Small groups are integral for many activities in the foreign language classroom and their pedagogical importance is well established. Despite the widespread use of groups in foreign language education, there is a dearth of research investigating group processes and the impact of emergent leaders within these groups. This mixed-methods,…

Researchers debate whether listening tasks should be supported by visuals. Most empirical research in this area has been conducted on the effects of visual support on listening comprehension tasks employing multiple-choice questions. The present study seeks to expand this research by investigating the effects of video listening passages (vs.…

WebQuests, or inquiry-oriented activities in which learners interact with Web-based information (Dodge, 1995, 1996, 2007), have recently been gaining popularity in education in general and in language education in particular. While it has the advantage of fostering higher-level thinking through authentic assignments, a WebQuest can be challenging…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore spiritual development differences between online and on-campus students. For this study, spiritual maturation was measured by the locus of authority and view of self and others, primarily as measured by the God Image Scales. The assumption was that development is marked by a shift in locus of…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the impact of Web multimodality plus dialogical interactions in the acquisition and retention of novel lexical items among EFL students under a social constructionist framework. The lexical acquisition of 107 1st-year English majors at the University of Costa Rica was analyzed through…

Reading comprehension of school-aged students is an important topic of research; however, research on the reading comprehension of adult foreign/second language learners whose first language is English is limited, especially studies investigating the reading comprehension strategies that readers of different proficiency levels use when they…

On a national level, data indicate that about 40 percent of students in calculus courses finish with a grade of D or F, drop the course, or withdraw (Reinholz, 2009). This high failure rate has led to research studies investigating the teaching of calculus at the national level (House, 1995). Calculus courses have a history of high failure rates,…

Community colleges face extraordinary challenges in the 21st century. Driven by the economic downturn, shrinking state funding, and limited facilities, these forces have created a significant impact on community college enrollments as well as instructional methods. Student retention and completion success rates have climbed to the top of the…

This study presents three case studies of students' participation patterns in an online discussion to address the gap in our current understanding of how "individuals" experience asynchronous learning environments. Cases were constructed via microanalysis of log-file data, post contents, and the evolving discussion structure. The first student was…

This small-scale mixed method research focuses on investigating the way Preparatory Year English Program (PYEP) female students in a Saudi tertiary level institution context are assessed and how they are advanced from level three (Pre-intermediate) and level four (Intermediate). A four-point agreement scale survey was conducted with fifteen…

Course syllabi play an important role in teaching, learning, and course design. They serve multiple functions and audiences and represent the end product of a scholarly process. In the following article, select findings from a mixed methods study examining how faculty and students conceptualize course syllabi are presented, specifically the design…

Background: REBOUND is a novel media-based life skills and risk education programme developed for 14- to 25-year olds in school, university or youth group settings. This paper outlines the programme's rationale, curriculum and implementation. It provides information of relevance to researchers, programme developers and policymakers. Methods/design…

This study examined some of the factors that influence students' transition from Ontario high school chemistry to university introductory chemistry. The study was a mixed-methods, multi-phase research study carried out by an undergraduate honours thesis student who had experienced some of these transition issues. Students' transition into…

This study developed an interview-based critical spatial thinking oral test and used the test to investigate the effects of Geographic Information System (GIS) learning on three components of critical spatial thinking: evaluating data reliability, exercising spatial reasoning, and assessing problem-solving validity. Thirty-two students at a large…

Although women account for more than 50% of the college degrees awarded nationally, The College of Idaho has had a challenge retaining female students. There are any number of reasons for women's struggle to persist at the college, but one of the most basic may be a matter of self-efficacy. This mixed methods study used a combination of…