Spaced and interleaved practices have been identified as effective learning strategies which sometimes are conflated as a single strategy and at other times treated as distinct. Learning sessions in which studying information or practicing problems are spaced in time with rest-from-deliberate-learning periods between sessions generally result in…

Despite their drawback, multiple-choice questions are an enduring feature in instruction because they can be answered more rapidly than open response questions and they are easily scored. However, it can be difficult to generate good incorrect choices (called "distractors"). We designed an algorithm to generate distractors from a…

Based on cognitive load theory, this paper reports on two experiments investigating the variability effect that occurs when learners' exposure to highly variable tasks results in superior test performance. It was hypothesised that the effect was more likely to occur using high rather than low levels of guidance and testing more knowledgeable than…

Idioms abound in both spoken and written English, yet they present a particularly thorny problem in foreign language learning. One of the reasons for this difficulty is second language learners' ignorance of the holistic nature of English idioms. Based on computerized reading tasks, the present study probes the effects of using electronic glosses…

Despite the importance of assessment accommodations, little is known about its use in the context of classroom assessments. To provide guidance for teachers on how to best support their emergent bilinguals during classroom assessments, there may be ideas from large-scale assessments that can be used in the classrooms. This article, a targeted…

One of the highest ambitions in educational technology is the move towards personalized learning. To this end, computerized adaptive learning (CAL) systems are developed. A popular method to track the development of student ability and item difficulty, in CAL systems, is the Elo Rating System (ERS). The ERS allows for dynamic model parameters by…

IELTS is used as a screening gatekeeper and plays a crucial role in Omani students to meet job requirements. This paper reports on Omani English-major undergraduate students' reflections on their experience of the reading section of Academic IELTS. The main aim of the study was to elucidate their difficulties and coping strategies to inform…

A common drawback in traditional language education is that all students in the same class use the same content. Since students may have different backgrounds such as prior knowledge and learning speed, one single curriculum may not be able to accommodate every student. Unfortunately, most students cannot afford personalized language learning,…

Serious games are becoming important educational tools and are increasingly being integrated into courses in many different academic areas and widely portrayed as a means of helping individuals concentrate on the subject matter and enjoy learning. This paper discusses the development and testing of a serious game by using a research model where…

Worked examples and collaborative learning have both been shown to facilitate learning. However, the testing of both strategies almost exclusively has been conducted independently of each other. The main aim of the current study was to examine interactions between these 2 strategies. Two experiments (N = 182 and N = 122) were conducted with…

In this article we focus on "cooperative engineering", in which teachers and researchers co-design didactic sequences. In the first part of the article, we present cooperative engineering by describing some of the main principles on which it is grounded. The second part is dedicated to a case study, which enables us to illustrate some…

The aim of the research was to identify how Slovenian primary and secondary school students of various age groups explain the particulate nature of the states of matter of water and air. The qualitative research included five 12, 14, and 16 year old students. A semi-structured interview including four computer-displayed tasks was used for the data…

Students' perceptions are one of the sources that can be used to capture teachers' PCK. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a scale to determine secondary students' perceptions of their teachers' PCK. Validity and reliability studies were conducted with 659 students. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis…

Learning to read and write the Japanese language is not an easy task. For the non-Japanese speaker this can be a struggle and a challenge. Some schools in Western Australia offer children the opportunity to learn Japanese as a foreign language. Consequently, Japanese as a foreign language unit is offered to all undergraduate students in Education.…

Some music has been proved effectively to mitigate anxiety, beneficial to reading. However, little was known on its influence of reading behaviors and outcomes. Thanks to the advance of e-book technology, it becomes possible to track reading rate and outcomes in a real-time manner by the underlying mobile devices. This study intends to examine the…