An exploratory study into automated précis grading

Automated writing evaluation is a popular research field, but the main focus has been on evaluating argumentative essays. In this paper, we consider a different genre, namely précis texts. A précis is a written text that provides a coherent summary of main points of a spoken or written text. We present a corpus of English précis texts which all received a grade assigned by a highly-experienced English language teacher and were subsequently annotated following an exhaustive error typology. With this corpus we trained a machine learning model which relies on a number of linguistic, automatic summarization and AWE features. Our results reveal that this model is able to predict the grade of précis texts with only a moderate error margin

Reviews

Authoring‐Systems Software for Computer‐Based Training, edited by William D. Wilheim, Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA, ISBN: 0–87778–274–1, 1994

Guidelines on How to Read a Physics Textbook and the Assessment of the Readability of Recommended Physics Textbooks in Secondary Schools in Osun State of Nigeria

This study assessed the readability of the four recommended physics textbooks in senior secondary schools in Osun State of Nigeria. A total of 25 physics teachers and 300 senior secondary three (SS3) physics students were randomly selected in the 12 secondary schools used for the study. A survey design was used for the study. Results showed that the four physics textbooks  were appropriate for secondary school  students in Osun state of Nigeria in terms of age (Fry graph mean age = 17years, students’ mean age =15 years) .The books had the highest rating by students on illustrations and clarity of prints while the lowest  ratings were on sentence structure and  examples. Teachers considered the vocabulary as  appropriate while the exercises were considered least appropriate. The study also showed that the four physics textbooks were adjudged readable in term of students’ ability to read and understand the contents. However, senior secondary school physics textbooks (69%) was found to be most readable, seconded by ordinary level physics (64%), followed by principle of physics while science teacher association of Nigeria (STAN) physics (15%) was found to be least readable by the students. It is recommended that the readability of textbooks and the reading ability of students should be part of the criteria for selecting textbooks. Keywords:  Readability, Recommended Physics Textbooks, Approved Guidelines, Structure and Objective

Student Satisfaction With a Student-Written Textbook in an Introductory College Biology Course

Textbooks are ubiquitous tools in college classes, particularly in the sciences. Regular use of textbooks to complement science coursework can foster academic achievement and scientific literacy. Textbooks are chronically underused in college study due to high costs, challenging and time-intensive content, and perceived low value. In response, professors are increasingly using textbook alternatives including open textbooks, etextbooks, and wikis. Each has unique strengths and weaknesses. Student-written textbooks are a less common, but growing, resource used to offer a low-cost alternative to publisher textbooks using collections of student research and writing. Student-written textbooks carry the possible benefits for students of supporting engagement and ownership in their coursework while enhancing writing and collaborative skills. Student satisfaction is one critical indicator of textbook value. Other important features of quality textbooks include readability, quality images, ancillary perks, and pedagogical aids such as summaries and glossaries. This project explored student satisfaction with a student-written textbook in one general education biology course at a two-year college in Missoula, Montana. Anonymous survey responses from two sections of this course informed specific additions to one chapter of the textbook to test for changes in student satisfaction in subsequent classes. A second anonymous survey explored chapter-specific student preferences alongside additional questions related to student use of the textbook. In spite of survey-inspired, research-supported additions to the student-written textbook, students in the second survey showed no disproportionate preference for the augmented chapter. Students might experience their reading on a more whole-textbook level or their preferences might be more strongly influenced by features other than those added to the textbook chapter, such as content, perceived utility, and readability. Survey responses suggest a high degree of satisfaction with the student-written textbook, to the point that differences in student responses between separate questions were not discernible. The continued use of the student-written textbook is supported by the review of literature and the research findings. Specific strategies for future research and improvements to the student-written textbook are discussed in detail

Readability and Interest of Health Occupations Textbooks for Special Needs Learners

The purpose of the study was to evaluate 17 representative health occupations textbooks in terms of reading difficulty, writing style, and interest level for special populations learners. The objective was to identify texts, using six different readability formulas, that were significantly more diificult, thus providing additional obstacles to special populations in their preparation for health occupations careers. Likewise, the relatively easier texts were identified for consideration in text evaluation and selection procedures. Additionally, representative text samples were analyzed with measures of writing style and human interest in order to consider a wider range of selection attributes. Results found that all readability formulas were highly correlated and were effective in discriminating between textbooks of relative ease or difficulty. Writing style and human interest were not strong discriminating factors in identifying accessible texts for special population students. The discussion of these factors includes recommended strategies for implementing textbook evacuation in terms of microcomputer analysis and individual student reading needs for students enrolled in health occupation programs

The effects of individual differences and linguistic features on reading comprehension of health-related texts

Background. Relatively little attention has been focused on whether or how the effects of reader characteristics, or of the linguistic properties of a text, predict reading comprehension of health-related information. In addition, there is little evidence for the utility of any of the writing guidelines promulgated by the National Health Service (NHS) in order to improve the comprehension of health information. Nonetheless, some previous research suggests that health-related texts could be adapted for different groups of users to optimise understanding. Thus, existing knowledge presents important limitations, and raises concerns with potentially far-reaching practical implications. To address these concerns, I investigated how variation in individual differences and in text features predicts the comprehension of health-related texts, examining how the effects of textual features may differ for different kinds of readers. Method. The focus of this thesis is on Study 3, in which I investigated the predictors of tested comprehension, but I report preliminary studies where I examined the readability of a sample of health-related texts (Study 1), and the perceived comprehension of a sample of health-related texts (Study 2). In the primary study (Study 3), I used Bayesian mixed-effects models to analyse the influences that affect the accuracy of responses to questions probing the comprehension of a sample of health-related texts. I measured variation among 200 participants in their cognitive abilities, to capture the effects of individual differences, as well as variation in the linguistic features of texts, to capture the effects of text structure and content. Results. I found that tested comprehension was less likely to be accurate among older participants. However, comprehension accuracy was greater given higher levels of education, health literacy, and English language proficiency levels. In addition, self-rated evaluations of perceived comprehension predicted comprehension, but only in the absence of other individual-differences-related predictors. Variation in text features, including readability estimates, did not predict comprehension accuracy, and there was no evidence for the modulation of the effects of individual differences by text features. Discussion. Text features did not module the effects of individual differences to influence comprehension accuracy in any meaningful way. This suggests that adapting health-related texts to different groups of the population may be of limited practical value. Implications. Individual differences really matter to comprehension. Thus, optimally, understanding of health-related texts amongst the end-users should be tested, and interventions to aid readers, such as those with relatively low health literacy levels, could be used to improve comprehension of health-texts. In the absence of sensitive measures of reader characteristics, and when testing of understanding is not possible, the use of end-user evaluations of health-related texts may serve as a useful proxy of tested comprehension. However, looking for text effects, and guidance focusing on text effects, seems less useful given the reported evidence. Consequently, the effectiveness of designing health-related texts with the consideration of NHS’s text writing guidelines, is likely to be limited

A Comparison of Readability in Science-Based Texts: Implications for Elementary Teachers

Science curriculum standards were mapped onto various texts (literacy readers, trade books, online articles). Statistical analyses highlighted the inconsistencies among readability formulae for Grades 2–6 levels of the standards. There was a lack of correlation among the readability measures, and also when comparing different text sources. Online texts were the most disparate with respect to text difficulty. These findings suggest implications for elementary teachers to support students who learn through reading online, science-based resources. As 21st-century learning through multi-modal literacies evolves, the readability of online, content-based text should be evaluated to ensure accessibility to all readers

Adolescent Literacy and Textbooks: An Annotated Bibliography

A companion report to Carnegie's Time to Act, provides an annotated bibliography of research on textbook design and reading comprehension for fourth through twelfth grade, arranged by topic. Calls for a dialogue between publishers and researchers

Using Analytics to Transform a Problem-Based Case Library: An Educational Design Research Approach

This article describes the iterative design, development, and evaluation of a case-based learning environment focusing on an ill-structured sales management problem. We discuss our processes and situate them within the broader framework of educational design research. The learning environment evolved over the course of three design phases. A semisummative evaluation of student concept maps after the third phase revealed unsatisfactory learning outcomes. This paper focuses on how we investigated design flaws that contributed to poor learning performance. A specific focus of our investigation was the use of Google Analytics data, which uncovered weaknesses in our design. Based on our findings, we used a rapid prototyping process to redesign the learning environment, emphasizing interactive and multimedia-rich elements. Processes and methods are reported along with discussion of implications for case-based reasoning, including relevant design principles. This article will provide insights into resolving design tensions for researchers and practitioners seeking to advance theory and practice in similar domains