This study examines the development and evaluation of a bilingual Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation, 2006). A bilingual (English-Russian) test was developed and administered to 121 intermediate proficiency EFL learners (native speakers of Russian), alongside the original monolingual (English-only) version of the test. A comparison of the bilingual…

The Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition (WASI-II; Wechsler, 2011), published by Pearson, is a newly updated abbreviated measure of cognitive intelligence designed for individuals 6 to 90 years of age. Primarily used in clinical, psychoeducational, and research settings, the WASI-II was developed to quickly and accurately…

Past research provides evidence that children use at least 2 potentially competing strategies when choosing informants: they attend to informants' past accuracy and to their social identity (e.g., their status as native- vs. foreign-accented speakers). We explore how children reconcile these 2 strategies when they are put in conflict and whether…

Tutors often have difficulty with accurately assessing a tutee's understanding. However, little is known about whether the professional expertise of tutors influences their assessment accuracy. In this study, the authors examined the accuracy with which 21 teacher tutors and 25 student tutors assessed a tutee's understanding of the human…

There is extensive research on the benefits of making data-informed decisions, but research also contains evidence many educators incorrectly interpret student data. Meanwhile, the types of detailed labeling on over-the-counter medication have been shown to improve use of non-medication products, as well. However, data systems most educators use…

This dissertation investigates the use of observational learning enhanced health instruction to mitigate problems of low language competency among learners. Low language competency can cause improper comprehension of medical instruction and health education, resulting in misdiagnosis, reduced recall, under reporting of medical conditions and…

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS) emphasize the importance of writing and specify that students should write for external, and, at times, unfamiliar audiences. Given the relationship between audience specification and quality writing in older…

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing indicate that multiple sources of validity evidence should be used to support the interpretation of test scores. In the past decade, examinee response processes, as a source of validity evidence, have received increased attention. However, there have been relatively few methodological studies…

Sentence repetition (SR) tasks have been used to measure children's expressive language skills in normal and abnormal language development, and to examine the development of the speaking skills in second language acquisition, as well as to survey the proficiency of bilingual language development. Recently, SR tasks have been recognized as a…

This study examines bi-literacy development among 60 children enrolled in an Italian-English dual language (DL) program in Southern California. Using a variety of measures including (1) oral reading fluency (ORF), (2) accuracy scores, and (3) standardized test for the assessment of reading (STAR) test's estimates of reading ability for English,…

Language learners with high working memory capacity have an advantage, all other factors being equal, during the second language acquisition (SLA) process; therefore, identifying a pedagogical intervention that can compensate for low working memory capacity would be advantageous to language learners and instructors. Extensive research on the…

The current study compared the effectiveness of computer-delivered task-essential practice coupled with feedback consisting of (1) negative evidence with metalinguistic information (NE+MI) or (2) negative evidence without metalinguistic information (NE-MI) in promoting absolute beginners' (n = 58) initial learning of aspects of Latin…

Performance improvement is thought to occur through engagement in deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is predicted to be challenging, effortful, and not inherently enjoyable. Expert and intermediate level Gaelic football players executed two types of kicks during an acquisition phase and pre-, post-, and retention tests. During acquisition,…

We sought to develop a method for measuring imitation accuracy objectively in primary school children. Children imitated a model drawing shapes on the same computer-tablet interface they saw used in video clips, allowing kinematics of model and observers' actions to be directly compared. Imitation accuracy was reported as a correlation reflecting…

The global textbook has an enormous influence upon what is taught in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. As Akbari has noted, our era is not simply "postmethod", but one of "textbook-defined practice". What happens, then, when a global EFL textbook is selected for use with Year 1 students at a Thai university? How…