Dr. Janna Schaeffer has worked in the field of second/foreign language assessment and international education since 2000. Over the course of her professional career, she has taught undergraduate and graduate English language courses at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. In recent years, Dr. Schaeffer has been affiliated with the English for Heritage Language Speakers program at Georgetown University, where she worked closely with the university faculty, led curriculum, second language assessment, curricular design, development, and implementation. In the private sector, Janna also worked on managing the design of English language proficiency reading, writing, and listening assessments that were administered as a measurement in scientific, academic, and professional EFL/ESL contexts. Dr. Schaeffer holds two master's degrees (in SLAT/TESOL and in German Studies) and a PhD in SLAT (Second Language Acquisition and Teaching) with an emphasis on Comparative Higher Education. She is ACTFL and IELTS certified.

Dr. Ha Jun Ryu earned his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and English Education from Korea University. He has over fifteen years of experience in the fields of Second Language Acquisition, English language teaching, and English proficiency assessment. His research interests include facilitating language acquisition through testing, academic writing, corpus linguistics, and the use of AI for language acquisition and testing purposes. He is currently working on developing a new high-stakes, comprehensive English language proficiency assessment at ITSC.

Dr. Minjung Kim earned her PhD in Educational Measurement from the University of Kansas, USA. She has experience in developing and analyzing educational assessments with a focus on test reliability and validity. Currently a researcher at ITSC GROUP, Dr. Kim contributes to the development and improvement of language proficiency assessments. Her areas of interest include statistical analysis in testing, large-scale assessment design, and applying research to enhance practical outcomes in education. Dr. Kim is dedicated to creating fair and effective evaluation tools that support diverse learners and promote meaningful educational experiences.

Dr. Karl R. Sarvestani earned his PhD in Linguistics from the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. He has over ten years of experience in research, instruction, and in human services and higher education administration. He has taught Linguistics, Language Technology, Communicative Disorders, English, ESOL and TESOL. His prior research focused on experimental phonological study of minority languages of Southeast Asia, so he has a particular interest in phonetics, phonology, and the assessment of pronunciation.

Dr. Deniz Satik earned his PhD in Linguistics from Harvard University. He is a theoretical syntactician and semanticist; he wrote his dissertation on syntactic and semantic generalizations on the properties of infinitives across all languages. His research also delves into experimental linguistics, where he has collected data to help enhance his understanding of linguistic phenomena. Overall, he has a keen interest in the cognitive underpinnings of language processing. Beyond that, he is particularly eager to apply his expertise to real-world applications and helping people outside of academia.

Dr. Ali H. Raddaoui is a certified English language teacher with a multicultural outlook developed over many years of teaching, living, and serving in diverse communities. His academic background is in English language teaching and applied linguistics, and he holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. He currently serves as a Senior Research Associate and Linguistic Consultant with ITSC and conducts usability testing to ensure the integrity and fairness of language proficiency assessments. As a language teaching professional, he has gained ample experience in curriculum design, program management, and research design. His work is deeply rooted in learning theory, norm-referenced testing, and best practices in teaching pedagogy. He is particularly passionate about the intersection of technology and learning. His ongoing research focuses on how AI and technological advancements impact the future of education. Through this work, he aims to contribute to the development of innovative educational practices that meet the evolving needs of a rapidly changing world.

Dr. Masood Raja earned his PhD in Postcolonial Literature and Theory from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, United States. He has over twenty years of experience in teaching, research, and assessment and was a tenured Associate Professor of English at University of North Texas, United States, until fall of 2022. Dr. Raja has published four academic monographs, three edited volumes, and about forty articles and book chapters, and was also the founding editor of Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies. Dr. Raja’s research work is always focused on issues of cross-cultural understanding and cultural translation. Fluent in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, English, and Japanese, Dr. Raja is also a certified User Experience Researcher and a Usability Expert.

Daniel Quimby earned his MA in English with a concentration in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Maryland. As a graduate student, his research interests included academic writing, EFL composition pedagogy, rhetorical theory, and social movement studies. He has taught English in university, high school, and middle school contexts in the United States and South Korea.

Rebecca Noonan earned her MA in Applied Linguistics from University College Cork, where she conducted research on language acquisition for those with learning differences. She has been employed as a second-language instructor at elementary and secondary-level institutions, where she gained experience in exam creation and curriculum design. Her academic interests include language and power, semiotics, pragmatics, semantics, second-language acquisition, and language policy.

Dr. Tom Carter earned his Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. His current research interests include the art of screenwriting, transcultural narratives, and the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence in translating and adapting creative works. His first published book chapter, titled “Young-Ah Yoo’s Controversial Adaptation of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Response to the South Korean MeToo Movement,” will be released in 2025. Additionally, his current practice-based research project explores the potential for AI to adapt and translate English-language screenplays into Korean, which will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Screenwriting.

Dr. Andy Coates earned his PhD in Linguistics from Manchester Metropolitan University. His research interests include communicative language teaching, corpus linguistics, academic writing, and English for Academic Purposes. He has worked in English education for over thirteen years, including as a trainer on international aid projects to encourage communicative language teaching methodology in Tanzania and Malaysia. He currently works on test development and quality control at ITSC.