Thailand boasts a robust ESL system in both public and private schools, where students learn various subjects from native speakers in the English language. Foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) is a subject that is relevant to ESL instruction and learning. This study assesses associations between FLCA and academic performance in English and…

The authors report on an exploratory pilot project implemented in a large city on the U.S.-Mexico border. The project focuses on a curricular design in a secondary school where beginning-level English as a second language students are taught English language arts in Spanish. The researchers sought to determine whether these students made greater…

Most developed societies have become increasingly multicultural and as such their educational institutions are required to educate increasingly diverse student cohorts. International students differ greatly in their education and language backgrounds and tend to fall into different age groups as well. It is a challenging task to accommodate all…

PISA, the OECD's international program of assessment of reading, scientific and mathematical literacy, aims to assess the knowledge and skills that students have acquired at school and their ability to use them in everyday tasks and challenges. It also uses questionnaires to gather data on students' attitudes to learning and the conditions of…

Children are more impaired than adults by unfavorable listening conditions such as reverberation and noise. Nevertheless, the acoustical conditions in classrooms often do not fit the specific needs of young listeners. This field study aimed to analyze the effects of classroom reverberation on children's performance and well-being at school.…

To discover factors which contribute to a high response rate for questionnaire surveys, the preferences of 150 college teachers and teaching assistants were studied. Four different questionnaire formats using 34 common items were sent to the subjects: open-ended; Likert-type (five points, from "strong influence to return," to…

It is often proposed that high schools are partly to blame for the decline in achievement test scores. Critics of current practices in education cite the decline in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score averages that has occurred each year since 1963 as evidence. The College Entrance Examination Board Advisory Panel on SAT Score Decline has…

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of the 1960 to 1974 valedictorians and salutatorians from a sample of public, experimental, and private schools were studied. The experimental schools were specifically chosen for demographic stability. The comparison schools were also selected for stability, but by less stringent criteria. For the…