English learners (ELs) represent one of the fastest growing student populations in the United States. Given that language can serve as a barrier in EL performance, test accommodations are provided to help level the playing field and allow ELs to better demonstrate their true performance level. Test accommodations on the computer offer the ability…

Indirect metaphors are pervasive in everyday language: People talk about "long" vacations, "short" tempers, and "colorful" language. But, why do we use concrete lexical items that are associated with the physical world when we talk about abstract, or non-physical, concepts? A potential answer is provided by proponents…

Online and on-demand tests are increasingly used in assessment. Although the main focus has been cheating and test security (e.g., Selwyn, 2008) the cross-setting equivalence of scores as a function of contrasting test conditions is also an issue that warrants attention. In this study, the impact of environmental and cognitive distractions, as…

Delta's Key to the TOEFL iBT: Advanced Skill Practice is a revised and updated edition of Delta's Key to the Next Generation TOEFL Test. Since the introduction of the TOEFL iBT in 2005, there have been significant changes to some of the test questions, particularly the integrated writing and integrated speaking tasks. The new 2011 edition of…

Emotion plays an ever-present role in human existence, impacting nearly every behavior and decision in some way. Research in the behavioral sciences is rife with exploration of emotion and the role it plays in everything from business decision making to health-related behavior. However, affect, the feeling or experience of emotion, is complex and…

We know that knowledge of word structure--morphology--relates to reading, but there is limited research on its unique contribution to reading comprehension, especially with students in middle and high schools and with the nesting of students within classrooms taken into account. In this study with 4780 students in grades 3 to 10, we examined how…

Decades of research have established that "online" cognitive processes, which operate during conscious encoding and retrieval of information, contribute substantially to individual differences in memory. Furthermore, it is widely accepted that "offline" processes during sleep also contribute to memory performance. However, the question of whether…

Stereotypes, expectations, and emotions influence an observer's ability to detect and categorize objects as guns. In light of recent work in action-perception interactions, however, there is another unexplored factor that may be critical: The action choices available to the perceiver. In five experiments, participants determined whether another…

Item replenishing is essential for item bank maintenance in cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing (CD-CAT). In regular CAT, online calibration is commonly used to calibrate the new items continuously. However, until now no reference has publicly become available about online calibration for CD-CAT. Thus, this study investigates the…

Digital technologies have been used for measurement purposes and whether the test medium influences the user is an important issue. The aim of this study is to investigate students' performances and duration differences between online and paper-pencil tests. An online testing tool was developed and administered in order to determine the…

Emotions experienced during online academic examinations may differ from emotions experienced in the traditional classroom testing situation. Students in a "Psychology of Learning" course (n = 61) completed assessments of emotions before and after a quiz in each of the following settings: online at their own choice of time and location; online in…

As access and reliance on technology continue to increase, so does the use of computerized testing for admissions, licensure/certification, and accountability exams. Nonetheless, full computer-based test (CBT) implementation can be difficult due to limited resources. As a result, some testing programs offer both CBT and paper-based test (PBT)…

Purpose: According to the "procedural deficit hypothesis" (PDH), difficulties in the procedural learning (PL) system may contribute to the language difficulties observed in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Fifteen children with SLI and their typically developing (TD) peers were compared on visual PL…

The work we present in this paper aims to help teachers create multiple-choice science tests. We focus on a scientific vocabulary-learning scenario taking place in a Basque-language educational environment. In this particular scenario, we explore the option of automatically generating Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQ) by means of Natural Language…

We describe a study conducted during 2009-12 into innovative assessment practice, evaluating an assessed coursework task on a final year Medical Genetics module for Biomedical Science undergraduates. An authentic e-assessment coursework task was developed, integrating objectively marked online questions with an online DNA sequence analysis tool…