Discussion of the role of pragmatics research in language teaching looks at the role such research should play in the language classroom, and the role of researcher, teacher, and teacher educator in making that connection. It is noted that pragmatics research has discovered a number of differences in the ways in which first- and second-language…

In this study, a programmatic decision-making framework called the consensus marker-outcome variable system (CMOVS) was developed as a result of a comprehensive "meta-review" and synthesis of research on variables considered by experts to be important to learning for all students, including those with special needs or those at risk of failing. The…

A three-part series of evening workshops was designed to help adult basic education (ABE) parents identify learning styles and develop communication and advocacy skills, assertiveness, and self-esteem. At the workshops, instructors from the center presented an adaptation of curriculum on self-esteem for parenting developed by the Center for…

This introduction to second language learning is intended to provide language teachers with basic information on relevant principles and processes. After an introductory chapter, the second chapter looks at traditional beliefs about language learning, including those concerning transfer of first-language knowledge to the second language, the role…

An interpretive account of two schools participating in the piloting of a new English program in Botswana junior secondary schools is presented in this paper. Methodology involved observation; analyses of school documents and student texts; and interviews with students, teachers, and administrators. Based on the perspective that teaching is an…

Meaning constructs are aspects of a person's cultural worldview. They are those aspects that philosophers often write about as a means by which to make sense of the world. Teachers carry their worldviews and meaning constructs into the classrooms with them. Similarly to teachers, reflective teaching proponents hold meaning constructs that are…

The theoretical landscape in which scholars of comparative education work has become increasingly diverse and fragmented in recent years. This paper contends that cognitive maps can enable scholars to see better this shifting landscape. Mapping also is offered as a rationale by which social and intellectual worlds may be uttered and constructed in…

The 1988 Progress Report covers research activities of the five branches of the Center for Research for Mothers and Children of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. An introductory section briefly describes the Center, notes staff activities and Center sponsored conferences and workshops, and identifies highlights of…

The Faculty Development in Computers Project (FDIC) at the University of Northern Iowa creates an on-going support structure for faculty involved in the process of incorporating computer technology into their personal and professional activities. Specifically, the FDIC facilitates development of broadly defined computer literacy among teacher…

The "back to basics" movement has mistakenly pushed drama to the periphery of the school program. Direct communication of verifiable facts, once again so valued, actually militates against the personal creation of meaning. Always subjective, meaning develops through individuals' active encounters with events or situations--never through…

History and the social sciences can be defined as recorded narratives or stories about the past or present that describe change and continuity over time and seek to explain this change and continuity through a series of cause and effect propositions based on evidence and shaped by the scholar's social frame of reference. In social studies there…

There are fundamental differences in the forms of learning addressed by cognitive psychologists and educationalists. The phenomena explained by a psychological theory of learning are the successes of human cognition. The mechanisms posited are designed to account for how learning takes place, where the content of the learning is the physical and…

The design of an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) in a knowledge domain where expertise is modeled as a set of uncertain and incomplete beliefs that are justifiable and expressible in the form of a critical argument is outlined. Issues concerning knowledge communication in a tutorial interaction are discussed with reference to a cognitive model…

Teachers enrolled in a graduate reading course on the latest research in comprehension and instructional techniques were asked to keep a metacognitive journal instead of writing a traditional term paper. The journal provided the 32 teachers with the opportunity to become aware of the strategies that they use in processing difficult material,…

In this paper examples of the role of analogical reasoning in expert problem solving are presented. These are intended to show that using an analogy can change an expert's understanding of a problem situation by changing the conceptual model he or she uses to think about the situation. This suggests that using a good analogy may allow students to…