Active learning is increasingly promoted within institutions of higher education to assist students develop higher order thinking and link knowledge to meaning. In this paper, the authors evaluate the use of weekly online quizzes based on prescribed preparatory material as a tool to incentivize preparatory reading in order to enable and encourage…

Recent findings have provided strong evidence that retrieval-based learning is an effective strategy for enhancing knowledge retention and long-term meaningful learning, but it is not a preferred learning strategy for the majority of students. The present research analyzes the application of learning gamification principles in online, open-book,…

This study aims to investigate how Turkish Teacher Trainees of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) interpret implied meanings, which is an integral but lesser-studied component of pragmatic competence. The conduct of the study began with the development of an online multiple-choice discourse completion test (MDCT) through two piloting phases.…

Lexical inferencing has not led to substantial vocabulary gains. In previous studies, the learners were not obliged by design to notice the unfamiliar words and static approaches to assessment were adopted. In this quasi-experimental study, we adopted dynamic assessment (DA) approach and took measures to ensure noticing of the new words. Through…

The article aims to outline and analyze the most demanding parts of computer-based exams for the students of the Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russian B.N. Yeltsin (Ekaterinburg, Russia) during one exam session of spring of 2016-2017. For this research, a quantitative method of mean scores for reading, listening, and…

In the paper, we point out several observations and remarks on time effectiveness of electronic testing, in particular of its new form (interactive tests). A test is often used as an effective didactic tool for evaluating the extent of gained cognitive capabilities. According to authors Rudman (1989) and Wang (2003) it is provable that the…

Researchers and teachers often recommend motivating exercises and use of mathematics or statistics software for the teaching of basic courses in probability and statistics. Our courses are given to large groups of engineering students at Lund Institute of Technology. We found that the mere existence of real-life data and technology in a course…

Introduction: School readiness predicts both school and life success, so measuring it effectively is extremely important. Current school readiness tests focus on pre-academic skills; however, mastery motivation (MM: persistent, focus on trying to do a task) and executive functions (EF: planful self-control) are also crucial. Method: The purpose of…

A noun can be potentially ambiguous as to whether it is a head on its own, or is a modifier of a Noun + Noun compound waiting for its head. This study investigates whether young children can exploit the prosodic information on a modifier constituent preceding the head to facilitate resolution of such ambiguity in Japanese. Evidence from English…

Feedback is known to have a large influence on student learning gains, and the emergence of online tools has greatly enhanced the opportunity for delivering timely, expressive, digital feedback and for investigating its learning impacts. However, to date there have been no large quantitative investigations of the feedback provided by large teams…

Although learning theories suggest that repeat testing can be highly beneficial for students' retention and understanding of material, there is, so far, little guidance on how to implement repeat testing in higher education. This paper introduces one method for implementing a three-stage model of repeat testing via computer-aided formative…

Language assessment is one of the key factors affecting language learning contexts since it not only provides information about the learners and teachers' performance in the classroom but also shapes how languages are learned and practiced depending on how assessment is conducted. Technology, different learner profiles, problems with the existing…

The Programme for International Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year olds academic achievement. Although it has traditionally been conducted using paper-and-pencil tests, the vast majority of countries will use computer-based assessment from 2015. In this paper, we consider how cross-country comparisons of children's…

This paper attempts to address the possibility of real change after a hundred years of exam-based assessments that produce a single mark or grade as feedback on students' progress and abilities. It uses visual feedback and analysis of graduate attribute assessment to foreground the diversity of aspects of a student's performance across subject…

In the Manchester Pharmacy School, we first adopted summative on-line examinations in 2005. Since then, we have increased the range of question types to include short answers, short essays and questions incorporating chemical structures and we achieve time savings of up to 90% in the marking process. Online assessments allow two novel forms of…