Cambridge Assessment has more than 20 years experience in assessing Critical Thinking (CT) in a number of diverse tests and qualifications, unrivalled by any other body within the UK. In recent years, a number of research activities have been carried out in order to support these assessments, with a focus on the validity of measurement. This paper…

This paper focuses on a specific aspect of formative assessment, namely questioning. Given that computers have gained widespread use in learning and teaching, specific attention should be made when organizing formative assessment in computer learning environments (CLEs). A course including various workshops was designed to develop knowledge and…

While Ghanaians in urban and rural settings are multilingual, English is the language of Ghanaian newspapers, politicians, the courts, much of television and radio in the metropolitan centres of the country. Indeed, urban Ghanaian adolescents have expanding opportunities to use English, the only official language of Ghana, even when not in school.…

The authors investigated whether some advantages of tutoring over other instructional methods are due to microadaptation, or, tutors basing their actions on assessments of tutees they develop during tutoring. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment, independent variables were shared experience (tutors either worked with the same or a different…

This qualitative study aims at detecting areas that requires to be developed in the EFL reading program in elementary stages in Kuwaiti public schools by using children's literature. It also examines the reading program in the public elementary curriculum. The participants were six English language major students from the College of Basic…

Latino students represent the fastest-growing population in the state of California, the United States, and the California Community College (CCC) system. Unfortunately, compared to other ethnic groups, Latino community college students continue to lag academically. Given the importance of counseling services and the scarce research related to…

This group of commentaries on teaching human rights in Turkey includes: (1) Reflection on Turkish Human Rights Lesson from Turkey (Alper Kesten)--A lesson on human rights in Turkey is analyzed for its representativity and methodology within the Turkish teaching culture from the viewpoint of a Turkish researcher; (2) Commentary on a Turkish Lesson…

Research was conducted to determine what impact school organization and classroom dynamics had on student achievement. Results from standardized benchmark tests found no significant differences in scores across all schools and content areas; yet, end of course standardized measures indicated that students in sites employing block scheduling…

Reading comprehension is a key issue in learning English as a foreign language, and it is critical that teachers utilize pre-reading strategies in reading classes in order to help students enhance their comprehension. The present study investigates the effectiveness of two pre-reading strategies on EFL students' performance in reading…

Discussion forums are often utilized in the online classroom to build a sense of community, encourage collaboration and exchange, and measure time on task. A review of the literature revealed that there is little research that examines the role of the online discussion forum as a mechanism for knowledge transfer. Researchers reviewed 21 course…

This study is based on two exploratory questions with the aim of determining the relative effectiveness of two different student activities, called "Reading, Presenting and Questioning" (RPQ) and "Experimenting and Discussing" (ED), in changing students' perceptions and attitudes about the impact of physics learning on the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the type, pattern, and complexity of Internet reading strategies used by seven accomplished high school readers. Individual participants performed an academic Internet reading task with the goal of developing critical questions about their chosen controversial topic. Strategies for Internet reading were…

We taught three high school students with high-functioning autism to increase their novel peer-directed questions when using a communication book to converse with general education partners at school. Novel question training was associated with participants asking peer-directed questions not displayed in communication books across a variety of…

This paper reports on a study designed to examine the dialogic processes teachers used to sustain focused discussions, using questioning techniques and Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs). IWBs and their related technologies such as plasma touch screens and projected tablets have passed through several phases of implementation as classroom objects,…

This collaborative inquiry answers the following questions: 1) What is the nature of talk during Socratic Circles? 2) What is student response to talk? 3) How might knowing more about student response to talk and the nature of talk improve teaching during Socratic Circles? The article first describes the process of implementing Socratic Circles,…