Inspired by the 'teaching as inquiry' model, we initiated a focusing inquiry on 2,811 English diagnostic tests that were taken in 2014-2015 by first-year students entering the Health Sciences programme at the University of Otago, a programme for aspiring health professionals. That inquiry aimed to improve the first-year paper taken by students who…

Introduction: Under the influence of Vygotsky, dynamic assessment (DA) has recently crept into the realm of L2 testing to assess learners' cognitive modification through the concept of mediation and zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Ableeva, The Effects of Dynamic Assessment on L2 Listening Comprehension 2008; Lantolf, Sociocultural theory and…

The present study investigates the impact of higher order thinking enhancing techniques as two post-reading strategies on the EFL students' reasoning power as determined by their private speech production. Also, the relationship between the learners' private speech production and their reasoning power is also investigated. In so doing, the study…

The objective of this research is to determine the competences of students of Basic Spanish Language II (Let. 012) in the comprehension of the superstructure and macrostructure of expository texts, in two college Campuses; the UASD San Francisco de Macorís Campus, and the UASD Bonao Campus for the semester 2015-2. The theory is based on the…

This document describes experimental research conducted with the objective of better understanding adults' self-regulatory decision-making (e.g., study choice) process in reading for comprehension. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which individuals' self-regulatory process may be influenced by…

This paper explores the phenomenon of "patchwriting," a term which Howard (1992) coined to refer to the practice of "copying from a source text and then deleting some words, altering grammatical structures, or plugging in one-for-one synonym substitutes" (p. 233). Although patchwriting in universities is often labeled simply as…

This study investigates the use of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems to epitomize second language (L2) listeners' problems in perception of TED talks. ASR-generated transcripts of videos often involve recognition errors, which may indicate difficult segments for L2 listeners. This paper aims to discover the root-causes of the ASR errors…

Objectives: Our objectives are to present conceptualizations of the comprehension of single and multiple texts that address the role of epistemic beliefs in text comprehension, review supporting evidence for such conceptualizations, and note particular trends and future challenges for this area of research. Frameworks: Conceptualizations of the…

Recognition of spontaneous emotion would influence human-computer interaction and emotion-related studies in many related fields. In any given environment, the spontaneous generation of expression are more often observed than their prototypic counterparts.This thesis explores methods for detecting emotional facial expressions occurring in a…

Successful implementation of academic standards depends on teachers' understanding of the intended policy and their interpretation of what the policy means for their instruction (Spillane et al., 2002). This study examines the writing tasks fourth- and fifth- grade teachers understand as being aligned with the CCSS [Common Core State Standards],…

Many American students struggle with reading, particularly in the area of comprehension. As such, early identification of reading difficulties, use of evidenced-based interventions, and monitoring of student reading progress over time is essential. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a technically adequate, efficient tool whose features and…

In this study, the effect of fluent reading (speed, reading accuracy percentage, prosodic reading), comprehension (literal comprehension, inferential comprehension) and problem solving strategies on classifying students with high and low problem solving success was researched. The sampling of the research is composed of 279 students at elementary…

Comprehending expository reading material is a challenge for many students. Research has shown that students' expository reading comprehension can improve with the help of text structure instruction. The purpose of this article is to present teachers with a framework for effectively implementing text structure instruction in their classrooms.…

The relative contribution of motivational and cognitive factors to reading comprehension might depend on how reading comprehension is measured. The participants in this study were 146 students attending grade 7. Students' reading comprehension of a history text was assessed through three measures, literal comprehension, inferential comprehension,…

We introduce RESOLV, a theoretical model to account for readers' construction and management of goals during text comprehension and use. RESOLV focuses on readers' experience of their physical, social, and communicative context prior to actually engaging with texts. RESOLV assumes that readers construct two types of mental models prior to reading:…