Research Findings: The purpose of the present study was to examine the extent to which the quality of teacher-child interactions and teachers' self-reported curriculum emphases are related to children's reading skill development during their 1st school year. To accomplish this, we assessed the reading skills of 1,029 Finnish children (M…

Listening comprehension is essential to L2 learning. Pupils who are able to demonstrate L2 listening skills are able to demonstrate proficiency in other language skills. Due to the relatively unappreciated role of listening in language development, educators and language experts have been actively promoting the equal or emphasized enhancement of…

Using a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control groups, 93 eighth grade students were randomly assigned either to the experimental or to the control group and responded to the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale two weeks before and after the intervention. While the students in the experimental group were instructed in quality books…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of using group story-mapping of English as a second language (ESL) on students with learning disability while reading comprehension. The researcher focused on a specific graphic organizer in this study, called group story-mapping. This strategy required students with learning disabilities…

Experience with a second language (L2) has been shown to facilitate learning of a third or subsequent language (L3) (Sanz 2000). However, little is known about how much L2 experience is needed before benefits for L3 development emerge, or about whether effects depend on type of L3 instruction. We report two experiments investigating initial…

Purpose: This study aims to understand how mode of delivery, online versus face-to-face, affects comprehension when teaching operations management concepts via a simulation. Conceptually, the aim is to identify factors that influence the students' ability to learn and retain new concepts. Design/methodology/approach: Leveraging Littlefield…

This article outlines the complexity of reading with understanding, what is required for full and deep comprehension, the state of affairs with regard to reading comprehension in developed countries, possible etiologies for low performances, and suggestions for instruction in specific skills and strategies to improve students' demonstrated…

Principals' implementation of national reforms in the educational arena resembles a wild ride on a roller coaster as they face with contradicting demands, ongoing confusion and ambiguity. As critical change agents, principals interpret and translate reform demands into local practices through a process of sense-making. This current qualitative…

This study explores various measures of the ethnic makeup in a classroom and their relationship with student outcomes. We examine whether measures of ethnic diversity are related to achievement (mathematics, reading) and feeling of belonging with one's peers over and above commonly investigated composition characteristics. Multilevel analyses were…

This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of student-generated videos as a supplement to teaching assistant (TA) instruction in an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. Three videos covering different aspects of lab instruction (experimental technique, use of instrumentation, and calculations) were produced using…

The topic of this paper is to describe the development of an interactive application that can be used in teaching English as a second language using children's stories in mobile devices. The aim of this experimental study has been to find out the potential of using the developed interactive mobile application in improving the learning skills such…

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the extent to which students who took a computer adaptive test of reading comprehension accounting for testlet effects were administered fewer passages and had a more precise estimate of their reading comprehension ability compared to students in the control condition. A randomized controlled…

The study aimed to analyze the effects on reading of an early oral and written language intervention program for Spanish children at risk of learning difficulties. The goal of this classroom-based program was to prioritize a systematic approach to reading and writing and to foster phonological knowledge and the development of oral language…

This article argues that we have lost the plot in South African reading education. To find it, we need to move beyond the predominant mode of reading as oral performance, where the emphasis is on accuracy and pronunciation, to reading as comprehension of meaning in text. While reading research in South Africa has been conducted mainly in school…

When investigating motivation, including motivation to read, motivation should be conceptualized as a multidimensional construct which considers the individual's purposes for engaging in the activities under investigation (Deci & Ryan, 2002). Motivation for activities that are undertaken because they are enjoyable in and of themselves or…