This book highlights the roles of several individual difference (ID) variables on the language learning process, exploring them from both the students' and the teachers' perspectives. It presents the results of a large-scale, mixed-methods investigation which was conducted with secondary school pupils and their teachers in Hungary. The…

This book provides an overview of affective individual variables that are considered relevant for second language learning and outlines a novel approach to researching them. In the first part of the book, the most prominent concepts and theories in connection with affective individual variables and tasks are discussed, followed by a literature…

This case provides an account of how micro-ethnography and fiction narratives were used together on a PhD that explores teachers' emotional involvement with their day-to-day work in 'special-alternative' schools. The case study presented here focuses on examining the practicalities and challenges of putting together those methods. A…

This case study reports on a doctoral research project conducted in a school using critical discourse analysis to examine the discourse of youth 'disaffection'. The study aimed to identify how some students acquired the label 'disaffected' and considered the extent to which the quality of relationships between teachers and students contributed to…

Research evidence suggests that summer breaks contribute to income-based achievement and opportunity gaps for children and youth. However, summertime can also be used to provide programs that support an array of goals for children and youth, including improved academic achievement, physical health, mental health, social and emotional well-being,…

Works on second language acquisition theories, affective variables and communicative competence, and interlanguage were compiled as a result of a symposium on universals of second language acquisition at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. The papers include: "On the Variability of Interlangauge Systems" (Elaine Tarone); "Memory, Learning, and…

This book discusses the emotional experiences of young children and explores the connections between emotions, socialization, and healthy relationships. The introductory chapter discusses the nature of emotion, emotional and social competence, and the study of young children's emotions. Chapter 2, "Emotional Expressiveness," describes…

This volume considers the central role of values inherent in fairness perceptions and offers new ways to view values related to fairness, as well as work-related values, their antecedents, and consequences. Values are important because they have been shown to predict preferences, attitudes, perceptions, and behavior in organizations. The first…

This book summarizes the experiences of nurture groups (small special education classes started in 1970 in London schools), where young children from disadvantaged environments are prepared to access the full primary school curriculum. Chapter 1, "Children at Risk of Failure in Primary Schools" (Marion Bennathan), discusses the incidence…