Founder's Profile

Founder's Profile

Dan Joyce

Dan first came to Japan from the UK in 1997 and has over 20 years of experience in education in Japan, both in teaching and test development.

After 10 years teaching English, he worked for Japan’s largest commercial testing organization for almost 15 years, where he played a central role in test development projects and collaborated with testing experts, teachers, educational institutions, researchers, and other stakeholders in Japan and overseas.

He has also presented research at conferences in Japan and Europe and has experience managing the ongoing content production of high-stakes standardized tests.

Dan Joyce

Dan's History

Education

June 2007
MA Linguistics (TESOL) with distinction. University of Surrey, England.
July 1995
BSc (Hons) Applied Biology. University of Bath, England.

Career

July 2022 - March 2023
Freelance Education Consultant
May 2008 - June 2022
Senior Editor at Eiken Foundation of Japan (EIKEN)
Key projects:
  • Management of production and delivery of test content for the EIKEN suite of tests.
  • Development of the Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP), a collaborative project between EIKEN and Sophia University, one of Japan’s leading private universities. The test was launched in 2014 and is now used by universities across Japan.
  • Development of the Global Communication Assessment (GCAS) for business, a face-to-face speaking test to measure practical business English skills. GCAS for business was launched in 2017 and is used by major corporations in Japan.
November 2000 - April 2008
Corporate English Instructor at O.T.C. Inc. (Overseas Training Center), Tokyo.
September 2007 - April 2008
In-house teacher at Daiichi-Sankyo pharmaceutical company, Ltd., Tokyo.
April 2003 - September 2005
English Instructor at Tokyo Kougakuin Vocational College.
November 1999 - October 2000
Customer Service Adviser at Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc., UK.
September 1997 - February 1999
English teacher at Shane English School, Japan.
January 1996 - February 1997
Assistant Team Leader at Alliance & Leicester Building Society, UK (Now Santander UK).

Collaborative Publications

  1. Nakatsuhara, F., Joyce, D., and Fouts, M. (2014). A Research Report on the Development of the Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP) Speaking Test for Japanese University Entrants - Study 3 & Study 4.
    Retrieved from: https://www.eiken.or.jp/teap/group/pdf/teap_speaking_report2.pdf
  2. Dunlea, J., Fouts, M., Joyce, D., and Nakamura, K. (2020). EIKEN and TEAP: How Two Test Systems in Japan Have Responded to Different Local Needs in the Same Context. In I-Wen Su, L, Weir, C., and Wu, J. R. W. (Eds.) English Language Proficiency in Asia: A New Paradigm Bridging Global and Local Contexts (pp. 131-158). New York: Routledge.

Conference Presentations & Workshops

  1. JALT 2010 Nagoya, Japan (November 19-22, 2010). TEVAL Item Writing Workshop: EIKEN Item Review Process.
  2. JLTA 2013 Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan (September 21, 2013). Investigating the importance placed on criterial features by raters of productive writing performance.
  3. JALT 2013 Kobe, Japan (October 25-28, 2013). Importance placed on criterial features by raters.
  4. EALTA 2014 Warwick University, UK (May 29-June 1, 2014) (With Dr. Fumiyo Nakatsuhara, CRELLA). Use of the CEFR in the development of an academic speaking test.
  5. JACET 2014 Hiroshima, Japan (August 28-30, 2014). Use of the CEFR in the development of the Speaking component of the Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP).
  6. JALT 2014 Tsukuba, Japan (November 21-25, 2014). Test Item Writing Workshop.
  7. EALTA 2015 Copenhagen (May 28-31, 2015). A bespoke computer-tablet application for an academic English speaking test in Japan.
  8. JASELE 2015 Kumamoto, Japan (August 22-23, 2015). Developing a Speaking Test for Japanese University Entrants: The Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP).
  9. JALT 2015 Shizuoka, Japan (November 20-25, 2015). Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP) Speaking Test: A Guide for Examiners.
  10. JALT 2015 Shizuoka, Japan (November 20-25, 2015). A bespoke computer-tablet application for TEAP Speaking.
  11. JALT 2016 Nagoya, Japan (November 25-28, 2016). TEAP: A Model for The Revision of Japan’s University Entrance Exam System.
  12. JALT Young Learners SIG, Tokyo, Japan (November 26, 2017). The Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP): A Guide for Teachers.
  13. JALT 2019 Nagoya, Japan (November 1-4, 2019). A look under the hood: A review of TEAP test specs.