Student self-assessment is a central component of current conceptions of formative and classroom assessment. The research on self-assessment has focused on its efficacy in promoting both academic achievement and self-regulated learning, with little concern for issues of validity. Because reliability of testing is considered a sine qua non for the…

Psychology-specific epistemological beliefs (EBs) are believed to influence students' approach to and performance in psychology courses. However, empirical research on this topic is limited due in part to a lack of well-validated instruments measuring this construct. The primary objective of this research was to develop and validate the…

Studies attest that learning is facilitated if teaching strategies are in accordance with students learning styles, making learning process more effective and considerably improving students performances. In this context, one major research point--and a challenge--is to efficiently discover students' learning styles. But, the test and validation…

One of the major debates concerning the nature of inferential reasoning is between counterexample-based theories such as mental model theory and probabilistic theories. This study looks at conclusion updating after the addition of statistical information to examine the hypothesis that deductive reasoning cannot be explained by probabilistic…

Explicit attention to research design issues is essential in experimental second language (L2) research. Too often, however, such careful attention is not paid. This article examines some of the issues surrounding experimental L2 research and its relationships to causal inferences. It discusses the place of research questions and hypotheses,…

Paul E. Newton is to be commended for addressing as challenging a topic as the clarification of the concept of validity. The impetus for this foray is Newton's judgment that, despite decades of development, the definition and elaboration of the term test validity in the 1999 "Standards" retains sufficient ambiguity to permit, if not invite, both…

Lee Cronbach once expressed the view that all roads lead to construct validity. In looking to clarify the consensus definition of validity, and its place in assessment, Newton is also led to the troublesome idea of construct validity. To be sure, he addresses other validity issues, but in this commentary, I will restrict my attention to construct…

An instrumental study was carried out, with the purpose of developing a scale for assessing academic social participation (ASP) in class in university students, and testing its psychometric properties. Students from two national universities answered the ASP scale's items online, along with a scale assessing academic social self-efficacy.…

Social--emotional competences are an important developmental domain for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children and early diagnosis of problems is needed to ensure that DHH children receive appropriate support in this domain. In order to explore the usefulness of an instrument, which was recently developed for very young children, two studies in…

Higher education has traditionally privileged language-based text as evidence of students' levels of critical thinking and literacy. Twenty-first century education at all levels however, has focused on multimodal literacies and how educators can engage students who are seeing the world through diverse representations and a myriad of forms. Many…

The variety of explanations to questions about the origin of life, life after death or about the role itself of being in the world are built on the rational reflection that integrates the ideology of human beings as well as less rational practices and more emotional ones than in the whole nourish what has been called "beliefs".…

In accordance with the subject of this research, three different scales to measure preschool teachers' performances with respect to school principals', parents' and children's point of view were developed for the research. 51 principals, 893 parents and 256 children participated in the research. "Teacher Performance Evaluation…

In collaborative learning environments, students work together on assignments in virtual teams and depend on each other's contribution to achieve their learning objectives. The online learning environment, however, may not only facilitate but also hamper group communication, coordination, and collaboration. Group awareness widgets that visualize…

Theoretically, reflection is known to be an essential skill for improving learning on a metacognitive level. In practice, students may not use it of their own accord to improve this kind of learning because it can be mentally demanding. The author reports on the legitimation of an instrument measuring self-induced self-reflective thinking, which…

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale to identify the strategies students who study instrumental music use during the practice and learning of instrumental music based on their own responses. The study group comprised of 358 students studying music education in five universities in the academic year of 2015 to 2016.…