1,721,037 research outputs found
Investigating EFL Learners’ Cognitive Processes of Completing Integrated Writing Tasks
No full textThis study explored the cognitive processes of completing integrated writing tasks among learners of English as a foreign language in Japan. The tasks were designed according to the specifications used by the Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP), which employ multiple texts and graphs to assess the English writing proficiency of high-school students for university admission. This mixed-methods study employed a sequential explanatory design using eye-tracking, questionnaires, and focus-group discussions as research instruments for data collection. This study explored the relationship between participants’ English language proficiency and their cognitive processes involved in completing the integrated writing tasks. In particular, we examined the correlations between eye-movements of the participants (n=42) and their TEAP writing sub-scores in five assessment areas (i.e., Main Idea, Coherence, Cohesion, Lexical Range & Accuracy, and Grammatical Range & Accuracy). Data from the questionnaire and the focus-group discussions (n=24) provided further evidence on the differences between the upper and lower proficiency groups in summarizing the trend described in the texts and graphs. Overall, the findings of the study suggest that participants' language proficiency affected how they used the source texts and graph information in their integrated writing. Implications of the findings are discussed with reference to the effects of source texts and graphs on test-taking processes and performance, as well as the use of eye-tracking as a method to examine the validity of integrated writing tasks
Chinese EFL students' response to an assessment policy change
No full textIn light of its documented potential for enhancing learning, formative assessment has been adopted across a range of educational contexts to improve the quality of education. The assessment innovation that the Chinese Ministry of Education (CMoE) proposed to College English in 2007 via the College English Curriculum Requirements (CECR) (CMoE, 2007), is an initiative of this kind. Considering the acknowledged influence of assessment on students’ learning, it is instructive to explore the ways in which Chinese university students respond to an assessment policy change of this magnitude, particularly as it positions them as more active learners, having the potential for increased agency and engagement in their English language learning and assessment practices. In order to explore the response of students to this assessment initiative, a case study was conducted in the context of a College English classroom. Data included an interview with a College English teacher and four students from her classes, and classroom observations and a survey of her two classes of 100 students. Analysis of the data reveals that Chinese students’ responses to the assessment policy change are influenced by a variety of sociocultural factors, including their previous English language learning and assessment experience and the extent to which they are willing to play the ‘assessment game’. These findings have implications for policy and practice
Preparation of urea formaldehyde microsphere and its effect on flame retardant ethylene vinyl acetate composites
No full textUrea formaldehyde microsphere (UFM) was prepared and used with organic montmorillonite (OMMT) to modify the flame retardant efficiency of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA)/intumescent flame retardant (IFR) composites. The results show that single IFR may modify the flame retardancy of EVA, but its efficiency is not good enough. The EVA composite containing 21wt% IFR is just classified the UL_94 V2 and has a limiting oxygen index (LOI) 24.7vol%. Combining UFM with IFR does not improve the flame retardancy of EVA/IFR composites, and blending OMMT with IFR only improves its LOI. Adding 2wt% UFM, 2wt% OMMT, and 17wt% IFR into EVA, it obtains the UL_94 V0 without melt dripping and a LOI 29.0vol%. Also, the peak heat release rate and total heat release decrease a lot. Good synergistic effects among IFR, UFM, and OMMT improve the char residues and modify the char micromorphology of EVA composites, which provide better protect for the underlying resin
Preparation of urea formaldehyde microsphere and its effect on flame retardant ethylene vinyl acetate composites
No full textUrea formaldehyde microsphere (UFM) was prepared and used with organic montmorillonite (OMMT) to modify the flame retardant efficiency of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA)/intumescent flame retardant (IFR) composites. The results show that single IFR may modify the flame retardancy of EVA, but its efficiency is not good enough. The EVA composite containing 21wt% IFR is just classified the UL_94 V2 and has a limiting oxygen index (LOI) 24.7vol%. Combining UFM with IFR does not improve the flame retardancy of EVA/IFR composites, and blending OMMT with IFR only improves its LOI. Adding 2wt% UFM, 2wt% OMMT, and 17wt% IFR into EVA, it obtains the UL_94 V0 without melt dripping and a LOI 29.0vol%. Also, the peak heat release rate and total heat release decrease a lot. Good synergistic effects among IFR, UFM, and OMMT improve the char residues and modify the char micromorphology of EVA composites, which provide better protect for the underlying resin
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
Student identity, learning and progression: the affective and academic impact of IELTS on ‘successful’ candidates
No full textThe institutional use of IELTS for university admissions reflects an implicit claim for a student’s language development and growth. The extent to which such potential is realised, or not, can therefore be considered a consequential validity issue of the IELTS examination. To date, there has been relatively little focus in IELTS impact studies on the different IELTS profiles of ‘successful IELTS students’. This research adopted a case study approach and tracked 26 postgraduate students over a five to 11 month period in one English university. Framed as a post-IELTS impact study, it has examined the possible affective and academic impacts of the students’ IELTS performances (in all four language skill areas) from the point at which they start their academic programs of subject learning. Identity is conceptualised from a socio-cultural perspective: drawing on the work of Lave and Wenger (1991) and Wenger (1998), the development of identity involves negotiation of access to communities of practice. Identity and learning are performed, and through narrative accounts of performance in learning journals, interviews and student workshops, we document the process of learning by international students. This process is further informed by two other data sets: i) the accounts of academic tutors and administrators, and ii) assessments of learning power, as represented by the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (Broadfoot 2005; Deakin Crick et al, 2004).
Student performance on IELTS has been analysed in relation to the four language skill areas. Two approaches have been taken to the analysis of the data: (a) ethnographic accounts of subject learning through the medium of English, and (b) categorical analysis using winMAX (Kuckartz 1998). The findings from this research are several and point to: (i) the affective dimensions of the struggle of postgraduate students and the ways in which these derive from the test itself; (ii) the linking of this struggle with how they work through the four language skills; (iii) an overwhelming lack of awareness of admissions staff about IELTS; and (iv) the assumptions about the test by tutors and how these might impact on student performance
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