Identifying and classifying the readability levels of Turkish texts

This study aimed to identify and classify the readability levels of Turkish texts. The sample in the Correlation Survey model included 32 Turkish instructional texts. The texts included in the sample of the study were administered to groups of 30 students, extending from the fifth class to the twelfth class. The cloze readability procedure was used in this research. Obtained data were analyzed in the SPSS program. In this research the relationship between the readability of texts and variables such as average word length, average sentence length, number of polysyllabic words, and the rate of repeated words was determined by the Pearson productmoment correlation analysis. As a result of this analysis, “the rate of repeated words” and the rate of polysyllabic words, which express the similar meanings with average word length and -.677 with the readability index, as measured by the cloze scores, were not included in the multiple regression analysis. As a result of multiple regression analysis, regression equation is: CS= 118,823 – 25, 987 x AWL - .971 x ASL According to this, one unit of change in average word length causes -25.987 unit change in readability score, and one unit of change in average sentence length causes -.971 in readability score. On the other hand, the coefficient determination of the equation was .739. Later, the averages of exact score for every class were analyzed by ANOVA test. As a result of this ANOVA test, resulting education level and cloze test scores are higher. Moreover, in order to determine the significant differences among the classes, multiple comparisons were made. According to this, there were not any significant differences among the classes 5-6-7 between the classes 8-9 and among the classes 10-11-12. Finally, as a result of the regression analysis and ANOVA tests, the conversion table was compose

Psychometrics in Practice at RCEC

A broad range of topics is dealt with in this volume: from combining the psychometric generalizability and item response theories to the ideas for an integrated formative use of data-driven decision making, assessment for learning and diagnostic testing. A number of chapters pay attention to computerized (adaptive) and classification testing. Other chapters treat the quality of testing in a general sense, but for topics like maintaining standards or the testing of writing ability, the quality of testing is dealt with more specifically.\ud All authors are connected to RCEC as researchers. They present one of their current research topics and provide some insight into the focus of RCEC. The selection of the topics and the editing intends that the book should be of special interest to educational researchers, psychometricians and practitioners in educational assessment

Assessing the quality of a student-generated question repository

We present results from a study that categorizes and assesses the quality of questions and explanations authored by students, in question repositories produced as part of the summative assessment in introductory physics courses over the past two years. Mapping question quality onto the levels in the cognitive domain of Bloom's taxonomy, we find that students produce questions of high quality. More than three-quarters of questions fall into categories beyond simple recall, in contrast to similar studies of student-authored content in different subject domains. Similarly, the quality of student-authored explanations for questions was also high, with approximately 60% of all explanations classified as being of high or outstanding quality. Overall, 75% of questions met combined quality criteria, which we hypothesize is due in part to the in-class scaffolding activities that we provided for students ahead of requiring them to author questions.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure

Measuring Competences in School-leaver Surveys

The measurement of competences is a relatively new topic in the economic science. In the past, economists have usually measured worker competences by educational background, tenure, or other simple quantifiable indicators. In the transition from the industrial to the knowledge economy, however, this classical approach has become rather unsatisfactory. Individual labour market performance is no longer dependent on just the individual’s initial education, since todays labour market requires continuous learning and development throughout the career. Employability has become a key concept in the knowledge economy, and the traditional lifetime employment career in a single firm has been replaced by what has been termed the protean career (Hall and Moss, 1998). In such a career, the person, not the firm, is the managing agent. In order to measure or predict career success, uni-dimensional indicators such as educational background that economists have used in the past are no longer sufficient. In the modern economy, skills and knowledge are the main factors in production, and the measurement of competences is a logical step in determining and predicting individual labour market success more accurately and reliably.education, training and the labour market;

Explicit comprehension instruction : a review of research and a new conceptualization of instruction

Includes bibliographical references (p. 13-16)The work upon which this publication was based was supported in part by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement under cooperative agreement no. OEG 0087-C100

Learning styles: Individualizing computer‐based learning environments

In spite of its importance, learning style is a factor that has been largely ignored in the design of educational software. Two issues concerning a specific set of learning styles, described by Honey and Mumford (1986), are considered here. The first relates to measurement and validity. This is discussed in the context of a longitudinal study to test the predictive validity of the questionnaire items against various measures of academic performance, such as course choice and level of attainment in different subjects. The second issue looks at how the learning styles can be used in computer‐based learning environments. A re‐examination of the four learning styles (Activist, Pragmatist, Reflector and Theorist) suggests that they can usefully be characterized using two orthogonal dimensions. Using a limited number of pedagogical building blocks, this characterization has allowed the development of a teaching strategy suitable for each of the learning styles. Further work is discussed, which will use a multi‐strategy basic algebra tutor to assess the effect of matching teaching strategy to learning style

Constructing the Cool Wall: A tool to explore teen meanings of cool

This paper describes the development and exploration of a tool designed to assist in investigating ‘cool’ as it applies to the design of interactive products for teenagers. The method involved the derivation of theoretical understandings of cool from literature that resulted in identification of seven core categories for cool, which were mapped to a hierarchy. The hierarchy includes having of cool things, the doing of cool activities and the being of cool. This paper focuses on a tool, the Cool Wall, developed to explore one specific facet of the hierarchy; exploring shared understanding of having cool things. The paper describes the development and construction of the tool, using a heavily participatory approach, and the results and analysis of three studies. The first study was carried out over 2 days in a school in the UK. The results of the study both provide clear insights into cool things and enable a refined understanding of cool in this context. Two additional studies are then used to identify potential shortcomings in the Cool Wall methodology. In the second study participants were able to populate a paper cool wall with anything they chose, this revealed two potential new categories of images and that the current set of images covered the majority of key themes. In the third study teenagers interpretations of the meaning of the images included in the Cool Wall were explored, this showed that the majority of meanings were as expected and a small number of unexpected interpretations provided some valuable insights

Severity of specific language impairment predicts delayed development in number skills

The extent to which mathematical development is dependent upon language is controversial. This longitudinal study investigates the role of language ability in children's development of number skills. Participants were 229 children with specific language impairment (SLI) who were assessed initially at age 7 and again 1 year later. All participants completed measures of psycholinguistic development (expressive and receptive), performance IQ, and the Basic Number Skills subtest of the British Ability Scales. Number skills data for this sample were compared with normative population data. Consistent with predictions that language impairment would impact on numerical development, average standard scores were more than 1 SD below the population mean at both ages. Although the children showed improvements in raw scores at the second wave of the study, the discrepancy between their scores and the population data nonetheless increased over time. Regression analyses showed that, after controlling for the effect of PIQ, language skills explained an additional 19 and 17% of the variance in number skills for ages 7 and 8, respectively. Furthermore, logistic regression analyses revealed that less improvement in the child's language ability over the course of the year was associated with a greater odds of a drop in performance in basic number skills from 7 to 8 years. The results are discussed in relation to the interaction of linguistic and cognitive factors in numerical development and the implications for mathematical education

The influence of student characteristics on the use of adaptive e-learning material

Adaptive e-learning materials can help teachers to educate heterogeneous student groups. This study provides empirical data about the way academic students differ in their learning when using adaptive elearning materials. Ninety-four students participated in the study. We determined characteristics in a heterogeneous student group by collecting demographic data and measuring motivation and prior knowledge. We also measured the learning paths students followed and learning strategies they used when working with adaptive e-learning material in a molecular biology course. We then combined these data to study if and how student characteristics relate to the learning paths and strategies they used. We observed that students did follow different learning paths. Gender did not have an effect, but (mainly Dutch) BSc students differed from (international) MSc students in the intrinsic motivation they had and the learning paths and strategies they followed when using the adaptive e-learning materia