This research investigated the effect of self-, peer-, and teacherassessment on Iranian undergraduate EFL students' course achievement. Four intact classes, including 82 students from Urmia, Tabriz, and Tabriz Islamic Azad universities were randomly assigned into one of the self-, peer-, teacher-assessment, or control groups. The students were pretested on their current Teaching Methods knowledge. After receiving relevant instruction and training, the first experimental group (N= 21) were involved in self-assessment activities, the second one (N= 23) were engaged with peer-assessment tasks, and the third one (N= 21) were subjected to teacher-assessment; however, the control group (N= 19) received no assessment-related treatment. The application of ANCOVA on the results of the achievement posttest indicated differences in the performances of peer-, self-, teacherassessment, and the control groups F (3, 77) = 23.15, p= .05, in favour of peer-assessment. A medium effect size was found between the independent and dependent variables (partial eta squared= .47); however, the covariate, albeit significant (.03), had a small effect size (partial eta squared= .05). Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.
This study investigated the use of language learning strategies (LLS) and reasons for learning English among Iranian EFL students who began learning English at different ages. The participants (N = 33, both male and female) were divided into two groups of younger beginners (who began learning English before age 9; N = 16) and older beginners (who began learning English at or after age 12; N = 17). They were invited to complete Oxford's (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire and to take part in a structured interview. While the students' choices of LLS were identified both through the questionnaire and interviews, their reasons for strategy use and their goals in learning English were determined using the interviews alone. Data analysis indicated that there were differences in LLS categories employed by the groups. Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.
As perfectly summarised by Ida Lawrence, "Testing is growing by leaps and bounds across the world. There is a realization that a nation's well-being depends crucially on the educational achievement of its population. Valid tests are an essential tool to evaluate a nation's educational standing and to implement efficacious educational reforms. Because tests consume time that otherwise could be devoted to instruction, it is important to devise tests that are efficient. Doing so requires a careful balancing of the contributions of technology, psychometrics, test design, and the learning sciences. Computer adaptive multistage testing (MSCAT) fits the bill extraordinarily well; unlike other forms of adaptive testing, it can be adapted to educational surveys and student testing. Research in this area will be an evidence that the methodologies and underlying technology that surround MSCAT have reached maturity and that there is a growing acceptance by the field of this type of test design" (from the Foreword to Y. Duanli, A. A. von Davier, & L. Charles (Eds.), Computerized multistage testing: theory and application). This state-of-the-art paper aims to present an overview of differential item functioning (DIF) in MSCAT using three-parameter logistic item response theory (IRT), offering suggestions to implement it in practice with a hope to motivate testing and assessment researchers and practitioners to initiate projects in this under-practiced area by helping them to better understand some of the relevant technical concepts.
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