Comparative Judgement (CJ) is an evaluation method, typically conducted online, whereby a rank order is constructed, and scores calculated, from judges' pairwise comparisons of performances. CJ has been researched in various educational contexts, though only rarely in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing settings, and is generally agreed to…

The Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) is a multi-level, multi-purpose Chinese proficiency test developed by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (previously the Office of Chinese Language Council International and, henceforth, referred to by its colloquial name "Hanban"). It assesses reading, writing, and listening skills of…

Studies on automatic scoring systems in writing assessments have also evaluated the relationship between human and machine scores for the reliability of automated essay scoring systems. This study investigated the magnitudes of indices for inter-rater agreement and discrepancy, especially regarding human and machine scoring, in writing assessment.…

Purpose: This study builds a new system for automatically assessing learners' speech elicited from an oral discourse completion task (DCT), and evaluates the prediction capability of the system with a view to better understanding factors deemed influential in predicting speaking proficiency scores and the pedagogical implications of the system.…

Scoring language learners' speaking skills is open to a number of measurement errors since raters' personal judgements could involve in the process. Different grading designs in which raters score a student's whole speaking skills or a specific dimension of the speaking performance could be settled to control and minimize the amount of the error…

In Dynamic Assessment (DA), the observation that individuals respond differently to support, or mediation, is important for diagnoses of development. The concept of learning potential refers to openness to mediation, i.e., the extent of change to performance when mediation is available, which may suggest learners will need less overall instruction…

Recent advances in machine learning have made automated scoring of learner speech widespread, and yet validation research that provides support for applying automated scoring technology to assessment is still in its infancy. Both the educational measurement and language assessment communities have called for greater transparency in describing…

Although several studies have investigated the self-assessment (SA) of writing skills, most research has adopted a cross-sectional research design. Consequently, our knowledge about the longitudinal development of SA is limited. This study investigated whether SA instruction leads to improvement in SA accuracy and in second language (L2) writing.…

This paper outlines the results of the experimental study aiming to explore the impact of using machine translation engines on the performance of translation students. Machine translation engines refer to the software developed to translate source texts into target languages in a fully automatic mode which can be classified according to the…

This study examines the decision-making behaviors of raters with varying levels of experience while assessing EFL essays of distinct qualities. The data were collected from 28 raters with varying levels of rating experience and working at the English language departments of different universities in Turkey. Using a 10-point analytic rubric, each…

This paper outlines and details historical L2 curriculum development for segments of China's State education system over a ten-year period beginning with the start of the Sino -- Foreign joint programs classes in 2011. A two-year post assessment from 2015-2017. Tracking students continuing test results for both the CET (College English Test)…

We advocate the in-depth integration of information technology and education in the digital age, and we also encourage teachers of all disciplines to actively carry out online and offline blended learning. This study attempts to use an empirical research to apply the Blended Learning to the oral English teaching in the first year of senior high…

From the perspective of Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), dynamic assessment (DA) highlights the role of mediation in the learning process by unveiling the distance between actual learning proficiency and potential learning development. DA is more helpful in fostering students' ability to solve problems…

Researchers have found numerous differences in the approaches raters take to the complex task of essay rating including differences when rating native (L1) and non-native (L2) English writing. Yet less is known about raters' reading practices while scoring those essays. This small-scale study uses eye-tracking technology and reflective protocols…

The present paper, which is a study based on midterm exam results of 53 University English prep-school students, examines correlation between a direct writing test, measured holistically by multiple-trait scoring, and two indirect writing tests used in a competence exam, one of which is a multiple-choice cloze test and the other a rewrite test…