How accurate are ESL students’ holistic writing scores on large-scale assessments?—A generalizability theory approach

Using generalizability theory, this study examined both the rating variability and reliability of ESL students’ writing in the provincial English examinations in Canada. Three years’ data were used in order to complete the analyses and examine the stability of the results. The major research question that guided this study was: Are there any differences between the rating variability and reliability of the writing scores assigned to ESL students and to Native English (NE) students in the writing components of the provincial examinations across three years? A series of generalizability studies and decision studies was conducted. Results showed that differences in score variation did exist between ESL and NE students when adjudicated scores were used. First, there was a large effect for both language group and person within language-by-task interaction. Second, the unwanted residual variance component was significantly larger for ESL students than for NE students in all three years. Finally, the desired variance associated with the object of measurement was significantly smaller for ESL students than for NE students in one year. Consequently, the observed generalizability coefficient for ESL students was significantly lower than that for NE students in that year. These findings raise a potential question about the fairness of the writing scores assigned to ESL students.     

How accurate are teacher and parent judgements of lower secondary school children’s test anxiety?

This study examined teacher and mother judgement accuracy of children’s worries and emotionality in the school subjects of German and mathematics. The participants were 59 German language and 58 mathematics teachers, 572 mothers and their children at the end of Grade 6. The analyses for the total sample revealed weak-to-moderate correlations between adult’s and children’s perception of test anxiety. Moreover, we found that teachers overestimated children’s emotionality as well as children’s worry, whereas mothers underestimated children’s worry and overestimated children’s emotionality in both subjects. However, when looking at the highly test-anxious children, we found quite low correlations and an underestimation of children’s worry and emotionality in both school subjects. Thus, it seems important to provide teachers and parents with information about test anxiety and possibly training to improve their judgement accuracy because of moderating effects of test anxiety on achievement.     

How and why are educators using Instagram?

Social media are commonplace in many educators’ lives, but their Instagram activities have received no prior attention in the empirical literature. We therefore created and disseminated a survey regarding educators’ Instagram use. Analyses of 841 responses suggested participants were generally intensive users of Instagram who engaged in the exchange of both professional knowledge and wisdom, as well as affective support. In addition to identifying benefits to Instagram use, some participants offered critiques of Instagram’s professional utility. We discuss the implications of these findings for educators’ work in a digital era and the future of research on educators’ social media activities.     

How different are they? A comparison of Generation 1.5 and international L2 learners’ writing ability

A growing body of literature in second-language writing suggests that the writing ability of international second language (L2) learners, who attend post-secondary education abroad after having completed high school in their home countries, and the so-called Generation 1.5 population, that is, L2 learners who enter post-secondary education after attending high school in the new country, differs. The present study provides much-needed empirical evidence concerning potential differences in the writing ability of these two groups. Many-facet Rasch measurement procedures were used to analyze learners’ writing scores in five components, based on a theoretical model of writing ability: grammatical, cohesive, rhetorical, sociopragmatic, and content control. Results revealed that the international learners performed better overall than the Generation 1.5 learners and that the two groups had opposing strengths and weaknesses in grammatical and sociopragmatic control. Language program administrators and practitioners can use these results when designing curricula addressing the needs of diverse groups of L2 learners.     

What contemporary work are student ratings actually doing in higher education?

It is conventionally assumed that student ratings perform a significant function in driving improvement in pedagogical practices in higher education. As a result, this form of evaluation has gradually become institutionalised in recent decades as an essential proxy for understanding teaching and course quality in universities across the world. However, with the rise of market-based models in higher education and heightened expectations for accountability mechanisms, the role and functional purpose of ratings-based student evaluation have become increasingly confused. This rising ambiguity has created strong tensions between the seminal drive of student ratings as a tool of quality improvement, and the emerging demands for its use as a transparent accountability measure for the comparative assessment of academic performativity. So are student ratings now largely a tool of quality assurance or performance measurement, or do they remain a legitimate tool for pedagogical improvement? This paper reports on a study that responded to this critical question by considering the contemporary work of student ratings in a major Australian university. The outcomes of this research demonstrate that tension between improvement and accountability motives is causing considerable confusion and discord around the role and value of the student voice. It also reveals that academics are tending to discount the often critical insights of students on the implications of their pedagogical practices as a result of the elevating institutional role of student ratings as a proxy for teaching quality. In considering these outcomes, rising levels of academic dissonance around student ratings would suggest a necessity to consider broadened evaluative strategies that are able to more effectively capture the improvement potential offered by the student voice.     

Judging students' achievement goal orientations: Are teacher ratings accurate?

Using the theoretical framework of achievement goal theory, this study investigated the accuracy of teachers' judgments of their students' motivation. Self-report data were gathered on the mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals of 1140 German secondary school students (mean age = 14.24) in five academic subjects (English, Mathematics, German, second foreign language, and Biology). Their teachers in each of the five subjects (N = 176) were asked to judge students' achievement goals. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that teacher ratings of students' motivation statistically significantly predicted student ratings in all five subjects for mastery and performance-approach motivation, but not for performance-avoidance motivation. Assessment of differences in teachers' judgment accuracy across classrooms revealed some variability in teachers' ability to judge their students' mastery and performance-approach goals. Exploratory analyses showed that teaching experience, teacher gender, student age, and student gender did not systematically explain variation in judgment accuracy. Future research should examine other characteristics potentially influencing teachers' judgment accuracy and investigate the effect of teachers' judgment accuracy on students' motivation.     

Which components of working memory are important in the writing process?

This study investigated the relationship between components of working memory (WM) and the macrostructure (e.g., planning, writing, and revision) and microstructure (e.g., grammar, punctuation) of writing. A battery of WM and writing measures were administered to 160 high-school students. Overall, hierarchical regression analyses showed that the central executive component of WM significantly predicted planning, writing, and revision as well the majority of microstructure measures. The results further validate the importance of WM in the writing process, but indicate that writing process is more intricately tied to the controlled attention component of WM when compared to storage of information.

How many people are there in your family?

Fred is from New York.His parents are with his grandfather and grandmother.Fred is six years old and now he is in a school.His father takes him to school by car every day.So he is never late     

How old are they?

A farmer has five sons.They are Ted,Bob,Tom,John and Bill.John has no elder brother.He was four-years old when his younger brother was born.The number of Tom's elder brothers is equal (相等)to his younger brothers.Bill will     

How are graduates and alumni featured in university strategic plans? Lessons from Ireland

This paper presents research from a small-scale study analysing how graduates and alumni feature in the strategic plans of all Irish universities (n?=?7). The data suggest that the word ‘graduate’ is used to describe the work of the university as an enabler for the graduate, to prepare for the employment to acquire key skills, towards a foundation of ‘graduateness’ such as reflective thinking, moral reasoning and lifelong learning aligning with the institution’s key performance indicators. In contrast, ‘alumni’ are featured related to alumnus/alumna success. Irish Higher Education Institutions view alumni as a key enabler to contribute to the university’s mission and vision: through giving, both of their time and philanthropic donations. Based on the strategic plan discourse, the role of alumni in Irish universities suggests a similar trend, relying on alumni as an internal stakeholder with an external ability to offer value to the institution.     

Preparing novice principals in Australia and Turkey: How similar are their needs?

Part of a 13-nation, cross-cultural study of the extent to which principals perceive their pre-appointment experiences had prepared them for the job, the International Study of Principal Preparation (ISPP), this paper compares the responses of novice principals in Turkey and Western Australia. Using a survey based on data from case studies of principals in their first 3 years, the views of 50 Western Australian and 60 Turkish principals were examined in terms of the difficulty of the problems they faced and the extent to which they felt prepared for these problems. Responses were analysed by sex, qualification, age at appointment, school size, and school location. Respondents from both countries found that managing the budget and achieving work/life balance presented challenges for them while working with parents and acquiring adequate resources were not challenging. For Turkish respondents, building positive relationships with staff was more challenging than it was for the Australian respondents. Surprisingly respondents felt well prepared for the tasks they faced, with Australians, females, principals of small schools in rural and remote locations reporting significantly more positive views about their preparation than their counterparts.     

High school boys’ and girls’ writing conceptions and writing self-efficacy beliefs: what is their role in writing performance?

This study investigated the conceptions about writing and writing self-efficacy beliefs held by high school students in relation to the students’ gender as well as their associations with writing achievement. The results show that female students have more sophisticated writing conceptions than their male counterparts but no gender differences were found in writing self-efficacy beliefs. In addition, results reveal that writing self-efficacy beliefs and gender play an important role in predicting writing performance and that writing performance is moderated by students’ writing conceptions. Educational implications and further research are discussed.     

Linguistic discrimination in writing assessment: How raters react to African American “errors,” ESL errors,and standard English errors on a state-mandated writing exam

Raters of Georgia's (USA) state-mandated college-level writing exam, which is intended to ensure a minimal university-level writing competency, are trained to grade holistically when assessing these exams. A guiding principle in holistic grading is to not focus exclusively on any one aspect of writing but rather to give equal weight to style, vocabulary, mechanics, content, and development. This study details how raters react to “errors” typical of African American English writers, of ESL writers, and of standard American English writers. Using a log-linear model to generate odds ratios for comparison of essays with these error types, results indicate linguistic discrimination against African American “errors” and a leniency for ESL errors in writing assessment.     

Introducing teachers to new semiotic tools for writing instruction and writing assessment: consequences for students’ writing proficiency

This article reports consequences for student writing quality based on a long-term professional learning project. Project teachers, representing all school subjects in grades 3–7, were presented with a writing construct, ‘Wheel of Writing’, and norms of expectation for writing proficiency. Participating teachers used the writing construct and norms as a basis for writing instruction and writing assessment. The project was conducted in 24 schools across Norway. 3088 students from 20 project schools participated. Two hundred and thirty three students from 4 schools were used as a comparison group. The investigation showed that students in primary school improved their writing quality significantly. Students in lower secondary school did not. However, there was substantial variation in writing quality effects between schools, classes, and individual students. For instance at a number of schools, project students from lower secondary school improved their writing quality significantly. The article discusses potential explanations of the effects.     

How are trait emotional intelligence and social skills related to emotional and behavioural difficulties in adolescents?

Trait emotional intelligence construct shifted the interest in personality research to the investigation of the effect of global personality characteristics on behaviour. The Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) movement emphasised the cultivation of social skills for positive relationships. In this paper we investigate the role of students’ global personality characteristics and social skills in the occurrence of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Five hundred fifty-nine students aged 12–14?years, completed the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire–Adolescent Short Form (TEIQue–ASF), the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY), and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Students with higher trait emotional intelligence and stronger social skills were less likely to present emotional and behavioural difficulties. Trait emotional intelligence along with the acquisition of social skills were influential factors of students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties. The study presents a heuristic model for the interpretation of students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties and discusses implications for educators to improve the quality of students’ lives in schools.     

How many universities are there in the United Kingdom? How many should there be?

While the first of the questions posed in the title of this article may seem to involve a simple matter of enumeration, it is more complex than that, as the number of institutions in the United Kingdom that perform at least some of the functions of a university has grown significantly in recent years. The answer given (for the end of the year 2010) is 108, 138 or 162, depending upon the definitions adopted. The second question involves more judgement, and is explored comparatively—both within the United Kingdom and internationally—geographically, economically and historically.