درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Measurement has been ubiquitous in all areas of education for at least a century. Various methods have been suggested to examine the fairness of education tests especially in high-stakes contexts. The present study has adopted the newly proposed ecological approach to differential item functioning (DIF) to investigate the fairness of the Iranian nationwide university entrance exam. To this end, the actual data from an administration of the test were obtained and analyzed through both traditional logistic regression and latent class analysis (LCA) techniques. The initial DIF analysis through logistic regression revealed that 19 items (out of 70) showed either uniform or non-uniform DIF. Further examination of the sample through LCA showed that the sample is not homogeneous. LCA class enumeration revealed that three classes can be identified in the sample. DIF analysis for separate latent classes showed that three serious differences in the number of DIF items identified in each latent class ranging from zero items in latent class 3 to 43 items in latent class 2. The inclusion of the covariates in the model also showed that latent class membership could be significantly predicted from high school GPA, field of study, and acceptance quota. It is argued that the fairness of the test might be under question. The implications of the findings for the validity of the test are discussed in detail.

The current study investigated the impact of an interventionist model of dynamic assessment, using a repetitive process of pretest-teach-posttest design, on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension and classroom engagement. To this end, 40 intermediate participants were selected through convenient sampling from among the English majors of a university in Kerman, Iran, and assigned to two control and experimental groups, each including 20 students. Then, during 4-month period, the experimental group was exposed to reading comprehension class, using an interventionist model of DA, while the control group did not receive ant dynamic assessment program. At the end of the treatment, the participants’ scores on the pretest and post-test were statistically compared. The obtained results revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on the scales of reading comprehension skill. A change was also observed in the classroom engagement of the experimental group, but not for the control group. Indeed, the results showed that dynamic assessment can boost participants' performance in a practical and effective way, not only in terms of reading performance but also in terms of motivating more classroom engagement among EFL learners. This finding has implications for teachers to design more efficient courses which are the ultimate goal of education.  

Since its inception in 1949, over 1,500 studies have investigated the validity of the GRE General Test to predict its performance criteria in higher education (Klieger, Bridgeman, Tannenbaum, & Cline, 2016). The present review paper sought to examine the predictive validity of the GRE General Test. Factors affecting the predictive validity (e.g., range restriction, compensatory selection, criterion unreliability, substantive and artifactual moderators, bias in testing, coaching effects, socioeconomic status (SES), gender, and a host of other intervening factors such as motivation, communication skills, etc.) have been discussed. A brief overview of GRE revised General Test format is also presented. After an account of the related review of the literature, a critical commentary on the predictive validity of the GRE General Test has been discussed with an emphasis on the role of criterion unreliability and SES factor effects. Keywords: Predictive validity, Graduate Record Examination (GRE), criterion unreliability, range restriction, compensatory selection

D’un point de vue sémiotique l’art est un effet de sens ; l’ effet de l’art , le saisissement artistique, est un événement esthétique, affectif, cognitif, présent dans toute œuvre d’art. Cet effet résulte d’un processus que nous pouvons reconstruire, l’ artistisation . Nous devons donc circonscrire un objet (l’ œuvre ), qui induit un effet (l’ art ), en exprimant un processus (l’ artistisation ). L’œuvre picturale ne se résume donc pas à des images : c’est un objet sémiotique composite, un hybride composé de processus, supports, matières, énergies, et tout ce qui lui confère un mode d’existence social et culturel. C’est précisément le cas des œuvres de Mehdi Sahabi ; nous ne pouvons examiner ici la totalité de ce qui en fait des œuvres, et nous nous limiterons au fait essentiel : une œuvre , pour Sahabi, est toujours une série , c’est sa manière de faire œuvre d’art . Nous examinerons donc dans ses séries picturales (1) les tensions caractéristiques de la « nouvelle figuration », et les manifestations d’une pratique inter-picturale ; (2) les isotopies et allotopies transversales de l’expression sérielle et multilinéaire ; (3) le travail des strates picturales et des couches actantielles, et l’expérimentation des dynamiques imaginaires. Le processus d’artistisation, en production comme en interprétation, est celui de l’ intuition (impression > synthèse > anagogie > imagination).

In order to engage students in higher-level thinking, cognitive activation (CA) strategies have been advanced and utilized in mathematics. CA develops when learners are challenged, confronted with conflicts, asked to think and explain clearly on their learning, and realize connections between new and previous content. Extending the theme to English language teaching (ELT), this study investigated Iranian English language teachers’ knowledge and practice of cognitive activation writing strategies (CAWS). In so doing, a model was proposed based on a questionnaire that was developed and validated in the present study. Through this scale, knowledge and practice of CAWS by 213 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers were explored. During a pilot phase, the reliability of the questionnaire was calculated to be .78 for the knowledge section and .81 for the practice section. Two items in each section were removed after conducting exploratory factor analysis. Ultimately, the confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the proposed model was fit for the data. Five components were confirmed as constituents of CAWS for the knowledge section, and four components were identified for the practice section. The findings revealed that Iranian EFL teachers were already familiar with the CAWS and purportedly practiced them in their writing classes. Using the scale in the process of writing instruction can provide ELT practitioners with a helpful platform for relating to CA strategies and empowers learners to accomplish tasks such as problem-solving in their writing assignments, similar to what is practiced in mathematics.

L’identité et l’ethos sont deux des notions importantes qui servent à révéler les traits de caractère intradiscursifs et extradiscursifs du sujet parlant dans les analyses du discours. Cet article a pour but de jeter quelque lumière sur les traits identitaires et l’ethos discursif d’un leader exceptionnel qu’est Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, commandant de la Guerre d’indépendance turque et fondateur de la République de Turquie. Le corpus étudié a été délimité par certains extraits de discours tenus entre 1919 et 1939, où Atatürk a utilisé le pronom « je » (et « nous »). Le cadre théorique est composé de deux notions relevant de l’analyse du discours : l’identité et l’ethos. Dans les analyses effectuées, il a été traité d’une part l’identité personnelle, l’identité de positionnement et l’identité discussive d’Atatürk, de l’autre, la dimension catégorielle, expérientielle et idéologique dans les extraits de discours d’Atatürk. Et les différents ethos ressortis à travers le corpus ont été précisés comme ethos combatif, solidaire et honnête ; ethos résolu et hardi ; ethos humble ; et ethos collectif.