Considerable research has examined strategies involved in spatial navigation, and what factors determine which strategy an individual will use. The little research that has examined strategy adoption has produced conflicting results. The present study investigated the relative rate of adoption of allocentric and egocentric strategies in an environment that allowed individuals to adopt one or the other, or switch between them. Results indicated that by the end of testing nearly all participants had adopted one strategy or the other. Also, more participants were using an allocentric strategy than an egocentric strategy. However, strategy selection was not related to gender, or the relative efficiency of the two strategies. Analysis of gaze position at the start of trials showed that those who adopted an allocentric strategy tended to focus their attention on the distal (landscape) features of the environment whereas those who adopted an egocentric strategy tended to focus their attention on the proximal object features. However, vertical gaze position could not be used to reveal the rate of adoption of an egocentric strategy, because this did not vary over trials. Analysis of gaze position using “regions of interest” overcame this problem and showed that both strategies are adopted at a similar rate early in trials. Comparison of strategy by gaze position and strategy by navigation probe indicated that these two metrics were measuring two different stages of navigation. Finally, analysis of the navigational efficiency of different strategies indicated that the best navigators were those who used both strategies. These findings indicate allocentric and egocentric strategies are adopted at a similar rate and that within the space of a few seconds, individuals may use different strategies for orientation and navigation. / Graduate

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Integrated writing tasks that combine reading, listening, and writing have become increasingly popular in assessing academic writing. These tasks are seen to offer more authenticity, improve fairness, and provide positive washback effects of the test on learning and teaching of English around the globe. However, the integrated nature of these tasks can pose some issues, such as construct-related validity and verbatim source use. Given that the inferences made from test scores depend upon the construct of the measure, it is important to have a working knowledge of how strategies are used on integrated writing tests as part of the process of construct validation. This study investigates the relationship between second language writers’ strategy use and performance on an integrated reading-listening-writing test using structural equation modeling and qualitative approaches. Data were collected from 161 non-native English-speaking students. The students first took an integrated reading-listening-writing test and followed by a strategy inventory on how they thought while completing the test. Twenty students, ten in the high-performance group and ten in the low-performance group, participated in a retrospective interview. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to identify the clusters of items based on three hypothetical factors: Rhetorical, Self-Regulatory, and Test-Wiseness Strategy Use. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then utilized to test the hypothetical relations between observed and latent variables. Subsequently, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to model the relationship between students’ self-reported strategy use and their test performance. The data collected from retrospective interviews, an open-ended questionnaire, and planning sheets were analyzed to triangulate quantitative results and provide supplementary information in interpreting the quantitative data. The study illuminates the nature of integrated writing strategy use, the nature of integrated writing performance, and the relationship between strategy use and performance on an integrated reading-listening-writing test. The results of the study have implications for second language writing assessment and instruction as well as theory in second language academic writing. / text

This study aimed at investigating the contribution of motivational beliefs (intrinsic goal orientation, extrinsic goal orientation, task value, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy and test anxiety), cognitive and metacognitive strategy use (rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation, time and study environment, effort regulation, peer learning, help seeking) to Turkish high school students&rsquo / achievement in biology. In this study Turkish version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire developed by Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, and McKeachie (1991) and a Biology Achievement Test developed by the researcher were used as measuring instruments. The study was conducted in 15 selected schools throughout the five districts in Yozgat (Sorgun, Yerk&ouml / y, Bogazliyan and Saraykent districts and city center) with a total of 519 tenth grade General and Anatolian high school students attending Mathematics and Science group in spring 2004&ndash / 2005 semester. The data obtained from the administration of the measuring instruments were analyzed by using Multiple Linear Regression Analyses and a Canonical Correlation Analysis. Results of the statistical analyses indicated that extrinsic goal orientation and task value each made a statistically significant contribution to the prediction of students&rsquo / achievement (p&amp / #61500 / 0.05), while intrinsic goal orientation, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy for learning and performance, and test anxiety failed to achieve significance (p &gt / 0.05). Rehearsal strategy use, organization strategy use, management of time and study environment, and peer learning each made a statistically significant contribution to the prediction of students&rsquo / achievement in biology. The first pair of canonical variates indicated that higher levels of intrinsic goal orientation, task value, and self-efficacy for learning and performance were associated with higher levels of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use except rehearsal strategy use and help seeking.

It is widely accepted that Higher Education should provide students with a challenging experience. Research on threshold concepts provides a framework for exploring challenging content within a discipline and has contributed to understanding how to support students with conceptual difficulties. However, less is known about how individual students experience challenge and difficulty in their academic studies, in particular how they respond and feel when they become stuck. This study explores students’ experience of challenge, difficulty and stuckness, how they responded and managed challenges and any associated feelings. The study, carried out in a university in the Southwest of England, used a Qualitative Longitudinal Research design to follow 16 students through the second year of a degree for Allied Health Professionals. Data were collected using the semi-structured and email interview methods. Data were analysed longitudinally and cross-sectionally using a constant comparison process. The findings and discussion are presented using a ‘natural’ style which aims to capture the student journey over the academic year. The study found that some form of challenge, difficulty or stuckness was commonplace in the students’ educational experience. The value of challenges which create uncertainty in education is recognised, particularly where students are grappling with boundaries around knowledge. Variation in students’ experiences was partly explained by their ‘spiky profiles’ (influencing factors such as prior education and work experience) and partly by differences in factors relating to strategy use. The students were creative and resourceful in developing a range of specific and generic strategies in several areas: the use of time and space; the management of expectations and acceptance of feelings; and monitoring and reflection. The study adds to current understanding of stuckness through an examination of the liminal spaces students encountered. The discussion argues for a more nuanced and holistic approach to understanding students’ engagement with a complex cycle of challenges and strategy use, which creates a range of expectations, tensions, feelings and opportunities. It identifies implications for Higher Education practice and calls for an understanding of the impact and interconnectedness of factors influencing students. It stresses the importance of providing structures for students to explore how they learn and develop their academic practice, in addition to discipline specific knowledge and skills.