unit of the Queensland Board of Senior Secondary School Studies, a secondment from her position as Head of the Languages other than English (LOTE) Department of a large Queensland secondary school (1984 to 1986). Before that she taught English and then co-ordinated curriculum development and professional development in the Adult Migrant Education Program in Victoria and Queensland (1972 to 1983).

Elaine is co-author, with David Ingram, of the International Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ISLPR®). She conducts programs around Australia and overseas to train teachers and other language professionals in the use of the ISLPR. She has undertaken numerous research projects involving the use of different versions of the ISLPR in the development of language education policy and methodology, and in the interpretation of the results of other tests.

She has provided advice on language proficiency and its assessment for government departments, secondary and tertiary education systems and professional registration boards in Australia and overseas. Consultancies have included using the ISLPR to determine whether speakers of languages other than English who are involved in legal proceedings need an interpreter (1998), to evaluate AusAID-funded English language training in East Timor (2000), and to establish minimum English levels for non-English-speaking background taxi drivers in Australia (2009/10). She has appeared in court as an expert linguistic witness in common law and criminal cases.

She was a consultant to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in the development of the original (1989) video training materials for the Speaking test and conducted many of the exemplar tests used in the training package. She was also asked to review proposed changes to the test in 1994. She has been involved in a number of IELTS research projects, including a 1992 project on validity and reliability of the Speaking test.

Elaine was a foundation member of the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) and has been invited to join ILTA task forces established to survey standards for language testing and develop a Code of Practice. She is an Honorary Life Member of the Queensland Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.