Xun Yan

Xun Yan is an Affiliated Associate Professor in Linguistics and Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with additional roles in the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Their research focuses on speaking and writing assessment, scale validation, rater training, and assessment literacy for language teachers.

Education:

• Ph.D., English (Second Language Studies), Purdue University, 2015
• M.A., TESOL, Ohio State University, 2009
• B.A., English, Wuhan University, China, 2008

Research Interests intersect with language testing, educational measurement, and second language acquisition. Key areas include:

• Accent perception in listening tasks
• Speech fluency metrics
• Assessment literacy training
• AI integration in testing
• Contextual adaptation of assessments
• Complexity-Accuracy-Fluency (CAF) frameworks

2025-2026 Publications highlight advancements in diagnostic language assessment, AI-assisted testing, and cross-linguistic fairness studies. Recurring themes include test-taker attitudes, rater behavior analysis, and corpus-driven scale development.

Scientific Awards:

• LEAP Award, 2018

Grants and Funding include collaborations with institutions like CaMLA, British Council, and IELTS, focusing on lexico-grammatical complexity, CAF features, and cognitive-social aspects of speaking assessments.

Professional Engagement spans editorial roles, conference contributions, and teaching courses such as Principles of Language Testing and Second Language Acquisition Theories.