Construction of online practice tests to check the acquisition of idiomatic expressions with colours

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanya Ivanova ◽  
◽  
Gergana Petkova
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Test Construction ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Practice Tests ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Knowledge Of Learners ◽  
Selection Of

Idioms are metaphorical expressions that cannot be translated literally. They are widely used in English because they make everyday speech more interesting and entertaining for native speakers. It is assumed that there are about twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in English and one of the most common thematic areas for idioms is colour. Idiomatic expressions are a fun way to enhance the vocabulary and cultural knowledge of learners of English. However, mastering these expressions cause difficulties for students not only because their meaning is not deductible from the meanings of the words comprising it, but also due to the different meaning of colours in the cultures around the world. For instance, purple is usually connected with aristocracy, affluence, and piousness across the globe but in Thailand and Brazil it is the colour of bereavement. In this article we have described an approach to check the acquisition of idiomatic expressions and facilitate their long-term retention by using online practice tests. These tests are designed by the teacher and taken by students on their personal computers or mobile phones at their own convenience. Furthermore, specifically developed criteria for test construction are listed together with typical test questions based on them. Examples of test items are presented to illustrate the process of test creation. Finally, an appendix of a selection of the most widely used idiomatic expressions with colours is compiled.

scholarly journals DEVELOPING ONLINE PRACTICE TESTS TO CHECK THE ACQUISITION OF IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS WITH ANIMALS

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
Vanya Ivanova ◽  
Gergana Petkova
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Test Construction ◽  
Personal Computers ◽  
Practice Tests ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Typical Test

Idiomatic expressions, a large number of which refer to animals, are widely used in English since they tend to add color to the language and make everyday speech more interesting and exciting for native speakers. However, these expressions pose difficulties for learners of English as their meaning is not deductible from the meanings of the words comprising it. Furthermore, the meaning may not have any relation to the animals that they feature or there may not be a correspondence of similar expressions in the learners’ mother tongues. Therefore, strategies to facilitate learning are needed and some of them, which can help students remember idioms more easily, are described in this article. Emphasis is placed on online practice tests, which check the acquisition of idiomatic expressions and facilitate their longterm retention. Practice tests are designed by the teacher and done by students on their personal computers or mobile phones at their own convenience. Also, some criteria specifically developed to enhance test construction are listed together with typical test questions based on them. Examples of different tasks are presented to illustrate the process of test creation. Finally, an appendix of some of the most commonly used idiomatic expressions with animals is included.

scholarly journals Unruly intonation

Linguistica ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Michael George Ashby ◽  
Patricia Ashby
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Advanced Students ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
The Right ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Typical Test

In this paper we call into question the value of ‘rules’ concerning intonation to the learner of English. Are there predictive rules of sufficient generality and power to make them worth learning explicitly, or would learners’ time be better spent on habit-forming drills of common patterns? Examining a typical test passage for advanced students, we show that in all three systems of tonality, tonicity and tone, known ‘rules’ account only for a proportion of the ‘right’ or expected answers. There are plentiful instances where competent native speakers agree over the selection of a pattern, though no rule seems to guide their choice. We recommend that the utility of ‘rules’ should be evaluated in relation to the frequency of occurrence of the structures to which they apply, in the relevant types of discourse; that more attention be given to idiomatic expressions, and the prosodic patterns associated with particular lexical items; and that learners should be equipped with simple practical heuristics (e.g. for using punctuation as a guide to intonation when reading aloud).

Long-term retention is greater following closed-book tests than open-book tests

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooja K. Agarwal ◽  
Jeffrey D. Karpicke ◽  
Sean H. Kang ◽  
Henry L. Roediger ◽  
Kathleen B. McDermott
Keyword(s):  
Open Book ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention

Women's Participation in Politics: Ukrainian Case

2014 ◽  
Vol 2013 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Skovikov Alexey
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Democratic Transformation ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThe international practices takes into account the question of women's participation in the political life of modern Ukraine. The selection of the state was due to the dynamic process of democratic transformation - the separation of powers, the formation of multi-party competition among political actors in the electoral process, the activity women in the various institutions of civil society. The position was claimed on the basis of empirical data range of academic institutions and reputable sociological centers, and also interviews with experts who said that the creation of real conditions for self-realization by women's interest in politics is only possible for long term. The process is controversial and caused by political culture, traditions and interests of the ruling class represented mainly by men.

Evidence for a single mechanism gating perceptual and long-term memory information into working memory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Verschooren ◽  
Yoav Kessler ◽  
Tobias Egner
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Source Selection ◽  
Single Mechanism ◽  
Gating Mechanism ◽  
Opening And Closing ◽  
Selection Of

An influential view of working memory (WM) holds that its’ contents are controlled by a selective gating mechanism that allows for relevant perceptual information to enter WM when opened, but shields WM contents from interference when closed. In support of this idea, prior studies using the reference-back paradigm have established behavioral costs for opening and closing the gate between perception and WM. WM also frequently requires input from long-term memory (LTM), but it is currently unknown whether a similar gate controls the selection of LTM representations into WM, and how WM gating of perceptual vs. LTM sources of information relate to each other. To address these key theoretical questions, we devised a novel version of the reference-back paradigm, where participants switched between gating perceptual and LTM information into WM. We observed clear evidence for gate opening and closing costs in both cases. Moreover, the pattern of costs associated with gating and source-switching indicated that perceptual and LTM information is gated into WM via a single gate, and rely on a shared source-selection mechanism. These findings extend current models of WM gating to encompass LTM information, and outline a new functional WM architecture.

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