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Browse the failure-mode index

19 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures in Arts and Humanities. Search the index →

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Observation, experimentation, and replication in linguistics

Jack Grieve · 2021 · Linguistics

Abstract In this paper, I propose that replication failure in linguistics may be due primarily to inherent issues with the application of experimental methods to analyze an inextricably social phenomenon like language, as opposed to poor…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

The Impact of Peer Scaffolding through Process Approach on EFL Learners’ Academic Writing Fluency

Masoud Khalili Sabet, Abdorreza Tahriri, Parastou Gholami Pasand · 2013 · Theory and Practice in Language Studies

This paper aimed to examine the impact of peer scaffolding through process approach on writing fluency of EFL learners. To this end, a Nelson Proficiency Test was administered to 49 EFL learners studying at University of Guilan, based on…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Prognosis of Patients with Esophageal Carcinoma following Routine Thoracic Duct Resection: A Propensity-matched Analysis of 12,237 Patients based on the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan

Taro Oshikiri, 押切, 太郎, オシキリ, タロウ et al. · 2023 · Kobe University Repository Kernel (Kobe University)

Objective: To clarify whether routine thoracic duct (TD) resection improves the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer after radical esophagectomy. Summary Background Data: Although TD resection can cause nutritional disadvantage and…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Searching for the “native” speaker: A preregistered conceptual replication and extension of Reid, Trofimovich, and O’Brien (2019)

Bianca Brown, Botagoz Tusmagambet, Valentino Rahming et al. · 2023 · Applied Psycholinguistics

Abstract This study conceptually replicated and extended Reid, Trofimovich, and O’Brien (2019), who found that native English speakers could be biased positively (or negatively) relative to a control condition in terms of how they rate non-native English speech. Our internet-based study failed to replicate Reid et al. across a wider population sample of “native” speakers ( n = 189). Listeners did not change how they rated non-native English speech after social bias orientations and performed similarly across all five measures of speech and across age and race (Asian, Black, and Caucasian). We

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Evaluation of the auricular surface method for subadult sex estimation on Italian modern (19th to 20th century) identified skeletal collections

Roberta Marino, Viola Tanganelli, Annalisa Pietrobelli et al. · 2020 · American Journal of Physical Anthropology

OBJECTIVES: Sex estimation in subadult skeletal remains is still considered highly problematic. The aim of this research is to test the reliability of the method of subadult sex assessment proposed by Luna and co-workers in 2017, based on…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Unique Motivations of the Underserved: Exploring Repertoire, Self-Identified, and Topical News Avoidance Among Black Adults

Miya Williams Fayne, Stephanie Edgerly · 2025 · Mass Communication & Society

This study examines three forms of news avoidance (repertoire, self-identified, and topical) among Black Americans and the overlap between the different forms. We center African Americans, who are often ignored or stereotyped by mainstream…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Model-based feedback in digital writing: effects on young EFL learners’ writing processes and text features

Raquel Criado Sánchez, Aitor Garcés-Manzanera, Rosa M. Manchón · 2026 · Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education

Abstract This study examined the effects of model texts on the writing processes and written products of young English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in a digital environment. Writing processes were operationalized in terms of noticing and pausing behavior, while text features were evaluated using a five-point holistic rubric. Eighteen fifth-grade Spanish learners participated in a three-stage writing procedure: (i) an initial writing task (tracked with Inputlog); (ii) a noticing stage, where one group compared their texts to a model while a second group engaged in self-editing without m

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

There’s More to the Story: Both Individual and Collective Policy Narratives Can Increase Support for Community-Level Action

Chris Skurka, Jeff Niederdeppe, Liana B. Winett · 2020 · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals)

Narratives can convey the need or community-level action to address social problems. Yet narratives often tell stories about specific individuals rather than the broader collectives these problems affect. Some theorists argue that individualizing collective problems inhibits audiences from recognizing upstream causes and solutions. This study tested how narrative individualization (whether a story focuses on an individual case or a larger collective) might produce trade-offs when mobilizing support for community-level policies to address childhood obesity. We also investigated whether narrativ

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Exploring GenAI affordance in EFL continuation task instruction for developing Chinese high school students’ writing complexity, accuracy and fluency

Yongliang Wang, Han Shi · 2026 · Discover Computing

Abstract The role of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) affordance in specific task teaching, particularly the continuation writing task, remains insufficiently theorized and empirically underexplored. To bridge this research gap, a repeated-measures intervention study was conducted within the framework of Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) to investigate the implementation of GenAI-assisted continuation task instruction and its associations with the development of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ writing performance. Twenty-five Chinese EFL high school students participated in

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Examining the impact of corporate social advocacy (CSA) issue ownership and message content on authenticity perceptions and behavioral intentions

Holly Overton, Michail Vafeiadis, Pratiti Diddi et al. · 2025 · Corporate Communications An International Journal

Purpose As companies continue to engage in CSA, they continue to struggle with determining what issues they should speak out about and how they can create compelling messages that inspire action. Guided by arguments from issue ownership theory, this study examines CSA message content effects related to two different social-political issues on advocacy behavioral intentions, megaphoning, brand preference and purchase intention. Specifically, the level of advocacy in a CSA message is examined, as well as the manner in which the message is written (narrative vs informational). Furthermore, this s

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

Pride and Shame in English Learning: Mediating the Relationship Between Classroom Environment and English Learning Engagement

Gongwei Guo, Zhihui Tang, Honggang Liu · 2026 · European Journal of Education

ABSTRACT Although the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools has facilitated AI‐enhanced and informal digital learning of English, traditional classroom ecology remains a central context for adolescent English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language (EFL) learners' language learning and development. Additionally, while the importance of achievement emotions among tertiary‐level EFL learners has been well established, research on retrospective outcome emotions (e.g., pride and shame) among non‐tertiary EFL learners remains scarce. As such, the study investigated whether and how language

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

What Predicts ( AI ‐Mediated) Informal Digital Learning of English in the Global South? The Case of Rural Bangladeshi Students

Guangxiang Liu, Md Kamal Hossain · 2026 · Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

ABSTRACT Background Amid Bangladesh's national efforts to enhance digital inclusion, rural university students continue to face persistent infrastructural and educational inequalities that limit their access to quality English learning…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessArts and Humanities

A dynamic bidirectional system of perceived teacher boredom, language learners’ boredom, and L2 writing motivation: a feedback loop system

Mehdi Solhi, Majid Elahi Shirvan, Tahereh Taherian · 2026 · Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education

Abstract The dynamic and reciprocal nature of boredom and motivation in L2 classrooms remains underexplored and little is known about how L2 teachers’ perceived boredom (PTB), foreign language learning boredom (FLB), and L2 writing motivation (WM) evolve within and across individuals over time, particularly from a dynamic systems perspective. A total of 264 English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and 21 teachers participated, and data were collected using a 10-day experience sampling approach. We specifically examined three feedback loops—PTB-FLB, FLB-WM, and PTB-WM. Dynamic structural eq

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