Common test items play an important role in equating multiple test forms under the common-item nonequivalent groups design. Inconsistent item parameter estimates among common items can lead to large bias in equated scores for IRT true score equating. Current methods extensively focus on detection and elimination of outlying common items, which…

Previous word learning studies suggest that children with autism spectrum disorder may have difficulty understanding pictorial symbols. Here we investigate the ability of children with autism spectrum disorder and language-matched typically developing children to contextualize symbolic information communicated by pictures in a search task that did…

This study investigated the difference between peer and teacher assessment of writing compositions of advanced university students in English. Besides, it investigated the likely effect this type of evaluation might have on the learners' writing skill. To this end, 17 participants were surveyed over seven weeks. During every session, the…

This study aims to further the understanding of first language (L1) lexical transfer within the context of L1 Chinese learners of English. Previous transfer research has often focused on a small subset of grammar errors, without examining how lexical choices, especially in collocations and multi-word units (MWU), might have been influenced by L1…

The kernel method of test equating is a unified approach to test equating with some advantages over traditional equating methods. Therefore, it is important to evaluate in a comprehensive way the usefulness and appropriateness of the Kernel equating (KE) method, as well as its advantages and disadvantages compared with several popular item…

This study examined the hypothesis of an atypical interaction between attention and language in ASD. A dual-task experiment with three conditions was designed, in which sentences were presented that contained errors requiring attentional focus either at (a) low level, or (b) high level, or (c) both levels of language. Speed and accuracy for error…

This study examines the potential benefits of rhyme on young children's word retention during shared reading. In two experiments, 2- to 4-year-old children heard their parent read either a rhymed or non-rhymed version of the same animal story, and were then tested on how many animal names they subsequently recognized from the story in Experiment 1…

Dual route models of reading suggest there are 2 pathways for reading words: an orthographic-lexical pathway, used to read familiar regular words and exception words, and a grapheme-to-phoneme-conversion-(GPC)-sublexical pathway, used to read unfamiliar regular words, pseudohomophones (PHs), and nonwords. It is unclear, however, whether PHs…

Background: The ability to generate and flexibly change concepts is of great importance for the development of academic and adaptive skills. This paper analyses the conceptual reasoning ability of children with mild intellectual disability (MID) by their achievements on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Method: The sample consisted of 95…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of four high school-aged students with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and moderate intellectual disability to generalize performance of skills when using materials different from those presented through video models. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to evaluate student…

The current study evaluated the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platforms, developed within the scope of the SKILLS Integrated Project, for industrial maintenance and assembly (IMA) tasks training. VR and AR systems are now widely regarded as promising training platforms for complex and highly demanding IMA tasks. However,…

The present study challenges the validity of elicited imitation (EI) as a measure for implicit knowledge, investigating to what extent online error detection and subsequent sentence repetition draw on implicit knowledge. To assess online detection during listening, a word monitoring component was built into an EI task. Advanced-level Japanese L2…

In the course of normal classroom lessons, 103 students (median 11.10 years) were asked to spend 15 min writing "anything you can think of" about the number 50 on a blank page. The products were independently scored by 2 specialist art teachers and 2 specialist mathematics teachers on criteria relevant to their specialisations.…

This paper provides an example of close analysis of student attempts to fill the gaps that comprise a "cloze" test. Such analysis may assist diagnosis of the difficulties that groups of students experience with specific text in particular contexts and illustrate the impact of those difficulties. The paper briefly touches on the…

Although many students struggle with fractions, students with mathematical learning disabilities (MLDs) experience pervasive difficulties because of neurological differences in how they process numerical information. These students make errors that are qualitatively different than their typically achieving and low-achieving peers. This study…