Ron Oostdam

Influence of Test Anxiety on Measurement of Intelligence

In this study a measurement model for a test anxiety questionnaire was investigated in a sample of 207 Dutch students in the first grade of junior secondary vocational education. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis showed that a model for test anxiety with three factors for worry, emotionality, and lack of self-confidence is associated with a significantly better fit than a model comprised of only the first two factors. The relations of the three test anxiety factors to scores on intelligence tests for measuring verbal ability, reasoning, and spatial ability were examined. The results indicated that test anxiety appears to be transitory: the negative relation between test anxiety and test performance promptly fades away. Finally, we examined whether a distinction can be made between highly test anxious students with low performance due to worrisome thoughts (interference hypothesis) or low ability (deficit hypothesis). Results do not support the deficit hypothesis because the scores of all highly test anxious students increased in a less stressful situation.

Assessing reading comprehension in adolescent low achievers: Subskills identification and task specificity

On the basis of a validation study of a new test for assessing low-achieving adolescents’ reading comprehension skills – the SALT-reading – we analyzed two issues relevant to the field of reading test development. Using the test results of 200 seventh graders, we examined the possibility of identifying reading comprehension subskills and the effects of task specificity on test reliability. Regarding the former, we distinguished three subskills indicating different levels of understanding (‘retrieving’, ‘interpreting’, ‘reflecting’). However, confirmatory factor analyses did not support the presence of these subskills. Task specificity refers to the situation that different tasks within a test are not uniformly difficult for individual test takers, which constitutes a form of error negatively influencing test reliability. However, Generalizability Theory analysis showed that such task-specific effects did not occur: the reliability of the SALT-reading was primarily affected by error associated with the score variance within tasks.

Dimensions and predictors of literary response

To test the validity of the Literary Response Questionnaire (lrq, Miall & Kuiken, 1995b) and to assess its relationships with student, home-background, and school-related variables, the lrq was administered to Dutch students in grades 7, 8, and 9. The seven first-order factors of the lrq, as identified by Miall and Kuiken {1995b), were confirmed. One of the two second-order factors was not identified. However, a model with two different second-order factors fitted the data. Trance, the first factor, represents the degree to which a reader is absorbed in a story. Literary Interpretation, the second factor, represents the degree to which a reader likes or dislikes literary criticism and reflection on the meaning of what is read. Grade, gender, type of education, vocabulary size, reading behavior, and cultural level of the home environment were the best predictors of the literary response scores. Results are discussed in relation to response theories and research and to literary education.

IMPROVING LINGUISTIC FLUENCY FOR WRITING: EFFECTS OF EXPLICITNESS AND FOCUS OF INSTRUCTION

In an explorative classroom experiment the effects of several instructional conditions for writing were compared. Studies on writing suggest that linguistic fluency is an important factor in writers abilities to manipulate sentence structures in order to produce comprehensible text. L1 writing theories indicate that working memory limitations play an important role in formulation. Therefore, improving linguistic fluency presumably frees working memory space and allows the writer to devote more attention to meaning-related problems. An important point of debate in language-learning theories is the role of explicit knowledge about linguistic structure. Some believe that explicit rule knowledge has an important role in acquiring fluency, while others maintain that explicit knowledge has no real influence on skill development, and that fluency develops on the basis of the implicit knowledge of linguistic structures. In recent L2 theories a focus solely on meaning appears insufficient for mastery of linguistic structures. Meaning-oriented language production should, in this view, be complemented by a focus on form(s). Four learning conditions for improving linguistic fluency were discriminated according to the dimensions “focus of instruction” (forms vs. meaning) and “explicitness of instruction” (implicit vs. explicit). Students of elementary grades 5 and 6 (including both first- and advanced second-language learners of Dutch) received four lessons involving the linguistic operations for adding information to sentences in meaningful contexts and avoiding unnecessary (repetition of) information. Results of the experiment show significant positive effects of all four conditions on two post-test formulation tasks in comparison to a control group.

Test anxiety and intelligence testing: A closer examination of the stage-fright hypothesis and the influence of stressful instruction

Abstract The influence of test anxiety and the content of instruction (stressful versus reassuring) on measurements of intelligence were investigated. It was expected that components of test anxiety would show differential effects on test performance. A Latin Square design was used to unravel the effects of test type and test order. Furthermore, effects of type of instruction, stressful versus reassuring, were studied by means of a within-subjects design. Test anxiety was measured with the Revised Worry-Emotionality Questionnaire. Measurements for verbal ability, reasoning, and memory were administered. Performance on memory tests showed less vulnerability to test anxiety compared with the other tests, with a picture recall test being insensitive. The negative effect of test anxiety was mostly confined to the beginning of a test session, independent of the type of test. Partial support for the so-called stage-fright hypothesis was found. The effect of instructional content was equivocal.

Assessment of Argumentative Writing

When producing an argumentative text, writers have to solve problems that are specific for that type of text. The nature and severity of these problems, i.e., the specific problem area of argumentation in written discourse, can be characterized with the help of concepts from the pragma-dialectical argumentation theory (Van Eemeren & Grootendorst, 1984). It is assumed that during the writing process language users will have to appeal to knowledge and skills corresponding with these concepts in order to overcome problems. In this chapter the role of specific knowledge and skills in writing argumentative texts is indicated. A summary is given of the different stages of writing discursive texts and the specific problems connected with these stages (section 2). On the basis of the results of an assessment study of argumentation skills, it is illustrated to what extent the marked problems occur in secondary school students’ writing (section 3). For some of the problems found, writing advice is formulated (section 4).

The factor structure and criterion validity of a test for assessment of cognitive abilities. Comparing students in special and regular education

As a consequence of a recent reform of junior secondary education in the Netherlands, instruments for the assessment of cognitive abilities of students who are eligible for special educational support must be designed. In constructing a new test battery contemporary theory on crystallized and fluid intelligence (Gf-Gc theory) was considered. Complete coverage of the factors in Gf-Gc theory was not striven for, because the status of some of these factors in relation to referral to education with special educational support is not entirely clear. The sample in the study consisted of students from regular and special primary as well as secondary education, aged between 11 and 15 years. Approximately two-thirds of the sample was of Dutch origin, whereas the remaining third was of a different ethnic origin. Results show that the factors verbal-crystallized ability, fluid-reasoning ability, spatial-visualization ability and memory capacity can explain the positive correlations between the tests in the battery for the greater part. Students from regular and special education can be distinguished on the basis of their cognitive profiles reasonably accurate, thus supporting the criterion validity of the test battery. Students requiring special educational support are characterized by a significant discrepancy between short-term recall and long-term retention and retrieval.RésuméUne des conséquences de la réforme récente de l’enseignement secondair aux Pays-Bas est la nécessité de développer des instruments pour l’évaluation des capacités cognitives des enfants qui ont besoin d’un enseignement spécial. Dans la construction d’un nouvel ensemble de tests on a tenu compte de la théorie contemporaine qui fait une distinction entre l’intelligence cristallisée et l’intelligence fluide (la théorie Gf-Gc). On n’a pas cherché à couvrir tous les facteurs de la théorie Gf-Gc, parce que le rôle de ces facteurs dans la décision d’orientation d’un enfant vers l’enseignement spécial n’est pas tout à fait clair. L’âge des enfants sélectionnés pour cette recherche était de 11 à 15 ans. C’étaient des él’`eves de l’enseignement primaire et secondaire, général et spécial. Les deux tiers environ des enfants étaient d’origine hollandaise, les autres étaient d’une autre origine ethnique. Les résultats ont montré que les facteurs de la capacité verbale-cristallisée, la capacité de raisonnement-fluide, la capacité spatiale-visuelle et la capacité de la mémoire peuvent expliquer en bonne partie les corrélations positives entre les tests. Le profil cognitif permet de déterminer de façon raisonnablement précise l’orientation d’un enfant vers l’enseignement général ou spécial. Ce résultat confirme la validité-critère de l’ensemble des tests. Un décalage significatif entre les performances de la mémpire à court terme et de la mémoire à long terme caractérise les enfants qui ont besoin du soutien de l’enseignement spécial.

Making history relevant to students by connecting past, present and future: a framework for research

Abstract History teaching usually focuses on understanding the past as an aim in itself. Research shows that many students don’t see the point of this and perceive history as not very useful. Yet history plays a major role in the orientation on present and future. If students fail to see this, the question arises whether this is due to a lack of explicit attention in history classes on the application of knowledge about the past to the present and the future. This article explores two questions: (1) If history is to be more relevant to students, what kind of objectives should play a central role in history teaching? (2) What kinds of teaching strategies align with these objectives in history teaching? The first question is answered by means of historical and educational theory. The second is answered by exploring a number of teaching strategies that have been described in the literature, as well as a small-scale experiment conducted by the authors. This article aims at providing a basis for developing meaningful history curricula as well as for research into educational strategies which can be deployed to teach students how to make connections between past, present and future.

Relevance in history teaching

Abstract History teaching usually focuses on understanding the past as an aim in itself. Research shows that many students don’t see the point of this and perceive history as not very useful. Yet history plays a major role in the orientation on present and future. If students fail to see this, the question arises whether this is due to a lack of explicit attention in history classes on the application of knowledge about the past to the present and the future. This article explores two questions: (1) If history is to be more relevant to students, what kind of objectives should play a central role in history teaching? (2) What kinds of teaching strategies align with these objectives in history teaching? The first question is answered by means of historical and educational theory. The second is answered by exploring a number of teaching strategies that have been described in the literature, as well as a small-scale experiment conducted by the authors. This article aims at providing a basis for developing meaningful history curricula as well as for research into educational strategies which can be deployed to teach students how to make connections between past, present and future.

The role of word decoding, vocabulary knowledge and meta-cognitive knowledge in monolingual and bilingual low-achieving adolescents' reading comprehension

In this study, we analysed the relationships between word decoding, vocabulary knowledge, meta-cognitive knowledge and reading comprehension in low-achieving adolescents and examined whether the strength of these relationships differed between Grade 7 and 9 students and between monolingual and bilingual students. Tests were administered to 328 students in Dutch prevocational education. Multilevel analyses showed positive effects of vocabulary and meta-cognitive knowledge on reading comprehension that were consistent across grades and across monolinguals and bilinguals. Additionally, we found a positive effect of word decoding for seventh graders, but no effect for ninth graders. There was also a positive effect of bilingualism on reading comprehension when vocabulary differences were controlled. This finding suggests that for bilingual students, reading comprehension is hampered by limited second-language vocabulary knowledge and that these students will profit more from an increase in vocabulary knowledge than their monolingual peers. The results underline the importance of vocabulary and meta-cognitive instruction for low-achieving adolescents.