Favoritism is among the most popular topics in educational institutions. Teachers are said to favor certain students over others at school and especially in their classes. Despite this popularity, there are very few studies on this topic. In Turkey, discussion of the topic does not go beyond newspaper articles. This study was therefore undertaken…

Technological advances have revolutionised methods of both teaching and testing in languages, and practitioners have eagerly embraced the opportunity to provide more innovative ways of doing this. The unique features offered by technology make it increasingly possible to test for a wide range of language skills required for a specific purpose.…

This study examined the internal consistency and validity of a new rating scale to identify gifted students, the Gifted Rating Scales-School Form (GRS-S). The study explored the effect of gender, race/ethnicity, age, and rater familiarity on GRS-S ratings. One hundred twenty-two students in first to eighth grade from elementary and middle schools…

The author conducted research in Jordan, where he interviewed secondary school social studies teachers about their perspectives on teaching critical-thinking skills in their classrooms. All interviews were audiotaped or videotaped in Arabic and later translated into English. The author qualitatively analyzed data, including the translations of the…

The interaction between learner characteristics, including learners' histories and goals of learning, and learners' analysis and production of target genres remains a topic of continuing interest in the genre-based literacy framework. This case study documented an L2 graduate student's individualized engagement with genre in both her reading and…

In this study we investigated popularity and perceived non-cooperativeness in multiethnic elementary schools. A sample of 94 pupils aged 10-12 years, from five multiethnic elementary schools, were divided into 26 teams and participated in a structured cooperative learning (SCL) curriculum of 11 lessons. Neither teachers nor pupils had prior SCL…

The aim of this work is to analyse how Spanish readers react to English discourse markers in a text. We carry out an empirical study in which we ask three research question: (a) if there is any relationship between presence of discourse markers or absence of discourse markers and reading comprehension in English as a foreign language, (b) if there…

Keeping faculty one step ahead of emerging technologies--and providing them with the support to manage what often feels like a rising tide of new tools and learning research--can indeed be difficult. Managing the widening gulf between early adopters and less technologically savvy faculty can be downright frustrating. And then there's the delicate…

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is thought to affect 3-5% of school-aged children. A sound knowledge of both the disorder and its treatment would appear to be useful for school teachers. This study compared the knowledge and attitudes of Scottish qualified and student teachers towards ADHD and its pharmacological treatment. Data…

Reticence in foreign language classes has long been a challenge for both teachers and students. With the advent of globalization, there is a pressing need for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers to help reticent students develop the skills and confidence needed to take an active role in oral English lessons. This article reports on a…

Recent research in psychology and neuroscience has demonstrated that co-speech gestures are semantically integrated with speech during language comprehension and development. The present study explored whether gestures also play a role in language learning in adults. In Experiment 1, we exposed adults to a brief training session presenting novel…

This study investigated 2-year-olds' understanding of others' intentions in a social learning context. After seeing a demonstration of how to open a box, children in two "No Prior Intention" conditions were less likely than those in "Prior Intention" conditions to open the box themselves when the adult unsuccessfully tried to open it. Results…

Used new test to determine whether 24-month olds interpret novel words in accordance with Mutual Exclusivity Bias. Found that when asked to select exemplars of a familiar noun, they avoided objects from previously read story in which novel nouns were used as atypical exemplars of familiar noun. When pronouns and proper names replaced novel nouns,…

Ten toddlers produced tokens of phonologically individualized words over 12 experimental sessions. Productions in later sessions were significantly shorter in vowel and overall duration than in the early sessions. Familiarity seemed to influence duration of early productions of novel words, and these findings are discussed as evidence of…

Fifty-four young professionals in their first job after apprenticeship described their task-related and private interactions at work during five days, using a variant of the Rochester Interaction Records self-observation method (Reis and Wheeler, 1991). Results showed that more task-related interactions were reported than private interactions at…