Task difficulty is an important but complex phenomenon in Applied Linguistics, for which there is relatively little empirical research. This article discusses approaches to defining task difficulty ...and focuses on objective task difficulty derived from ratings of performances and on difficulty derived from an error count in the performances, thus taking errors as indicators of writing task difficulty. Errors are described in terms of the Scope–Substance error taxonomy in writing performances from the Slovene General Matura examination in English. The most frequent errors are located at word and phrase level. Generally, error frequency decreases as writing proficiency increases, but some error types do not conform to this trend. This is the case for punctuation errors, which gain prominence at higher levels of mastery. The results of this study are relevant for assessment, particularly for rating scale development or revision, and for rater training. They are equally relevant for teaching, since knowing sources of difficulty in tasks is a prerequisite for effective pedagogical action. More generally, if applied to performances based on a wider range of tasks, viewing errors as indicators of difficulty can lead to a better understanding of difficulty‐generating task features.
Povzetek
Težavnost nalog je pomemben, a zapleten pojav v uporabnem jezikoslovju, o katerem je razmeroma malo empiričnih raziskav. Prispevek obravnava pristope k opredeljevanju zahtevnosti nalog pri preverjanju pisnega sporočanja. Osredinjen je na njihovo objektivno zahtevnost, ki izhaja iz točkovnih ocen pisnih izdelkov in iz števila napak v izdelkih, kar pomeni, da napake obravnava kot kazalec zahtevnosti nalog. Napake opredeli po taksonomiji obseg‐vsebina in jo uporabi za ocenjevanje pisnih izdelkov na izpitu iz angleščine na slovenski splošni maturi. Najpogostejše napake se pojavljajo na ravni besed in besednih zvez; večinoma se njihova pogostnost zmanjša z naraščanjem pisne zmožnosti, vendar nekatere vrste napak ne sledijo temu trendu. Tak je primer napak v rabi ločil, ki so pogostejše na višjih ravneh znanja. Rezultati študije so pomembni za ocenjevanje, predvsem za razvoj in prenovo ocenjevalnih lestvic, pa tudi za usposabljanje ocenjevalcev. Dognanja so pomembna tudi za poučevanje, saj je razumevanje razlogov za zahtevnost predpogoj za učinkovito pedagoško delo. Širše gledano lahko napake uporabimo kot kazalec zahtevnosti tudi pri drugih vrstah nalog in s tem izboljšamo prepoznavanje in razumevanje tistih lastnosti nalog, ki prispevajo k njihovi zahtevnosti.
Abstract
If we think of child protection in the Roman religion, the first goddess that comes to mind is Mater Matuta. This paper, however, does not focus directly on Mater Matuta, but on other divine ...figures to some extent related to her: Carna, Ino, and Thesan.
Carna-Cranaë-Cardea, the nymph of the thresholds was celebrated on the calends of June, just ten days after the ceremony in the temple of Mater Matuta. The cult of Ino and Melicertes arose in Italy, where they were called by the Greeks Leukothea and Palaemon, and by the Romans Matuta and Portunus. Thesan was the Etruscan goddess connected with the Dawn, like Mater Matuta. To some extent, these divine figures are all related to kourotrophia.
Incidentally, I will try to suggest that the Roman religious calendar from the 1st of June to the 11th of June was full of details which might allude to one another, with the aim of underlining the importance of human and divine kourotrophia, by using the concept of intertext in literary criticism.
Based on the syntactic analysis of the essays composed in the course of the matura examination in 2019, the article seeks to answer the following major questions: How well are 12th grade pupils ...capable of observing the syntactic norms while writing a fluent text? Which syntactic phenomena do pupils find the most troublesome?A quantitative study revealed that the pupils have an insufficient knowledge of syntactic norms. Pupils find case government, the combinability of words, the choice of word forms in a phrase and in a sentence the most troublesome. The greatest syntactic problem is the incorrect use of cases. What is most obvious and problematic concerning case-related mistakes is the use of the instrumental case to express a state instead of the second component of double cases. The expression of the indefinite amount of things and the whole is also rather troublesome (the use of the accusative case instead of the genitive case expressing an indefinite amount or a part). In their essays, pupils often make mistakes in the use of the gerund. The mistakes related to the composition of the complex sentence are also rather numerous.It should be noted that the teaching of language system-related topics should pay adequate attention to the practical issues of language teaching as well as to tasks focusing on the correct usage of the spoken and written language.The errors made by 12th grade pupils show that it is essential to improve the skills of the correct usage of syntactic constructions in the final grades with due regard to the individual needs of pupils and the class.
In Hungary, Geography final examinations can be taken in ten foreign languages too. This linguistic diversity is one of the less-known, rarely mentioned values of our public education system, ...allowing students of bilingual and nationality secondary school programmes to take certain subject exams – like Geography – in foreign languages. Since the introduction of the two-tier Matura examination system, the subject has been one of the most popular choices in foreign language too as such examinations have been held in almost all exam periods. However, changes in the subject’s prestige and the Matura itself are also clearly reflected. The study provides a detailed analysis of intermediate and advanced Geography final exams by language use and discusses factors influencing the spatial distribution and temporal changes of exam numbers. This study is justified not only by the two-tier system’s more than fifteen years of history but by the recent changes of the national curriculum, exam structure and requirements as well.
Academic institutions are seeking to attract the most capable and prospective students. Many research studies seek to identify factors determining a successful transition from secondary to tertiary ...education. One of the important issues is the predictive value of national testing/Matura examination results in relation to higher education institutions admission. The aim of our study is to quantify the odds to study at university and the results of centralised student assessments (the 10th grade and Matura) of mathematics and the Lithuanian language and literature for the period of five years (Matura examinations for the period 2014–2018), taking into account the student's gender, the location of the school attended, social support, and special needs indicators. We estimate that the Matura grade in mathematics is almost double more important when compared to the10th grade test results for odds of studying at higher education institutions. Grades of the Lithuanian language and literature obtained to be twice more import for males than females. From 2023 or 2024, we may observe the downward trend of people with tertiary educational attainment in Lithuania.
Repeatedly unsuccessful vocational education and training (VET) examinees are educational policy actors who, through their decision making, influence not only their completion of upper ...secondary education but also their futures. Drawing on biographical narrative interviews with 18 Czech VET examinees who failed the Matura exam at least twice, we identified how examinees make their decisions about the Matura exam and how their individual decision-making ways differ. For our participants, we can confirm that the ways they make decisions depend on which attempt to pass the Matura exam it is, as well as on in what context and on what the repeatedly unsuccessful examinees have to decide. We concluded that repeatedly unsuccessful VET examinees perceive decision making about passing the Matura to follow the principle of free choice in the first and second attempts. Due to the influence of institutionally formed beliefs about their own academic success, it is a rather limited choice. If in the third attempt they integrate their decisions about passing the Matura exam in the context of their career development, their decision making becomes a process in which we identify several individualized steps.
Die Beiträge des Bandes präsentieren zentrale Befunde des von der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft geförderten Projekts ,,Abiturprüfungspraxis und Abituraufsatz 1882 bis 1972". Auf der Basis eines umfangreichen ...und in einer digitalen Forschungsumgebung bearbeiteten Korpus deutscher Abituraufsätze wurden - ergänzt durch die Analyse weiterer Quellen - Prüfungspraktiken rekon struiert und kontextualisiert. Aufgearbeitet wurden sowohl bildungshistorische, juristische und administrative Konstellationen als auch fach- und schreibdidaktische Paradigmen, die einen historischen Blick auf die sogenannte Königsdisziplin der Abiturprüfung eröffnen, die ihre Rolle auch gegenwärtig im Streit um die Erwerbsbedingungen der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife behauptet. (DIPF/Orig.)
The contributions in this volume present key findings from the Leibniz Association-funded project "Abiturprüfungspraxis und Abituraufsatz 1882 bis 1972". On the basis of an extensive corpus of German ...Abitur essays processed in a digital research environment, examination practices were reconstructed and contextualised - supplemented by the analysis of further sources. Educational history, legal and administrative constellations as well as subject and writing didactic paradigms were analysed, opening up a historical view of the so-called supreme discipline of the Abitur examination, which is also currently asserting its role in the dispute over the conditions for obtaining the general higher education entrance qualification.
Die Beiträge des Bandes präsentieren zentrale Befunde des von der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft geförderten Projekts „Abiturprüfungspraxis und Abituraufsatz 1882 bis 1972“. Auf der Basis eines umfangreichen und in einer digitalen Forschungsumgebung bearbeiteten Korpus deutscher Abituraufsätze wurden – ergänzt durch die Analyse weiterer Quellen – Prüfungspraktiken rekonstruiert und kontextualisiert. Aufgearbeitet wurden sowohl bildungshistorische, juristische und administrative Konstellationen als auch fach- und schreibdidaktische Paradigmen, die einen historischen Blick auf die sogenannte Königsdisziplin der Abiturprüfung eröffnen, die ihre Rolle auch gegenwärtig im Streit um die Erwerbsbedingungen der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife behauptet.
Mathematics examination on general matura is widely established in Slovenia as it represents one of compulsory exams. Since 1995 every gymnasium student must take it either at basic or higher level ...of difficulty. On the basic level a student can achieve grade points 1-5 while at higher level grade points go from 1 to 8. Both National examinations centre and subject experts committee constantly implement different instruments to assure equivalent point grades for equivalent knowledge on both exams. There is, however, always a possibility for improvements in current procedures towards higher objectivity and fairness. We compared current methods for setting grade boundaries (based on Classical Test Theory) to results and insights gained from Item Response Theory. They suggest new post-hoc procedures that may be implemented in a critical time period when grade boundaries are being defined. New procedures may improve both fairness and equivalence of grade points that students achieve on basic and higher level of examinations in mathematics.
U radu su predstavljeni rezultati kvalitativnog eksploratornog istraživanja perspektive ravnatelja srednjih škola o modelu državne mature te jednakosti i pravičnosti u mogućnosti pristupa visokom ...obrazovanju za učenike strukovnih škola i gimnazija. Ova se pitanja analiziraju u kontekstu sve izraženijih aspiracija mladih ljudi prema visokom obrazovanju, masifikacije visokog obrazovanja i strateškog određenja Republike Hrvatske prema povećanju udjela visokoobrazovanih građana. Jednakost mogućnosti pristupa visokom obrazovanju podrazumijeva da svi učenici koji žele studirati imaju pravo pod jednakim uvjetima i kriterijima pristupiti državnoj maturi kao preduvjetu za upis visokog obrazovanja, a pitanje pravičnosti ogleda se u tome da svaki učenik ima jednaku mogućnost uspjeha u pristupu visokom obrazovanju. Rezultati ukazuju na općenito pozitivne stavove ravnatelja o državnoj maturi kao jedinstvenom sustavu vanjskih ispita koji omogućuje provjeravanje stečenih znanja i vještina na isti način i uz iste kriterije za sve učenike. Kritičke perspektive ravnatelja odnose se na preispitivanje primjerenosti certifikacijske funkcije državne mature za učenike gimnazija (ravnatelji gimnazija) te slabljenja selekcijske funkcije korištenjem dodatnih provjera znanja i sposobnosti učenika od strane visokoškolskih institucija (ravnatelji različitih vrsta škola). Perspektive ravnatelja gimnazija i strukovnih škola o jednakosti i pravičnosti u mogućnostima pristupu visokom obrazovanju izrazito se razlikuju. Dok ravnatelji gimnazija pravičnost sagledavaju kroz prizmu osiguravanja jednakih uvjeta i kriterija za sve, ravnatelji strukovnih škola prepoznaju da nedostatak pravičnosti proizlazi iz drugačijeg obrazovnog iskustva i opsega onoga što uče učenici strukovnih programa. Postojeći mehanizmi obrazovne politike kojima se nastoji adresirati nepovoljniji položaj učenika strukovnih škola su nedostatni za ujednačavanje mogućnosti učenika iz različitih srednjoškolskih programa.
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