Profile

Haoshan (Sally) Ren joined Lancaster University as a Senior Research Associate in 2021. Her research interests include applying corpus linguistics methodologies to language teaching, language assessment, and legal text interpretation. Prior to her role at Lancaster University, she completed her PhD research at Georgia State University, where she focused on integrating corpus linguistics with construct validation in language assessment. She earned her Master's degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from Pennsylvania State University, serving there as an instructional designer and instructor of English for Specific Purposes in various disciplines, including economics, biomedical sciences, and law.

In the field of corpus linguistics, she is currently assisting the compilation of a large multisite EMI corpus of student writing and reading. Her research and publications in this area also extend to genre analysis and using corpus linguistic methods for the development of teaching materials and the interpretation of legal texts.

Her work in language assessment primarily centers on validation studies of tests at various scales. Her recent projects include examining the use of the TOEFL iBT® in admissions decisions, comparing the IELTS Academic with the Duolingo English Test, and conducting a mixed-method validation study of a local test used for International Teaching Assistants in the US.