Self-efficacy is essential to motivation and learning. Compared to students with weak self-efficacy for academics, students with strong self-efficacy have higher motivation, make greater effort, persist longer, and achieve more. Unfortunately, struggling learners with weak self-efficacy often avoid academic tasks or give up prematurely, reducing…

As a science teacher, the author strives to make science an effective component of a liberal arts education. In this article, he describes a conceptual physics/astronomy course integrated with such humanities fields as history, art, and literature, which he has been teaching over the last 5 years. The course, entitled Physics of Heaven and…

LibQUAL+[TM] data to date have not been subjected to the modern measurement theory called polytomous item response theory (IRT). The data interpreted here were collected from 42,090 participants who completed the "American English" version of the 22 core LibQUAL+[TM] items, and 12,552 participants from Australia and Europe who…

Explains that the Sultanate of Oman is the only country in the world, other than the UK, to have adopted the national vocational qualification NVQ as its national system for vocational training. Assesses the extent to which centres in Oman have been successful in implementing the NVQ, and the extent to which the NVQ has contributed towards…

The model of aging that people construct influences interpretations of and responses to actual situations when they occur, as well as preparatory actions that people take. Thus the question of what people foresee for themselves and the process by which they construct and revise this subjective aging trajectory has implications for such issues as…

This study compares the effectiveness of multiple-choice (MC) and constructed-response (CR) study tasks both with feedback. Graduate students (n = 46) completed a computer-delivered vocabulary lesson on instructional design terms followed by cued recall and recognition posttests. The CR study task was significantly more effective than the MC study…

Auditory event-related potentials (mismatch negativity and P300) and behavioral discrimination were measured to synthetically generated consonant-vowel (CV) speech and nonspeech contrasts in 10 young adults with normal auditory systems. Previous research has demonstrated that behavioral and P300 responses reflect a phonetic, categorical level of…

This article discusses a reading instruction applicable to widely diverse classrooms, because it weaves together dynamic strands from three approaches to teaching reading: literature circle method, reciprocal teaching, and modern literary theories. The author presents three stages to achieve reading success: (1) applying the key features of…

This study examined native English speakers' reactions to nonnative primary stress in English discourse. I measured North American undergraduate students' processing, comprehension, and evaluations of three versions of an international teaching assistant's speech: with primary stress correctly placed, incorrectly placed, or missing entirely.…

We examined what events cause emotional reactions when students use a web-based learning environment (WBLE) in their studies, and how the emotions experienced while using the WBLE, emotion regulation strategies and computer self-efficacy are related to collaborative activities in the environment. Lability of emotional reactions and their…

In 2003 two librarians at the University of Wollongong faced the challenge of designing and delivering a crucial subject in a pilot Doctorate of Business Administration program which sought to prepare a group of successful business leaders for the task of research. The focus was on developing the participants' information literacy skills and…

Scotland has a new system of teacher induction, introduced in 2002. Whilst recognising the many benefits for newly qualified teachers, we aim to explore some of the real experiences of teachers in the new system. This article recognises the power relationships involved and therefore aims to allow the submerged voices of probationer teachers to be…

The prime purpose of this experimental research was to determine whether learning Arabic as a foreign language can be effectively enhanced through traditional methodology. As such, this research carefully investigated and critically analyzed the effectiveness of the traditional paradigm in teaching Arabic as a foreign language to 3rd grade primary…

The purpose of the NMSBA technical report is to provide users and other interested parties with a general overview of and technical characteristics of the 2007 NMSBA. The 2007 technical report contains the following information: (1) Test development; (2) Scoring procedures; (3) Summary of student performance; (4) Statistical analyses of item and…

In this study, we investigated a variety of Reader effects that may influence the validity of ratings assigned to AP® English Literature and Composition essays. Specifically, we investigated whether Readers exhibit changes in their levels of severity and accuracy, and their use of individual scale categories over time. We refer to changes in these…