In instructional sensitivity research, it is important to evaluate the validity argument about the extent to which student performance on the assessment can be used to infer differences in instructional experiences. This study examines whether three different measures of mathematics instruction consistently identify mathematics assessments as…

The uncertainty arising from item parameter estimation is often not negligible and must be accounted for when calculating latent variable (LV) scores in item response theory (IRT). It is particularly so when the calibration sample size is limited and/or the calibration IRT model is complex. In the current work, we treat two-stage IRT scoring as a…

The purpose of the study was to examine and compare the occupational stress of male and female secondary school heads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. All the male and female secondary school heads working in pubic secondary schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa constituted the population of the study. A total of 402 secondary school heads were selected as sample…

Although hypothesis testing is ubiquitous in data analysis, research suggests it is commonly misunderstood. Simulation-based inference methods have potential to make student thinking visible, thus providing a valuable lens to analyze developing conceptions about inference. This paper identifies difficulties made visible through simulation-based…

While aggregate reasoning is a core aspect of statistical reasoning, its development is a key challenge in statistics education. In this study we examine how students' aggregate reasoning with samples and sampling (ARWSS) can emerge in the context of statistical modeling activities of real phenomena. We present a case study on the emergent ARWSS…

Background: Validity is a notable concept in language testing which has concerned many researchers and scholars in the field of language testing due to its importance in decision making process. Tests' results always introduce consequences to test takers' lives which emphasizes the need to ensure their validity. Detecting and delineating the…

The central purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the many ways in which special educators can generate and think about causal inference to inform policy and practice. Consideration of causality across different lenses can be carried out by engaging in multiple method and mixed methods ways of thinking about inference. This article…

Analogical reasoning is essential for transfer by supporting recognition of relational similarity. However, not all analogies are created equal. The source and target can be similar (near), or quite different (far). Previous research suggests that close comparisons facilitate children's relational abstraction. On the other hand, evidence from…

Inferring causal effects of treatments is a central goal in many disciplines. The potential outcomes framework is a main statistical approach to causal inference, in which a causal effect is defined as a comparison of the potential outcomes of the same units under different treatment conditions. Because for each unit at most one of the potential…

The author explored text difficulty for third-grade bilingual students reading below grade level. In six small-group discussions, students read and discussed informational texts matched to their reading levels, and in six other sessions they read and discussed texts one year ahead of their reading levels. The alternating treatment design and…

Critical thinking is one of the core objectives of talent training in higher education. Meanwhile, the cultivation of critical thinking skills in foreign language teaching has become more and more urgent, and it has also been written into the national standards for the training of foreign language talents. A good critical thinking includes both a…

Recently, there has been considerable L2 research on interfaces between different modules of grammar (internal), such as syntax-semantics, or between grammar and other cognitive systems (external), such as semantics-pragmatics. Sorace's (2011) Interface Hypothesis proposes that L2 learners, even at highly proficient levels, often fail to integrate…

Background: Writing involves multiple processes, drawing on a number of language, cognitive, and print-related skills, and knowledge. According to the Direct and Indirect Effects model of Writing (DIEW; Kim & Park, 2019, "Reading and Writing," 32, 1319), these multiple factors have hierarchical, interactive, and dynamic relations.…

Two studies examined the role of input distribution in English construction learning, by child learners from a Mandarin first-language background, and the extent to which phonological short-term memory and awareness predicted such learning. In the first study, 4th-grade students of Mandarin Chinese (N = 121) learned the English object-cleft…

Coefficient omega and alpha are both measures of the composite reliability for a set of items. Unlike coefficient alpha, coefficient omega remains unbiased with congeneric items with uncorrelated errors. Despite this ability, coefficient omega is not as widely used and cited in the literature as coefficient alpha. Reasons for coefficient omega's…