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This study set out to explore English for academic purposes (EAP) student perceptions of their experiences at a university in western Canada. A qualitative approach was used, with 17 students completing a questionnaire toward the end of their EAP program, and one of those students taking part in an interview approximately one year later. Data from the questionnaires and interview were transcribed and descriptively coded, with the codes gathered into salient themes. Thematic analysis identified benefits related to developing academic writing and speaking skills, boosting confidence levels, fostering EAP friendships, providing a transition period, and learning about local culture. However, the analysis also revealed the need for improvements in overall teaching and learning experiences, reading and listening skills development, and sociocultural content. These findings point to the importance of conceptualizing EAP with a wide range of outcomes related to linguistic, academic, social, cultural, and personal growth to support students' additional language socialization in a postsecondary context. The findings also highlight areas for curriculum renewal and revision and underscore the role these programs can play in building on students' strengths as they develop their overall competence in an additional language to achieve the goals that matter to them.

From the perspective of newcomers to Canada, using English as an additional language (EAL), this study explores how newcomers' interlocutors might impede workplace communication. Six participants speaking EAL and with a variety of language backgrounds shared their workplace experiences. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews, with anecdotes compiled, coded, and analyzed for emergent themes. CELPIP-General LS test scores were also obtained to provide a measure of the participants' general English language proficiency. Based on the anecdotes shared by the participants, affective tension, interlocutor language use, interlocutor understanding, time pressure, and their own perceptions played a role in inhibiting workplace communication. It appeared that their capacity to deploy the full range of their communicative competence in English often depended on their interlocutors. These findings point to how the attitudes and actions (real or imagined) of interlocutors may affect workplace language skills. Based on these findings, the potential of intercultural skills development for newcomers, their interlocutors, and the wider community is examined with the goal of facilitating workplace communication.

The importance of first language (L1) and second language (L2) test takers' experience with large-scale literacy testing has been well documented in educational research. Our study focused on the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), a cross-curricular literacy test that is one of the graduation requirements for Ontario high school students. We drew on qualitative data obtained from open-ended questions on a large-scale survey administered to OSSLT test takers. Whether the test takers were preparing to take the test or had already taken the test seemed to play a critical role in L1 and L2 test takers' perceptions. The most salient results highlight the role that test experience had on test takers' perceptions of their test performance and the alignment between the test and their classroom literacy activities. (Contains 2 tables, 2 footnotes and 1 figure.)

Diagnostic assessment is increasingly being recognized as a potentially beneficial tool for teaching and learning (Jang, 2012). There have been calls in the research literature for students to receive diagnostic feedback and for researchers to investigate how such feedback is used by students. Therefore, this study examined how students interpreted the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment feedback in one English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course at one Canadian university. Drawing on the Assessment Use Argument proposed by Bachman and Palmer (2010), this study investigated the extent to which CAEL feedback enables students to beneficially adjust their study practices to improve their academic English skills.

Tests measuring academic language are traditionally associated with visible, high-stakes decisions of whether or not English language learners are admitted to post-secondary institutions. However, a new form of assessment in higher education is now gaining prominence. Post-entry (or post-enrolment) language assessments (PELA) determine the academic language learning needs of students once they are accepted into a post-secondary institution (Dunworth, 2009; Murray, 2010; Read, 2013). Rather than simply making a summative, evaluative judgment about student ability upon admission, post-entry assessments are designed to specify the level and type of language support required. This use of results is in line with formative and "assessment for learning" approaches for the use of assessment data (Black & William, 1998; Hill & McNamara, 2012; Rea-Dickins, 2008). This review of the Diagnostic English Language Needs Assessment (DELNA) program reflects increased interest in assessments focused on supporting student learning. In this review, I refer to the DELNA program as it is implemented within the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

This study examined test-takers' motivation, test anxiety, and test performance across a range of social and educational contexts in three high-stakes language tests: the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment in Canada, the College English Test (CET) in the People's Republic of China, and the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) in Taiwan. The researchers issued a questionnaire exploring motivation, test anxiety, and perceptions of test importance and purpose to test-takers in each of the three contexts. A total of 1,281 valid questionnaire responses were obtained: 255 from CAEL, 493 from CET, and 533 from GEPT. Questionnaire responses were linked to each test-taker's respective test performance. The results illustrate complex interrelationships of test-takers' motivation and test anxiety in their test performance. Differences in motivation and test anxiety emerged with regard to social variables (i.e., test importance to stakeholders and test purposes). Further, motivation and test anxiety, along with personal variables (i.e., gender and age), were associated with test performance. Given that motivation and test anxiety have typically been examined separately and in relation to a single testing context, this study addresses an important research gap.

The process of taking a high-stakes test stretches well beyond the day of the test itself; indeed, months may be spent preparing for such a test. Strategy research has proved to be a fruitful means of investigating the test-taking process, but it has typically relied on only one research approach at one contact point. This study explores three second language (L2) test takers' strategy use over time and across testing contexts, including classroom observations of their six-week test-preparation course, interviews, their verbal accounts of a practice test just before the test, and post-test follow-up interviews. The results suggest that strategy use is sensitive to both context and research method, that well-known theoretical frameworks may not adequately account for strategies arising directly from experience in test-preparation classes, and that test takers with similar levels of proficiency acquire and use strategies differently in relation to their motivations for taking the test. (Contains 1 table and 3 notes.)

This study examined the relationships among students' background information and their in-school and after-school literacy activities, as well as the relationships between students' background and their views of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). The results showed that students' literacy activities could be grouped into three types: e-literacy, traditional literacy, and creative literacy. Furthermore, results showed that categorization of literacy activities depended on whether the activities were conducted in English or in another language. Gender predicted certain types of literacy activities. Compared with English-as-a-first-language (L1) students, English-as-a-second-language (L2) students' background influenced more of their views of the test.

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The genes in the imprinted cluster on human chromosome 15q11–q13 are known to contribute to psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and autism. Major disruptions of this interval leading to a lack of paternal allele expression give rise to Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS), a neurodevelopmental disorder with core symptoms of a failure to thrive in infancy and, on emergence from infancy, learning disabilities and over-eating. Individuals with PWS also display a number of behavioural problems and an increased incidence of neuropsychiatric abnormalities, which recent work indicates involve aspects of frontal dysfunction. To begin to examine the contribution of genes in this interval to relevant psychological and behavioural phenotypes, we exploited the imprinting centre (IC) deletion mouse model for PWS (PWS-IC+/−) and the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), which is primarily an assay of visuospatial attention and response control that is highly sensitive to frontal manipulations. Locomotor activity, open-field behaviour and sensorimotor gating were also assessed. PWS-IC+/− mice displayed reduced locomotor activity, increased acoustic startle responses and decreased prepulse inhibition of startle responses. In the 5-CSRTT, the PWS-IC+/− mice showed deficits in discriminative response accuracy, increased correct reaction times and increased omissions. Task manipulations confirmed that these differences were likely to be due to impaired attention. Our data recapitulate several aspects of the PWS clinical condition, including findings consistent with frontal abnormalities, and may indicate novel contributions of the imprinted genes found in 15q11–q13 to behavioural and cognitive function generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A defining characteristic of primary emotions is that they occur in wide variety of species. Secondary emotions are thought to be restricted to humans and other primates. We report evidence from two studies investigating claims of primary and secondary emotions in non-primate species. Study 1. We surveyed 907 owners about emotions that they had observed in their animal. Participants reported primary emotions more frequently than secondary emotions and self-conscious emotions more frequently than self-conscious evaluative emotions. Jealousy was reported at very high levels (81% of dogs and 79% of horses), which was surprising as jealousy is generally defined as a secondary emotion. Study 2. Forty dog owners were interviewed about the contexts and behaviours that led them to claim their animal was jealous. There was coherence and consistency in the behavioural descriptions of jealousy. We claim that such reports provide evidence for the existence of secondary emotions in non-primate species as predicted by theorists such as Buck (1999). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]