ECOLT 2026 Team

Conference Co-Chair  |  Sara Cushing

Sara Cushing is a Professor of Applied Linguistics at Georgia State University. She received her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from UCLA and served as President of the International Language Testing Association (2021–2022). She has published widely on assessment, second language writing, and teacher education, and authored Assessing Writing (Cambridge University Press).

Conference Co-Chair  |  Dylan Burton

Dylan Burton is an assistant professor of Applied Linguistics and ESL at Georgia State University. He is also affiliated faculty with the Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy Initiative. Prior to joining GSU, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Training Qualified Interpreters for IEP Meetings project at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research is primarily related to the assessment of second language speech, including interdisciplinary perspectives on the roles of nonverbal behavior and affect in proficiency testing. He earned his Ph.D in Second Language Studies at Michigan State University and an MA in Language Testing at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.

Program Chair  |  Rurik Tywoniw

Rurik Tywoniw is a Research Assistant Professor and the English Placement Test Coordinator in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Tywoniw received a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Georgia State University in 2020. Dr. Tywoniw focuses on language assessment, second language literacy, and learner autonomy.

Planning Team  |  Soyoung Lim

Soyoung is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL at Georgia State University and a graduate fellow at the Center for Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Languages and Literacy (RCALL). Her research interests lie in integrated assessment and process data (e.g., eye-tracking, keystroke logging) to understand learners’ cognition in L2 writing and integrated assessments. 

Planning Team  |  Sak Lee

Sak Lee is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL at Georgia State University. His research interests include instructed second language acquisition (ISLA), task-based language teaching (TBLT), second language teacher education, digital multimodal composing (DMC), and language assessment.

Planning Team  |  Dayoung Joo

Dayoung Joo is a Ph.D. student in Applied Linguistics and ESL at Georgia State University. She currently serves as a graduate fellow at the Center for Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy (RCALL). Her research interests include second language acquisition (SLA), digital literacy, task-based language teaching and assessment.