Pragmatics has been a key component of language competence frameworks. While the majority of second/foreign language (L2) pragmatics tests have targeted productive skills, the assessment of receptive pragmatic skills remains a developing field. This study explores validation evidence for a test of receptive L2 pragmatic ability called the American…

Purpose: Our purpose was to explore the validity and reliability of the German Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (FOCUS-G; Thomas-Stonell, Oddson, Robertson, & Rosenbaum, 2010, 2012), which is an authorized adaptation of the Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (Thomas-Stonell et al., 2010) tool, which measures…

The Neighborhood Physical Activity Questionnaire allows to assess physical activity within and outside the neighborhood. Study objectives were to examine the criterion-related validity and health/functioning associations of Neighborhood Physical Activity Questionnaire-derived physical activity in German older adults. A total of 107 adults aged…

In this article, the authors present the adaptation and validation processes conducted to render the American "Test of Financial Literacy" (TFL) suitable for use in Germany (TFL-G). First, they outline the translation procedure followed and the various cultural adjustments made in line with international standards. Next, they present…

Recent handbooks of giftedness or expertise propose a plethora of conceptions on the development of excellent performance but, to our knowledge, there are no comparative studies that provide empirical evidence of their validity to guide researchers and practitioners in their adoption of a particular conception. This study sought to close that gap…

Reading comprehension is based on the efficient accomplishment of several cognitive processes at the word, sentence, and text level. To the extent that each of these processes contributes to reading comprehension, it can cause reading difficulties if it is deficient. To identify individual sources of reading difficulties, tools are required that…

The study examined the psychometric properties of the German version of the Creative Thinking-Drawing Production Test (TCT-DP). This test evaluates creative potential with 14 content-related criteria, constituting a total score. Age norms exist for children from 4-16 years. A total of 269 children with predominantly migrant background, aged…

The reliance on self-reports in detecting noncredible symptom report of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adulthood (aADHD) has been questioned due to findings showing that symptoms can easily be feigned on self-report scales. In response, Suhr and colleagues developed an infrequency index for the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CII)…

Epistemic beliefs are individual beliefs about knowledge and knowledge acquisition. Empirical studies indicate that learners' epistemic beliefs influence their learning processes and success (e.g. motivation, text comprehension, learning strategy selection, grades). Teachers and trainers can support their apprentices in developing preferable…

Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is important throughout the lifespan. The objective was to investigate the transcultural diagnostic validity of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) in a clinical sample of 451 adults with Intellectual Developmental Disorder (IDD) with and without ASD in Germany, the U.S.A. and Great Britain.…

The Thinking Styles Inventories (TSI) are questionnaires for assessing individual preferences in constructing knowledge. This paper identifies several problems concerning their validity, which range from an inadequate use of factor analysis, to missing information on the measurement model, to findings indicating a low discrimination between the…

Students of all ages face severe conceptual difficulties regarding key aspects of evolution-- the central, unifying, and overarching theme in biology. Aspects strongly related to abstract "threshold" concepts like randomness and probability appear to pose particular difficulties. A further problem is the lack of an appropriate instrument…

This study evaluates a 12-item instrument for subjective measurement of mental load (ML) and mental effort (ME) by analysing different sources of validity evidence. The findings of an expert judgement (N = 8) provide "evidence based on test content" that the formulation of the items corresponds to the meaning of ML and ME. An empirical…

Science standards of different countries introduced disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts--such as energy--to help students develop a more interconnected science understanding. As previous research has mostly addressed energy learning in specific disciplinary contexts, this study targets students' cross-disciplinary understanding of…

Personal epistemological beliefs are considered to play an important role for processes of learning and teaching. However, research on personal epistemology is confronted with theoretical issues as there is conflicting evidence regarding the structure, stability, and context-dependence of epistemological beliefs. We give evidence how theoretical…