The assumption that students are differently talented often underlies the public and philosophical debate about the justice of school systems. It is striking that despite the centrality of the notion of 'talent' in these debates, the concept is hardly ever explicated. I will suggest two explications: First, philosophers who point to different…

The traditional definition of language aptitude sees it as "an individual's initial state of readiness and capacity for learning a foreign language, and probable facility in doing so given the presence of motivation and opportunity" (Carroll, 1981, p. 86). This conception portrays language aptitude as a trait, in the sense of exhibiting…

This book takes a fresh look at both context and the language learner in an attempt to shed light on the holistic and ever-changing system of the contemporary L2 speaker's language development. Drawing on complex dynamic systems theory as a means to more fully understand the holistic nature of contemporary language learning, the author attempts to…

This article presents a critical overview of research studies which link foreign language aptitude to grammar. It starts by covering fundamental issues--of the structure of aptitude and its measurement. It is argued that the concept of aptitude needs to be updated, and that clear linkages to second language acquisition processes need to be…

In the present study, we examine the roles of 1) explicit information about language provided to learners prior to treatment and 2) aptitude (specifically grammatical sensitivity) within Processing Instruction. Forty-two learners of Spanish in their third-semester of study were divided into two groups: those who received explicit information (EI)…

This study tracked gender differential item functioning (DIF) on the English subtest of the Korean College Scholastic Aptitude Test (KCSAT) over a nine-year period across three data points, using both the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) and item response theory likelihood ratio (IRT-LR) procedures. Further, the study identified two factors (i.e. reading…

This study investigated fast mapping in late-talking (LT) toddlers and toddlers with normal language (NL) development matched on age, nonverbal cognition, and maternal education. The fast-mapping task included novel object labels and familiar words. The LT group scored significantly lower than the NL group on novel word comprehension and…

This paper examines the key linguistic arguments underpinning Basil Bernstein's theory of "elaborated" and "restricted" "codes". Building on a review of selected highlights from the collective critical response to Bernstein, the paper attempts to clarify the relationship of the theory to "deficit" views…

The aim of this research is to study the accurate prediction of comparing test information and evaluation result by multidimensional computerized adaptive scholastic aptitude test program used for grade 9 students under different reviewing test conditions. Grade 9 students of the Secondary Educational Service Area Office in the North-east of…

Prior research on the association of mental health and behavior problems with academic achievement is limited because it does not consider multiple problems simultaneously, take co-occurring problems into account, and control for academic aptitude. We addressed these limitations using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health…

Even when they have good language skills, many children with hearing loss lag several years behind hearing children in the ability to grasp beliefs of others. The researchers sought to determine whether this lag results from difficulty with the verbal demands of tasks or from conceptual delays. The researchers related children's performance on a…

Fifty-four students were followed over 10 years beginning in first grade to determine best predictors of oral and written second language (L2) proficiency. Predictor variables included measures of first language (L1) skill administered in first through fifth grades, L1 academic aptitude, L2 aptitude (Modern Language Aptitude Test), and L2 affect…

There has been a growing interest in the influences on undergraduate performance in recent years as a result of the increasing diversity of students entering third-level education and an ever increasing emphasis on the development of a robust knowledge economy. This paper investigates the influence of students' dominant interest types and prior…

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of an experimental elementary mathematics field experience course, we have designed a new assessment instrument. These video-based prediction assessments engage prospective teachers in a video analysis of a child solving mathematical tasks. The prospective teachers build a model of that child's mathematics…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between early mathematical skills and cognitive processing abilities for two samples of children in Italy (N = 40) and the Netherlands (N = 59) who completed both a cognitive test that measures Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processing and an early mathematical…