Priming examinees with questions about intended effort prior to testing has been shown to significantly increase examinee expended effort via self-reported effort and response-time effort. However, this question-behavior effect seems to wear off later in a testing session. We examined whether administering a second "dose" of the…

This study compared traditional methods of college-level instruction, including lecture and class discussion followed by assessment via course content exams, with a variety of other instructional techniques. The intent was to evaluate whether more contemporary instructional techniques are significantly correlated with improved average exam scores…

Focusing on the reflective exchanges of four test writers at an intensive language school within a public university, this study explored the effectiveness of a "lesson study" model on their professional development as test writers. Lesson study is a powerful tool for teachers' professional development and a modified version of it--a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a cheating prevention strategy employed for a professional credentialing exam that involved releasing over 7,000 active and retired exam items. This study evaluated: 1) If any significant differences existed between examinee performance on released versus non-released items; 2) If item…

Test-takers' voices in relation to high-stakes language tests have received growing attention in recent years. While the perspectives of this stakeholder group can be utilised to improve test quality, test-taking experience, and test impact, we argue that this goal needs to be achieved by considering a fundamental shift in our conceptualisation of…

Testing within the science classroom is commonly used for both formative and summative assessment purposes to let the student and the instructor gauge progress toward learning goals. Research within cognitive science suggests, however, that testing can also be a learning event. We present summaries of studies that suggest that repeated retrieval…

ACT reporting categories and ACT Readiness Ranges are new features added to the ACT score reports starting in fall 2016. For each reporting category, the number correct score, the maximum points possible, the percent correct, and the ACT Readiness Range, along with an indicator of whether the reporting category score falls within the Readiness…

Test-takers' interpretations of validity as related to test constructs and test use have been widely debated in large-scale language assessment. This study contributes further evidence to this debate by examining 59 test-takers' perspectives in writing large-scale English language tests. Participants wrote about their test-taking experiences in…

Most professors use examinations as an important assessment tool to aid in determining the level of student subject matter comprehension. We also use the feedback from examinations as an indicator of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the teaching methodologies we are utilizing in the classroom. This paper is a follow-up to a 2006-2007 study…

The purpose of this study was to explore the response patterns of African American students to the state certification questions. More specifically, the participants' explanations of their responses and their perceptions of the source of knowledge they used to answer the questions were discussed. To achieve this purpose, three research questions…