This note is concerned with examining the relationship between within-group and between-group variances in two-level nested designs. A latent variable modeling approach is outlined that permits point and interval estimation of their ratio and allows their comparison in a multilevel study. The procedure can also be used to test various hypotheses…

With the wide introduction of English-medium instruction (EMI) to higher education institutions throughout East Asian countries, many East Asian universities are using English proficiency tests that were not originally designed for this context to make admissions and placement decisions. To support the use of these tests in this new EMI context,…

Acquiring complex oral presentation skills is cognitively demanding for students and demands intensive teacher guidance. The aim of this study was twofold: (a) to identify and apply design guidelines in developing an effective formative assessment method for oral presentation skills during classroom practice, and (b) to develop and compare two…

Background: Developmental language disorder (DLD) has clear functional ramifications in the areas of social competency, emotion recognition, emotional well-being and literacy skill, which have been found to persist from childhood to adolescence. These domains are important factors during the transition from primary to secondary school in typical…

Knowledge space theory (KST) is a mathematical framework for modeling and assessing student knowledge. While KST has successfully served as the foundation of several learning systems, recent advancements in machine learning provide an opportunity to improve on purely KST-based approaches to assessing student knowledge. As such, in this work we…

a-Stratified computerized adaptive testing with b-blocking (AST), as an alternative to the widely used maximum Fisher information (MFI) item selection method, can effectively balance item pool usage while providing accurate latent trait estimates in computerized adaptive testing (CAT). However, previous comparisons of these methods have treated…

Language-specific differences in number words influence number processing even in nonverbal numerical tasks. For instance, the unit-decade compatibility effect in two-digit number magnitude comparison (compatible number pairs [42_57: 4 < 5 and 2 < 7] are responded to faster than incompatible pairs [47_62: 4 < 6 but 7 > 2]) was shown to…

Computer quiz games are introduced to improve teaching and learning in a freshman engineering chemistry course in an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) environment. These quiz games are developed and implemented as supplemental and augmentative tools to enhance traditionally delivered lectures. The paper shows an increase in students' motivation…

This study tested the applicability of the theoretical Examination for Candidates of Driving License (ECODL) in Turkey as a computerized adaptive test (CAT). Firstly, various simulation conditions were tested for the live CAT through an item response theory-based calibrated item bank. The application of the simulated CAT was based on data from…

Any body of research evolves over time. Previous understandings become more nuanced, ideas are supported or rebuked, and, eventually we arrive at a clearer view of the issue. The research on score comparability across computerized devices is no exception. CCSSO [Council of Chief State School Officers] and the Center for Assessment have published…

Managing crowded classes in terms of classroom assessment is a difficult task due to the amount of time which needs to be devoted to providing feedback to student products. In this respect, the present study aimed to develop an automated essay scoring environment as a potential means to overcome this problem. Secondarily, the study aimed to test…

The aim of this study was to investigate the locomotor activity and anxiety changes in acute and chronic exposure to cigarette smoke in mice. In the chronic exposure group, mice were exposed to the smoke of 10 cigarettes for 5 days a week, over 5 consecutive weeks. In the acute group, the mice were exposed to the smoke of 10 cigarettes in one day.…

Development of reliable rubrics for educational intervention studies that address reading and writing skills is labor-intensive, and could benefit from an automated approach. We compare a main ideas rubric used in a successful writing intervention study to a highly reliable wise-crowd content assessment method developed to evaluate…

In this article, we present the results of three question design experiments on inter-item correlations, which tested a grid design against a single-item design. The first and second experiments examined the inter-item correlations of a set with five and seven items, respectively, and the third experiment examined the impact of the question design…

The TOEFL iBT test was introduced in 2005 to better reflect the language demands of real-life academic tasks than did previous versions of the test. The task-based design of the test was intended to support the interpretation of its scores as a trustworthy measure of international students' ability to use English in an academic environment. Until…