During the Yokohama New Directions pre-conference workshop on eye-tracking in December 2019, the idea of an Eye-Tracking Special Interest Group (termed “ETSIG” from this point on) was brought up as an idea with great merit to share and align research practices for the purposes of validation and replication studies. The British Council is well placed to support this through the East Asia Assessment Team (EAAST), mainly because EAAST has ongoing research interests which involve the technology.

Purpose 

The group would provide participants the means to: 

  • Share eye-tracking research and data analysis methodology in order to create consistent and efficient standards of practice  
  • Create regular and accessible lines of communication for the sharing of ideas and techniques 
  • Promote best practice by regularly publishing periodicals for the research community 
  • Seek partners in the industry that could facilitate research and data analysis for practitioners and researchers and Identify areas of research and new technology that could benefit from the use of this equipment 
  • Seek opportunities to meet and collaborate on ETSIG work at conferences and related academic gatherings when possible 

Overview

The aim of ETSIG is to establish a network of researchers and scholars who are interested in the application of eye-tracking technology for assessment and language acquisition research.  The scope of research has been kept deliberately broad in order to focus on the methods and validation of various approaches used when employing this technology.    

Founding Members and Affiliate Members

Trevor Breakspear – Innovations Project Manager

Trevor Breakspear has 18 years of teaching and training experience within the Chinese ESL and EAP contexts and over 10 years of project management experience within localisation and assessment fields.