This mixed-method study examines the think-aloud protocols of 48 randomly assigned undergraduate students to understand what effect embedding a visual coding system, based on reliable visual cues for establishing historical time period, would have on novice history students' ability to contextualize historic documents. Results indicate that using…

The aim of this study is to examine the variability in and reliability of scores assigned to different quality EFL compositions by EFL instructors and their rating behaviors. Using a mixed research design, quantitative data were collected from EFL instructors' ratings of 30 compositions of three different qualities using a holistic scoring rubric.…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine if there are differences in pre-service teachers' depth of reflection when using a written self-reflection form, a written self-reflection form and a think-aloud protocol, and collaborative reflection. Twenty-six pre-service teachers were randomly assigned to fourteen teaching teams. The…

Although recent research demonstrates that people deem a considerable number of their Facebook friends dispensable, they nevertheless refrain from deleting a large number of contacts. While there are first studies on the reasons why users decide to "unfriend" contacts, there is no research on the motives for keeping social contacts even…

Problem-based learning methods support student learning of content as well as scientific skills. In the course of problem-based learning, students seek outside information related to the problem, and therefore, information literacy skills are practiced when problem-based learning is used. This work describes a mixed-methods approach to investigate…

This small "n" observational study used a concurrent mixed methods approach to address a void in the literature with regard to the qualitative meaningfulness of the data yielded by absolute magnitude estimation scaling (MES) used to rate subjective stimuli. We investigated whether respondents' scales progressed from less to more and…

The aim of this study was to explore professional identity development among social studies student teachers in a four-year teacher education program in Turkey. Fifty-five student teachers participated in the study. Data were collected about their metaphorical images about teachers and social studies teachers and a series of in-depth interviews…

As the demand for accountability and transparency in higher education has increased, so too has the call for direct assessment of student learning outcomes. Accompanying this increase of knowledge-based, cognitive assessments administered in a higher education context is an increased emphasis on assessing various noncognitive aspects of student…

There has always been a debate whether or not the learners' first language (L1) can facilitate the process of learning foreign language. Since foreign language writing (FL) is a complicated process, it seems that the role of the learners' L1 and its effect on FL writing is of great importance in this regard. The present study aimed at…

International students, a growing population in US universities, need to possess excellent reading skills in order to succeed. American universities also benefit from admitting students who do not require remedial English classes. Reading online has become an integrated part of college education, which requires students to have additional skills.…

This study examined L2 (German) awareness in intermediate American college learners of German through their judgments of 15 texts that had been authored by either native speakers (NS) or non-native speakers (NNS) or had been created through Web-Based Machine Translation (WBMT). The specific objectives sought to investigate: (a) how learners…

This exploratory study looks at how a sample of preservice teachers and historians read visuals in the context of school history. The participants used eye tracking technology and think-aloud protocol, as they examined a series of online primary source photographs from a virtual exhibit. Voluntary participants (6 students and 2 professional…

The problem-solving strategies of students enrolled in general chemistry courses have been the subject of numerous research investigations. In most cases, the investigators were interested in the specific areas or concepts that posed the greatest difficulty to a student's success in achieving the correct answer. However, the investigation reported…

Graduate teachers in Australia are expected to engage with their peers to expand their professional learning. Learning to use protocols--or structured professional conversations--provides pre-service teachers with opportunities to achieve this expectation. In this paper we explain how pre-service teachers during an extended practicum used…

Reading comprehension of school-aged students is an important topic of research; however, research on the reading comprehension of adult foreign/second language learners whose first language is English is limited, especially studies investigating the reading comprehension strategies that readers of different proficiency levels use when they…