Research Methods for Education
SAGE Journal Articles
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Journal Article 1: Karazsia. B. T. (2103). Enhancing table Interpretation skills via training in table creation. Teaching of Psychology, 40, 208–211.
Abstract: Quantitative and statistical literacy are core domains in the undergraduate psychology curriculum. An important component of such literacy includes interpretation of visual aids, such as tables containing results from statistical analyses. This article presents a new technique for enhancing student interpretation of American Psychological Association-formatted tables. Undergraduate students exposed to the technique performed better than students not exposed on a measure of table interpretation. An active learning experience in which students learn how to create tables can enhance student ability to interpret tables presented in empirical psychological literature.
Journal Article 2: Papageorgiou, S., & Cho, Y. (2013). An investigation of the use of TOEFL® Junior™ Standard scores for ESL placement decisions in secondary education. Language Testing, 31, 223–239.
Abstract: A common use of language tests is to support decisions about examinees such as placement into appropriate classes. Research on placement testing has focused on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in higher education contexts. However, there is little research exploring the use of language tests to place students in English as a Second Language (ESL) support classes in secondary education. The present study examined the relationship between secondary school students’ language test scores from a standardized English-language test and the placement of these students into ESL classes by their language teachers. Ninety-two ESL students in two English-medium schools took TOEFL® Junior™ Standard. For the same students, data collection also included teachers’ judgments regarding the ESL classes the students should attend. Strong correlations between test scores and the teacher-assigned ESL levels were found. Moreover, the results from the logistic regression analysis indicated a great degree of overlap between the teacher-assigned ESL levels and the levels predicted from the TOEFL Junior Standard scores. The findings of this study provide some preliminary evidence to support the use of TOEFL Junior Standard as an initial screening tool for ESL placement. The limitations and implications of these findings for ESL placement decisions in secondary education are also discussed.