This book examines the role of interlocutors and their individual differences (IDs) in second language (L2) development from four theoretical lenses: the cognitive-interactionist approach, sociocultural theory, the variationist approach, and complex dynamic systems theory. A theoretical overview to each approach is written by a preeminent scholar…

To understand expertise and expertise development, interactions between knowledge, cognitive processing and task characteristics must be examined in people at different levels of training, experience, and performance. Interviewing is widely used in the initial exploration of domain expertise. Work and cognitive task analysis chart the knowledge,…

This book proposes a new paradigm for English language teaching based on concepts from English for Specific Purposes (ESP) research and applications as well as from growing evidence relating pattern recognition to language learning ability. The contributors to the volume argue that learners should not try to become proficient all-around users of…

The development of collocational knowledge is important for foreign language learners; unfortunately, learners often have difficulties producing proper collocations in the target language. Among the various ways of collocation learning, the DDL (data-driven learning) approach encourages the independent learning of collocations and allows learners…

The vital role of principalship in improving schools in general and enhancing student achievement in particular has been well documented. Given its importance, there is a need for tools to improve principalship, particularly ones emphasizing those dimensions associated with student achievement. Given the accountability movement, with its…

We reviewed twelve studies that used the constant time delay (CTD) procedure to teach chained tasks to individuals with developmental disabilities from years 1996-2006. Variables analyzed include types of tasks that have been taught with the procedure, how effective CTD has been in teaching participants, and whether researchers have investigated…

The mathematical representation of E. Brunswik's (1952) lens model has been used extensively to study human judgment and provides a unique opportunity to conduct a meta-analysis of studies that covers roughly 5 decades. Specifically, the authors analyzed statistics of the "lens model equation" (L. R. Tucker, 1964) associated with 249 different…

Over the past decade, research on the use of technology in the mathematics classroom has focused primarily on issues of student learning and engagement. In this article, we focus on middle grades mathematics teachers' use of The Geometer's Sketchpad, and study both the decisions they make about when to use technology, and their motivations for…

Recent methodological advances have allowed researchers to address confounds in the measurement of task-switch costs in task-switching performance by dissociating cue switching from task switching. For example, in the transition-cuing procedure, which involves presenting cues for task transitions rather than for tasks, cue transitions (cue…

Sixty-four adults participated in a study examining the accuracy of metacognitive judgments during 28 hr of sleep deprivation (SD) and continuous cognitive work. Three tasks were studied (perceptual comparison, general knowledge, and mental addition), collectively spanning a range of cognitive abilities and levels of susceptibility to SD.…

A 32-item test battery was administered to 154 male and female elementary school students to describe the static balance ability of 6- to 9-year-old children. Body position, visual use, and one-footed static base of support were found to affect subjects' balance performance. (Author/RH)

A review of applications of motion study in developmental disabilities identifies two eras of research focus in the 1990s: (1) studies establishing the effectiveness and efficiency of tasks designed with motion study principles and (2) studies examining the interaction between motion study-based task designs and other variables such as choice,…

This paper reports on a study on the relationship between cognitive task complexity and linguistic performance in L2 writing. In the study, two models proposed to explain the influence of cognitive task complexity on linguistic performance in L2 are tested and compared: Skehan and Foster's Limited Attentional Capacity Model (Skehan, 1998; Skehan…

Hammond's Cognitive Continuum theory posits that certain task features induce distinct processing modes (e.g., intuitive or analytic) and thus result in qualitatively different decision performance. Although the theory suggests the relation between task features and performance characteristics a priori, the validity of these predictions requires…

Because previous studies had suggestd that Down Syndrome subjects did not respond to changes in directional probability within a complex motor task as did other retarded subjects, 14 Down Syndrome 18-year-olds were given training relative to the directional probability component of the task. Performance was improved but primarily in terms of…