In this paper, we present simple demonstrations aimed at explaining the fundamental principles of the photoacoustic effect. To display the audible phenomenon that occurs as laser radiation gets absorbed by ethene gas, an optical chopper was used to modulate the power of a continuous-wave laser whose beam was directed into a gas. The absorbed…

With the advent of new technologies, assessment research has adopted technology-based methods to investigate test validity. This study investigated the neurocognitive processes involved in an academic listening comprehension test, using a biometric technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Sixteen right-handed university…

Researchers have developed models of learning through experience; however, these models are rarely named as a conceptual frame for educational research in the sciences. This study examined the effect of reflective learning responses on student recall of speech acoustics concepts. Two groups of undergraduate students enrolled in a speech science…

Lecturing is an important aspect of the culture of science education. Perhaps because of the negative associations constructivist educators make with lecturing, little research has been done concerning the generally invisible aspects of the (embodied, lived) "work" that is required. Traditional research on science lectures focuses on…

Literature on auditory distraction has generally focused on the effects of particular kinds of sounds on attention to target stimuli. In support of extensive previous findings that have demonstrated the special role of language as an auditory distractor, we found that a concurrent speech stream impaired recall of a short lecture, especially for…

This study investigated the breakdown effect of a listening comprehension test, whether test takers are affected in comprehending lectures by impediments, and collected test takers' cognitive awareness on test tasks which contain listening breakdown factors how they perceived these impediments. In this context of the study, a "Breakdown" is a test…

Suprasegmentals have been emphasized in ESL/EFL pedagogy since the advent of communicative language teaching. However, it is still unclear how individual suprasegmental features affect listeners' judgments of non-native speakers' accented speech. The current study began to specify relative weights of individual temporal and prosodic features for…

This article describes the implementation and evaluation of a learning objects based computer aided system for an advanced engineering course at Ghent University, Belgium. A new syllabus concept was introduced: students had access to a Web-delivered component and received an identical printed component as two sources of information additional to…