The study explores the effects of a hybrid instructional approach combining Situated Learning (SL) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) on the executive functions and cognitive abilities of fourth-grade students learning English as a second language (ESL). Method: An experimental design was employed, with students divided into control and…

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the effects of task-based language teaching (TBLT) with a tour guide simulation as a focused activity on young Thai learners' English speaking skills and their attitudes towards the instruction. Methodology: Based on a three-phase framework (i.e., pre-task, during-task, and post-task), TBLT was implemented with…

Although metaphors are essential tools in everyday communication and educational settings, the literature lacks evidence of effective training tools to promote metaphor comprehension in typical development. Grounding in theoretical pragmatics, we developed a novel metaphor comprehension training (MetaCom) for school-age children that focuses on…

Task interspersal is an academic material modification procedure implemented by adding a sequence of brief tasks prior to more difficult academic tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the interspersal procedure under both time-based (i.e., time allotted to complete task held constant) and task-based (i.e., number of…

Research literature is reviewed, identifying a need to design instruction to support multi-digit mental computation and critiquing conventional place value instruction. A distinctive instructional domain is proposed, called conceptual place value (CPV)--incrementing and decrementing numbers by units of ones, tens and hundreds. A design research…

This article presents pupils' awareness of writing as elicited through a metawriting task, in other words a task in which pupils from the third, fourth and sixth forms (grades) were required to write about writing. The analysis of the texts revealed the pupils' increasing ability to write texts focusing on writing and on the subject's relationship…