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Inclusive Practices to Improve Fairness and Performance on EFL Exams

Research Project

Project/Area Number 17K03042
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Section一般
Research Field Foreign language education
Research InstitutionAkashi National College of Technology

Principal Investigator

Herbert John Charles  明石工業高等専門学校, 一般科目, 教授 (60435435)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) REHMAN ANIS・UR  鹿児島工業高等専門学校, 一般教育科, 講師 (30780994)
taquet david  函館工業高等専門学校, 一般系, 准教授 (50710901)
HIGA MARSHALL  松江工業高等専門学校, 人文科学科, 准教授 (50736923)
ピレッジ マークアンドリュー  神戸市立工業高等専門学校, その他部局等, 准教授 (60735273)
COOPER T・D  富山高等専門学校, その他部局等, 准教授 (70442449)
ジェンバ トメック  大分工業高等専門学校, 一般科文系, 助教 (70706986)
Project Period (FY) 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
Budget Amount *help
¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Fiscal Year 2018: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2017: ¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
KeywordsInclusive practices / one-sentence-per-line / EFL exams / SpLDs / Inclusive practice / Inclusive Practices / Visual Perception / Intensive Reading / Text Formatting / Common Errors / Testing Fairness
Outline of Final Research Achievements

When technical college students in Japan were given a mid-term English exam with half of the content formatted in block paragraph sections and the other half in sections that were written in a one-sentence-per-line format, the students scored 1.9% higher on the latter. In a survey that followed the test, 83% of the students stated a preference for the one-sentence-per-line format. Among the 17% who declared a preference for the block format, there were some highly proficient students of English who admitted that they prefer block paragraphs because that is what they have become familiar with. However, there was no numerical evidence from these paper exams to suggest that the block format would benefit these students. Likewise, on a more strictly timed test recreated with the same content for an eye-tracking study, the six most proficient readers scored 5% higher on average where they could read one sentence per line, even though two of them also preferred the block format.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

The measures of inclusive practice applied in this research have proven to be helpful to many and harmful to no one. However, a lack of these inclusive practices has shown the potential for crowded content on a language test to hinder the performance of some students on such tests.

Report

(4 results)
  • 2019 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2018 Research-status Report
  • 2017 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (14 results)

All 2020 2019 2018 2017 Other

All Journal Article (5 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 3 results,  Peer Reviewed: 3 results) Presentation (8 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 6 results) Remarks (1 results)

  • [Journal Article] Inclusive Practices to Improve Fairness and Performance on EFL Exams2020

    • Author(s)
      John C. Herbert, Anis Ur Rehman, and David Taquet
    • Journal Title

      IATEFL 2019 Liverpool Conference Selections

      Volume: 53 Pages: 203-205

    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Using Eye-Tracking Equipment to Improve Reading Strategies on Standardized Tests2019

    • Author(s)
      M.K. Higa and J.C. Herbert
    • Journal Title

      Transactions of ISATE 2019 - The 13th International Symposium on Advances in Technology Education: Engineering Education for Sustainable Development in the 21st Century

      Volume: 13 Pages: 95-98

    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Effective Inclusive Interfaces: Visual Processing during Reading2019

    • Author(s)
      S. Kanda, AU Rehman, & JC. Herbert
    • Journal Title

      Proceedings of the UTP-KOSEN International Symposium on Innovative Engineering

      Volume: 1 Pages: 33-35

    • Related Report
      2018 Research-status Report
  • [Journal Article] Altering English Test Layouts to Cater to All Students2018

    • Author(s)
      John C. Herbert, Anis Ur Rehman, Marshall Higa, Mark Pileggi, David Taquet, and Tomek Ziemba
    • Journal Title

      全国高等専門学校英語教育学会 ‐ 研究論集

      Volume: 37 Pages: 205-214

    • NAID

      40021852925

    • Related Report
      2017 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed
  • [Journal Article] Inclusive Practices in EFL Testing Protocol at Technical Colleges in Japan2017

    • Author(s)
      M. K. Higa and J. C. Herbert
    • Journal Title

      Transactions of ISATE: The 11th International Symposium on Advances in Technology Education

      Volume: 11 Pages: 528-532

    • Related Report
      2017 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Inclusive practices workshop for designing classroom materials and tests2020

    • Author(s)
      John C. Herbert and David Taquet
    • Organizer
      The 16th Annual CamTESOL Conference
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Inclusive Practices to Improve Fairness and Performance on EFL Exams2019

    • Author(s)
      John C. Herbert, Anis Ur Rehman, and David Taquet
    • Organizer
      IATEFL 2019 Liverpool
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Using Eye-Tracking Equipment to Improve Reading Strategies on Standardized Tests2019

    • Author(s)
      M. K. Higa
    • Organizer
      ISATE 2019: The 13th International Symposium on Advances in Technology Education
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Cognitive effects of inclusive interfaces in written tests2018

    • Author(s)
      Mark Pileggi, John C. Herbert, and Anis Ur Rehman
    • Organizer
      European Conference on Visual Perception 2018
    • Related Report
      2018 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Effective Inclusive Interfaces: Visual Processing during Reading2018

    • Author(s)
      S. Kanda, AU Rehman, & JC. Herbert
    • Organizer
      The UTP-KOSEN International Symposium on Innovative Engineering
    • Related Report
      2018 Research-status Report
  • [Presentation] A Case Study on Test Formatting to Improve Assessment in EFL Classrooms2018

    • Author(s)
      Marshall K. Higa
    • Organizer
      14th Annual CamTESOL Conference on English Language Teaching
    • Related Report
      2017 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Altering English Test Layouts to Cater to All Students2017

    • Author(s)
      John C. Herbert
    • Organizer
      COCET 2017: 第37回全国高等専門学校英語教育学会
    • Related Report
      2017 Research-status Report
  • [Presentation] Inclusive Practices in EFL Testing Protocol at Technical Colleges in Japan2017

    • Author(s)
      Marshall K. Higa
    • Organizer
      ISATE 2017: The 11th International Symposium on Advances in Technology Education
    • Related Report
      2017 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Remarks] Common English Errors that Japanese Students Make

    • URL

      https://showcase.moodlejapan.org/course/view.php?id=94

    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report

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Published: 2017-04-28   Modified: 2021-02-19  

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