the phenomenon of how tests influence teaching and learning is commonly described as “wash back”in language instruction. literature indicates that wash back effect is a complex concept that becomeseven more complicated under different interpretations of the wash back phenomenon in teaching andlearning. in the present study, some definitions of wash back and its two major types were introduced,a...

How does explaining novel observations influence the extent to which learners revise beliefs in the face of anomalies – observations inconsistent with their beliefs? On one hand, explaining could recruit prior beliefs and reduce belief revision if learners “explain away” or discount anomalies. On the other hand, explaining could promote belief revision by encouraging learners to modify beliefs ...

Evidence shows that the font size of study items significantly influences judgments of learning (JOLs) and that people's JOLs are generally higher for larger words than for smaller words. Previous studies have suggested that font size influences JOLs in a belief-based way. However, few studies have directly examined how much people's beliefs contribute to the font-size effect in JOLs. This stud...

We offer a model for improving ethical behavior in organizations. Integrating research about ethical decision-making with research about the self, we argue that self-threat is a pervasive obstacle to improving ethical behavior, particularly in work environments. To this end, we introduce the concept of ethical learners. Ethical learners possess a central moral identity (they care about being et...

Interleaving exemplars of to-be-learned categories-rather than blocking exemplars by category-typically enhances inductive learning. Learners, however, tend to believe the opposite, even after their own performance has benefited from interleaving. In Experiments 1 and 2, the authors examined the influence of 2 factors that they hypothesized contribute to the illusion that blocking enhances indu...

Interleaving exemplars of to-be-learned categories—rather than blocking exemplars by category— typically enhances inductive learning. Learners, however, tend to believe the opposite, even after their own performance has benefited from interleaving. In Experiments 1 and 2, the authors examined the influence of 2 factors that they hypothesized contribute to the illusion that blocking enhances ind...

This study aimed at investigating the possibility of improving EFL learners’ self-efficacy by implementing a metacognitive strategies instruction program. The participants were 53 female EFL learners who were divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received an eight-week treatment on metacognitive strategies through descriptions, modeling, and practice. At the b...

Learners increasingly work with virtual laboratories that provide various activities and tools, including sophisticated modeling and simulation systems. The learning environments have to combine traces to establish the most precise diagnosis possible on the learner’s activity. This paper presents a diagnosis tool, called DiagElec, establishing a diagnosis on the learner’s activity. DiagElec int...