Background: Inconsistent observations of pupillary response and blink change in response to different specific tasks raise questions regarding the relationship between eye measures, task types and working memory (WM) models. On the one hand, studies have provided mixed evidence from eye measures about tasks: pupil size has mostly been reported to…

The present study examines secondary school students' geometrical figure apprehension based on Duval's theoretical framework regarding perceptual, operative, and discursive apprehension. The aim is to explore the cognitive structure of the geometrical figure apprehension dimensions (operative, discursive, and perceptual) in three grades of…

Performance in elementary cognitive tasks is moderately correlated with fluid intelligence and working memory capacity. These correlations are higher for more complex tasks, presumably due to increased demands on working memory capacity. In accordance with the binding hypothesis, which states that working memory capacity reflects the limit of a…

This dissertation analyzes the production and perception of lexical stress in trilinguals' first, second, and third languages (L1, L2, and L3) to evaluate how the cue-weighting transfer hypothesis applies to L3 acquisition. According to this hypothesis, acoustic cues to stress have different weights across languages, and results from both…

Language learners are underserved if there are unlearned meanings of a word that they think they have already learned. For example, "circle" as a noun is well known, whereas its use as a verb is not. For artificial-intelligence-based support systems for learning vocabulary, assessing each learner's knowledge of such atypical but common…

Purpose: We investigated four theoretically based latent variable models of word learning in young school-age children. Method: One hundred sixty-seven English-speaking second graders with typical development from three U.S. states participated. They completed five different tasks designed to assess children's creation, storage, retrieval, and…

Recent research points to the need for a specific research focus on language task engagement because task engagement can lead to increased motivation, persistence, satisfaction, and learner achievement (Early, Rogge, & Deci, 2014; Henri, Halverson, & Graham, 2015; Reeve & Lee, 2014); a major gap in the research in this area is the lack…

One of the most promising avenues of research in computer-assisted language learning is the potential for language learners to make use of language corpora. However, using a corpus requires use of a corpus tool as an interface, typically a concordancer. How such a tool can be made most accessible to learners is an important issue. Specifically,…

Background: The social and medical models of disability configure the relationship between disability and impairment differently. Neither of these models has provided a comprehensive theoretical or practical basis for talking about intellectual disability (ID). Models that emphasise the interactive nature of disability appear to be more promising.…

Computer modeling has been widely promoted as a means to attain higher order learning outcomes. Substantiating these benefits, however, has been problematic due to a lack of proper assessment tools. In this study, we compared computer modeling with expository instruction, using a tailored assessment designed to reveal the benefits of either mode…

Executive functions (EF) and intelligence are of critical importance to success in many everyday tasks. Working memory, or updating, which is one latent variable identified in confirmatory factor analytic models of executive functions, predicts intelligence (both fluid and crystallised) in adults, but inhibition and shifting do not (Friedman et…

The standardization of loadings gives a metric to the corresponding latent variable and thus scales the variance of this latent variable. By assigning an appropriately estimated weight to all the loadings on the same latent variable it can be achieved that the average squared loading is 1 as the result of standardization. As a consequence, there…

Number sense skills provide the foundation for the acquisition of higher order mathematical skills and concepts. However, there is disagreement over the definition of number sense, the specific skills that make up the construct, and the psychometric properties of measures used to assess these skills. In the current study, 10 brief tasks…

In the present research, a 3 x 2 model of achievement goals is proposed and tested. The model is rooted in the definition and valence components of competence, and encompasses 6 goal constructs: task-approach, task-avoidance, self-approach, self-avoidance, other-approach, and other-avoidance. The results from 2 studies provided strong support for…

Web-based problem-solving, a compound ability of critical thinking, creative thinking, reasoning thinking and information-searching abilities, has been recognised as an important competence for elementary school students. Some researchers have reported the possible correlations between problem-solving competence and information searching ability;…