This paper presents the findings from a study that examines the motivations of adult Australians of non-Italian origin to learn Italian in continuing education contexts in Sydney. The study embraces a view of motivation as a multifaceted phenomenon that is produced in a social environment through the interaction between the second language…

Adult Arab learners of Finnish as second language (FSL) often encounter communication difficulty when dealing with official documents. They also cannot help their children in their school homework. FSL proficiency is an essential requirement to get an employment and to obtain the Finnish citizenship. The aim of this paper is to explore the use of…

This article is an overview and summary of the findings from a General Research Fund project funded (2012-2014) by the Research Grants Council of the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong to investigate cross cultural understanding of ageing and learning by seniors in Hong Kong and Australia. Results have been published separately in…

These days focus of interest in English learning changes to productive skills, in Turkey. This research study assesses the teachers' point of view about using ice-breakers for adult Turkish EFL learners in upper-intermediate level. It also anticipates finding valuable information with applying ice-breaker activities as a useful teaching policy…

Significant structural reforms of public administration are commencing in Finland from 2017. Firstly, municipalities and cities are being combined into larger entities. Secondly, five social-welfare and healthcare regions are to be created, with that level being responsible for arranging services in this field. Thirdly, the City of Helsinki is…

We evaluated students' perceptions and reactions to an active learning Karaoke Video project in both a large (104 student) undergraduate class in Natural History of Georgia and a small graduate seminar in Fish Ecology. Undergraduate responses were evaluated with both questionnaires and triangulation interviews and graduate student responses…

Pre-writing stage has been considered very significant as it enhances writing performance in that learners can have discussions with the teacher and/or their peers. They can also outline and organize their ideas individually to prepare themselves for writing. This study investigated the effects of using pictures and interactions in the pre-writing…

This paper presents the findings from a multiple-case study which has investigated the impact of mobile Web 2.0 technologies on self-directed learning (SDL) of workplace learners by exploring participants' learning experiences with a mobile App. Drawing on existing literatures, we examined learners' SDL personal attributes and process in the…

The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes towards learning and perceptions of the learning environment. Our theoretical examination is based on the social-cognitive theory of motivation and research that emphasizes the connections between an individual's perceptions of the learning environment and his/her motivation, interest, attitudes…

Research has been conducted to identify and analyze how schools are determining that the activities of their Professional Learning Community (PLC) are directly tied to student achievement as there is currently a gap in the existing literature with regards to this topic. For the purpose of this study, a "successful" PLC was defined as one…

This research aims to understand language learning strategies of Thai adult learners and factors affecting their strategy use. The participants are forty officers of General Service Division of the Council of State of Thailand, attending an English training course for developing their work potential. The data were collected through the…

Engagement with current research is essential for the implementation of evidence-informed instructional practices in adult English as a second language classrooms. We explored Canadian administrators' and instructors' engagement with peer-reviewed research articles, perceptions of their impact, and ways in which stakeholders could enhance…

The development visions of universities, the growing heterogeneity of learners at all levels and changes in higher education are increasing expectations of academics' professionalism and their teaching practices. Learning experiences and teaching practices at university influence further choices and support continuing lifelong learning of…

The measurement of student perceptions of learning effectiveness is often used as a tool at universities to enhance the quality of course offerings. The recent growth in online course offerings creates new challenges in evaluating learning effectiveness. This study used three principles of adult learning theory, foundation, self-concept, and…

One of the most important tasks of the elementary (and not only) education we can find the teaching pupils to learn. The main topic of this paper is the presentation of the effects of teacher's experiences gotten in their own learning process as students or adults on the development of children's learning strategies. As the research was made in…