1,720,971 research outputs found
Can a cheat sheet in an EFL test engage and empower students?
Full text linkAlthough occasionally used in language classrooms, cheat-sheet tests have not been explored in foreign or second language education research. This study experimented with cheat-sheet tests in the teaching of EFL in a Finnish upper secondary school. The participants, 101 students, could make a cheat sheet for the grammar part of their English test. A total of 92 students prepared the cheat sheet, nine did not. Students’ cheat sheets, test results and comments constituted the data for this study, analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The existence of the cheat sheet and its quality (thorough, good or limited) correlated with the grammar test results: students with a thorough cheat sheet scored slightly higher points on average than other groups. Even though the cheat sheet did not markedly improve their test results, the majority of students felt that it had improved their learning and studying. Some students also reported reduced test anxiety.
Disempowering assessment?
No full textAssessment has a great deal of power over students. However, there is little
research on how students experience assessment and its power in the school
context. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is therefore to examine how
students in one Finnish upper secondary school experienced assessment and
(dis)empowerment in their EFL studies. The present study, which situates itself
within the realm of teacher research, also aims to experiment with alternative
assessment methods in order to investigate whether they could foster
empowerment in upper secondary EFL studies. The study comprises five articles
and a monograph, and is divided into two parts, each with its own research aims.
Part 1 and its three articles focus on students’ experiences of assessment and
(dis)empowerment and explore what factors might predict disempowerment in
assessment. In addition, Part 1 focuses on feedback as well as stress and test
anxiety in connection with high-stakes testing as possible predictors of
disempowerment. The data for these articles was gathered in March 2014 by
means of a web-based questionnaire. The aim of Part 2 is to explore whether less
traditional assessment methods could promote students’ empowerment in
assessment. The first article in Part 2 focuses on cheat-sheet tests as a way of
engaging and empowering students. The second article explores individual choice
in corrective feedback. These teaching experiments took place in six upper
secondary groups in 2013-2016. The third study in Part 2 is a monograph
describing an earlier portfolio programme in EFL teaching.
The present study shows that although most students were quite satisfied
with the assessment in their EFL studies, a significant minority of students found
the assessment disempowering. Several factors, such as inadequate or unhelpful
feedback or stress and anxiety caused by assessment, predicted assessment
disempowerment. However, students seemed to react to assessment as well as to
these factors in a highly individual way. Furthermore, although the alternative
assessment methods investigated in the teaching experiments proved useful and
also empowering additions to the EFL assessment repertoire, students experienced
them in different ways. There should therefore be a range of assessment methods
to cater for different assessment purposes as well as for students’ different learning
strategies, needs and personalities.unknown accessibilityei tietoa saavutettavuudest
”Mitä pitäisi kehittää ja miten?” : lukiolaisten kokemuksia arvioinnista ja sen menetelmistä englannin opinnoissa
No full textOpiskelija-arvioinnilla on merkittävä asema kaikkialla koulumaailmassa, niin myös suomalaisessa lukiossa. Vaikutusvaltaisesta roolistaan huolimatta arviointia ja sen käytännön toteutusta lukiossa tai lukion kieltenopetuksessa on tutkittu niukasti. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia kyselylomakkeen avulla, kuinka lukiolaiset (146 lukiolaista yhdestä koulusta) itse kokivat arvioinnin osana englannin opintojaan, millaisia arviointimenetelmiä he olivat kohdanneet ja mitä niistä he pitivät hyödyllisinä. Tämän tutkimuksen perusteella opiskelijat arvostivat arviointia, jonka he kokivat osuvan varsin oikeaan ja olleen melko monipuolista. Arviointi ei kuitenkaan ohjannut heitä eteenpäin kovinkaan paljon. Lisäksi opiskelijoiden henkilökohtaiset kokemukset arvioinnista vaihtelivat huomattavasti. Jotta arviointi palvelisi vielä useampia opiskelijoita, sen tulisi olla entistä monipuolisempaa ja ohjaavampaa.Student assessment has a powerful role in all educational contexts, also in the Finnish upper secondary school. Yet, in spite of its powerful role, there is rather little research on assessment and its practical implementation in foreign language teaching in upper secondary school. The aim of this study was to examine, with a questionnaire, how students (n = 146) in one upper secondary school experienced assessment as part of their English studies, what assessment methodology they had encountered and what they thought of the usefulness of these assessment methods. The article shows that most students appreciated assessment and found it accurate as well as quite varied in its methodology. However, assessment did not seem to feed forward very much. Furthermore, students’ individual experiences of assessment varied a great deal. In order for assessment to serve more students, it should be more multifaceted and guiding.peerReviewe
"This is my portfolio" : portfolios in upper secondary school English studies
No full textThis qualitative case study describes a portfolio programme in the teaching of
English as a foreign language in two Finnish upper secondary schools. Approximately 100 students participated in the portfolio programme, whose topic area was culture.
Firstly, the purpose of this action research was to try out and develop portfolios in foreign language teaching as a pedagogical innovation. Secondly, the
aim was to foster students' empowerment, i.e. their active and responsible
role in learning. Thus, the primary research interests were twofold: How did
the portfolio programme proceed and progress? Did the portfolio programme
foster the students' empowerment?
The present report is divided into three parts. Part I presents the theoretical framework, Part II describes and evaluates the process of the portfolio
programme and Part III introduces and analyses different portfolio profiles
and portraits emerging from the data.
The results were promising. A great majority of the students both liked the
portfolio approach and took charge of their learning. Thus, the portfolio seemed
to offer a vehicle for students' empowerment. However, there were also some
students who disliked the portfolio course. They found the topic area uninspiring and the student-centred and self-directed approach inefficient, difficult or unsuitable for themselves.unknown accessibilityei tietoa saavutettavuudest
Daunting, reliable, important or “trivial nitpicking?” Upper secondary students’ expectations and experiences of the English test in the Matriculation Examination
Full text linkThe Matriculation Examination, the school-leaving exam taken towards the end of upper secondary education, is the only high-stakes examination in the Finnish school system. As the exam may have a strong impact on the students’ further education opportunities, it evokes various feelings and thoughts in students. Yet, there is little research on these reactions. This article, based on a mixed-methods approach, sheds light on students’ expectation and experiences of the English test in the Matriculation Examination. A total of 142 second- and third-year students from one upper secondary school shared their views on the possible washback effect and test anxiety caused by the exam. Also, the students expressed their ideas and experiences of the validity, reliability and fairness of the test. Although the test did not seem to cause excessive washback, it caused significant stress and anxiety. Furthermore, students seemed rather critical of its validity and reliability
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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