The present investigation focuses on first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers' sensitivity to lexical fixedness and compositionality of Italian word combinations. Two studies explored language users' intuitions about three types of word combinations: free combinations, collocations, and idioms. In Study 1, Italian Verb+Noun…

Rural schools face particular challenges with teacher quality. The Northeast Tennessee College and Career Ready Consortium was a collaborative reform effort among rural schools with a key goal of improving the quality of instruction in math and science to support its efforts to expand academically rigorous courses. This study examines progress…

Discussion is a crucial component for learning in a college classroom. Increasingly, university and college faculty are using online learning management systems to facilitate and assess course discussions. Given this reality, are there ways to frame prompts to generate normatively better discussions, or discussions where students are better able…

This paper presents a novel methodology to determine textbook readability. The method mainly relies on students' lexical coverage to determine the readability level of textbooks, taking into consideration that readability depends primarily on vocabulary knowledge and that it is a function of lexical coverage in teaching English as a Foreign…

Spatial thinking skills are competencies individuals will need in their lives in order to know and understand the world and to perceive the space correctly. In order for individuals to have these competencies, effective training in the development of spatial thinking skills should occur. Spatial thinking skills can be acquired through…

With Latent Class Analysis applied on data of 98 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (9-12 years; 17 girls) participating in social skills training (SST) in a randomized controlled trial (Dekker et al. 2019), four subgroups were detected, based on social-communicative skills before, and response patterns to training. Two subgroups…

Background: Making predictions on how events might unfold when reading a text improves comprehension. Research on reading and making predictions tends to focus predominantly on the effects of making predictions as a reading strategy in monolingual contexts. So far, there is a paucity of research on the effects of reading development strategies in…

Evolutionary anthropologists commonly describe humans as a highly cooperative species, based on our evolved socio-cognitive capacities. However, students and the general public may not necessarily share this view about our species. At the same time, fostering our ability to cooperate is considered a key foundation for achieving sustainable…

EFL (English as a foreign language) learners' demotivation has not yet received adequate research attention in the third world countries. This paper reports on a study that was carried out to explore students' and teachers' perceptions of the sources of learners' demotivation to study English as a school subject at higher secondary (HS) level…

L2 test developers often use scripted spoken texts in their L2 listening tests, because it is efficient and practical to create scripted spoken texts that meet predetermined test specifications. But because scripted spoken texts differ in a number of fundamental ways from unscripted spoken language, there are potential threats to validity when…

Purpose: Rapid maximum performance repetition tasks have increasingly demonstrated their utility as clinimetric markers supporting diagnosis and monitoring of bulbar disease in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A recently developed protocol uses novel real-word repetitions instead of traditional nonword/syllable sequences in hopes of improving…

The laboratory is an integral component of engineering education, resulting in a multitude of studies. Generally, the research focus is on the laboratory innovation, rather than learning itself. It is observed that empirical evidence is strongly built around student perceptions of their learning or experience via survey instruments; and in some…

This article reports on implementation of a problem-based learning intervention developed with the intention of finding time for computer science (CS) in the elementary school day. This study investigated differences in effects on students in particular socio-demographic groups using a quasi-experimental design. We first provide an overview of the…

It is generally accepted that collocation is essential for establishing synonymy. They are related linguistic features which are important and useful for language learners. Given this importance, this present study considered the experience of 120 Thai English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. The study explored the students' knowledge of…

Background: The educational context in South Africa does not always support the development of bilingualism to enable the cognitive and social advantages of dual language proficiency. The emphasis on English as the language of instruction overlooks bilingual competence. This study attempts to show that by considering conceptual vocabulary,…