Designing and assessing a digital, discipline-specific literacy assessment tool

[EN] The C-Test as a tool for assessing language competence has been in existence for nearly 40 years, having been designed by Professors Klein-Braley and Raatz for implementation in German and English. Much research has been conducted over the ensuing years, particularly in regards to reliability and construct validity, for which it is reported to perform reliably and in multiple languages. The author engaged in C-Test research in 1995 focusing on concurrent, predictive and face validity. Through this research, the author developed an appreciation for the C-Test assessment process particularly with the multiple cognitive and linguistic test-taking strategies required. When digital technologies became accessible, versatile and societally integrated, the author believed the C-Test would function well in this environment. This conviction prompted a series of investigations into the development and assessment of a digital C-Test design to be utilised in multiple linguistic settings. 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Towards a theory of C-Test processing. In Rüdiger Grotjahn (Ed.), Der C-Test. Theoretische Grundlagen und praktische Anwendungen (Vol. 3, pp. 23-94). Bochum: Brockmeyer. Available from http://www.c-test.de/deutsch/index.php?lang=de&section=originaliaKlein-Braley, C. (1997). C-Tests in the context of reduced redundancy testing: An appraisal. Language Testing, 14(1), 47-84.Klein-Braley, C. & Raatz, U. (1984). A survey of research on the C-Test. Language Testing, 1(2), 134-146.Mochizuki, A. (1994). C-Tests: Four kinds of texts, their reliability and validity. JALT Journal, 16(1), 41-54.Oscarson, M. (1991). Item response theory and reduced redundancy techniques: Some notes on recent developments in language testing. In Kees de Bot, Ralph B. Ginsberg & Claire Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 95-111). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins [C-Test: pp. 106-107].Raatz, U. (1985a). Better theory for better tests? Language Testing, 2, 60- 75.Raatz, U. 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Predicting international students' clinical and academic grades using two language tests (IELTS and C-test): a correlational research study

Academic English tests are used to ascertain if international English as a Second Language nursing students have sufficient language skills to commence their nursing degrees, and later, if they have sufficient English for nursing registration. However, an academic English test may not be appropriate for clinical contexts. This study examines the relationship between two types of English test and the performance of forty-nine undergraduate international nursing students in both their first year of theory-centred academic topics and practice-centred clinical topics. An academic English test, called the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), anda general English proficiency/processing speed test using a variation of the cloze-test (C-test) format were administered at the commencement of the students' course of study. At the end of one year, grade percentages were collected. It was found that both the IELTS test and the C-test were significantly correlated to both types of topic, albeit with different patterns. The two English tests were also tested for similarities in the constructs they measured, with a significant overlap found. The implications are to rethink the way English tests are applied to entry in university degrees involving a clinical component and, by extension, to direct universities to rethink how nursing students are supported during their degree. The question is also raised about the practice of using academic English tests for professional nursing registration purposes. The benefits of the two testing approaches are also considered, particularly the large differences in monetary outlay and time found between the two tests, given their performance in explaining the variance in grade outcomes

Tracking the Real-Time Evolution of a Writing Event: Second Language Writers at Different Proficiency Levels

The current study focused on emergent processes during real-time second language (L2) writing activity in an English as a foreign language university context, examining differences in these processes across individual capacities. Participants included 22 adult Japanese learners of L2 English and their tutor. The data were collected using digital screen capture and eye-tracking technologies while the learners wrote a 35-minute argumentative essay. Supplementary stimulated retrospective recalls were also conducted to document the learners’ and the tutor’s reflections on the writing event. Results revealed clear differences in L2 writing activity at different periods in time as well as differences in cognitive activity which appear to be mediated by L2 proficiency. Importantly, the obtained patterns differed depending on whether duration or frequency data were considered. These findings thus demonstrate the need to broaden the study of the temporal dimension of L2 writing and to consider more nuanced mixed-methods approaches in future work

Estimating cumulative pathway effects on risk for age-related macular degeneration using mixed linear models

BACKGROUND: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible visual loss in the elderly in developed countries and typically affects more than 10 % of individuals over age 80. AMD has a large genetic component, with heritability estimated to be between 45 % and 70 %. Numerous variants have been identified and implicate various molecular mechanisms and pathways for AMD pathogenesis but those variants only explain a portion of AMD’s heritability. The goal of our study was to estimate the cumulative genetic contribution of common variants on AMD risk for multiple pathways related to the etiology of AMD, including angiogenesis, antioxidant activity, apoptotic signaling, complement activation, inflammatory response, response to nicotine, oxidative phosphorylation, and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. While these mechanisms have been associated with AMD in literature, the overall extent of the contribution to AMD risk for each is unknown. METHODS: In a case–control dataset with 1,813 individuals genotyped for over 600,000 SNPs we used Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis (GCTA) to estimate the proportion of AMD risk explained by SNPs in genes associated with each pathway. SNPs within a 50 kb region flanking each gene were also assessed, as well as more distant, putatively regulatory SNPs, based on DNaseI hypersensitivity data from ocular tissue in the ENCODE project. RESULTS: We found that 19 previously associated AMD risk SNPs contributed to 13.3 % of the risk for AMD in our dataset, while the remaining genotyped SNPs contributed to 36.7 % of AMD risk. Adjusting for the 19 risk SNPs, the complement activation and inflammatory response pathways still explained a statistically significant proportion of additional risk for AMD (9.8 % and 17.9 %, respectively), with other pathways showing no significant effects (0.3 % – 4.4 %). DISCUSSION: Our results show that SNPs associated with complement activation and inflammation significantly contribute to AMD risk, separately from the risk explained by the 19 known risk SNPs. We found that SNPs within 50 kb regions flanking genes explained additional risk beyond genic SNPs, suggesting a potential regulatory role, but that more distant SNPs explained less than 0.5 % additional risk for each pathway. CONCLUSIONS: From these analyses we find that the impact of complement SNPs on risk for AMD extends beyond the established genome-wide significant SNPs. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-015-0760-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users