Providing constructive feedback is complex due to the interplay of emotional and motivational processes students experience when receiving such feedback. In the present study, we investigated constitutive elements of what would make feedback perceived to be constructive, and whether students' mastery approach goal orientation and writing…

Although regulation has become a critical method to improve the effect of collaborative writing in L2 classes, it is still not clear how the regulation activities influence peer interactions, which is important for improvement of regulation itself. This case study examined dynamic interactions of several small teams of ESL students when they…

Many EFL students have difficulty generating ideas for writing topics. Writing instructors tend to select topics that are too abstract, repetitive, uninteresting, vague, too broad or unfamiliar. To help students generate ideas for writing topics, the present study suggests the integration of participation goals in writing instruction.…

Increasingly, today's adult online college student is a Millennial possessing high self-esteem but low self-efficacy as cognitive characteristics. This work examines research into these cognitive differences, Bandura's self-efficacy theory, and the role of instructor feedback aimed at improving self-efficacy and self-directedness among these adult…

The creation of ePortfolios as a capstone project for school counselors-in-training has many benefits for the students, instructors, and program. However, there can be tension due to misalignments in goals and lived experiences of the ePortfolio even when the students find ePortfolios useful. This paper explores this tension between instructor…

Building upon self-regulated learning theories, we examined the nature of student writing goals and the relationship of these writing goals to revision alone and in combination with two other important sources of students' self-regulated revision--peer comments on their writing, and reflections for their own writing obtained from reviewing others'…

The importance of direct explicit instruction in secondary schools has been shown to improve student learning outcomes across the curriculum. The question then becomes one of whether adapting direct explicit instruction in post-secondary institutions would have the same impact on student grades. Graham and Perin (2007) identified eleven elements…

The article shares the outcomes of a practice called Intention/Reflection (I/R) when applied to a group of ten students in a five-week course involving an international advanced pharmacy practice experience. Developed by the authors and founded on a combination of theoretical principles, this practice is unique because of the blend of formative…

Study goals and effective management of study time are both linked to academic success for undergraduates. Mastery goals in particular are associated with study enjoyment and positive educational outcomes such as conceptual change. Conversely, poor self-regulation, in the form of procrastination, is linked to a range of negative study behaviours.…

Trends among adolescents continue to be discouraging in terms of career and college readiness based on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement reports and high school graduation rate data. In response, this article presents five goals and eight strategies we have engaged in during a seven-year research study focused on…

Educators agree that developing critical thinking skills is a key goal of college education. While the literature on higher-level thinking emphasizes the significance of writing for developing such skills, teachers often receive little guidance about the kinds of writing assignments that can prove most beneficial for helping students to develop…

Scholarship in applied linguistics has not sufficiently addressed learner motivation in mandatory writing classes in postsecondary settings. The data collected through short interviews from 20 students enrolled in a mandatory academic writing program at the junior/senior level in a California State University indicated that learner motivation in…

A 1-credit career orientation course at Texas A&M University was evaluated based on 5 years of entry and exit surveys and student performance. Students strongly preferred peers to introduce outside speakers and gain experience in communication, compared with having a faculty member lead the class. Outside assignments--involving resume…