Describes ways in which choral directors may help performers understand and interpret the affective aspects of music. Offers suggestions for analyzing music scores and for teaching students about a composition's background and emotional message. (LS)

Considers recent investigations of conditions that promote forward-thinking in young people and their realization of personal goals. Discusses environmental affordance, environmental press, mediational strategies, consequence management, and resources for coping. Suggests ways educators may help individuals develop potentials for foresight and…

By procrastinating, allowing others to keep them from studying, deliberately not trying, and using other "self-handicapping" strategies, students can convey that those circumstances, rather than lack of ability, are the reasons for subsequent poor performance. Survey data from 256 eighth-grade students indicated that boys use those strategies more…

The term "ethno-lingual relativity" is a perspective that is not limited by one's own cultural and linguistic experiences, but rather is open to the contrasting cultural and linguistic patterns of other peoples. This article explores the hypothesis that having such a perspective might facilitate second language acquisition. (19 references)…

Articles in this companion volume to the "International Journal of Educational Research" discuss evaluation of computerized mathematics instruction for mentally retarded children; conceptions of science learning and instruction by academics; effects of language arts tasks on motivation and learning; and effects of study strategies on learning.…

Discusses the attitudes of the Arabic-speaking peoples toward the learning of Western languages, particularly English. Ethnic Arabs regard Arabic as a God-given language. The Arab world is suspicious of any form of foreign influence: political, economic, cultural or educational. A case study of Lebanon is presented. (21 references) (CK)

Discusses a curriculum design and anthology of Latin readings for high school students developed by a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities/Readers' Digest Teacher-Scholar Fellowship. Maintains that correspondence between authors Dorothy Sayers and C.S. Lewis provided inspiration for the anthology development project. (CFR)

Examines cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational factors as predictors of individual differences in the reading comprehension abilities of good and poor readers. Finds that regression analyses within subgroups indicated word recognition was the most important predictor variable for poor readers, whereas perceived competence predicted the…

Provides suggestions for encouraging elementary students to join and continue participation in school choral music groups. Recommends focusing on male students because they are the most difficult to recruit. Also suggests having a high school choral group come to the elementary school to help with recruitment. (CFR)

College students need to experience high expectations, through internal motivation or external encouragement, to be successful learners, and a healthy college or university community expects student participation in and sharing of leadership tasks. Goals for such expectations should be defined and communicated clearly through campus policy and…

Presents an eight-step plan for implementing technology integration. Describes a sixth-grade social studies class that used hypermedia software to complete a research project about the Renaissance. Discusses software selection, teaching computer skills, and the CD-ROM map project. Benefits include positive group interaction, self-expression, and…

Examined differences in children's perceptions of school tasks. Found that even kindergarten children are able to understand the learning purpose of tasks if teachers include that information in their lesson presentations. Results suggest that in order to motivate children's learning, teachers should emphasize the learning aspects of tasks, and…

Describes a learning system developed at Wirral Metropolitan College (UK) for self-access language provision, linked to a competence accreditation scheme. The competency-based approach is suited to languages because it offers a measure of built-in accountability. Flexible workshop provision is an effective means of delivering languages to a broad…

Reports on an experiment in electronic mail and computer-assisted classroom discussion among 41 college-level French students. Describes the research design and the results as they relate to students' attitudes and motivation. Finds that local area networks seem to encourage discussion among students. (CFR)

Maintains that group keyboard instruction provides a positive, motivating environment for elementary music students. Asserts that keyboard instruction encourages students to try other instruments. Provides suggestions for using keyboards in lower and upper elementary classrooms. (CFR)