On a foggy October morning in east-central Illinois, Dylan Burton saw a flash of orange and stepped off a forest path, his boots sliding on a bed of fallen leaves. He reaches for his target—a frilled, candy-colored mushroom falling on a gnarled elm—and gets at it with a small paring knife.
Burton has collected fungi on multiple continents for more than two decades. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology studying the specialized field of second language testing, he attributes his position to “a lifetime of collecting experiences, ideas, perspectives, and even mushrooms.”
Collection of languages
Dylan Burton.
In the middle of studying as a mathematics major at Hendricks College in Conway, Arkansas, Burton realized that his interests were leaning toward language.
Burton grew up two and a half hours southwest of Conway in the small town of Lewisville, where he had little exposure to languages other than English. His mother is from the Pacific Northwest and is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, but “she did not grow up speaking Sinixt, which is the language her grandparents spoke as their first language,” he said.
“But in college, I had great language teachers, and that’s where it all started. I had the ability to learn the language. I found Spanish fascinating, and I studied German as well.
Burton, a polyglot who is fluent in three languages, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He joined a Japanese exchange and teaching programme, where he taught introductory English courses to children in Wakasa, Tottori and studied Japanese intensively for a year.
“Watching children learn first-hand and seeing their eyes light up when they can say something new in English has been one of the most formative experiences for me as a language teacher,” he said.
Burton remained abroad for 15 years. Learn Catalan in the Spanish province of Catalonia. He honed his collegiate Spanish in Barcelona and foraged for mushrooms in the mountains outside the city. In Beijing, he studied Chinese. Burton’s number of languages soon rose to five.
Data collection
While abroad, Burton’s linguistic interests shifted from teaching to testing.
Professional positions at Cambridge Language Assessment (now called Cambridge English) and the British Council exposed him to an interactive examination style that focused on real communication rather than decontextualized grammar tests.
Burton, who was keen to learn how to design these tests, said he had a master’s degree at Lancaster University in language testing, which was “the perfect union of linguistics, education and my mathematical and analytical background”.
“It’s all about collecting data on people and using it to do effective testing.”
But not all tests are effective for everyone. Burton’s subsequent Ph.D. Work at Michigan State University has examined how nonverbal behaviors can create unconscious biases in second language assessment that affect some groups more severely than others: for example, for people with autism, “factors such as avoided eye contact can alter “Skillfully the ways in which someone’s communication is effective.” “They can be perceived, even if their linguistic abilities are on par with their peers,” he said.
Burton realized that data like this could turn language assessment into a tool for equity.
“If you take into account who the assessment should serve, and the specific needs of that person, tests can be tools for improving society,” he said.
Gather experts
Burton’s postdoctoral appointment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign continues the use of language testing as a tool for equity.
As part of the University’s Qualified Interpreter Training Programme, Burton designs language proficiency tests given to a specific subset of interpreters: those who help students get the educational support they need.
Beckman researchers Kjell Christenson, chair of the Department of Educational Psychology and director of the Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education Program; Shawn Yan, a professor of linguistics and Burton’s primary collaborator, co-leads the program.
“The great thing about this project is its clear social purpose,” Burton said. “Translators take actual tests, but the tests are there to serve students from multilingual families.”
Specifically, students who need an individualized education plan, or IEP, for reasons including disabilities and developmental disorders. Parents of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) should meet periodically with a representative of their school district; If English is not the family’s first language, a translator also attends.
“But it is well documented that without appropriate interpretation services, parents may be provided with inaccurate information about their children’s circumstances,” Burton said.
For example, a translator who considers himself fluent in a language may have difficulty conveying the nuances of neurological difference.
In 2021, the Illinois State Board of Education rectified this by formalizing the first set of qualifications for Individualized Education Program (IEP) interpreters. ISBE contracted with the University of Illinois to create a training program tailored to these requirements. The result was a five-year, $5 million training program for qualified interpreters.
Sensitivity training, special education best practices, and similarly demanding topics make up the program’s curriculum. For this reason, applicants are expected to be proficient in the target languages from the start. Burton and his team created tests to evaluate this. So far, Burton is focusing on testing interpreters who speak Spanish, Polish, Arabic, Urdu and Russian — the non-English languages most spoken in Illinois.
“If we have an applicant who speaks English as a first language and is going to translate into Polish, we need to make sure his language skills are strong enough to interpret within the Chicago School District,” he said. If yes, we can coach that person to move forward and make a positive impact.
Like a real school environment, language tests for interpreters are practical and smooth. Questions are a mixture of spoken and written. Some use audio recordings to mimic dialogue between parents and teachers.
Burton and his team will use the Beckman Institute’s advanced eye-tracking technology to monitor how interpreters interact with test content while taking tests. Eye tracking will enable them to review the presentation of test questions, replace distracting visual elements with useful ones, and ensure that the test is useful for all languages.
Collect mushrooms
In addition to its direct impact on Illinois families, Burton hopes his research will help scholars and policymakers revitalize the field.
“Using evidence to create language tests, especially in the pursuit of equity and access, means being open to new information and accepting unexpected facts,” he said.
Always open to new knowledge, Burton hopes to expand his linguistic portfolio with Sinixt, his family’s native language, and his mushroom portfolio with the elusive Morel.
“So far, I’ve found chicken of the woods, a giant puffball, honey, and oyster mushrooms,” he said. “In a way, it’s like science. It’s curious that you’re constantly checking your work, and you never know what you’re going to find.”
In the field of language interpretation, the work of postdoctoral researcher Dylan Burton has been nothing short of groundbreaking. With a passion for understanding the complexities of interpretation and a strong dedication to improving the accuracy and reliability of interpreters, Burton has embarked on a series of innovative and rigorous tests to put interpreters to the test. His work has not only challenged traditional methods of interpreter training and assessment, but has also opened up new frontiers in the field, paving the way for improved standards and practices. With his relentless pursuit of excellence, Burton is making a significant impact on the world of interpretation, and his insights are sure to shape the future of the profession for years to come.