This book traces and summarizes theoretical insights and empirical findings on the topic of whether or not anxiety for language learning could be a causal variable for individual differences in language learning. The author brings together three decades of research to show that first language (L1) skills and second language (L2) aptitude are…

This study examined how adolescents' risk-taking behaviors were related to their prosocial behaviors on a daily level and how this association differed depending on adolescents' daily and average levels of sensation seeking and social craving. Adolescents (N = 212; M[subscript age] = 15 years) completed daily diaries for 14 days. Adolescents were…

The present study aims to examine the effect of teachers' attitudes towards statistics on their attitudes towards postgraduate education. Accordingly, the "Attitude Towards Statistics Scale" and the "Attitude Towards Postgraduate Education Scale" were applied to 511 teachers working in different fields of primary schools,…

Based on the wide-ranging liberal reforms introduced in the early 1990s, Sweden has become one of the most prominent realizations of Milton Friedman's proposal for market-based schooling. From 1991 to 2012, the percentage of Swedish ninth-grade students attending independent, voucher-financed, private schools increased from 2.8% to 14.2%. A recent…

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between teachers' perceptions on diversity perspectives in schools and their happiness at work (HAW) levels. Design/methodology/approach: A correlational survey model was used in the study, and the stratified sample consisted of 768 teachers in public high schools in a province in the west…

Self-control plays a significant role in child and adolescent development. The school environment is suggested as an important factor associated with individual differences in self-control. Among the many facets of school environment, school discipline is thought of as a critical factor that effectively develops students' capacities for…

Research shows greater mindfulness is associated with less negative affect and more positive affect. Fewer studies have examined the mediating psychological processes linking mindfulness to these outcomes in adolescents. This three-wave, prospective longitudinal study examines rumination--the tendency to engage in repetitive and negative…

Six waves of data from 944 Canadian high school seniors surveyed for 25 years (age 18 to 43) were analyzed to compare three models of the temporal associations between expressed anger and depressive symptoms (anger [right arrow] depression; depression [right arrow] anger; anger [left right arrow] depression) and a between-persons differences only…

The theory of peer effect posits that students who find themselves in the company of high or low performing peers tend to exhibit better academic performance than what is solely attributable to their own individual characteristics. In this study, we investigate peer effects within literacy achievement among Trinidadian and Tobagonian youth, using…

Previous studies have found evidence for gender and racial/ethnic differences in depressive symptoms in adolescence; however, the mechanisms driving this relationship are poorly understood. The goal of this study was to examine the role of individual differences in dispositional coping in the relationships between gender and depressive…

Sport is a context that provides positive developmental benefits to adolescents. However, these benefits are not distributed equally to all participants. This study examined whether the motivational constructs of attainment value and ability self-concept were related to positive developmental experiences in sport, and tested intensity of…

Intelligent tutoring systems yield data with many properties that render it potentially ideal to examine using multi-level models (MLM). Repeated observations with dependencies may be optimally examined using MLM because it can account for deviations from normality. This paper examines the applicability of MLM to data from the intelligent tutoring…

The achievement in learning a foreign language depends not only on cognitive factors such as intelligence, aptitude etc., but also on affective factors such as attitude and motivation. As the main branch of prospective teachers of English is teaching a language, their attitudes towards English and towards being a teacher are of vital importance in…

A commonly held belief among educators, researchers, and students is that high-quality texts are easier to read than low-quality texts, as they contain more engaging narrative and story-like elements. Interestingly, these assumptions have typically failed to be supported by the literature on writing. Previous research suggests that higher quality…

A commonly held belief among educators, researchers, and students is that high-quality texts are easier to read than low-quality texts, as they contain more engaging narrative and story-like elements. Interestingly, these assumptions have typically failed to be supported by the literature on writing. Previous research suggests that higher quality…