Developing an automated writing placement system for ESL learners     

Helen Yannakoudakis  Øistein E Andersen  Ted Briscoe  Diane Nicholls 《教育实用测度》2018,31(3):251-267

ABSTRACT

There are quite a few challenges in the development of an automated writing placement model for non-native English learners, among them the fact that exams that encompass the full range of language proficiency exhibited at different stages of learning are hard to design. However, acquisition of appropriate training data that are relevant to the task at hand is essential in the development of the model. Using the Cambridge Learner Corpus writing scores, which have been subsequently benchmarked to Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels, we conceptualize the task as a supervised machine learning problem, and primarily focus on developing a generic writing model. Such an approach facilitates the modeling of truly consistent, internal marking criteria regardless of the prompt delivered, which has the additional advantage of requiring smaller dataset sizes and not necessarily requiring re-training or tuning for new tasks. The system is developed to predict someone’s proficiency level on the CEFR scale, which allows learners to point to a specific standard of achievement. We furthermore integrate our model into Cambridge English Write & Improve^TM—a freely available, cloud-based tool that automatically provides diagnostic feedback to non-native English language learners at different levels of granularity—and examine its use.  相似文献   

Danish and Finnish PISA results in a comparative, qualitative perspective: How can the stable and distinct differences between the Danish and Finnish PISA results be explained?   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Frans ?rsted Andersen 《Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability》2010,22(2):159-175

The research project presented in this article was designed to provide a better understanding of the stable and significant differences in the PISA results between two otherwise very similar Nordic welfare states, Denmark and Finland. In the PISA studies, Finnish students repeatedly achieve the highest Nordic (and partly worldwide) scores in e.g. reading, science and math, while Danish students score lower. Even though Denmark has one of the world’s most expensive educational systems, the OECD ranks the Finnish school system as the world’s best both in terms of quality and equity (OECD 2004). The basic research question is why these differences continue to persist. The case study methodology was mainly inspired by Kirsti Klette’s classroom research (Klette 2003) which involves both interviews and observations. Thus, the overall design could be labeled mixed methods (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie Educational Researcher, 33(7): 14-26, 2004). Five regular public schools in each country were sampled for the comparative classroom studies. The basic theoretical approaches follow Hundeide’s theory of pedagogical communication and relations (2003) and Csikszentmihalyi’s flow-theory (1992). Both this study and statistical studies (S?rensen 2008) show that the difference in the Danish and Finnish PISA results mainly consists in the relatively better score by the lowest scoring 25% of the Finnish pupils compared to the lowest scoring Danish quartile. The results of this study point to a number of possible classroom related reasons why the Finnish school system can produce a better outcome for the lowest scoring quartile of pupils. These reasons are presented and discussed in the article. The study underlines the need to focus more on good classroom management in Denmark—and recommends further international, comparative research in order better to understand the huge differences shown in large scale international programmes such as PISA, PIRLS and TIMMS. The study also reveal the need for more knowledge about inclusive classroom practices, the use of teacher assistants and free, healthy school meals for all pupils.  相似文献   

Analyzing the Effect of Metaconceptual Teaching Practices on Students’ Understanding of Force and Motion Concepts     

Nejla Yuruk  Michael E. Beeth  Christopher Andersen 《Research in Science Education》2009,39(4):449-475

This study investigated the effect of metaconceptual teaching interventions on students’ understanding of force and motion concepts. A multimethod research design including quasi-experimental design and case study designs was employed to compare the effect of the metaconceptual activities and traditional instruction and investigate students’ reactions to metaconceptual teaching interventions. The participants (45 high school students in the USA) were enrolled in one of the two physics classes instructed by the same science teacher. In the experimental group, students’ engagement in metaconceptual knowledge and processes was facilitated through various instructional activities, including poster drawing, journal writing, group debate, concept mapping, and class and group discussions. These activities were intended to facilitate students’ engagement in (a) becoming aware of their existing and past conceptions, associated beliefs, everyday experiences, and contextual differences, (b) monitoring their understanding of the new conception, the changes in ideas, and the consistency between existing and new conceptions, and (c) evaluating the relative ability of competing conceptions to explain a physical phenomenon. In the comparison group, the same content knowledge was explained by the teacher along with the use of laboratory experiments, demonstrations, and quantitative problem solving. Students’ reactions to the designed instructional activities indicated that metaconceptual teaching interventions were successful in facilitating students’ engagement in several types of metaconceptual functioning. The results showed that students in the experimental group had significantly better conceptual understanding than their counterparts in the comparison group and this positive impact remained after a period of 9 weeks.  相似文献   

Playful hyper responsibility: toward a dislocation of parents’ responsibility?     

Hanne Knudsen  Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen 《教育政策杂志》2014,29(1):105-121

Over the past 10–15?years, state-funded schools have begun to require parents to assume an undefined and infinite personal responsibility. In this article, we investigate how schools organize responsibility games to respond to this challenge and how these games affect the concept of responsibility. We point to a dislocation in the way parents are assigned responsibility, because the definition of responsibility is not only a question of formulating rules or providing advice. We argue that what emerges is a kind of playful hyper responsibility that identifies responsibility as the participation in a process of public exploration by parents of the definition of their specific responsibilities. This has several consequences, one of which is that it becomes difficult to have a political discussion about what can reasonably be expected of parents.  相似文献   

Highlights of Value Change in Japan     

Makita  Tetsuo; Ida  Mieko 《Int. Journal of Public Opinion Research》2001,13(4):426-432

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Ontological violence: Catherine Malabou on plasticity,performativity, and writing the feminine     

Tawny Andersen 《Culture, Theory & Critique》2020,61(1):4-21

ABSTRACT

Catherine Malabou's opinion of non-essentialist models of gender identity and art is unambiguous: in her words, they are ‘catastrophic’ to women and to artists (Malabou [2014]. ‘Sujet: Femme'. de(s)générations des féminismes 21, 29-38: 135). What, then, are the implications of Malabou's hallmark concept of ‘plasticity’ on theories of performativity? Has plasticity come to supplant performativity, just as Malabou believes that it has come to supplant Derridean writing? Or if, as Malabou suggests, philosophical concepts are inherently plastic, may we maintain that performativity was always already plastic? In the following article, I read Malabou's work on writing alongside her work on the feminine in order to question how plasticity and performativity might be examined together to theorise the ways in which the discursive and the material interact in the production of subjectivities. By highlighting the performativity at play within Malabou's own writing about the end of writing, I propose that her work challenges her claim that literature cannot deconstruct philosophy. In response to Malabou's anti-essentialist plastic theory of the essence of woman, I underline the parallels between performativity and plasticity and suggest that the two concepts overlap in their mutual configuration of identity and form as mutable and transformable.  相似文献   

Making instruction and assessment responsive to diverse students' progress: group-administered dynamic assessment in teaching mathematics     

Jeltova I  Birney D  Fredine N  Jarvin L  Sternberg RJ  Grigorenko EL 《Journal of learning disabilities》2011,44(4):381-395

This study entailed a 3 (instructional intervention) × 2 (assessment-type) between-subjects experimental design employing a pretest-intervention-posttest methodology. The instructional interventions were administered between subjects in three conditions: (a) dynamic instruction, (b) triarchic or theory of successful intelligence-control instruction, and (c) standard-control instruction. The assessment-type consisted between subjects of either (a) a group-administered dynamic posttest or (b) the same group-administered posttest interspersed with a control filler activity. Performance in different mathematics content areas taught in fourth grade was investigated. In total, 1,332 students and 63 classroom teachers in 24 schools across six school districts participated in the study. The results indicate the advantages of using dynamic instruction and assessment in regular classrooms while teaching mathematics, especially when the student body is highly ethnically diverse.  相似文献   

OBESITY AND REPORTS OF NO LEISURE TIME ACTIVITY AMONG OLDER AMERICANS: RESULTS FROM THE THIRD NATIONAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION EXAMINATION SURVEY     

Ross E. Andersen  Shawn Franckowiak  Colleen Christmas  Jeremy Walston  Carlos Crespo 《Educational gerontology》2013,39(3-4):297-306

Physical inactivity is a cardiovascular risk factor that has a higher prevalence among overweight adults. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of not participating in Leisure Time Physical Activity (LPTA) and the relationship to body weight class among older U.S. adults. A nationally representative cross-sectional survey with an in-person interview and medical examination was used. Between 1988 and 1994, 6569 adults 60 years of age or older responded to the household adult and family questionnaires as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic blacks were oversampled to produce reliable estimates for these groups. Overall, 39% of older U.S. adults fall in the overweight range and 23.3% are obese. Obese older adults were more likely than their overweight and healthy weight counterparts to report participating in no LTPA The prevalence of adults reporting no leisure time physical activity (LPTA) is lowest among non-Hispanic whites compared to non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican-Americans in each body mass index category. Future interventions should address strategies to promote an increase in leisure time physical activity among older adults, especially among underserved populations, and help them to prevent weight gain.  相似文献   

Exercise performance and cardiovascular health variables in 70-year-old male soccer players compared to endurance-trained,strength-trained and untrained age-matched men     

Morten Bredsgaard Randers  Jesper L. Andersen  Jesper Petersen  Emil Sundstrup  Markus D. Jakobsen  Jens Bangsbo 《Journal of sports sciences》2014,32(13):1300-1308

Abstract

The aim was to investigate performance variables and indicators of cardiovascular health profile in elderly soccer players (SP, n = 11) compared to endurance-trained (ET, n = 8), strength-trained (ST, n = 7) and untrained (UT, n = 7) age-matched men. The 33 men aged 65–85 years underwent a testing protocol including measurements of cycle performance, maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max) and body composition, and muscle fibre types and capillarisation were determined from m. vastus lateralis biopsy. In SP, time to exhaustion was longer (16.3 ± 2.0 min; P < 0.01) than in UT (+48%) and ST (+41%), but similar to ET (+1%). Fat percentage was lower (P < 0.05) in SP (–6.5% points) than UT but not ET and ST. Heart rate reserve was higher (P < 0.05) in SP (104 ± 16 bpm) than UT (+21 bpm) and ST (+24 bpm), but similar to ET (+2 bpm), whereas VO₂max was not significantly different in SP (30.2 ± 4.9 ml O₂ · min^?1 · kg^?1) compared to UT (+14%) and ST (+9%), but lower (P < 0.05) than ET (?22%). The number of capillaries per fibre was higher (P < 0.05) in SP than UT (53%) and ST (42%) but similar to ET. SP had less type IIx fibres than UT (?12% points). In conclusion, the exercise performance and cardiovascular health profile are markedly better for lifelong trained SP than for age-matched UT controls. Incremental exercise capacity and muscle aerobic capacity of SP are also superior to lifelong ST athletes and comparable to endurance athletes.  相似文献