Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment

Director: Professor Tony Green

CRELLA is part of the School of Education and English Language. The Centre offers scholars, examining boards and government organisations, both domestic and foreign, a centre in Britain that can provide and assist in quality research and development in the areas of English language learning and assessment.

CRELLA was set up by Professor Cyril Weir OBE in 2005 on the University postgraduate campus at Putteridge Bury, a substantial mansion built in 1911 in the style of Chequers, with extensive grounds laid out by Edwin Lutyens and planted by the Victorian gardener Gertrude Jekyll. This spacious and pleasant environment affords an atmosphere highly conducive to research and scholarship.

Since its inception, CRELLA has won national and international recognition as a centre for research into language testing and as the source of a socio-cognitive validation framework that governments can base their English examinations on.

In the recent 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), which is the official UK government assessment of university research, CRELLA's work was assessed as 100% 4* world leading for the impact of our research in language assessment, making us joint number 1 in the country in respect of social and economic impact. Our close working relationships with leading examination boards around the world helped us secure this excellent result.

Our research submission as a whole was also rated as excellent. Overall the REF Panel ratings for CRELLA were:

• 45% 4* world leading
• 33% 3* internationally excellent

You can see the full result here. Our 45% 4* rating was higher in this same Unit of Assessment than the ratings awarded to Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester, Lancaster and a number of other major universities, which demonstrates our strength in this area. The Times highlighted our work as a 'cause célèbre', reporting that:

...the nine researchers in English at Bedfordshire University produced a higher proportion of top-rated research than the 88 entrants from Oxford

Times 18/12/2014

We are grateful to all our partners, clients, staff and students for the part they played in this commendable result.