In the current study we investigate whether 2- and 3-year-old German children use intonation productively to mark the informational status of referents. Using a story-telling task, we compared children's and adults' intonational realization via pitch accent (H*, L* and de-accentuation) of New, Given, and Contrastive referents. Both children and…

This paper, fundamentally a procedural paper, outlines pedagogical practices which others may want to adapt for their own purposes. We demonstrate how a strong form of task-based language learning and teaching (TBLT), classroom implementation of the CEFR, cyclical learning, and assessment fulfilling roles, such as informing the next learning…

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs designed to meet postsecondary English language proficiency requirements are a common pathway to higher education for students from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Grounded in a Canadian context, this study seeks to examine the prevalence of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) in EAP, common examples…

Statistics courses for prospective teachers are being developed in response to recent K-12 curriculum recommendations. As these courses are developed, it is important to design accompanying assessments. This manuscript describes a strategy for assessing aspects of statistical knowledge for teaching. The strategy involves analyzing and responding…

This study possessed 2 aims: (a) to develop and validate a clinician-friendly measure of academic problem behavior that is relevant to the assessment of adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and (b) to better understand the cross-situational expression of academic problem behaviors displayed by these youth. Within a…

This study investigates the role of perception and sensory motor learning on speech production in L2. Compared to natural language learning, acoustic input in formal adult instruction is deprived of multiple sensory motor cues and lacks the imitation component. Consequently, it is possible that inaccurate pronunciation results from training.…

Bilingual Latino students engage multiple languages, cultures and environments as they pursue educational and professional goals. For this underrepresented group, pursuing a post-secondary degree is a "lucha" (fight) to negotiate the complex interplay of historical, educational, and cultural variables and achieve academic success.…

The changes of learning environments and the advancement of learning theories have increasingly demanded for feedback that can describe learning progress trajectories. Effective assessment should be able to evaluate how learners acquire knowledge and develop problem solving skills. Additionally, it should identify what issues these learners have…

While much has been written about task-based language teaching (TBLT), research examining teachers' understandings of what TBLT means remains limited. This article explores the understandings of TBLT of three Chinese secondary school teachers of English and the implementation of TBLT in their lessons. Narrative accounts were constructed for each…

Teaching cultural competency in the language classroom can be a challenge. This study explores the effectiveness of task-based instruction (Lee, 2000) on the learning of culture by students in college-level Spanish language courses. Students were required to record oral presentations, write essays, and make comparisons between the culture and…

This study was designed to investigate if the working memory profiles of children living in rural poverty are distinct from the working memory profiles of children living in urban poverty. Verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks were administered to sixth-grade students living in low-income rural, low-income urban, high-income rural, and…

Decision-makers effortlessly balance the need for urgency against the need for caution. Theoretical and neurophysiological accounts have explained this tradeoff solely in terms of the "quantity" of evidence required to trigger a decision (the "threshold"). This explanation has also been used as a benchmark test for evaluating…

Although the effects of achievement goals and working memory on academic performance are well established, it is not clear whether they jointly affect academic performance. Children from Primary 4 and 6 (N = 608) were administered (a) measures of working memory and updating from the automated working memory battery and a running span task, (b)…

Classroom foreign language teachers using technology in task-based language teaching (TBLT) may experience pedagogical regression during technological development (Fullan, 2001), and fail to transform pedagogy because tools like interactive whiteboards (IWBs) support traditional as well as newer approaches (Avvisati et al., 2013). IWB-supported…

The use of formal observation in primary mathematics classrooms is supported in the literature as a viable method of determining effective teaching strategies and appropriate tasks for inclusion in the early years of mathematics learning. The twofold aim of this study was to (a) investigate predictive relationships between primary mathematics…