This article presents a theoretical review of and methodological guidelines for the study of two key notions in second language acquisition research, complexity and difficulty. The term "complexity" has gained considerable currency over the past decades and has taken on a wide range of meanings. We argue for a more restricted…

To design and script courses, practitioners often collaboratively use simple and tangible tools such as Post-it notes. In light of this, research and development were conducted to develop Eduscript Doctor, an analogic tool that would retain the inductive potential of Post-it notes while structuring the pedagogical scripting process. This…

Feedback significantly impacts learning outcomes, yet interindividual differences in feedback preferences remain understudied. We postulate and test a fitting feedback framework assuming that feedback framings matching personal preferences produce positive effects. We conducted two learning experiments including feedback representing different…

Running Records are thought to be an excellent formative assessment tool because they generate results that educators can use to make their teaching more responsive. Despite the technical nature of scoring Running Records and the kinds of important decisions that are attached to their analysis, few studies have investigated assessor accuracy. We…

The present study tested the hypothesis that verbal labels support category induction by providing compact hypotheses. Ninety-seven 4- to 6-year-old children (M = 63.2 months; 46 female, 51 male; 77% White, 8% more than one race, 4% Asian, and 3% Black; tested 2018) and 90 adults (M = 20.1 years; 70 female, 20 male) in the Midwestern United States…

As computer-based testing becomes more prevalent, the attention paid to response time (RT) in assessment practice and psychometric research correspondingly increases. This study explores the rate of Type I error in detecting preknowledge cheating behaviors, the power of the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence measure, and the L person fit statistic…

Thru-hiking is seeing an unprecedented surge in popularity in recent years, with the numbers of prospective thru-hikers only expected to continue to increase. Amidst this thru-hiking boom, this study used the Means End of Recreation Scale to determine the values and outcomes that motivate thru-hikers to hike and drive their trail selection.…

This paper introduces an application of cross-classified item response theory (IRT) modeling to an assessment utilizing the embedded standard setting (ESS) method (Lewis & Cook). The cross-classified IRT model is used to treat both item and person effects as random, where the item effects are regressed on the target performance levels (target…

Forum discussions in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) play a crucial role in promoting learning engagement and academic achievement. In particular, discussion topics significantly influence learners' emotional and cognitive engagement. However, the complex interrelationships among these factors remain underexplored. This study introduces an…

Although programming is often learned through formal instruction or self-paced tutorials, informal learning, for example, through publicly available online documentation, is also a significant resource for skill development among novices. However, many novices struggle to extract useful information from documentation. This work aims to answer two…

The current study examined how individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders navigate the complexities of learning within multidimensional environments marked by uncertain dimension values and without explicit guidance. Participants engaged in a game-like complex reinforcement learning task in which the stimuli dimension determining reward…

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of cognitive load level on students' attitude towards the gamified course. It was also found out the students' views regarding the 14-week gamified course. Participants consisted of 66 undergraduate students. 40 of them had low cognitive load level and 26 of them had high cognitive load level.…

Despite some research showing the relation of academic contingent self-worth to academic self-handicapping, evidence for how to improve the situation is limited. To address this research gap, this experimental study (N = 560) examined whether failure mindsets moderated the association between these two variables. Participants were randomly…

Exams are designed to rank students objectively by their abilities, including elements such as time limits, the number and difficulty of questions, and negative marking policies. Using data from a lab-in-field experiment, we develop and estimate a model of student behavior in multiple-choice exams that incorporates the effects of time constraints…

Background: Cognitive load theory is widely used in educational research and instructional design, which relies heavily on conceptual constructs and measurement instruments of cognitive load. Due to its implicit nature, cognitive load is usually measured by other related instruments, such as commonly-used self-report scales of mental effort or…