The present study investigated the effects of critical thinking instructions through a flipped teaching method on English Language learners' listening comprehension. The sample consisted of 80 Iranian intermediate English language learners that were divided into two experimental and two control groups. The two experimental groups that experienced…

The use of alternate English language proficiency (Alt-ELP) assessments is an emerging phenomenon with real-life consequences for students with complex support needs from language minority homes. Our examination of U.S. state practices during the 2017-2018 academic year for the identification of English learners (ELs) with complex support needs…

This study explored the role of word knowledge dimensions in second language (L2) word-meaning inference. College-level L2 learners (N = 121) participated in this study and completed a series of word knowledge tests including vocabulary size, word associates, morpheme-form knowledge, morpheme-meaning knowledge, morpheme discrimination, and…

Most common words in English have multiple different meanings, but relatively little is known about why children grasp some meanings better than others. This study aimed to examine how variables at the child-level, wordform-level, and meaning-level impact knowledge of words with multiple meanings. In this study, 174 children aged 5- to 9-years-old…

The Production Effect (PE) is a memory phenomenon, referring to memory advantage for produced items (read aloud) over non-produced items (read silently). Since vocalizing shows consistent memory benefits, it has been suggested as a mnemonic that can be used to assist vocabulary learning. The present study investigated the PE in L2 vocabulary…

Dictation is a traditional technique for both teaching and testing overall language ability and listening comprehension. In a dictation, a passage is read aloud by the teacher and examinees write down what they hear. Due to the peculiar form of dictations, psychometric analysis of dictations is challenging. In a dictation, there is no clear…

Listening comprehension in English, as one of the most fundamental skills, has an essential role in the process of learning English. Mokken scale analysis (MSA) is a probabilistic-nonparametric approach to item response theory (IRT) which determines the one-dimensionality and scalability of test. Mokken scaling techniques are a useful tool for…

When used in a sensible way, Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) are supposed to motivate and engage students in learning in the classroom. Thereby, they might also stimulate students who are usually more restrained, such as more anxious students. However, the body of research on the impact of IWB lessons is rather small. The present study investigated…

In response to the calls for making key stakeholders' perspectives relevant in the test validation process, the study discussed in this report sought test-taker feedback as part of collecting validity evidence and supporting the ongoing field testing efforts of the new "TOEFL ITP"® Speaking section. Specifically, I aimed to investigate…

Synthetically generated speech (SGS) has become an integral part of our oral communication in a wide variety of contexts. It can be generated instantly at a low cost and allows precise control over multiple aspects of output, all of which can be highly appealing to second language (L2) assessment developers who have traditionally relied upon human…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parent concerns about children's oral language, reading, and related skills and their children's performance on standardized assessments of language and reading, with a particular focus on whether those relationships differed between children recruited for in-school versus…

International students have comprised a steadily growing demographic in America's colleges and universities for the past seventy-five years. Over the many years and decades, the proportion of international students whose first language is not English has also increased. Subsequently, American higher education has come to rely on an important…

This study examined the writing score and writing feature changes of 562 repeat test takers who took the Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program--General (CELPIP--General) test at least three times, with a short (30-40 day) interval between the first and second attempts and a longer (90-180 day) interval between the first and third…

This study examined seven Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) teachers' accounts of current Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) practices, elicited through semi-structured interviews, in order to explore "washback" -- the effects of PBLA on teaching and learning. Portfolios are primarily useful as formative…

We evaluate how higher- vs. lower-scoring middle-school students differ in their composition processes when writing persuasive essays from source materials. We examined differences on four individual process features--time taken before beginning to write, typing speed, total time spent, and number of words started. Next, we examined differences…