2019 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Inclusive Practices to Improve Fairness and Performance on EFL Exams
| Project/Area Number |
17K03042
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| Research Institution | Akashi National College of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
ハーバート ジョン・チャールズ 明石工業高等専門学校, 一般科目, 教授 (60435435)
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| 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COOPER T・D 富山高等専門学校, その他部局等, 准教授 (70442449) [Withdrawn]
ジェンバ トメック 大分工業高等専門学校, 一般科文系, 助教 (70706986) [Withdrawn]
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | Inclusive practice / one-sentence-per-line / EFL exams / SpLDs |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Contributions to this project consisted of a pilot study, a revised study, and papers, presentations, and workshops presented at national and international conferences. The pilot study showed us some limited evidence from volunteer participants that a more generous use of whitespace than that seen on many language tests in secondary schools in Japan results in better test performance among Japanese learners of English. Then, in our revised study, we were able to obtain slightly more conclusive evidence for our claim as we controlled our research variables a bit more strictly by writing our research plan into our course syllabi and studying the influence of two particular test layouts on two different colors of paper. Of the 330 students in our classes, 329 students agreed to submit their test results as research data. Shortly thereafter, 45 students from three other schools volunteered to take the same test on computers that were connected to eye-tracking equipment. In the end, 304 participants answered a qualitative survey. The results of the research have led the research team to conferences around the globe to promote the use of more white space than usual on language tests and the consideration of off-white backgrounds for paper and digital presentations of text.
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| Remarks |
The Moodle course that was developed for this project was edited by John C. Herbert and Mark A. Pileggi. Then, it was made available to the public through the courseware showcase linked here.
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