Task design features have different effects on second language (L2) production and can be adopted for different pedagogical purposes. However, the synergistic effects of task features were left unexplored in the extant task-based literature. The present study investigated the synergistic effects of two task design features, namely, prior knowledge…

People need to critically comprehend information across multiple sources that express contradictory viewpoints to make decisions on relevant everyday-life issues and participate in the democratic discourse. However, the processing of multiple documents depends on readers' prior beliefs. The present study investigated the moderating effect of…

The Reader-Response Theory considers the learner as an active participant in extracting meaning from a literary work depending on his/her prior experience. Teaching literature critically allows the reader to create a sense, and compare the previous experience with the written text. Second-year students cannot decode and scrutinize a short academic…

Purpose: This study aims to propose and evaluate a course design to promote university students' understanding and intentional use of the concept and strategy of self-regulated learning (SRL). Design/methodology/approach: The course is designed on the basis of the experiential learning model. It is intended that the students reflect and…

To succeed in Canadian health professions, university education programs students must initially meet a variety of program-specific and English-language admission requirements. For non-native English-speaking (NNES) students, a major challenge can be the demonstration of profession-specific academic literacy and, in particular, adequate language…

The psychometric measures of accuracy, reliability and validity of peer assessment are critical qualities for its use as a supplement to instructor grading. In this study, we seek to determine which factors related to peer review are the most influential on these psychometric measures, with a primary focus on the accuracy of peer assessment or how…

This paper is focused on an innovation which involved students being assessed on short written responses to an issue to be addressed in the following classroom session. The innovation was evaluated through a student survey, individual and focus-group interviews with participants, and the analysis of a critical friend. Positive findings included…

A key highlight of this study is generating evidence of children "making aware the unaware", making tacit knowledge explicit. The research explores the levels of awareness in thinking used by eight 7-8 year-old children when engaged in school-based genre writing tasks. The focus is on analysing children's awareness of their thought…

The present study provides an in-depth, longitudinal account of an undergraduate student's L2 discourse socialization in an academic exchange program in Canada. By invoking Rogoff's (1995) notion of participatory appropriation, this qualitative case study examined an L2 student's task-related strategies and performance as they evolved over time in…

An understanding of student learning and of the reasons for differential student performance is crucial to improving teaching and learning practices in tertiary education. This article aims to contribute to that understanding by reporting on an empirical study which examined two sets of student texts on the topic "What is law?", written…

This study investigated the impact of prior knowledge, writing task, and hypertext format on university students' comprehension of multisource hypertext. Fifty-two students categorized as having high or low prior knowledge studied hypertext consisting of seven component texts on the topic of social influence. Some students were given a summary…