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Professor Yasuyo Sawaki is a distinguished academic in the Department of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences at Waseda University's School of Education in Tokyo, Japan. With a career spanning over two decades in language assessment and applied linguistics, she has established herself as a leading expert in English language testing, particularly focusing on the TOEFL iBT and Japanese language assessment contexts.
Her educational background includes a B.A. in Education from Kumamoto University, followed by advanced degrees in the United States - an M.A. in teaching English as a second language and a Ph.D. in applied linguistics. Prior to joining Waseda University in 2009, she worked as a Research Scientist at Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey, where she contributed to major language assessment research.
Professor Sawaki's research interests center on language assessment methodologies, cognitive diagnosis approaches in language testing, validity research, and how test results can provide meaningful feedback to learners and teachers. Her work often employs sophisticated statistical methods including factor analysis and structural equation modeling to examine the underlying constructs measured by language tests.
Analysis of her 34 publications (with 792 citations and an h-index of 13) reveals consistent focus on TOEFL iBT validation, test score interpretation, and the practical application of assessment results in educational contexts. Her recent work has increasingly addressed formative assessment and how performance feedback can bridge the gap between testing and instruction.
- 2021 Language Testing Reviewer of the Year Award
Professor Sawaki serves in leadership roles in major language assessment organizations, including as First Vice President of the Asian Association for Language Assessment (AALA) and as a Board Member of the Japan Language Testing Association. Her current research projects funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science focus on developing tools for teaching English summary writing to Japanese university students and examining the effects of formative feedback. She teaches courses including Introduction to Applied Linguistics, Language Assessment for Classroom Teachers, and various English education seminars at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
