Previous Research Projects

Learning Environments Across Disciplines (LEADS)

Dr. Jang's work with the Learning Environments Across Disciplines group is a collaboration across themes to explore different methodologies for best assessing, tracking, and supporting learners in major technology-rich environments (TREs). This work has allowed us to identify - either explicit through self-reports or implicit through data mining - key learner variables from multimodal data such as: cognitive knowledge and skills, self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies, affective variables, and students’ goal orientations, and task variables such as: task complexity, task condition, task difficulty, and task motivation. This helped further establish the relationship between learner traits, digital mechanisms, and the features of TREs. Methodological and investigator triangulations have led us to examine learning progressions in terms of cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and self-regulatory growths afforded by technology. Specifically, the this work has examined the extent to which self-regulation underlies several key cognitive, affective, metacognitive, and motivational (CAMM) processes. We continue to collaborate on ways to incorporate learner dashboards that mediate learning through visualizing progressions tailored to individual profiles.

A photo of some LEADS team members in Washington.
  • Dr. Eunice Eunhee Jang
  • Clarissa Lau
  • Jeanne Sinclair

Improving Language Score Use and Interpretation in Higher Education

The reporting of scores from large-scale assessments often takes the form of a single aggregate score or at best a series of numerical subscores, which provide little descriptive information about what test-takers within different score ranges can typically do. Test score users need more in-depth information about what test-takers can typically do at different proficiency levels for meaningful score interpretations and use for various purposes including admission and language programming.

The project seeks to facilitate test score users’ meaningful IELTS reading score interpretations and use for making decisions about admission to undergraduate programs at university through an innovative cognitive diagnosis modeling (CDM) approach blended with scale anchoring to generate can-do descriptors for different IELTS reading subscore ranges. This overall purpose will be achieved through the following activities:

  1. examine academic reading demands across different disciplines through domain analysis;
  2. determine the extent to which linguistic knowledge and cognitive skills elicited by IELTS 
reading subtest are comparable with academic language demands resulting from activity 1;
  3. establish can-do descriptors-based learner profiles that articulate strengths and areas for improvement at different score points;
  4. evaluate the usefulness of descriptors-based learner profiles on facilitating test score users’ score interpretations and subsequent planning for language support programs.
A logo of person reading a book, with four arrows that say "listening", "reading", "speaking", and "writing". At the top is a title that reads IELTS.
  • Dr. Eunice Eunhee Jang
  • Elizabeth Jean Larson
  • Hyunah Kim
  • Christine Barron
  • Megan Vincett
  • Bruce Russell

Adolescent Readers’ Resiliency and Disciplinary Literacy

Inquiry-based collaborative professional learning has become a common practice in Ontario education. The project brought together multiple players for inquiry-based collaborations to achieve the following goals: 1) to help struggling adolescent readers to acquire strategies that will improve their ability to read; 2) to increase the knowledge and skill of educators to be able to respond to students’ literacy challenges; and 3) to systematically document effective pedagogical practices and strategies for supporting the development of reading resilience despite various challenges. 

Specifically, the project was guided by the following inquiry questions:

1. How do educators identify students with persistent reading challenges at the secondary level?
2. What is the nature of these students’ struggles and challenges with reading?
3. What strategies can educators use to respond to these students’ reading needs?
4. How does implementation of these strategies affect classroom practice and student learning?

Assessing and supporting Aboriginal children's language development through play

We are collaborating with educational partners and community members on developing culturally responsive instructional and assessment tools for children’s language and literacy development through child-centered activities in classrooms, daycares and homes. Many children are expected to learn curricular subjects while learning academic English or French used in schools. This academic language may differ significantly from the language aboriginal children hear and speak at home. Often times teachers and educators have viewed such differences as linguistic and cultural deficiencies rather than resources. But, seeing these as resources instead makes for richer classrooms and promotes students’ language and literacy skills. With the help of experienced and motivated teachers, we seek to co-create culturally-responsive classroom activities, pedagogical resources, and assessment strategies. The project also engages teachers in developing professional knowledge about and competence in supporting children’s literacy and language development through culturally rich language practices.

  • Dr. Eunice Eunhee Jang
  • Jeanne Sinclair
  • Hyunah Kim
  • Megan Vincett
  • Elizabeth Jean Larson
  • Samantha McCormick