This study explores the extent to which topic and background knowledge of topic affect spoken performance in a high-stakes speaking test. It is argued that evidence of a substantial influence may introduce construct-irrelevant variance and undermine test fairness. Data were collected from 81 non-native speakers of English who performed on 10…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of enterprise education on students' understanding of and attitudes to entrepreneurship and enterprise education in initial teacher education. Design/methodology/approach: This paper builds on current literature by introducing student teachers to the theory and practice of…

Students' self-efficacy expectations (SEE) in mathematics are associated with their engagement and learning experiences. Going beyond previous operationalisations of SEE we propose a new instrument that takes into account not only "facet-specificity" (expectations related to particular competences or skills) and "strength"…

As newly graduated associate degree nurses (ADN) and baccalaureate degree nurses (BSN) enter into the workforce, they must be equipped to care for a complex patient population; therefore, the purpose of this study was to address the practice expectations and clinical competency of new nurses as perceived by nurse preceptors and nurse managers.…

Industry placements are popular means to provide students with an opportunity to apply their skills, knowledge and experience in a "real world" setting. Within this context, supervisor feedback allows educators to measure students' performance beyond academic objectives, by benchmarking it against industry expectations. However, industry…

This study is based on our belief that mathematics should be challenging in any classroom and that mathematical challenge is among the central factors that determine the quality of mathematics lessons. Choosing challenging mathematical problem for the students is central in teachers' work while their conception of mathematical challenge can…

When General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSEs) were introduced in the late 1980s, coursework was included as a requirement in many subjects. Coursework was intended to help best represent students' attainments, but concerns about various issues (e.g., tasks becoming formulaic, authenticity of student work, workload) led to a review and…

We investigate the conceptual and procedural knowledge in integration of a group of students who has successfully completed a one-year calculus course. The participants are asked five questions and their responses are analysed in detail. We observed that the students do not have satisfactory conceptual understanding of integration. Moreover, it is…