A study was conducted at a community college in northeast Alabama to determine how the format of developmental English courses impacted student withdrawal rates and final grades. The two course formats examined were online/hybrid and face-to-face courses. Data were obtained from a 4-semester time frame: fall 2012, spring 2013, summer 2013, and…

Tasks provide engaging ways to involve learners in meaningful, real-world activities with the foreign language (FL). Yet selecting classroom tasks suitable to learners' linguistic readiness is challenging, and task-based research is exploring the relationship between learners' overall abilities (e.g., reading, grammatical) and the complexity and…

A study of the use of General Educational Development (GED) Test scores for community college English and reading course placement found that the scores were adequate enough predictors of success to be used for that purpose, eliminating the need for additional costly testing. (MSE)

Concludes that greater attention must be paid to program evaluation, differential treatment models must be identified that address sequence of treatment within a semester and across several semesters, and reading research must be reconceptualized along the lines of retention research if college reading instruction is to be effective. (FL)