Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Darabi BAzvand | Applied Linguistics | Best Researcher Award

Researcher, Near East University, Cyprus

Ali Darabi Bazvand holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics and TEFL from Near East University, North Cyprus, and has built extensive teaching and research expertise in language assessment, fairness, and educational evaluation. He has taught at universities across Cyprus, Iraq, and Iran—including Near East University, Catholic University in Erbil, University of Human Development, Soran University, Girne American University, and Shiraz University—where he has delivered undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral courses such as language testing and evaluation, discourse analysis, psycholinguistics, semantics, applied linguistics, and assessment in education, in addition to supervising graduate theses and projects. Recognized with several awards for excellence in research and teaching, he has published widely in international peer-reviewed journals, with contributions in System, Higher Education Research and Development, Language Testing in Asia, Cogent Education, and Studies in Educational Evaluation, addressing themes such as validity argumentation, fairness in classroom assessment, differential item functioning, teacher assessment literacy, AI-integrated assessment, and academic writing. His current research focuses on fairness, ethics, and equity in language assessment, particularly in relation to classroom practices and the integration of digital and AI-based testing tools, employing advanced methods including Q methodology and logistic regression. Actively engaged in the academic community, he has peer-reviewed for Elsevier journals, delivered workshops on fairness and ethics in assessment, presented at scientific conferences, and participated in international seminars and webinars on teaching and assessment. He is also a member of professional organizations and research groups, including the English Language Testing Society and Prof. DeLuca’s lab on classroom assessment at Queen’s University, Canada. Alongside research and teaching, he has demonstrated academic leadership as Head of the ESP Department at the National Institute of Technology, chaired academic conferences, and directed teacher-training workshops, combining scholarly contributions with institutional service. His academic impact is reflected in 14 citations across 4 publications with an h-index of 2.

Profile: Scopus 

Featured Publications

Darabi, B. A. (in preparation). Fairness in AI-integrated writing assessment: A mixed-method study.

Darabi, B. A., & Rasooli, A. (in preparation). Students’ perceptions of classroom assessment fairness: A Q methodology approach.

Darabi, B. A., & Jalilzadeh, K. (under review). Language assessment literacy, teacher well-being, and instructional effectiveness: A demands-resources model of EFL teachers’ perceptions. Modern Language Journal.

Darabi, B. A. (under review). A cross-corpus study of semantic prosody in expert and postgraduate academic writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes.

Rezaee, A., & Darabi, B. A. (under review). Intelligent computer-assisted language assessment and student assessment performance: Insights from EFL teachers’ digital narratives. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education.