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Computer quiz games are introduced to improve teaching and learning in a freshman engineering chemistry course in an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) environment. These quiz games are developed and implemented as supplemental and augmentative tools to enhance traditionally delivered lectures. The paper shows an increase in students' motivation and compares the performance among students who participated in computer quiz games, a paper-based quiz, or neither activity. An assessment of the effectiveness of quiz games in learning is conducted via a proposed novel chemistry achievement test, the Freshman Engineering Chemistry Aptitude Test, and an attitude questionnaire. The findings contribute to our understanding of the role of game-based learning in students' achievement in chemistry and their motivation and attitudes toward learning general chemistry at a university within an ESL environment, while the computer games developed are useful in all English-based chemistry classes.

Identifying and fostering gifted students is crucial in educational science and psychology. Giftedness diagnostics must be based on profound domain-specific concepts and acknowledge the variety of talents to enable a successful individual education. Growing challenges like digitalization, decarbonization, demographic changes, and pandemics increase the need for creative and productive professionals in STEM fields. Educational practitioners are expected to identify and foster these talents, confronted with the discourse between academic science and psychology about giftedness. Due to the lack of domain-specific diagnostic instruments, the individual expression of giftedness is often neglected during diagnostic procedures in educational practice and general intelligence tests are used instead. To address this problem, this paper presents the development process of a domain-specific diagnostic instrument for scientific giftedness. To bridge the gap between theory and practice and incorporate knowledge from various fields, the development process is integrated into Design-Based Research (DBR). Therefore, we theoretically examine how the principles of DBR and test development can be connected. We present our research approach and check how the planned development process can lead to a test instrument suitable for practice and further knowledge about giftedness diagnostics. The project demonstrates that DBR is suitable for developing didactic interventions but can also lead to innovations in psychometrics and improve giftedness diagnostics in practice through additional quality criteria.

Over the past decades, the demand for scientific research to link theory and practice so that innovative solutions can be developed through research has steadily increased (Klees & Tillmann, 2015; Sandoval & Bell, 2004). In this context, the design-based research (DBR) approach was developed, which examines the research object and the research setting from multiple perspectives through a cyclical-iterative process (Shavelson et al., 2003; Reinmann, 2005). The connection between research and practice is not only relevant for school contexts, but also for early childhood education (Schäfers & Wegner, 2021a). Therefore, the project "Kleine BegInNa" utilizes the DBR approach. A preliminary examination revealed that early promotion has a great influence on the children's later school performance, yet that there is not any test to survey their competences. However, this is essential in order to be able to offer appropriate support. In the prototyping phase, a scientific talent test for pre-school aged children was developed. This test was validated in several cycles in the assessment phase (Schäfers & Wegner, 2022a). The last validity test for the elicitation of the internal structure by an exploratory factor analysis shows that both the loadings and the screeplot, output one factor. This one factor solution explains 43.56% of the variance. This may be the "scientific talent" factor, which needs to be verified in further studies and by confirmatory factor analysis. While Reinmann (2022) has established comprehensive standards for science and methodology in DBR, we also focus on what extent conventional quality criteria for qualitative and quantitative research can be applied to a DBR approach.

Identifying mathematically gifted students is an important objective in mathematics education. To describe skills typical of these students, researchers pose problems in several mathematical domains whose solutions require using different mathematical capacities, such as visualization, generalization, proof, creativity, etc. This paper presents an analysis of the solutions to two problems by 75 students (aged 11-14), as part of the selection test for a workshop to stimulate mathematical talent. These problems require the use of the capacity for mathematical generalization of solution methods. We define a set of descriptors of such capacity, use them to analyze students' solutions, and evaluate how well students with high capacity for generalization can be distinguished from average students. The results indicate that the two problems are suitable for identifying potential mathematically gifted students and several descriptors have high discriminatory power to identify students with high or low capacity for generalization.

It can be difficult to navigate the tasks of repertoire selection and part assignments in a way that produces a successful performance product while also being educationally beneficial to all students. However, researchers have explored methods of ensuring these goals through repertoire selection. In this article, I present ideas for how educators can pair the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) with music aptitudes when assigning parts in an ensemble. In doing so, ensemble directors might find themselves better positioned to address the individual needs of every student in the ensemble.

"Tests of Aptitude for Language Learning" (TALL) is an openly accessible internet-based battery to measure the multifaceted construct of foreign language aptitude, using language domain-specific instruments and L1-sensitive instructions and stimuli. This brief report introduces the components of this theory-informed battery and methodological considerations for developing it into an open research instrument. It also presents the preliminary results from the initial validation of TALL carried out on data collected from Chinese L1 participants (n = 165) from a university setting who took two rounds of tests (with counterbalanced test items) with a minimum 30-day interval. The results of data analyses at subtest, item, and battery levels suggest that, in general, TALL has satisfactory reliability and can be used to measure aptitude conceptualized in the theoretical frameworks on which it has been developed. This report also highlights the value of TALL as a convenient data collection tool openly accessible to any researcher for free, its potential for facilitating an open data pool for high-quality syntheses of aptitude-related research findings, and its implications for Open Research practices in testing language-related constructs.

Background: The origin of inequalities in health outcomes has been explained by health selection and social causation models. Health selection processes operate particularly at school age. We study, if student allocation to teaching groups with aptitude tests (selective vs general class) differentiates adolescents by health behaviors and mental health. Methods: Finnish schoolchildren 12-13 years from 12 selective classes, n = 248; 41 general classes, n = 703 answered a questionnaire on addictive products (tobacco, snus, alcohol, and energy drinks), digital media use, and mental health (health complaints, anxiety, and depression). Structural equation modeling was conducted to identify structures between outcomes, SEP (socioeconomic position), class type, and academic performance. Results: Students in the selective classes reported less addictive digital media and addictive products use than students in the general classes. Differences in academic performance or SEP between the class types did not solely explain these differences. Mental health was not related to the class type. SEP was indirectly associated with health behaviors via the class type and academic performance. Conclusions: Selecting students to permanent teaching groups with aptitude tests differentiates students according to risky health behaviors. The impact of education policies using student grouping should also be evaluated in terms of students' health.

Self-regulation is an essential component of school readiness. Although in educational contexts self-regulation is typically defined in terms of volitional processes, it also encompasses the activity of neurophysiological systems, including the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). In a prospective longitudinal study, 102 preschoolers (M[subscript age] = 4.82 years; 52% female) completed two measures of volitional self-regulation (the gift-wrap task and a battery of EF tasks) at the beginning of their final preschool year, and then completed the Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) at year's end. Larger increases in parasympathetic function (indexed by respiratory sinus arrythmia, or RSA) during both the gift-wrap and EF tasks were correlated with better performance on the BSRA at levels approaching significance, and subsequent regression models that controlled for relevant covariates revealed robust associations between increases in RSA and improved BSRA performance (gift wrap: B = 5.49, p = 0.012; EF: B = 7.77, p = 0.001). We interpret these results in light of polyvagal theory and discuss their implications for incorporating measures of parasympathetic activity into future educational neuroscience research.

Despite the widespread use and effectiveness of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) composite score in predicting individual differences in L2 achievement and proficiency, there has been little examination of MLAT subtests, although they have potential for illuminating components of L2 aptitude and the mechanism of prediction. Here we use regression commonality analysis to decompose the predictive variance from the MLAT into unique components for each subtest alone and for each possible combination of subtests (duos, trios, etc.) that may have shared variance. The results, from a longitudinal study of 307 U.S. secondary students during 2 years of Spanish learning, provide strong evidence for the role of literacy-related skills in all subtests and in predicting all L2 outcomes. These and other results support a view of L1 literacy and language skills leading to metalinguistic development, which in turn leads to stronger L2 aptitude and achievement.

This study aimed to compare the readability levels of the reading passages in the General Aptitude Test (GAT) and those of English textbooks for the Upper Secondary Level in Thailand. The corpus of the General Aptitude Tests (C-GAT) was compiled from 70 reading passages on GAT test papers from 2009-2021, and the corpus of English textbooks (C-ET) was compiled from 66 English textbook series. The data were quantitatively analyzed to investigate the readability levels of the reading passages in the two sets of corpora. The instrument of this study was Coh-Metrix--a common core text ease and readability assessor. The data were analyzed based on 11 categories of language characteristics divided into 106 indices. The results showed that the reading passages in the C-ET were easier than those in the C-GAT in 10 out of 11 categories with significant mean values in 4 categories: text easability principal component scores, referential cohesion, connectives, and word information. As a result, it can be concluded that the readability levels of the teaching and testing materials were incongruent. Thus, English textbook designers, English teachers, and test developers need to concentrate on the relationship among reading passages used in both national tests and English textbooks in order to achieve the right balance between students' English reading skills and results of the tests.

The purpose of this study is to generate non-verbal items for a visual reasoning test using templated-based automatic item generation (AIG). The fundamental research method involved following the three stages of template-based AIG. An item from the 2016 4th-grade entrance exam of the Science and Art Center (known as BILSEM) was chosen as the parent item. A cognitive model and an item model were developed for non-verbal reasoning. Then, the items were generated using computer algorithms. For the first item model, 112 items were generated, and for the second item model, 1728 items were produced. The items were evaluated based on subject matter experts (SMEs). The SMEs indicated that the items met the criteria of one right answer, single content and behavior, not trivial content, and homogeneous choices. Additionally, SMEs' opinions determined that the items have varying item difficulty. The results obtained demonstrate the feasibility of AIG for creating an extensive item repository consisting of non-verbal visual reasoning items.

Federal accountability policy mandates that states administer standardized tests beginning in third grade. In turn, third-grade test scores are often viewed as a key indicator in policy and practice. Yet literacy struggles begin well before third grade, as do racial and socioeconomic disparities in children's literacy skills. Kindergarten readiness assessments provide a unique opportunity to better understand the emergence of literacy disparities. We use unique kindergarten literacy data from nearly every school division in Virginia to document the relationship between children's early literacy skills and their later reading proficiency. When comparing children with similar literacy skills at kindergarten entry, we find significant racial and socioeconomic differences in the likelihood that a child will be proficient on their third-grade reading assessment. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED619042.]

Playing musical instruments involves a high level of skill based on the harmonious and esthetic reproduction of notes. The main aim of this study is to determine the impact of MusicFlow, an interactive music composition system, on the development of students' piano skills. The article also used a survey to determine the potential of using digital technology in piano education. To achieve this goal, the authors used the questionnaire method and the method of experimental research. Analysis of the final music aptitude test showed that only the overall average of piano skills differed significantly between groups (Z = -2.53, p = 0.031). The results of the survey showed that digital technologies contributed to the correct positioning of hands for 27% of university students and 25% of school students who learn song compositions, which was associated with the visualization of each stage during training. 87% of respondents confirmed that the curriculum influenced significantly the speed of learning and contributed to learning not only during lessons, but when preparing homework. The results of the paper are important for musicians of various levels who focus on improving technical and aesthetic skills while playing the piano.

It is widely known that test anxiety (TA) is associated with a decrease in test scores. The objective of this study is to provide evidence of the existence of two paths through which TA affects test scores: an indirect path that is associated with the mediation of the updating efficiency and a direct path moderated by the putting into perspective coping strategy. The study was conducted with a sample of 184 high school students who took an entrance exam for a university in Costa Rica. The structural equation modelling related to the theoretical approach was well adjusted, which provided evidence in favour of the hypotheses about the previously mentioned paths. Based on the results, the use of the putting into perspective coping strategy can help people with high TA levels reduce the effect of this emotion in test scores.

Despite the extensive research on bilingual development, our understanding of how lexical competition unfolds in the bilingual mind remains limited. Previous studies have predominantly focused on crosslinguistic competition, neglecting the examination of the competition process within each language and the influence of diverse bilingual experiences, such as first language attriters, heritage speakers, or sequential bilinguals. Consequently, there is a critical gap in our knowledge regarding how bilinguals navigate and resolve competition dynamics during spoken word recognition in the context of language attrition. We compare the within-L1 and within-L2 competition mechanisms of Spanish-English attriters (N = 65) with two monolingual control groups (Spanish and English speakers). Participants completed two visual world tasks with manipulation of onset/rhyme overlap. Results indicate a contrast between the competition mechanisms exhibited by the L1 monolingual group and the Spanish attriters during L1 spoken word recognition. Our findings highlight the role of bilingual experiences in modulating L1 competition dynamics, shedding light on the complex relationship between bilingualism and lexical competition.

This study sought to explain the differences in the computational thinking skills of primary school students. The survey model was adopted for the research. In the study, in which 780 primary school students participated, the relationship between computational thinking skills and factors at the student (gender, parent education status, internet access, attitude toward science, attitude toward math) and school level (school status, technology use, classroom size) were analyzed and a prediction model was tested. Personal information forms, computational thinking tests, and attitude scales toward science and math were used in the study. The findings of the study showed that primary school students' computational thinking skills were most closely related to the mother's educational level, attitudes toward math, and use of technology in lessons.

While the relationship between language experience and foreign language aptitude (FLA) has been studied extensively, little is known about the underlying intermediate link between them. This study investigates whether multilingual learning experience is correlated with FLA and whether working memory (WM) mediates this relationship. A total of 93 accomplished bilingual or trilingual learners aged 18-25 years from Chinese universities participated in this study. Results showed significant differences in the performance of implicit language aptitude (ILA) (measured by LLAMA D) between L2 and L3 learners. Critically, further mediation analysis demonstrated that WM acted as a partial mediator between the multilingualism -- ILA association. Taken together, these findings highlight the partial indirect effect of multilingual learning experience on FLA through WM, which contributes to the understanding of the underlying mechanism between language experience and FLA as well as the extent to which WM affects their relationship.

The questionnaire method has always been an important research method in psychology. The increasing prevalence of multidimensional trait measures in psychological research has led researchers to use longer questionnaires. However, questionnaires that are too long will inevitably reduce the quality of the completed questionnaires and the efficiency of collection. Computer adaptive testing (CAT) can be used to reduce the test length while preserving the measurement accuracy. However, it is more often used in aptitude testing and involves a large number of parametric assumptions. Applying CAT to psychological questionnaires often requires question-specific model design and preexperimentation. The present article proposes a nonparametric and item response theory (IRT)-independent CAT algorithm. The new algorithm is simple and highly generalizable. It can be quickly used in a variety of questionnaires and tests without being limited by theoretical assumptions in different research areas. Simulation and empirical studies were conducted to demonstrate the validity of the new algorithm in aptitude tests and personality measures.

Widespread use of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) in L2 studies of individual differences implicitly assumes that L2 aptitude is a distinct cognitive facet. There is considerable evidence for prediction from L1 abilities to L2 learning. In this longitudinal study, L1-MLAT-L2 relations were examined in 307 US secondary students based on six L1 and six L2 measures of language and literacy, and the MLAT. Mediation and regression analyses revealed that each L1 measure individually predicted all L2 scores and MLAT; the L1 measures collectively substantially predicted MLAT scores; MLAT is a significant but moderate mediator of prediction from L1 to L2 scores; and prediction from MLAT to L2 scores is significantly and substantially due to variance in L1 abilities captured by MLAT. Overall, prediction from MLAT is due primarily to its functioning as a measure of L1 abilities, although substantial L1 variance which predicts L2 scores is not captured by the MLAT.

This paper extracts the characteristics of the view of ability in educational practices during the period of rapid growth in Japan, focusing on the influence of these perceptions on the Ministry of Education's educational policies. The analysis draws on the debate about "vocational aptitude tests" and "observation guidance." Teachers' critical perceptions of "vocational aptitude tests" and "observation guidance" depend on their views of desirable ability. The main findings obtained are as follows. Since the 1990s, attention has been focused on non-cognitive ability; a similar view of ability (expansion of the view of ability) can be seen in educational practices in the 1960s. However, this expansion of the view of ability does not only appear in educational practices. According to the analysis of "ability and aptitude, etc." included in a reference document on observation guidance (presented by MoE, based on the French observation curriculum), an expansion of the view of ability can also be confirmed to be present in educational policy. The view of ability in educational practices may even coincide with that in educational policies.

One of the primary goals of STEAM education is to equip students with the capability of creativity to solve problems. Creativity is believed to be closely related to the ability of making remote associations and combining unrelated concepts. This article explored the effects of three kinds of association interventions (i.e., remote association, close association, free association) on students' creative thinking, creative aptitude, empathy, and design scheme. A total of 94 middle school students participated in the study and were assigned to three groups: the experiment group 1 (n = 30) used remote association and experiment group 2 (n = 32) used close association, the control group (n = 32) used free association (brainstorming) to complete the STEAM integration design projects respectively. Creative Thinking Test, Williams Creativity Aptitude Test (WCAT), Basic Empathy Scale (BES), design ideas, and interviews of students become source data for analysis. Results indicated that both remote and close association were effective strategies in promoting creativity in the STEAM course. However, students in the remote association group achieved a significantly higher degree of creative thinking. While students in the close association group significantly outperformed the remote association group on creativity aptitude and quality of design ideas. No significant difference was found among the three association conditions in students' degree of empathy. The findings highlight the different effects of remote and close association for creativity cultivation in STEAM education.

While much research has examined second language (L2) phonetic acquisition, less research has examined first language (L1) attrition in terms of the voice onset time (VOT) of voiceless stops. The current study examined L2 acquisition and L1 attrition in the VOT of word-initial voiceless stops among late English-Arabic and Arabic-English bilinguals in order to explore the role of phonetic similarity in L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of speech. The study included 60 participants: 15 monolingual Arabic speakers, 15 monolingual English speakers, 15 English-Arabic bilinguals and 15 Arabic-English bilinguals. The bilinguals had been living in their L2 environment for more than 15 years. The participants narrated two cartoons in Arabic and/or three in English. The monolingual groups' results revealed clear cross-language differences in the VOT of voiceless plosives between the two languages. Phonetic similarity affected L2 acquisition in that those L2 sounds that were close in phonetic space to L1 sounds (i.e. /t/ and /k/) were more difficult to acquire than those that were dissimilar to L1 sounds (i.e. /p/). However, L1 attrition showed an asymmetric pattern, occurring only in the English-Arabic bilinguals' productions of the English /k/. We suggest that markedness might contribute to explaining this asymmetry.

This paper examines evidence for relationships among individual differences (IDs) in L1 achievement, L2 aptitude, and L2 achievement. It begins by providing an overview of my academic journey from L1 educator to L2 researcher and explains the development of the Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis (LCDH). Next, I review Peter Skehan's influential research on language aptitude and L1-L2 relationships and summarizes research showing that IDs in L1 achievement (and L1 ability) are universal, can be identified early, and are stable over time. Then, I review research on L1-L2 relationships and IDs in L2 learning, focusing on the longitudinal studies and reporting two new studies that examine the relationship between L1 achievement and L2 aptitude on the MLAT. Overall, I argue that the development of L1 literacy leads to growth in metalinguistic awareness, which enhances L1 literacy skills, and that L1 literacy and metalinguistic awareness provide the foundation for L2 aptitude, the ability to use and understand "decontextualized" material. I conclude the paper by proposing an answer to the title.

Despite extensive use of online language learning during the pandemic of COVID, there is insufficient research on what factors influence students' foreign language achievements in online learning conditions. This article investigated the roles of language aptitude and online self-regulated learning in foreign language achievement in mainland China. 76 freshmen from two classes at a university in Jiangxi participated in this study. They were required to complete an aptitude test of MLAT and a questionnaire on online self-regulated learning. The results showed that: (1) The students' language aptitude is at a relatively low level, and their online self-regulated learning is at an intermediate level; (2) A positive correlation is detected between language aptitude, online self-regulated learning, and their English achievements (r=0.621 & 0.583 respectively); (3) Language aptitude alone (grammatical sensitivity and associative memory ability) accounts for 38.9% variance in English achievement. Language aptitude and online self-regulated learning contributed 52.4% of the variance to their English achievements. Overall, the findings of the study confirm the high predictive power of the MLAT and predictions of the Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis (LCDH) advocated by Sparks and colleagues. Pedagogical implications are also discussed.

Young learners' language aptitude is understudied due to a lack of tests covering this period of life. Young learners, in contrast with adults, are still acquiring their L1. Consequently, a language-dependent aptitude test should be carefully designed for it to be valid. An additional challenge is found when the young learners who are to take the test are bilingual, as is the case of the Catalan/Spanish community in Catalonia. This chapter aims at explaining the process to translate and adapt the Modern Language Aptitude Test -- Elementary in Spanish (MLAT-ES - Stansfield et al., 2005) into Catalan (MLAT-EC -- Suárez, 2010) so as to obtain a valid aptitude measure across grades. The results show that despite the linguistic proximity between Catalan and Spanish, several issues had to be considered, not only linguistic and cultural but also the learners' age range for the test is addressed to.

The goal of the present study was to extend earlier work on the estimation of person theta using maximum likelihood estimation in R by accounting for rapid guessing. This paper provides a modified R function that accommodates person thetas using the Rasch or 2PL models and implements corrections for the presence of rapid guessing or informed guessing behaviors. Initially, a sample of 200 participants was generated using Mplus in order to demonstrate the use of the function with the full sample and a single participant in particular. Subsequently, the function was applied to data from the General Aptitude Test (GAT) and the measurement of cognitive ability. Using a sample of 8500 participants, the present R function was demonstrated. An illustrative example of a single participant, assumed to be either a rapid responder or a successful guesser, is provided using MLE and BME. It was concluded that the present function can contribute to a more valid estimation of person ability.

This study was carried out with the aim of determining the opinions and digital literacy status of the students who are preparing for the music talent exams of the universities during the COVID-19 process. The research is in the survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methods and is limited to 300 students who took the music department and department aptitude exams of 21 different universities. The type of high school from which the relevant students graduated, the universities they applied to for special talent exams, their previous undergraduate education, their status of researching distance education opportunities, and digital literacy levels of the universities they applied for special talent exams were included in the scope of the study. Within the scope of the problem situation of the research, the effects of the duration of the pandemic on the ear training, instrument training, voice training, and psychological state of the students were investigated. According to the data obtained from the interview form applied to the students, the pandemic process gave the students extra time for ear training, instrument training, and voice training, but this extra time could not be properly evaluated because there was no educator guidance. It was concluded that students felt inadequate about digital literacy.

The aim of this study is to show how a many-facet Rasch measurement model (MFRM) can be used for quality control whilst monitoring a musical aptitude examination. The data used in this study was gathered from a musical aptitude examination which was applied in 2019-2020 academic year for selecting teacher candidates to a music education department in one public university in Turkey. In this study, the total scores of musical singing and playing exams were used. The study group of this research is consisted of 164 candidates and five specialists who rated the musical performance of candidates. A three-facet Rasch model was used including student (n=164), rater (n=5), and task (n=2). Data was gathered with fully crossed design. MFRM analysis showed good fit the data. The reliability of separation index for students was very high and it indicated that the musical aptitude examination differentiate among students in terms of their musical performance. The reliability of the rater separation index was found as 0.00 and it suggested that raters rated students' musical performance with very similar levels of severity/leniency and they were interchangeable. The results of task measure showed that musical singing task is harder than musical playing task. The results of bias analyses showed that there is no bias based on rater by task and rater by student interactions. However, student by task interaction has some bias measures.

The need to assess and understand students' strengths in choosing their future careers is essential. Aptitude exams like the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) and Academic performance via Grades are important data used as the basis for determining student career strength. This study employed descriptive-correlational research, where secondary data were used. The analysis of NCAE results and the academic performance of Grade 10 students were performed in this study. An Independent Sample T-test was also used to determine the significant difference in the two aptitudes/tracks; Technical-Vocational (T.V.) and Academic Track (AT). The study revealed that the majority of the students performed above average and average levels across all domains. Natural Science, Spiritual Vocation, and Science were the students' most preferred careers/occupations. The results also showed a weak positive association between Mathematical Ability and Math performance. However, an insignificant relationship was observed on the two sets of variables; the Science Grade and Scientific Ability scores, and the English Grade and Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability scores. The study revealed that students have higher AT scores than T.V.; thus, identified as the students' career strength. Evaluation and monitoring program with provisions to motivate students to perform better in the National Standardized Exams is recommended in the study. [This paper was presented in the 4th International Conference of Science Educators and Teachers (ISET), Khon Kaen, Thailand: Science Education Association (Thailand) (SEAT). ]

There is increasing interest in computer science and computing bachelor programs due to the growing importance of technology in the globalized world. Thus, as higher education institutions strive to serve a diverse student demographic, it is salient to gauge their programming abilities to improve guidance on learning processes regarding their initial knowledge state. Despite the availability of certain instruments to measure student programming skills, these are traditionally aimed at younger populations and do not accurately discriminate the different levels of ability among university students. This article introduces a translation into Spanish and validation of an existing English-language aptitude test for computing jobs that can be used to measure the programming abilities of students with no prior experience in the field. Following a cyclic research methodology, two iterations were carried out in this article. First, the aforementioned test was translated and validated via expert judgment and focus groups, in which certain items were removed subsequent to a quantitative analysis. The resultant instrument underwent a second validation using a larger population of students. Analysis conducted after the second iteration showed this instrument to deliver good internal consistency, good difficulty and discrimination indices, and a moderate correlation with the grades of the midterm exam of a programming course undertaken by first year engineering students. This work contributes to both increasing the number of tests available in the Spanish language with which to assess programming abilities, as well as to the broader literature regarding test adaptation, translation and validation.

While aptitude has been seen to contribute to second language (L2) development, most studies have examined its contribution as a fixed trait, rather than viewing it as a dynamic, changing variable. There appears to have been little or no investigation of the role that aptitude plays in the development of L2 pragmatic ability. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the contribution of L2 learning aptitude as measured by Grigorenko et al.'s (2000) CANAL-FT ("The Cognitive Ability for Novelty in Acquisition of Language as Applied to Foreign Language Test") to L2 speech-act knowledge among 121 Iranian upper-intermediate to advanced level EFL learners. In addition, a multiple-choice discourse completion test (MDCT) comprising three common English speech acts (Derakhshan, 2014) was administered to the participants. A multiple regression analysis revealed that all five components of CANAL-FT were significant predictors of L2 speech-act knowledge. The aptitude for learning sentential inferences was the strongest predictor, followed by the ability to acquire the meanings of the whole passage. The other three components of aptitude, namely, comprehending the meanings of contextualized neologisms, acquiring the language rules, and learning the meanings of paired associates, were found to be moderate predictors of L2 speech act knowledge. These results appeared to underscore the benefits of obtaining aptitude data on learners as a means for better understanding the dynamics of L2 development in the area of pragmatics.

In this study it was aimed to determine the effect of geometrical-mechanical intelligence games activities that are conducted with concrete materials and in computer environment on the spatial visualization and mental rotation skills of prospective teachers and to examine the opinions of prospective teachers about the activities. The research was conducted with mixed-method research. The study group consists of 49 prospective teachers. The obtained quantitative data were collected with "Differential Aptitude Test" and "Mental Rotation Test" and qualitative data were collected with "Open-Ended Questionnaire". In the analysis of obtained quantitative data, paired samples t-test and one-way analysis of covariance were used and in the analysis of qualitative data, content analysis was used. According to the findings in the research, it was determined that the activities that are conducted both with concrete materials and in computer environment significantly increased the spatial visualization and mental rotation skills of prospective teachers. In addition to this, it was determined that there was not a difference between the increases in the spatial visualization and mental rotation skills of prospective teachers after the activities were conducted. Furthermore, prospective teachers stated that they had fun while performing the activities, the activities developed their visual/spatial intelligence, three-dimensional thinking and establishing a part-whole relationship, increased their attention and concentration and thought and decided faster and more accurate in the second time they were answering the spatial ability tests.

Since Gisela Granena's influential work, LLAMA D v2, a sound recognition subtest of LLAMA aptitude tests, has been used as a measure of implicit learning aptitude in second language acquisition research. The validity of this test, however, is little known and the results of studies with this instrument have been somewhat inconsistent. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that researchers' variable test instructions are the source of the inconsistent results. One hundred fourteen English monolinguals were randomly assigned to take LLAMA D v2 under one of three test instruction conditions. They also completed two implicit aptitude tests, three explicit aptitude tests, and a sound discrimination test. The results showed that, regardless of the type of test instructions, LLAMA D scores did not align with implicit aptitude test scores, indicating no clear evidence of the test being implicit. On the contrary, LLAMA D scores were negatively associated with scores on one implicit aptitude test, the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task, but only in the condition where the instructions drew participants' focal attention to the stimuli. This negative association was interpreted as focal attention working against learning in the SRT task. Implicit learning aptitude may be the degree to which one is able to process input without focal attention.

In this study, neural representation of adult second language (L2) speakers' implicit grammatical knowledge was investigated. Advanced L2 speakers of Japanese living in Japan, as well as L1 Japanese speakers, performed a word-monitoring task (proposed as an implicit knowledge test) in the MRI scanner. Behavioral measures were obtained from aptitude tests for explicit (language analytic ability) and implicit (statistical learning ability) learning. Findings indicate that, although both L1 and L2 speakers recruited neural circuits associated with procedural memory during the word-monitoring task, different brain regions were activated: premotor cortex (L1 speakers) and left caudate (L2 speakers). The premotor cortex activation was weaker in L2 than L1 speakers but was positively correlated with the left caudate activation, suggesting that their grammatical knowledge, while less automatized, was still developing. Behavioral sensitivity to errors was predicted only by explicit language aptitude, which may play a key role in the automatization of grammatical knowledge.

Foreign language aptitude is defined as one's potential to learn a second language. A language learner with higher aptitude is predicted to learn more, faster, and reach a higher level of proficiency. If this is the case, one way to validate the construct of aptitude and its measure is to conduct a validation study in which measures of aptitude is correlated with a learning outcome. This study aimed to conduct a concurrent validity of LLAMA_F, a foreign language aptitude test using grammaticality judgement test (GJT) as its concurrent criterion. This was done through dis-attenuated correlation, using reliability values obtained using classic test theory (CTT) and item analysis. The results show barely adequate reliability for LLAMA_F, high reliabilty values for GJT and a weak linear relationship between the two constructs. The findings of this study demonstrated that LLAMA_F might suffer from a lack of strong internal consistency. While the 200-item GJT was shown to be reliable, a few of its subcomponents were less than adequate. A further in-depth item analysis of GJT is needed in order to pare down the test and make it shorter for easier application and data collection. Finally, a nonlinear relationship between aptitude and measures of achievement is suggested for future research on language aptitude.

Too often research studies on Black boys emanate from deficit orientations and take a problem-centered approach that overemphasizes stereotypes or pathologizes Black male students, overlooking their aspirations and successes. Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009 (HSLS: 09), we examined the postsecondary goals of rural Black male ninth graders as well as the relationships among their educational aspirations, college knowledge, and support from school counselors using social and aspirational capital situated within the community cultural wealth conceptual framework. We found that the educational aspirations of rural Black male ninth graders are high; however, their knowledge of college falls short of their educational aspirations and their support from teachers and school counselors. We discuss the strengths, attributes, and systems of support that are useful to rural Black male students as they transition through secondary education to post-secondary settings and, based on our findings, call for a paradigmatic shift using family-school-community partnerships.

The aim of this paper is to describe, analyze, and discuss how Swedish schools and the national tests in schools, university teaching and examination, and the college admissions test, Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT), have been affected by the COVID-19 situation. A further aim is to discuss the challenges in schools, universities and in the admissions test process in Sweden which are due to the COVID-19 situation. Contrary to many other countries, Swedish schools remained open, except for upper secondary school and universities where teaching went online. However, the spring administrations of the national tests and the high-stake college admission test, SweSAT, were cancelled, which had impact on admissions to universities in the fall. By using documentation from the news, school, and university authorities, as well as governmental reports of the events and a student survey, challenges are discussed. The novelty of this study includes a discussion of the events and their upcoming challenges. A discussion of what could be learned and what to expect in the close future is included, as well as conclusions which can be drawn from this situation.

Aptitude testing is used to select candidates with the greatest potential for professional interpreter training. Implicit in this practice is the expectation that aptitude test scores predict future performance. As such, the predictive validity of score-based inferences and decisions constitutes an important rationale for aptitude testing. Although researchers have provided predictive validity evidence for different aptitudinal variables, very little research has examined the substantive meaning and robustness of such evidence. We therefore conducted this systematic review to investigate or interrogate the methodological rigour of quantitatively-based prospective cohort studies of aptitude for interpreting, focusing on the substantive meaning, psychometric soundness, and statistical analytic rigour underpinning their predictive validity evidence. Our meta-evaluation of 18 eligible studies, identified through a rigorous search and screening process, shows a diverse array of practices in the operationalisation, analysis, and reporting of aptitude tests, interpreting performance assessments, and related validity evidence. Main patterns include the collection of mostly single-site data (i.e., from a single institution), use of self-designed instruments for testing aptitude, and under-reporting of key information on measurement and statistical procedures. These findings could help researchers better interpret existing validity evidence and design future research on aptitude testing.

As a replication in the Chinese context of previous aptitude testing validation studies, this research aims at exploring the validity of an interpreting aptitude test battery, composed of the Logical Memory Test (LMT), the Scale of Language Anxiety (SLA) and the Achievement Motivation Test (AMT), in the prediction of consecutive interpreting performance of Chinese interpreting trainees. A quasi-experimental and correlational research design was adopted. The aptitude test battery was administered at the beginning of the first semester for 48 post-graduate interpreting trainees, and English-Chinese (E-C) and Chinese-English (C-E) consecutive interpreting (CI) tests, used to measure the interpreting proficiency of the subjects, were conducted at the end of the semester. Scores from the aptitude tests and consecutive interpreting tests were subjected to parametric correlation analysis as well as multiple linear regression analysis. The results indicated that (a) the LMT scores enjoyed a statistically significant positive correlation with C-E CI; (b) the SLA scores had a statistically significant negative correlation with both E-C and C-E CI; (c) there was no statistically significant correlation between the AMT scores and CI in either direction. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to interpreting candidate screening and admission testing.