School and university classrooms remain the standard around the world for second language instruction. However, over the past 20 years various methods of language learning have permeated the educational landscape to include self-study textbooks, language learning software and online teachers. Some models are evidence based while others lack…

This study investigates the extent to which Japanese learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) are able to offer mediation to their peers while engaging in pair work, and whether that mediation is sensitive to the needs of their partner. Grounded in sociocultural theory, the study assesses the extent to which the study participants identify…

The PISA survey influences educational policies through an international competitive process which is not wholly rationally-oriented. Firstly, PISA league tables act normatively upon the definition of formal educational aims while the survey tests cannot evaluate the educational systems' relative strengths with regards to such aims. We argue that…

Since the middle of the twentieth century waves of immigration have increased heterogeneity in American classrooms and contributed to new challenges and problems for both teachers and learners. These trends in the United States are, in fact, part of a global phenomenon of large-scale movement of people (Garcia Coll & Marks, 2009;…

The objective of this dissertation is to explore the socio-cultural contextualization of the digital divide in Japanese society. I undertake this task by developing a theoretical and methodological framework based on the notion of "culture as models," while explicating the cultural dimensions of the digital divide and the dynamics of…

Describes a model of cognitive and motivational processes in mathematics learning and relates the model to Brazilian street mathematics and abacus operation. Proposes instructional strategies for motivating conceptual understanding in school mathematics learning. (RJC)

Applies loglinear models of social mobility to six surveys of Australian and Japanese men covering the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Finds similar patterns of association between social origins and social destinations in the two countries, no evidence of change over time in Japan, and only small evidence of increasing openness in Australia. (SV)