In college-level courses, the vast majority of students read expository textbooks with a primary purpose in mind: to memorize and, hopefully, understand enough information to receive a particular grade on a course exam. Intuitively, this kind of reading is different than the kind of reading that these same students do when reading a novel while…

This report examines how immigrant students performed, mainly in mathematics and reading, but also in science and problem-solving skills in the PISA 2003 assessment, both in comparison with native students in their adopted country and relative to other students across all countries covered in the report (the "case countries"). In…

This book contains resources, including lesson plans and other materials that could be used by teachers of children of migrant works and other ESL children, as well as by teachers whose students are not learners of English. Seven chapters include: (1) Migrant Farmworkers and Their Families; (2) How Language Works; (3) How to Create Culturally…

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…

Computer games are no longer just for entertainment; they have also become a useful instructional strategy for acquiring knowledge. When games are used for purposes other than strict entertainment they become serious games. The goal of serious games is to enable the player to learn a task, master a strategy or develop a skill. Serious games can be…

A mixed methods approach was used to identify factors that influence the underrepresentation of Latinos in the domain of science. The researcher investigated the role of family influences, academic preparation, and personal motivations to determine science-related career choices by Latinos. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted using…

This paper reports on research to examine the types of motivation related to school achievement. A total of 1428 students from an inner city high school in the Montreal (Quebec) area participated in the study, 714 males and 714 females. The students ranged in age from 12 to 18, and approximately 40 percent were minorities (Hispanic, Asian, Black).…

This monograph provides home economics educators with a resource that contains an overview of youth at risk, reviews motivation theory as a basis for educational decision making, and provides practical teaching suggestions that will help home economics teachers reach and teach these students. The guide is organized in five sections. Following a…

This paper explores the question of how and what a school can do to foster student discipline and effort. Personal experiences and observations are offered about the approaches and strategies used in schools and by parents in Taiwan, China to foster students' positive attitudes toward learning and school. This document focuses on the approaches…

Little prior research exists on the achievement motivation of Mexican American students. In a rural south Texas junior high school, 120 eighth-grade students completed the 1969 Achieving Tendency Scales and demographic and socioeconomic questionnaires. Subjects were equally divided among four groups: Mexican American males and females and Anglo…

Problems inherent in student evaluation of second language teaching methodology, particularly task-based instruction, are discussed and recommendations are made. It is argued that course evaluation by learners is based on their assessment of their own communicative performance, and that they are likely to attribute a general sense of progress, at…

This manual is a resource book for organizers and leaders and parent groups who want to explore specific strategies to use in motivating children to become better learners. The guide contains material necessary to conduct a 1- or 1.5-hour session on motivational techniques that parents can use at home with children. The guide includes: (1) a…

A field study was conducted to investigate the effect of gender, and gender combined with other variables on within-term changes in junior college student motivation. Intrinsic motivation (IM) refers to doing an activity for the pleasure and satisfaction derived from participating. Extrinsic motivation (EM) refers to engaging in behaviors as a…

A study documented the expectations, experiences, and needs of eight women who entered education via Fresh Start/Return to Study courses and followed them as they moved on to further study/training. (Fresh Start was a project of the Inner London Education Authority.) A series of interviews was conducted between June 1985 and October 1986 in an…

After defining the school learning environment as a collage of various goal stresses and discussing relationships between motivation and achievement explored in recent research, this document explains the need to change school culture and climate in order to enhance student motivation. Policy and procedural areas where change may be desired are…