2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Inclusive Practices to Improve Fairness and Performance on EFL Exams
| Project/Area Number |
17K03042
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Foreign language education
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| Research Institution | Akashi National College of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
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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)
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)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | Inclusive practices / one-sentence-per-line / EFL exams / SpLDs |
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| 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.
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| Free Research Field |
English as a Foreign Language
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| 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.
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