Based on Bailey's washback model, in respect of participants, process and products, the present empirical study was conducted to find the actual washback effects of the internet-based College English Test Band 4 (IB CET-4). The methods adopted are questionnaires, class observation, interview and the analysis of both the CET-4 teaching and testing…

Colleagues at a midwestern university implemented a multi-semester co-teaching pilot for student teaching, and based on the data collected, are moving toward full implementation in the spring of 2015 for all pre-service teachers in the College of Education (COE). Part of the study replicated work conducted by St. Cloud University (Bacharach &…

Competency education is attracting significant interest as a promising way to help meet our national priority of ensuring that all young people are ready for college and careers. In competency-based schools, students advance at different rates, based on their ability to demonstrate mastery of learning objectives. Teachers provide customized…

In this article we report on the development of an interactive open source extensible software, dubbed "The 7 Keys of the Dragon," for the teaching/learning of Albanian and Russian to students (9-12 years old) with the respective languages as their heritage languages. Based on the assumption that games in language learning are associated…

In many English language classrooms, teaching pronunciation is granted the least attention. When ESL teachers defend the poor pronunciation skills of their students, their arguments could either be described as a cop-out with respect to their inability to teach their students proper pronunciation or they could be regarded as taking a stand against…

SDL (self-directed learning) now is offered as an alternative form for learning and teaching approach. SDL initially has developed in the field of adult learning. The question that may rise is whether SDL is applicable for younger ages. This study intended to generate a reliable and valid translation of a recently released instrument to measure…

This dissertation explores how teaching Spanish and English as second languages in the United States has been traditionally defined, the common assumptions that are held about each context, and the influence these assumptions have on instructional practices and student learning. In order to explore how teaching English and Spanish is constructed…

This study examined the effects of instructor support and students' global academic motivation on students' course-specific intrinsic motivation. The authors hypothesized, based on self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), that instructor support for students' psychological needs would enhance intrinsic motivation. Students reported their…

In the present work, the hypothesis of the existence of diverse motivational profiles in students with learning difficulties (LD) and the differential implications for intervention in the classroom are analyzed. Various assessment scales (academic goals, self-concept, and causal attributions) were administered to a sample of 259 students with LD,…

Children are natural learners, but they need to have their internal, intrinsic motivation to be lifelong learners reinforced. In today's media-driven, pressure cooker world, children don't always know how to engage in the complex play that leads to deeper learning. They often need adult intervention to help them move from simplistic, repetitive…

Background: Research has primarily concentrated on adults' implicit theories about high quality science education for all students. Little work has considered the students' perspective. This study investigated high school students' implicit theories about what helped them learn science. Purpose: This study addressed (1) What characterizes high…

This meta-analysis (148 studies, k = 197, N = 31,718) examined the relationship between motivation and transfer in professional training. For this purpose, motivation was conceptualized in the following nine dimensions: motivation to learn, motivation to transfer, pre- and post-training self-efficacy, mastery orientation, performance orientation,…

Motivation to learn a second language (L2) is considered a crucial individual factor in explaining success or lack thereof in second language learning. This study examined learners' motivation to learn Chinese as a second language (L2). The study was longitudinal and cross sectional. Interviews were conducted with learners at different year levels…

"Natural acceleration" happens through an internal fire that burns to learn and may transcend school boundaries. Based on their passionate interests and connections with a domain, children who hunger for domain understandings outside school curricula require different types of acceleration, motivated by these interests. The lifeworks,…

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL, the teaching of another curriculum subject through a foreign language), although more widespread in Europe, is still relatively innovative in England. Since the government's decision to remove the requirement for all pupils to learn a foreign language at Key Stage 4 (ages 14-16) the numbers of pupils…