University of Gothenburg
  2. About
  3. Find staff
  4. Gudrun Erickson

Gudrun Erickson

Senior Researcher

Department of Education and Special Education
Telephone
+46 31-786 24 53
+46 766-18 24 53
Mail
gudrun.erickson@ped.gu.se
Visiting address
Västra Hamngatan 25, Pedagogen, Göteborgs universitet
41117 Göteborg
Room number
A3 311
Postal address
Box 300
405 30 Göteborg

About Gudrun Erickson

Senior Professor of Education in Language and Assessment at the Department of Education and Special Education, University of Gothenburg. Formerly a teacher and teacher educator of languages.

Scientific leader (formerly project leader, commissioned by the National Agency for Education/NAE) for the development of compulsory national tests and additional assessment materials for foreign languages in the Swedish school system.

Experienced in national curriculum and syllabus design and in national and international projects focusing on language learning, teaching and assessment, in Sweden initiated by the NAE, the Schools Inspectorate and the Swedish Council for Higher Education, in Europe by the EU, the Council of Europe and the ECML (European Centre for Modern Languages) in Graz. Member of the steering groups for three recent projects funded by the Swedish Research Council: 2012-2015 FRAM, a research school for foreign language teachers; TAL (2015-2018), focusing on aspects of learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages in the Swedish school system, and SEMLA (2018-2022), a graduate school for language teacher educators focusing on multi- and plurilingualism. President of EALTA (European Association for Language Testing and Assessment) between 2013 and 2016 and the recipient of the British Council 2020 International Assessment Award.

I give lectures on [language] assessment, testing and grading and have been the supervisor of a substantial number of PhD and Licentiate students in Language education. I have also been engaged in courses on assessment and examination for university teachers.

My main research and development interest focuses on issues related to the assessment of competence, primarily regarding languages but also in a more general and generic sense - how competence is manifested and can be assessed, by the learner as well as by external actors. My work is conceptually based on an expanded view of validity, emphasizing use as well as ethical and consequential aspects.

Links to research groups and projects