Multiple-choice testing is a staple within the U.S. higher education system. From classroom assessments to standardized entrance exams such as the GRE, GMAT, or LSAT, test developers utilize a variety of validated and heuristic driven item-writing guidelines. One such guideline that has been given recent attention is to randomize the position of…

Using randomly ordered name generators, we tested the effect of name generators' relative position on the likelihood of respondents' declining to respond or satisficing in their response. An online survey of public health staff elicited names of information sources, information seekers, perceived experts, and friends. Results show that when name…

This study tested the applicability of the theoretical Examination for Candidates of Driving License (ECODL) in Turkey as a computerized adaptive test (CAT). Firstly, various simulation conditions were tested for the live CAT through an item response theory-based calibrated item bank. The application of the simulated CAT was based on data from…

This research focuses on the performance (as measured by exam grades) of students in a section of Accounting Principles taught face to face (traditional delivery) versus one section of the same class taught in an online format versus two sections of the same course taught in a hybrid format. The distinction of this research is that the students in…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2020 Grades 3-8 English Language Arts Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2020…

This study focused on grade 12 students' understanding of reaction kinetics. A 4-tier diagnostic instrument was developed for this purpose and administered to 137 students in the main study. Findings showed that reaction kinetics is a difficult topic for these students, with a total of 25 alternative conceptions (ACs) being uncovered. Except for…

This study applied the mode of on-the-fly assembled multistage adaptive testing to cognitive diagnosis (CD-OMST). Several and several module assembly methods for CD-OMST were proposed and compared in terms of measurement precision, test security, and constrain management. The module assembly methods in the study included the maximum priority index…

Background: Variations in the skill profiles of learners have become an important research area in recent years. However, there is a lack of empirical research on this topic in Japan. We conducted three studies to address this gap. Methods: Study 1 investigated the characteristics of the flat and uneven skill profiles of Japanese learners of…

To better understand the relationship between second-language (L2) listening comprehension and metacognitive awareness, we examined the moderating effects of listening tests and learner samples while focusing on aspects of metacognitive awareness. Students of English-as-a-foreign-language at a Japanese university (n = 75; the 2019 cohort) took the…

Vocabulary learning is an incremental process. Vocabulary knowledge, especially for second-language learners, may develop across a lifetime. Teachers with experience in providing feedback on their students' vocabulary use in writing or speech might have noticed that it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint one aspect of word knowledge. The reason is…

This study examined information integration cognitive mechanisms underlying the test anxiety judgments of 474 engineering students. The experimental design considered the orthogonal combination of three factors (teaching style, exam type, and test mode), resulting in 12 experimental scenarios. During the experiments, participants were provided one…

This study explored the cognitive mechanism behind information integration in the test anxiety judgments in 140 engineering students. An experiment was designed to test four factors combined (test goal orientation, test cognitive functioning level, test difficulty and test mode). The experimental task required participants to read 36 scenarios,…

Computer-based testing (CBT), which refers to delivering assessments with computers, has been widely used in large English proficiency tests worldwide. Despite an increasing CBT in China, limited research is available concerning whether CBT can be used for the Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM 4). The current study investigated whether testing…

The present article gives an overview of several studies on the predictive validity of the C-test. In the first part of the article, we discuss the construct validity of this test format. Only if the underlying construct of this test is understood, can a justification for high predictive validity be made. In the second part, we discuss several…

The involvement load hypothesis (ILH) was designed to predict the effectiveness of instructional tasks for incidental L2 vocabulary learning. In this meta-analysis we examined 398 effect sizes from 42 empirical studies (N = 4,628) to explore (a) the overall predictive ability of the ILH, (b) the relative effects of different components of the ILH…