Context is at the core of any statistical investigation, yet many statistics tasks barely require students to go beyond superficial consideration of the contexts the tasks are situated in. In this article, I discuss a framework for evaluating the level of interaction with context a task requires of students and how to modify tasks to increase the…

Assessment is a key lever for educational improvement. Assessments can be used to monitor, signal, and influence science teaching and learning -- provided that they are of high quality, reflect the rigor and intent of academic standards, and elicit meaningful student performances. Since the release of "A Framework for K-12 Science…

The "Framework" and NGSS bring to the forefront the role of language in doing science and in learning from doing science. Yet, most existing science assessments for elementary learners do not integrate or attend to aspects of scientific language and literacy that are essential components of science proficiency. Accordingly, there is a…

As teachers are increasingly asked to respond to assessment and evaluation demands in their schools, the aim of this article is to provide suggestions and scales for singing accuracy. A description of each step in the assessment design process is provided, along with specific suggestions for a singing development scale and a singing accuracy scale.

The sequential motion rates (SMR) task, that involves rapid and accurate repetitions of a syllable sequence, /pataka/, is a commonly used evaluation tool for oro-motor abilities. Although the SMR is a well-known tool, some aspects of its administration protocol are unspecified. We address the following factors and their role in the SMR protocol:…

Most research in psycholinguistics relies on online measures such as reading time to inform and test theories of language comprehension. However, the value of offline measures such as question-answering performance is sometimes overlooked in sentence processing work. Consequently, psycholinguists do not yet understand how the tasks and measures…

The teaching lab is an important component of training and developing undergraduate chemistry students. The lab provides a complex teaching environment where faculty address a number of student-centered goals, including the development of technical proficiency, demonstrations of theoretical concepts, promotion of teamwork, and modeling of data…

Given the exponential growth in the popularity of early foreign language programs, coupled with an emphasis of evidence-based instruction, assessing young learners' (YLs) foreign language abilities has moved to center stage. This article canvasses how the field of assessing young learners of foreign languages has evolved over the past two decades.…

User experience is immeasurably important for your patrons as they access your Web site. This article presents tips and strategies for testing user experience, suggests a number of different popular technologies and tools that are used in the UX field, and lays out a plan for sharing and utilizing data to make improvements on your Web site. It is…

American classrooms are increasingly heterogeneous linguistically. If all students are to engage in three-dimensional learning, how are educators making classroom assessments accessible and meaningful for emergent bilingual learners? There are few classroom assessment exemplars that embody the NGSS three-dimensional vision of the…

The use of an investment portfolio simulation as an assessment task is intended to reinforce learning by involving students in practical application of theoretical principles in a real-time actual financial market. Simulation as a teaching pedagogy promotes individual involvement and provides students with a deeper understanding of the issues, and…

Assessment is a critical part of teaching and learning so it is important that students are encouraged to engage positively with it. The Institution-Wide Language Programme (IWLP) at the University of Leeds redesigned its model of assessment for modules at upper-intermediate and advanced levels, broadly equivalent to the Common European Framework…

The underlying methodological approach of the CEFR is defined as being "action-oriented" and task-based (Council of Europe. 2001. "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment." Cambridge University Press: 9), although it explicitly leaves room for a variety of approaches, since the CEFR…

This article positions research on the acquisition of pragmatics as an inquiry in the greater field of second language acquisition research. Viewing pragmatics from this intersection, I consider five areas of research that are of interest in both fields and have the potential to make significant contributions to second language pragmatics…

How do people monitor the correctness of their answers? A self-consistency model is proposed for the process underlying confidence judgments and their accuracy. In answering a 2-alternative question, participants are assumed to retrieve a sample of representations of the question and base their confidence on the consistency with which the chosen…