Two new methods for the meta-analysis of factor loadings are introduced and evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations. The direct method pools each factor loading individually, whereas the indirect method synthesizes correlation matrices reproduced from factor loadings. The results of the two simulations demonstrated that the accuracy of…

The "familiarity effect" (Shen and Reingold, "Perception & Psychophysics" 63(3):464-475, 2001) is a phenomenon in which unfamiliar symbols perceptually "pop-out" when placed among familiar symbols (e.g., letters). In contrast, searching for familiar symbols among unfamiliar symbols is more challenging. Failure to…

This study attempted to investigate the impact of extensive reading (ER) on the writing ability of Iranian EFL students. The study also took a further step to explore the effect of adding group work activity to the extensive reading program to find its possible positive effect on improving writing ability. The present study had two experimental…

The axis of task research has shifted from task design to task planning, and rehearsal as a pre-task planning has been less touched upon throughout the history of the Second Language Acquisition (SLA); therefore, the current research was set around task rehearsal after Present-Practise-Product (PPP) model instruction in the task-supported language…

Social-emotional behavior in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was examined among high-risk (HR; siblings of children diagnosed with ASD) and low-risk (LR; no family history of ASD) toddlers. Caregivers completed the Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) at 18 months, and blind diagnostic assessment for ASD was conducted at 36 months.…

This quasi-experimental study, using a pretest-treatment-posttest-delayed posttest design, investigated the effects of two comprehensive corrective feedback strategies: direct corrective feedback (DCF), and metalinguistic explanation (ME) on L2 learners' written syntactic accuracy. The participants were 90 Turkish EFL learners. After ensuring…

This study was designed to investigate the adequacy of EFL learners' abilities in three major dimensions of digital literacy skills and whether self-assessments of competence were consistent with their actual performance. It also identified factors that affected learners' use of the selected digital literacy skills. To this end, 60 Saudi EFL…

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) can be used to score oral reading fuency (ORF) assessments to ameliorate current inadequacies (e.g., administration errors, high opportunity cost), and represents an important part of a larger solution to improve traditional ORF. But more research is needed on how ASR performs for diverse student groups. The…

This Research Brief summarizes the performance of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) students participating in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. The IB program was offered at six M-DCPS high schools in 2019-2020. Over 2,900 assessments were completed by M-DCPS students in 28 subject areas in 2019-2020. The number of IB…

The purpose of this meta-synthesis is to formulate a hypothesis concerning the importance of diacritical marks in Arabic word recognition for typically developed Arabic readers. I propose that the importance of diacritical marks in Arabic word recognition varies as a function of grade level, stimuli frequency, and text affiliation. Stimuli…

As a type of technology-enhanced learning tool, mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) provides a rich input environment enabling learners to learn a second language beyond the classroom. The present study was an attempt to explore the effectiveness of MALL in providing learners with opportunities to foster their oral accuracy. For this purpose,…

How does the concurrent use of language affect perception and memory for exemplars? Labels cue more general category information than a specific exemplar. Applying labels can affect the resulting memory for an exemplar. Here 3 alternative hypotheses are proposed for the role of labeling an exemplar at encoding: (a) labels distort memory toward the…

We have developed an online oscilloscope program which allows users to see waveforms by utilizing their computer microphones, selecting from our library of over 30 audio files, and opening any *.mp3 or *.wav file on their computers. The oscilloscope displays real-time signals against time. The oscilloscope has been calibrated so one can make…

In a politically and digitally polarized environment, identifying and evaluating fake news is more difficult than ever before. Librarians who have been teaching information and media literacy skills for decades understand the role we can and must play in this environment.

Introduction: Despite the popularity of crowdsourcing, the reliability of crowdsourced output has been questioned since crowdsourced workers display varied degrees of attention, ability and accuracy. It is important, therefore, to understand the factors that affect the reliability of crowdsourcing. In the context of producing relevance judgments,…