Usage of definite and indefinite articles is known to vary across different varieties of English, especially in the outer circle. As a semantic/pragmatic category, definiteness is notoriously slippery to define -- is it uniqueness, familiarity, inclusiveness or identifiability? Literature has shown that the lack of an agreed definition can…

Previous research shows that English-learning 7.5-month-olds are biased to segment speech at strong syllables consistent with the predominant trochaic (strong-weak) pattern of words in their language (Jusczyk, Houston, & Newsome, 1999). The present study asked whether 7.5-month-olds can use a familiar name to override their metrical bias and…

Actions are recognized faster and with higher accuracy when they take place in their typical environments. It is unclear, however, when contextual cues from the environment become effectively exploited during childhood and whether contextual integration interacts with other factors such as children's perceptual or motor experience with an action.…

This study examines second language (L2) learners' perspectives regarding the affordances and challenges of using the Data-Driven Learning (DDL) to identify the properties of near-synonymous words. Employing a convergent mixed-method design, this study deciphers the perceptions of 40 undergraduate L2 learners majoring in English language teaching.…

Empirical evidence describes the negative outcomes people with mental health disorders experience due to societal stigma. The aim of this study was to examine the role of gender and rural-urban living in perceptions about mental illness. Participants completed the Day's Mental Illness Stigma Scale, a nationally validated instrument for measuring…

Familiarity and distance is an issue that is much discussed in ethnographic fieldwork. This paper focuses on the topic of balancing familiarity and distance when the researcher is directly or indirectly part of the field, which in the study consists of an adult education context of two different teacher-training courses for upper secondary…

Attitude is a multidimensional and complex notion that considerably empowers or limits the major life activities of humans. Health professionals' attitudes toward people with disabilities are significant factors in the rehabilitation process. Soon after completing their coursework, the final-year students from health science meet the patients and…

The participation of students with severe disabilities in school-based extracurricular activities provides students with opportunities to experience a full inclusive school event. Typically, however, students with severe disabilities remain underrepresented in extracurricular involvement as compared to their peers without disabilities (Agran et…

This paper adopts an ethnomethodological, conversation analytic approach to analyze the social organization of the instruction-giving sequences that were accomplished by a teacher of Italian as a foreign language during the last phase of a writing task conducted in pairs. Specifically, the paper explores the linguistic, prosodic and embodied…

Barriers to transfer students include lost credit caused by lack of curricular alignment across institutions of higher learning. This is particularly evident in series courses like introductory biology. We propose to streamline transfer issues using a shared set of course-level learning outcomes (CLOs) developed collaboratively by faculty across…

Despite holding wide-ranging experiences with constant velocity and non-zero acceleration, students wrestling with physical science concepts struggle to demarcate the two distinct characteristics of motion. In fact, this prior experience and loose familiarity with associated terminology often act as an obstacle toward a deep and robust…

This study investigated the effects of instructor presence in instructional videos on learning and learners' emotional engagement. Sixty-six learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a Turkish university watched an English instructional video with either high-level instructor presence (whiteboard), low-level instructor presence…

This case study is based on teachers' personal observation of students of Oberlin College, Ohio, US, and students' feedback, and addresses cross-cultural communication of Chinese as a foreign (L2) language teacher, who is also the first author of this article. The study was conducted during the global pandemic; L2 language teaching methods in…

The ACT® Holistic Framework® describes the knowledge and skills that students need for success during their kindergarten through postsecondary education and throughout their careers. The four areas included in the framework are core academic skills, behavioral skills, education and career navigation skills, and cross-cutting capabilities (CCCs).…

In their move to school, children and their family are faced with significant changes in their relationships, environment and routine. In this article, the experiences of a group of children transitioning into a new entrant (NE) school classroom from their early childhood centre (ECE) are discussed. As they began adapting to the new social and…