Richard Spiby headshot

Richard Spiby, Head of Assessment Research

Richard works on the development and validation of a range of British Council tests. His responsibilities include test analysis and investigating components for new and existing assessments. He also works on a variety of assessment development and training projects, advising on assessment reform worldwide. Richard has over 25 years of experience in language assessment and teaching, mainly in the university sector, in test research, management and production. 

Areas of expertise

  • Test development and validation
  • Issues related to equality, diversity and inclusion
  • Language assessment literacy
  • Test analysis and evaluation

Publications

Westbrook, D., Spiby, R. (2024). Providing continuing professional development through a language assessment literacy MOOC. In B. Baker & L. Taylor (Eds.). Learning about assessing language: a matter of literacy or competency development? Studies in Language Testing 56. Cambridge University Press. 

Dunlea, J., O’Sullivan, B., Patel, M., Westbrook, C., Cooke, S., Motteram, J, Lightfoot, A., Felice, M., Karaöz Duran, Z., & Spiby, R. (In press). Assessing English as an international language. In N. Galloway & A.F. Selvi (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Teaching English as an International Language. Routledge. 

Motteram, J., Spiby, R., Bellhouse, G., & Sroka, K. (2023). Implementation of an accommodations policy for candidates with diverse needs in a large-scale testing system. Language Testing Journal Special Issue. Accommodations in language testing and assessment: safeguarding equity, access and inclusion. 

Spiby, R., & Clark, T. (2023). Responding to a transformed assessment landscape: The example of IELTS. In H.I. Isik, E. Kantarcioglu, A. Uner & C. Thomas (Eds.), Re-Vision and Re-Form in English for Academic Purposes Contexts after the Pandemic. Cambridge Scholars. 

Clark, T., Holland, M., & Spiby, R. (2023). Seeking empirical evidence to support online test validation: Building on the IELTS indicator assessment model. In K. Sadeghi (Ed), Technology-Assisted Language Assessment in Diverse Contexts (pp. 16-33). Routledge.

Clark, T., Spiby, R., & Tasviri, R. (2021). Crisis, Collaboration, Recovery: IELTS and COVID-19. Language Assessment Quarterly, 18(1), 17-25.

Holzknecht, F., McCray, G., Eberharter, K., Kremmel, B., Zehentner, M., Spiby, R., Dunlea, J. (2020). The effect of response order on candidate viewing behaviour and item difficulty in a multiple-choice listening test. Language Testing. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532220917316

Fairbairn, J., Spiby, R. (2019). Towards a framework of inclusion: developing accessibility in tests at the British Council. European Journal of Special Needs Education, (34):2, 236-255. doi: 10.1080/08856257.2019.158140410

O’Sullivan, B., Dunlea, J., Spiby, R., Westbrook, C. and Dunn, K., (2020). Aptis General Technical Manual Version 2.2. British Council. 

Dunlea, J., Motteram, J., Fairbairn, J., Spiby, R., Jiang, R., Spoettl, C., Zehentner, M., Kremmel, B., Holzknecht, F. (2023). Development of the New Workplace Literacy and Numeracy (WPLN) Tests. British Council.

Nakatsuhara, F., May, L., Inoue, C., Willcox-Ficzere, E., Westbrook, C., Spiby, R. (2021). Exploring the potential for assessing interactional and pragmatic competence in semi-direct speaking tests. British Council Validations Series VS/2021/001. British Council.

Education

  • MA, ELT, University of Reading
  • BA, Classics, Jesus College, Oxford