This study examines the effect of communication strategy instruction on EFL students' oral communicative ability and their strategic competence. In a 14-week English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course (English Use II) based on Communicative Language Teaching approach, 80 learners were divided into two groups. The strategy training group (n = 44)…

A 2011 report by the Department of Education states that understanding how teachers use results from formative assessments to guide their practice is necessary to improve instruction. Chemistry teachers have goals for items in their formative assessments, but the degree of alignment between what is assessed by these items and the teachers' goals…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of, and sources of variability in, language measures from interviews collected from young school-age children. Method: Two 10-min interviews were collected from 20 at-risk kindergarten children by an examiner using a standardized set of questions. Test-retest reliability…

This study investigated a professional development model designed to improve teachers' inquiry teaching efficacy as well as the quality of their inquiry instruction through engaging teachers in practice-teaching and reflection sessions. The programme began with a two-week summer Institute focused on both inquiry pedagogy and science content and…

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research study was to explore how young adults who have an autism spectrum disorder perceive their life choices after secondary education. The focus participants in the sample were young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). For the purpose of this research, ASD includes autism and Asperger's…

Writers typically produce their writing in bursts. In this article, the authors examine written language bursts in a sample of 33 children aged 11 years with specific language impairment. Comparisons of the children with specific language impairment with an age-matched group of typically developing children (n = 33) and a group of younger,…

The purpose of this study was to examine effects of model-based teaching on students' argumentation skills. Experimental design guided to the research. The participants of the study were pre-service physics teachers. The argumentative intervention lasted seven weeks. Data for this research were collected via video recordings and written arguments.…

This study focuses on a distinction between process- and object-oriented discourses when characterising the discourse of university students' summaries of lectures and examining connections between students' discourse and the discourse of lectures. Results show that students' discourse in general tends to be process-oriented, by their use of…

For the 2014 study, "Closing the Social-Class Achievement Gap: A Difference-Education Intervention Improves First-Generation Students' Academic Performance and All Students' College Transition," researchers investigated the impact of attending a moderated panel on incoming freshmen's adjustment to college. The panel featured…

An important goal of nursing education is to produce graduates who are problem solvers and competent clinical practitioners able to practice in a very complicated health care environment; reflection and inquiry are two ways to accomplish this goal. This qualitative study explored how eight senior baccalaureate nursing students developed in their…

Child assessment practices in English and Korean preschools were compared by analysing data from interviews with educators, examples of child assessment, and official documents from each country. Child assessment in England was systematically implemented and characterised by several methodological and procedural strengths, whereas assessment in…

The focus of this research is to evaluate the relationship between advanced high school science courses and college outcomes, with a focus on the benefit of Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) participation and performance in comparison to other high school options (e.g., dual enrollment, honors, and regular science high school courses). Although…

This study furthers the understanding of the connections between learning approaches and learning. The research population embraced 44 males from the Jewish ultraorthodox community, who abide by distinct methods of study. One group follows the very didactic, linear and structured approach of a methodical and gradual order, while the second group…

This article explores the use of blogs for pre-service language teacher education in two national settings, the UK (University of Cambridge) and the US (University of South Florida). Taking two approaches to blogging and to learning through blogging (one based on self-reflection and a constructivist approach and one based on social and…

The summer school sessions that colleges offer their undergraduates are sometimes considered supplementary activities and are rarely perceived as central to a college's mission or effectiveness. However, analyses of college transcript data that tracked a nationally-representative sample of undergraduates for several years and through multiple…