Cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs) have received sustained attention in educational settings because they can be used to operationalize formative assessment to provide diagnostic feedback and inform instruction. A large number of CDMs have been developed over the past few years. An important component of all CDMs is a Q-matrix that specifies a…

Relatively late mastery of scalar implicatures has been suggested to correlate with children's immature processing capacities, such as their limited working memory. Yet, many studies that tested for a link between children's working memory and their computation of scalar implicatures have failed to find any correlation. One possible reason is that…

Grice's conversational maxims have been one of the most influential pragmatic theories up to now. The primary purpose of this study was to measure the comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners in terms of English humor based on Grice's non-observed conversational maxims. Moreover, this study intended to find which of Grice's non-observed…

Vocabulary's relationship to reading proficiency is frequently cited as a justification for the assessment of L2 written receptive vocabulary knowledge. However, to date, there has been relatively little research regarding which modalities of vocabulary knowledge have the strongest correlations to reading proficiency, and observed differences have…

Written examinations represent one of the most common assessment tools in education. Though typically perceived as measurement instruments, written examinations are primarily texts that perform a communicative function. To complement existing research, this study viewed written examinations as a distinct form of communication (i.e. 'register').…

The Bottleneck Hypothesis (Slabakova, 2008, 2013) proposes that acquiring properties of the functional morphology is the most challenging part of learning a second language. In the experiment presented here, the predictions of this hypothesis are tested in the second language (L2) English of Norwegian native speakers. Two constructions are…

In seeking to both confirm previous conclusions and expand the literature of the field with a different group of participants, McNulty (2012) was (partially) replicated. Three instructional interventions were designed to ascertain which activity type was responsible for learner gains. One treatment group (R) included referential-only practice…

This article provides experimental evidence for the claim in Hayes (2004) and McCarthy (1998) that language learners are biased to assume that morphological paradigms should be phonologically-uniform--that is, that derived words should retain all the phonological properties of their bases. The evidence comes from an artificial language…

This study describes the dimensionality and continuum of Spanish phonological awareness (PA) skills in 3- to 6-year-old children. A 3 x 4 factorial design crossed word structure of test items (word, syllable, phoneme) with task (blending multiple-choice, blending free-response, elision multiple-choice, elision free-response) to assess 12 PA…

Attempts to identify latent variables affecting the item responses of the diverse language groups taking the Test of English As a Foreign Language indicated that latent group effects were small. Results support equating with item response theory and suggest the use of a restrictive assumption of proportionality of item response curves. (Author/CB)

A continuum of item-writing methods is proposed ranging from informal-subjective methods to algorithmic-objective methods. Examples of techniques include objective-based item writing, amplified objectives, item forms, facet design, domain-referenced concept testing, and computerized techniques. (Author/CP)

To study the relationship between inferences made on standardized reading tests and item difficulty, 50 items on the reading comprehension section of the Metropolitan Achievement Test were analyzed independently in this study by two raters using four general categories of inferences: (1) reference inferences, (2) between proposition inferences,…

This study shows that a placement test cannot only be examined for items that display differential item functioning (DIF) by using an item response theory, but also that the identification of potential sources for these DIF items can be attempted and short- and long-term measures to reduce DIF can then be proposed. (JL)

A study compared the influence of two forms of discourse completion test (DCT) on the elicitation of rejection of advice. An open questionnaire providing scenarios alone was compared with a classic dialogue completion task in which a conversational turn is provided. The tasks were given to 32 graduate students, 19 native and 13 non-native…

This paper reports the results of using a three-layer backpropagation artificial neural network to predict item difficulty in a reading comprehension test. Two network structures were developed, one with and one without a sigmoid function in the output processing unit. The data set, which consisted of a table of coded test items and corresponding…