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Due to subjectivity in oral assessment, much concentration has been put on obtaining a satisfactory measure of consistency among raters. However, obtaining consistency might not result in valid decisions. One matter that is at the core of both reliability and validity in oral performance is rater training. Recently, Multifaceted Rasch Measurement (MFRM) has been adopted to address the problem of rater bias and inconsistency; however, no research has incorporated the facets of test takers’ ability, raters’ severity, task difficulty, group expertise, scale criterion category, and test version together in a piece of research along with their two-sided impacts. Moreover, little research has investigated how long rater training effects last. Consequently, this study explored the influence of the training program and feedback by having 20 raters score the oral production, as measured by the CEP (Community English Program) test, produced by 300 test takers in three phases, i.e., before, immediately after and long after the training program. The results indicated that training can lead to higher degrees of interrater reliability and diminished measures of severity/leniency, and biasedness. However, it won't lead the raters into total unanimity, except for making them more self-consistent. Although rater training might result in higher internal consistency among raters, it cannot eradicate individual differences. That is, experienced raters, due to their idiosyncratic characteristics, did not benefit as much as inexperienced ones. This study also showed that the outcome of training might not endure in long run after training; thus, it requires ongoing training letting raters regain consistency.

Attention plays a vital role in education. Children who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suffer from impairing levels of inattention. ADHD is a relatively common childhood disorder (Scahill & Schwab-Stone, 2000), which, if left untreated, results in adverse consequences (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This necessitates employing attention-training methods, such as neurofeedback training (NFT). But although conventional, NFT is expensive and time-consuming; therefore, the need for finding other methods is felt. The total physical response (TPR) method can provide a suitable venue for teaching young learners with ADHD (Nunan, 2011). Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the comparative effects of NFT and TPR on ADHD young learners’ attention. To do so, 16 students with ADHD were selected from a school in Shahryar. They were randomly assigned to NFT and TPR groups, receiving these treatments for twenty sessions, respectively. The Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA+Plus) was used as the pre- and post-test to measure full, auditory, and visual attention. To answer the research questions investigating the comparative effects of NFT and TPR on ADHD young learners’ attention, non-parametric one-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted. Moreover, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to explore within-group differences. The results indicated significant improvements for both groups. Nevertheless, NFT was found to be more effective regarding full and auditory attention. Concerning visual attention, both treatments were similarly effective. The findings suggest both treatments can improve participants’ attention. The study has implications for education by shedding light on attention-training methods.

This study investigated the attitudes of Iranian female and male elementary English as a foreign language (EFL) learners toward peer and self-assessment of descriptive writing. It also attempted to find any gender-specific differences in their attitudes toward peer and self-assessment of descriptive writing. In so doing, the study relied on exploratory sequential mixed-methods procedures including qualitative and quantitative phases. The first group of participants was 40 EFL teachers (20 males and 20 females). The second group of participants was 50 individuals (25 males and 25 females) who took part in a five-session descriptive writing course, participated in interviews, and filled out the questionnaires. The content of the course was a combination of Bartlett's (2015) peer and self-assessment methods and Spencer's (2005) models of assessing composition. In the qualitative phase, a thematic analysis of the interviews, known as the constant comparative method of analysis, helped to extract four main themes shaping the participants’ attitudes, namely ‘Cooperation’, ‘Knowledge’, ‘Motivation’, and ‘Practice’. In the quantitative phase, exploratory factor analysis and a one-way MANOVA test were carried out to examine any gender-specific impacts on the learners’ attitudes toward peer and self-assessment of descriptive writing. Finally, the results of the study implied that the participants had positive attitudes towards the descriptive writing course, although females were more positive than males. This study has some educational implications for those involved in peer and self-assessment.