This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which lexical frequency and lexical diversity contribute to writing proficiency scores on monolingual English-speaking writers' and advanced multilingual writers' academic compositions. The data consist of essays composed by 104 multilingual English learners enrolled in advanced…

The present study aimed at exploring the differences in EFL learners' writing performance in two writing modes (direct and translated writing) in two writing genres (argumentation and narration) depending upon their L2 writing proficiency. For this study, 46 college freshmen (43.5% of high level and 56.5% of low level) performed four writing tasks…

Policymakers and educators on Guåhan (Guam) are concerned about the persistent shortage of qualified K-12 teachers. Staff at the Unibetsedåt Guåhan (University of Guam, UOG) School of Education, the only local university that offers a teacher training and certification program, believe that more students are interested in becoming teachers but…

This Study Snapshot highlights key findings from a study that examined which student demographic and academic preparation characteristics predict passing the Praxis® Core test and each of its subtests at the Unibetsedåt Guåhan (University of Guam, UOG) School of Education. This information is needed to increase admissions to the School of…

Policymakers and educators on Guåhan (Guam) are concerned about the persistent shortage of qualified K-12 teachers. Staff at the Unibetsedåt Guåhan (University of Guam, UOG) School of Education, the only local university that offers a teacher training and certification program, believe that more students are interested in becoming teachers but…

The "Using High School and College Data to Predict Teacher Candidates' Performance on the Praxis at Unibetsedåt Guåhan (University of Guam)" study examined which student demographic and academic preparation characteristics predict passing the Praxis® Core test and each of its subtests at the Unibetsedåt Guåhan (University of Guam, UOG)…

This New Zealand-based study of the classroom practice of nine exemplary teachers of writing to upper primary-age students explored the significance of task orientation as a component of effective teacher instruction and the instructional strategies or actions that effective teachers utilise to promote such. Effectiveness pertains to teachers…

In most assessments of students' argumentive writing and in most research on the topic, students write on topics for which they have no specific prior preparation. We examined development in the argumentive writing urban middle school students did as part of a two-year dialogic-based intervention in which students engaged deeply with a series of…

Assessment plays a critical role in learning and teaching and its power to enhance engagement and student outcomes is still underestimated in tertiary education. The current project considers the impact of a staged redesign of an assessment strategy that emphasized relevance of learning, formative assessment, student engagement, and feedback on…

Effects of peer response using instruction in genre knowledge on the writing of 140 sixth-grade students are investigated. In one condition students were taught specific genre knowledge involving functions of linguistic indicators of time and place. In another condition students were taught more general aspects of communicative writing. Both…

Self-assessment as one of authentic assessments has been currently implemented in EFL teaching pedagogy as to give more opportunity to the students to reflect on their own learning and progress. This study aims at investigating the effect of self-assessment on students' independence and writing competence. In the present study, two groups of…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), first administered in 1969, is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what the nation's students know and can do in various subjects such as civics, geography, mathematics, reading, science, U.S. history, and writing. The results of NAEP are released as The…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) offers two primary bilingual programs for Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs). EL students in the district's two main bilingual programs (Transitional and Dual Language) are instructed in both English and Spanish. The relative amount of instruction in each language depends on both program and…

The majority of correctional students of English as a second language (ESL) in Maryland come to school with limited formal education in their first language. Education has not been prioritized, and formal writing ability is absent. It then becomes a challenge to motivate students to successful writing, as is required by the state. ESL students at…

This study analyzed the grammatical control of verbs exercised by 145 monolingual English and Generation 1.5 bilingual developmental writers in narrative essays using quantitative and qualitative methods. Generation 1.5 students made more errors than their monolingual peers in each category investigated, albeit in only 2 categories was the…