The most problematic issues that characterize western society is the crisis of the subject and the difficulties of interpersonal relationships, leading to situations of deep distress and increasing the fragility of human beings. This behavior of the contemporary man also depends on flexibility rules in all areas of society and particularly inside…

Although some earlier studies reported female and child superiority in learning a second language (L2), current research has been inconclusive as to whether, and why, this might be the case. Using a socio-cultural paradigm, this study addresses how motivation, gender and age relate to the attainment of a native-like accent for young Kurdish…

Within this study, we examine the nexus of immigrant parents' language attitudes and motivations towards a lesser-spoken, endangered language and the revitalization efforts in the Basque Country, Spain. Attitudes and motivations are conceptualized as multileveled, relational, and dynamically constructed within their immediate and broader…

This research tends to ascertain several traditional and socio-cultural barriers to English language learning in Saudi Arabia and to explore more ways than before for making teaching and learning more effective. The findings of four quantitative and qualitative surveys conducted in this regard reveal a unique traditional and socio-cultural milieu,…

Guided by sociocultural theory and the theory of multiliteracies, learning is perceived as a shifting participation in practices, which is mediated by multiple physical and symbolic tools. Drawing on the situated multiliteracies approach, which integrates these two theories, the purpose of this ethnographic research is to examine the participation…

This article interconnects three debates to show what this might imply for the "redemocratisation" of UK society and for pedagogical reform. One debate concerns deliberative types of democratic reform, arguing in favour of a "creative agnosticism" towards the two philosophical frameworks which dominate this literature. This…

The current phenomenological case study, based in part on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, set out to examine the lived experiences of individuals sharing and mediating meaningful communication with individuals who have Down syndrome. To accomplish this, the researcher interviewed several categories of caregivers who regularly interact with…

What are the features of the school environment that make students' of color incorporation greater at some schools than at others? Prudence L. Carter seeks to answer this basic but bedeviling question through a rich comparative analysis of the organizational and group dynamics in eight schools located within four cities in the United States and…

This study utilized qualitative single-case study design to provide rich description and offer new understandings within a socio-cultural theoretical frame about how adult and higher education learners perceive and are motivated to participate in study abroad programs. Three faculty-led study abroad courses at a Hispanic serving institution in the…

The present study focuses on the way novice teachers, who are part of a one-year postgraduate diploma in post-primary teaching, have opted to negotiate their status as school teachers. In particular, it asks why novice teachers prefer to hide as they scramble to learn how to teach. On the basis of three separate interviews spaced out though the…

Grounded in Vygotskyan sociocultural theory, this qualitative, classroom-based investigation incorporates an open-ended task framework. Open tasks in the present study were defined as ones designed to take shape in the second language classroom as teacher and adult learners jointly worked through exploratory problems. One central feature of open…

Young children are surrounded by environmental print on a daily basis. Through their visual exploration of environmental print, coupled with sociocultural experiences, children gain valuable semantic and symbolic knowledge as they make sense of their world. The aim of this review is to examine the question of whether environmental print has value…

In this article, the authors propose that dispositional factors do not sufficiently explain nonparticipation in adult education programs. Many nations report low participation rates, but empirical studies have usually been conducted with enrolled adults. This study, however, included 279 poorly educated mestizas and Native women in two regions of…

English educators at all levels have endeavored to understand difference in their classrooms both in terms of the content that they teach and in terms of the social and cultural identities of students in their classrooms. However, although educators have come a long way in understanding identity as it is constituted by race and gender, much work…

A significant body of literacy and language research over the last two decades has been informed by a sociocultural perspective and an associated qualitative design, which are often seen as valuable and appropriate for researching literacy. As an emergent researcher, whose understanding of language education was mostly informed by individualistic…