Most existing autograders used for grading programming assignments are based on unit testing, which is tedious to implement for programs with graphical output and does not allow testing for other code aspects, such as programming style or structure. We present a novel autograding approach based on machine learning that can successfully check the…

This study explores using transfer learning in machine learning for natural language processing (NLP) to create generic automated essay scoring (AES) models, providing instant online scoring for statewide writing assessments in K-12 education. The goal is to develop an instant online scorer that is generalizable to any prompt, addressing the…

Since most worldly phenomena can be expressed via language, language is a crucial medium for transferring information and integrating multiple information sources. For example, humans can describe what they see, hear and feel, and also explain how they move with words. Conversely, humans can imagine scenes, sounds, and feelings, and move their…

Speech remediation by identifying those segments which compromise the quality of speech content can be performed by correctly identifying portions of a recording which can be deleted without diminishing from the overall quality of the speech, but rather improving it. Speech remediation is especially important when it is heavily disfluent as in the…

Since researchers investigated automatic scoring systems in writing assessments, they have dealt with relationships between human and machine scoring, and then have suggested evaluation criteria for inter-rater agreement. The main purpose of my study is to investigate the magnitudes of and relationships among indices for inter-rater agreement used…

Precision medicine refers to the delivering of customized treatment to patients based on their individual characteristics, and aims to reduce adverse events, improve diagnostic methods, and enhance the efficacy of therapies. Among efforts to achieve the goals of precision medicine, researchers have used observational data for developing predictive…

Most doctoral students are novice researchers and may not possess the skills to effectively conduct a comprehensive review of the literature and frame a problem designed to conduct original research. Students need proper training and tools necessary to critically evaluate, synthesize and organize literature. The purpose of this concurrent mixed…

The North Carolina Occupational Course of Study (NCOCS) program is an alternative diploma track with a vocational focus toward post school employment to assist students who would not otherwise graduate with a standard course of study. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the local causes of low post-school employment…

Repeated Reading is a common reading intervention that has been used to help students read fluently since 1979. There are many variations of Repeated Reading that have been investigated and found to be effective. However, there is a relative research deficit on the effectiveness of software programs for administering Repeated Reading. This…

Three decision consistency and accuracy (DC/DA) methods, the Livingston and Lewis (LL) method, LEE method, and the Hambleton and Han (HH) method, were evaluated. The purposes of the study were: (1) to evaluate the accuracy and robustness of these methods, especially when their assumptions were not well satisfied, (2) to investigate the "true"…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the asynchronous voice-conferencing technology, "Voice Thread"®, on the anxiety and oral proficiency of high school students in their third year of studying Spanish as a foreign language. In this quasi-experimental study students' foreign language anxiety levels and oral proficiency…

Writing skills are considered essential to lifelong success, yet experts cannot agree on one model or set of traits that distinguishes good writing from poor writing. Instructional strategies in developing student writing at the high school level need to include a means by which students receive immediate, specific feedback that acts as a scaffold…

Multilevel data often exist in educational studies. The focus of this study is to consider differential item functioning (DIF) for dichotomous items from a multilevel perspective. One of the most often used methods for detecting DIF in dichotomously scored items is the Mantel-Haenszel log odds-ratio. However, the Mantel-Haenszel reduces the…

As digital media practices become readily available in today's classrooms, literacy and literacy instruction are changing in profound ways (Alvermann, 2010). Professional organizations emphasize the importance of integrating new literacies (New London Group, 1996) practices into language-arts instruction (IRA, 2009; NCTE, 2005). As a result,…

This dissertation provides an automated scoring method of speech fluency for second language learners of English (L2 learners) based that uses speech recognition technology. Non-standard pronunciation, frequent disfluencies, faulty grammar, and inappropriate lexical choices are crucial characteristics of L2 learners' speech. Due to the ease of…