In this paper, both a cognitive and a sociocultural theoretical perspective are used to bring together findings from two studies that investigated the effects of instruction designed to enhance the potentially positive effect of peer interaction on L2 development. Despite differences between the studies' learning contexts, participants' age, and…

The current paper reports on the outcome of an ongoing action research project at a school for higher-functioning students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Sweden. The overall aim of the study was to develop and evaluate a questionnaire that captures social and individual aspects of classroom learning suitable for use with students with ASD.…

This research essay is intended to situate the curriculum in my multicultural education courses--of talking back through autobiographical inquiry--within real schools, a site where curriculum theorists rarely situate their work. The literature by curriculum theorists that precedes my study generally has focused on how pre-service teachers in…

On the basis of official statistics, poverty has halved in Ghana over the period from 1991 to 2005. Our objective in this paper is to assess how far this fall was linked to the creation of better paying jobs and the increase in education. We find that earnings rose rapidly in the period from 1998 to 2005, by 64% for men and by 55% for women. While…

Since the language used by people has the potential to signal a membership in a discourse community, it is significant that prospective teachers speak the appropriate social language to be able to claim a strong membership in the community of teachers. This qualitative study explores a group of pre-service teachers' professional language use and…

Zero-tolerance policies have created schools that are often intolerant and destructive to children and communities. High rates of suspension and expulsion of students are associated with negative outcomes and school dropout. New approaches to staff development that create positive school communities are essential in stemming the…

Promoting self-determination has been identified as best practice in special education and transition services and as a means to promote goal attainment and access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities. There have been, however, limited evaluations of the effects of interventions to promote self-determination on…

Students undertaking field-based learning, in which they work with Indigenous people in Northern Australia, describe a profound learning experience redolent with emotion. Inspired, challenged and transformed, the students are compelled in ways that require them to interrogate their own selves and taken-for-granted beliefs. In this paper, we draw…

Mobile learning is a relatively new phenomenon and the theoretical basis is currently under development. The paper presents a pedagogical perspective of mobile learning which highlights three central features of mobile learning: authenticity, collaboration and personalisation, embedded in the unique timespace contexts of mobile learning. A…

E-learning systems, adopted by organisations for employee training to enhance employees' performance, are characterised by self-directed, autonomous learning. Learning motivation is then of importance in the design of e-learning practices in workplace. However, empirical study of the alignment of e-learning with individual learning needs and…

In low-income rural communities, access to early intervention and support services is restricted and resources needed to support children and families are limited. The aim of this study was to explore the role of local nonprofessional women, recruited as community home visitors (CHVs), to assist trained professionals in supporting parents with…

This paper examines the complex experiences of full-time employed adults trying to climb the career ladder in their company by making use of company tuition assistance to earn their first college degree. Guided by Savickas' (2005) career construction theory, emphasizing the personal agency and meaning-making within career development, we conducted…

In a large urban district's ELA classrooms, an academic vocabulary intervention designed to improve linguistically diverse 6th-graders' reading and language skills was implemented and evaluated. These classrooms were characterized by high numbers of struggling readers, and linguistic diversity was the norm. As part of the evaluation, this study…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of blogs and wikis as constructive tools in the computer courses of prospective teachers and compare them with respect to perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, intention, self efficacy, and anxiety. Ninety-two students who were enrolled in various teacher education programs used blog and…

The federal School and Staffing Survey (SASS) and Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) were used to examine the impacts of induction activities on beginning teacher turnover. This study excluded those teachers who moved or left schools for unavoidable and involuntary reasons, a confounding factor in previous research. This analysis revealed that three…