Motivation, self-efficacy, beliefs about intelligence, and attributions about academic performance all play important roles in student success. To determine the relationships between these factors and the influence of demographics upon them, an online quantitative survey was taken of college students measuring their self-perceptions of these…

This dissertation study examined the differences between students in general education and in special education in their perceptions of the types of support they need from different sources during the transitions at the beginning and end of high school. Specifically, this study examined the role of social support in students' behavioral and…

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of team teaching middle school mathematics in urban schools. The research questions focused on student academic performance and the impact that team teaching may have from the perspective of teachers. The theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner formed the theoretical foundation…

Due to their unique profile as childhood bilinguals whose first language (L1) became weaker than their second language (L2), heritage speakers can shed light on three key issues in bilingualism--timing, input, and cross-linguistic interaction. The heritage speakers of focus in this dissertation are Korean second generation immigrants mainly…

This study examined the second language (L2) development of adult learners of Spanish at three levels of proficiency during and after a semester of instruction. A fundamental goal was to identify cognitive and psychosocial individual differences (IDs) that can explain between-learner variation over time in order to expand our understanding of the…

This is a quantitative study to identify and compare the beliefs held by elementary school administrators, gifted education specialists, classroom teachers, and parents of high-ability students concerning issues related to gifted education services provided by a rural school district in Southeast Georgia. Participants were administered a…

A survey method was used to examine suburban middle school students' reports of the social supports they received through their school's advisory program. A widely used middle school practice, advisory program, in this study, referred to a weekly, structured class period (44 minutes) designed deliberately to foster healthy relationships between…

Bilingualism (Sanz, 2000), motivation (Pintrich, 1989), and language aptitude (Grigorenko, Sternberg, and Ehrman, 2000) are crucial individual differences that contribute to successful adult language learning. Since Gardner's (1985) seminal work on motivation, many studies have shown that motivation is dynamic and that it affects language…

Implementation of information systems has lagged in many areas of clinical healthcare for a variety of reasons. Economics, data complexity and resistance are among the often quoted roadblocks. Research suggests that physicians play a major part in the adoption, use and diffusion of information technology (IT) in clinical settings. There are also…