Ben Naismith

English Language Teaching and Assessment
PhD, MSc, MA Applied Linguistics

Profile

I am an experienced professional in the fields of Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching, and I have been fortunate to work with amazing people in a variety of roles and contexts around the world. Currently, I am part of the Duolingo English Test research team which is committed to advancing the field of high stakes testing through research and development. My research interests include second language acquisition (especially lexis), language assessment, TESOL, and corpus linguistics.

Curriculum Vitae

Click here to download the PDF or contact me for industry-specific resumes.

Past projects

For assessment-related projects completed at Duolingo, please visit the Duolingo English Test Test Research web page. The following are two past major academic projects completed at the University of Pittsburgh. Click the images or links for more information about the projects.

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About Me

Originally from Canada, I have spent most of my adult life living and teaching in other countries including the UK, Thailand, Costa Rica, the UAE, and now the USA. Outside of school and work, I can almost always be found spending time with my small family – my wife, daughter, and our dogs – as we explore the world together.

Updates (2023)

September 2023: Promoted to Senior Assessment Scientist at Duolingo
September 2023: Publication on the indexical and stance properties of "poor thing"
July 2023: Publication on automated evaluation of written discourse coherence
June 2023: Publication on ensuring fairness of human- and AI-generated test items
April 2023: Conference presentation at the BALEAP International Conference 2023
April 2023: Conference presentation at the IATEFL International Conference
March 2023: Conference presentation at the TESOL International Convention and English Language Expo 2023
March 2023: Conference presentation at the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2023 conference

Contact

If you would like to get in touch, please contact me in any of the following ways. I am always interested in new connections or opportunities for collaboration.