There are conflicting reports not only on the effect of scientific inquiry on academic achievement but also insufficient evidence on the relationship between understanding the nature of scientific inquiry and academic achievement; more generalizable studies are needed. The purpose of this large sampled study was to investigate the middle school…

Test development is a complicated process that demands examining various factors, one of them being writing items of varying difficulty. It is important to use items of a different range of difficulty to ensure that the test results accurately indicate the test-taker's abilities. Therefore, the factors affecting item difficulty should be defined,…

Purpose: This study investigates user preferences for motivational features aligned with self-determination theory (SDT), emphasizing autonomy, relatedness, and competency. The study seeks to identify the most appealing and effective motivational features in AI-driven mobile apps for fostering autonomy, promoting relatedness, and enhancing…

The purpose of this study is to determine whether English test items of Undergraduate Placement Exam (UPE) in 2016 contain differential item functioning (DIF) and differential bundle functioning (DBF) in terms of gender and school type and examine the possible sources of bias of DIF items. Mantel Haenszel (MH), Simultaneous Item Bias Test…

The present study aimed to explore the relation between students' oral reading efficacy, reading comprehension, and academic performance on a nationwide high school placement exam (TEOG). The students were selected from a public middle school. The students' oral reading efficacy, comprehension, and TEOG achievement scores were obtained to figure…

This book provides a rich and unique longitudinal account of content and language integrated learning (CLIL). The chapters report on the findings from a large-scale, three-year research project undertaken at senior high school level in Sweden. The ecological perspective, with quantitative and qualitative methods, gives voice to both learners and…

Biology is a science that involves study of the diversity of living organisms. This diversity has always generated questions and has motivated cultures to seek plausible explanations for the differences and similarities between types of organisms. In biology teaching, these issues are addressed by adopting an evolutionary approach. The aim of this…

Principals' implementation of national reforms in the educational arena resembles a wild ride on a roller coaster as they face with contradicting demands, ongoing confusion and ambiguity. As critical change agents, principals interpret and translate reform demands into local practices through a process of sense-making. This current qualitative…

Introduction: Accountability and diagnostic assessments usually comprise several subtests to provide information on the different components of the abilities tested. For practicality reasons such subtests are usually short. The major drawback of short subtests is their low reliability and imprecision. This study shows how a compensatory…

Despite the influence of changing demographics in Japan, the National Center Test for University Entrance Exams continues to assert an ever increasing role in the process of university admissions. In preparation for this examination, the majority of senior high school students learn from textbooks approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education,…

This paper reports findings from a study that assesses metacognitive awareness and reading-strategy use of Chinese senior high school students who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 270 students responded to a 28-item survey of reading strategies (SORS). The strategies were classified into 3 categories: global,…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 14th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2017), 18-20 October 2017, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) and endorsed by the Japanese Society for Information and Systems in…

The unitary competence theory claims the existence of a general language proficiency that makes the global evaluation of language skills possible and accounts for the high correlations between language tests of whatever form and modality. This study aims to test the theory by investigating the correlation between reading and listening…

A study of the language proficiency of students in core French programs in a number of Eastern Ontario (Canada) high schools looked at the listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and oral skills of students in grades 9, 10, and 12. Comparisons were made across and within school districts, and also with previous groups tested. Findings show…

Tested the hypothesis that students' ability to identify fallacies is associated with a process of text comprehension. Findings for 184 Israeli high school students suggest that performance in the text comprehension task significantly predicted ability to identify fallacies. (SLD)