In Memoriam: Dr. Steven Ross

It is with sadness that the Second Language Acquisition program and the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures announce the passing of a beloved faculty member, Professor Steve Ross.

Dr. Steven John Ross was born February 24th, 1951 and passed away, surrounded by his family, on April 27th, 2023 from brain cancer. He came to the University of Maryland in 2009 with a joint appointment in the Center for the Advanced Study of Language (until 2017) and the school of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. From 2013-2020, he served as Director of Graduate Studies for Second Language Acquisition M.A. and Ph.D. programs. He earned his PhD in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Hawai'i Manoa. He was a well published scholar and widely respected teacher and mentor to many students with a particular expertise in statistical studies and language testing. Over the course of his career, he taught research methodology and language assessment courses in Japan, Australia, Mexico, and the USA, served on the editorial boards of the TESOL Quarterly, Applied Linguistics, Language Testing, Language Assessment Quarterly, and Language Learning, and was the Associate Editor of the latter from 2010-2015. Due to his illness, Professor Ross stopped teaching at UMD in the middle of the Spring semester of 2022, but his scholarly life continued. Longitudinal Studies of Second Language Learning: Quantitative Methods and Outcomes, co-edited with his former student Megan C. Masters, was published in January of 2023. Throughout his years at UMD, he split his time between College Park and Japan, which was the family home; he was a fluent speaker of Japanese. During the pandemic, he often taught, attended committee meetings, and met with students in the middle of the night, his time. He will be sorely missed.

Messages from Steve's Colleagues and Students

Dr. Ross was an amazing teacher whose class left a lasting impression on me. Although I only had the opportunity to take his class for half a semester, I deeply regret not enrolling in his classes earlier. His teaching style was captivating, as he weaved beautiful stories that prompted deep reflection on our unexamined assumptions. His warm smile in class created a comfortable environment where I felt encouraged to ask any question. When I approached him with my Qualifying Paper idea, he responded with constructive guidance instead of criticizing its validity. He posed thought-provoking questions that helped me identify areas for improvement in my study. He is and will always be deeply missed. -- Zhiyi Wu, SLA PhD Student

Dr. Ross was an amazing mentor who consistently motivated and supported me on my journey towards achieving my goals. His dedication to my growth helped shape me into a better person and a rigorous researcher. I will always remember his witty smile and those Japanese kotowaza he loved to share in his classes. May his spirit continue to guide and inspire us as we strive to make a difference in the field of SLA, just as he did during his remarkable life.

Qi Zheng, SLA PhD Student

I was so sad to hear the news about Steve Ross, whom I was lucky enough to study under at the University of Maryland.  Steve advised one of my qualifying papers and was also on my dissertation committee, and I always appreciated his sense of humor, helpful insights, and calm and reassuring presence.  He was a lovely man who went out of his way to make his students feel like they had interesting and relevant insights to contribute, and I will always remember our conversations about our dogs, our children, and, of course, language assessment, over coffees and glasses of red wine.  One of the best things about Steve was his push to have his graduate students and colleagues do useful things with the data they collected, and he leaves behind a legacy of both researchers and practitioners who understand the power of assessment.

- Katie Brown (Nielson) 

We are sorry to say that Professor Steven Ross, a Professor at the University of Maryland, sadly passed away on the 27th of April, 2023. While he was in Japan, he was an active member of the Japan Language Testing Association. His long-standing contribution to the field of applied linguistics in general and language testing, in particular, helped promote assessment literacy in Japan and elsewhere.  

May his spirit rest in peace.

Japan Language Testing Association
Yoshinori J. Watanabe, President

Sad news indeed. I recall reading Steve's work exploring the discourse of OPIs during the early 1990s (e.g. Ross & Berwick, 1992). His analysis of the role and language of the interviewer in oral proficiency interactions was both innovative and insightful. In my own context, it directly informed some of the R&D taking place around that time for the face-to-face speaking tests offered by Cambridge English examinations and IELTS, especially in relation to rater behaviour and examiner training. I've always thought that Steve's contribution to the assessment of speaking ability and interactional competence was seminal in the field of applied linguistics and language testing. Though I only met Steve very occasionally at LTRCs down the years, I will remember his legacy with respect and gratitude. RIP. 

Linda Taylor

So saddened to hear of Steve’s passing.  Over the years I worked with Steve on many projects. He served on some of the committees I was involved in and worked with a few of us on the book series that Jim and I started. He had a quiet demeanor but when you could get him talking he always had so much to offer. He was one of the most dependable persons I have met. Being busy professionals ourselves we have all missed deadlines, but I never had to chase him for deadlines and you could always count on him to pick up the slack when one of us got overwhelmed. Genuinely kind and compassionate and always pleasant to be around with. A true loss of a wonderful human being. -  xiaoming xi

This is very sad news. Steve Ross was a real thoroughbred in the field of language testing. I met him many years ago at a conference after having seen a really good talk he gave. I worked with him on many projects over the years, specifically on ETS and on Defense Language Testing committees. This gave us the opportunity to share many a meal together and even travel together—road trips too! When I brought people together to create the series “Innovations in Language Learning and Assessment at ETS,” Steve was a must-have as an co-editor, and this series has gone on to publish many really interesting books. 
Over the years, I got to know Steve as a really nice, super smart, dependable, and hard-working colleague and friend. He was reserved and kinda quirky, which I really appreciated. I drove him nuts cause I talked too much, and he drove me nuts cause he didn’t talk enough, and we laughed a lot about this. But Steve actually did have a lot of important things to say on topics of statistics in language assessment, or the assessment of interactive speaking ability, or discourse/CA and language assessment, or even the origins of the ILR performance descriptors. I learned a lot from him, and our field, alas, has lost a good thinker. 
May he rest in peace.

James E. Purpura, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Linguistics & Education

I am forever grateful for Professor Ross's generous guidance and support. Our discussions in the comforting rocking chair, he always answered so many stats questions I had, and he taught me many important lessons about research methods (with interjections of Japanese statistical terms!). He also kept pushing me to go beyond the comfort zone and try new methods. I learned so much from him about how to be a great researcher and mentor.    
Yuichi Suzuki (an alumni of PhD program of SLA)