Dr Shengkai Yin

PositionLecturerYin
Study areaEducational linguistics
LocationBerwick
Phone0405772189
Emails.yin@federation.edu.au
ORCID IDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2872-5487

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy – The University of Melbourne – 2025
Doctor of Philosophy – Shanghai Jiao Tong University – 2025 (Double degrees)

Teaching

Courses

  • Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours)
  • Master of Education Studies
  • Master of Specialist Teaching

Units

Phonetics, Phonology and Oral Communication, UG (EDBSP1023)(course coordination) and PG (EDMST6113) (course coordination), Academic Reading and Writing in Educational Research (EDMED7058) (course coordination), Applied Psycholinguistics, UG (EDBSP2014) (marking) and PG (EDMSP601) (marking), and Language Acquisition (EDBSP1013) (marking)

Biography

Dr Shengkai Yin holds double PhD degrees in educational measurement and applied linguistics from the University of Melbourne and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He is currently a lecturer at the Institute of Education, Arts and Community. His primary research interests straddle assessment and evaluation, including the design and validation of all formal examining, testing, and for-learning assessment activities in the broader education and linguistics field. Shengkai has been awarded prestigious research grants from leading organizations, including Duolingo Dissertation Research Award in Language Assessment in 2022, British Council Assessment Research Award in 2023, TOEFL/ILTA (International Language Testing Association) Travel Grant Award in 2024 & 2025, and TOEFL Grant for Doctoral Research in Language Assessment in 2025. His work is published in top-tier journals in education and applied linguistics.

Areas of expertise

AWARDS & GRANTS

Year

Awards

2025

TOEFL Grant for Doctoral Research in Language Assessment[1]

TOEFL/ITLA Student Travel Grant

2024

The University of Melbourne Arts Graduate Research Essentials Grant

TOEFL/ITLA Student Travel Grant

2023

The University of Melbourne Graduate Research in Arts Travel Scheme

Research and Graduate Studies Grant (Languages and Linguistics)

British Council Assessment Research Awards[2]

Graduate Researcher Prize Scholarship; Outstanding Student Award; First Prize, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Scholarship

2022

Duolingo Dissertation Research Awards in Language Assessment[3]

2020

Seed Funding of Shanghai Jiao Tong University- The University of Melbourne Joint PhD Program (Fellowship) (WH610160507/047)[4]

Research interests

  • Educational assessment and evaluation
  • Language assessment
  • Critical thinking
  • Mixed-methods analysis
  • ESL learning and teaching

Supervision

2 Honours students in Speech Pathology

Publications

Books

(1)   Yin. S. (upcoming). Conceptualizing and operationalizing the construct of critical thinking in EAP speaking: The development and validation of a rating scale. Peter Lang.

(2) Yang, M. & Yin, S. (2020).Dark genius of Wall Street: The misunderstood life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons. Shanghai: Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. ISBN: 978-7-5642-3580-2/F· 3580

Book chapters

(1)   Yin, S., Yu, C., & Peng, X. (upcoming). Promoting critical thinking in EAP writing classroom: A learning-oriented assessment approach.In T. Thai, & J. Pearson (Eds.), The changing landscape of EAP assessment: Insights from diverse contexts. Bloomsbury.

Refereed journal articles    

(1) Yin, S., Fan, J., Jin, Y., & Stapleton, P. (2024). Towards a framework of critical thinking for assessing EAP speaking. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 71, 101426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2024.101426

(2) Yin, S., Guo, K., & Li, D. (2024). To assign a topic or not: Examining critical thinking in English as a foreign language speaking. RELC Journal, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882231222651

(3) Sun, Q., Chen, F., & Yin, S. (2023). The role and features of peer assessment feedback in college English writing. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:1070618, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1070618

(4) Yin, S. & Jin, Y. (2022). The effect of critical thinking on the performances of integrated speaking assessments. Foreign Languages and Their Teaching, 327(6): 66-77. https://doi.org/10.13458/j.cnki.flatt.004905

(5) Yin, S., Chen, F., & Chang, H. (2022). Assessment as learning: How does peer assessment function in students’ learning? Frontiers in Psychology, 13: 912568, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.912568

(6) Sun, H. & Yin, S. (2022). Review of language aptitude: Advancing theory, testing, research and practice, Z. Wen, P. Skehan, A. Biedroń, S. Li, R. Sparks (Eds.). Assessing Writing, 51 (1): 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2021.100588

(7) Yin, S. (2019). Individual difference factors in second language acquisition. Overseas English (8), 100-101. https://go.unimelb.edu.au/4w78

Refereed conference proceedings

(1) Yin, S. (2025). Expanding construct in EAP speaking assessment: Defining and operationalizing a critical thinking perspective. In Proceedings of the 46th Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) 2025, Bangkok, Thailand. Research paper presentation.

(2) Yin, S. (2025). Towards a framework of critical thinking for assessing EAP speaking. In Proceedings of the 46th Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) 2025, Bangkok, Thailand. Research paper presentation.

(3) Yin, S. (2024). Conceptualizing and operationalizing the construct of critical thinking in EAP speaking: The development and validation of a rating scale. In Proceedings of the 45th Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) 2024, Innsbruck, Austria. Research paper presentation.

(4) Yin, S., Jin, Y., & Fan, J. (2024) Understanding critical thinking in EAP speaking: Evidence from the CET-SET6. Academic Forum on English Language Testing in Asia (AFELTA) 2024, Singapore. Research paper presentation.

(5) Yin, S. (2023). Assessing critical thinking in EAP speaking: Design and validation of a rating scale. In Proceedings of the 44th Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) 2023, New York City, United States. Presentation.

(6) Yin, S. (2022). Assessing critical thinking in EAP speaking: Development and validation of a rating scale. In Proceedings of the 8th Annual International Conference of the Asian Association for Language Assessment (AALA) 2022, Chennai, India. Presentation.

(7) Sun, Q., Chen, F. & Yin, S. (2022). Understanding diversified evaluation in ESL writing classroom: An insight from effectiveness of peer assessment feedback. New Direction 2022, British Council, England. Presentation.

(8) Yin, S. (2021). Investigating the Relationships Between Test Takers’ Critical Thinking Ability and Their Performances on Speaking Task：A Case Study of TOEFL Integrated Speaking Task. In Proceedings of the 19th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (AILA) 2021, Groningen, the Netherlands. Presentation.

(9) Yin, S. (2021). Validating dynamic assessment: An argument-based approach. In Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Language Testing and Assessment 2021, p. 42. Shanghai, China. Presentation.

(10) Yin, S. & Chen, F. (2021). Assessing by peers: How it benefits students’ learning. In Proceedings of the 7th Annual International Conference of the Asian Association for Language Assessment (AALA) 2021, Seoul, Korea. Presentation.

(11) Yin, S. (2020). On Integrated Speaking Test Performance and its Relation with Critical Thinking: A Case Study of TOEFL Integrated Speaking Task. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Language Testing and Assessment. Guangzhou, China. Presentation.

Associations

  • Australian Literacy Educator’s Association (ALEA)
  • ILTA (International Language Testing Association) Graduate Student Assembly Steering Committee
  • AALA (Asian Association for Language Assessment) Student Committee Member
  • Member in ALTAANZ (Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand) Reference Group