Although scholars have examined the effects of global tests on national and regional educational governance, few researchers have studied their impact on education in the Arabian Gulf. This research fills the knowledge gap by studying the international spectacle of PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS results in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- two…

This paper presents some results of an investigation on the number sense of a group of pre-service secondary teachers from Spain. The objective of this research was to analyze students' use of strategies associated to number sense and compare them with those obtained in a previous study with pre-service primary teachers in Taiwan, (Yang, Reys…

Comparative studies in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) often show CLIL students to be at something of an advantage over their non-CLIL peers. However, such studies are often difficult to interpret given problems of cross-group comparability (different schooling systems, different number of instructional hours, bias attributable to…

The main aim of the study was to examine students' attribution of performance in learning English as a foreign language at Adama town government high schools and see into its pedagogical implications. It aimed at investigating the perceived causes of success and failure of boys and girls. In order to meet the objectives of the study, data were…

In this study, we investigated why Laotian students had a low score, when they were tested by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). About 400 first year university students answered the FCI or a Lao version of the FCI (LFCI) with the contexts of some questions changed. The students answered a questionnaire and 34 of the students were interviewed. The…

Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low…

Background: Successfully selecting students for undergraduate courses and for teaching is notoriously difficult. Traditionally, in England, A level grades and interviews have been used in conjunction with a variety of other approaches. Purpose: This paper examines the predictive validity of students' A level grades and of scores from a structured…

I analyse low and high achieving children's competences regarding pattern and structure at the beginning of formal schooling comparatively. The aim is to evaluate the range of school starters' early structure sense. The results suggest overall high pre-instructional competences which, however, differ strongly between the mathematical high and low…

Despite decades of research and debate, the issue of unequal outcomes continues to be a concern in educational systems worldwide. In England, published data relating to pupils' attainment across ethnic groups and by class indicators has been used to demonstrate continued inequalities in schools. This article attempts to deconstruct the…

Although study abroad trips provide an opportunity for affective and cognitive learning, it is largely assumed that they improve learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a study abroad field trip improved cognitive learning by comparing test performance between the study abroad participants (n = 20) and their peers who…

Although the benefits of blended learning have been well documented in educational research, relatively few studies have examined blended learning in language teacher education. This study discusses a blended learning approach for a teacher training program designed for in-service English language teachers, and investigates its effectiveness by…

The process of examination marking is complex, requiring examiners to engage in a variety of cognitive operations. While consideration has been given to marking practices in a few specific contexts, those of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examiners have yet to receive serious attention. This study's aims, therefore, were: first,…

Six-year-olds from Switzerland (n=30) and Argentina (15 middle- and 15 lower-class) were tested for understanding of inequalities between multidigit numbers and place value. Students could explain size relationships better than place value. The three types of children performed differently. (Contains 30 references.) (JAF)

The collection of data by face-to-face interviews and questionnaires is common and literature in these areas is extensive; but few cases are reported in which respondents have been provided with a blank audio cassette tape, interview schedule, or open-ended questionnaire items, and been invited to record their own comments and forward these to the…

The purposes of the present investigation are to evaluate a new, adaptive procedure for assessing multiple dimensions of self-concept for children younger than 8 years and to examine related theoretical issues. The multidimensional, hierarchical structure of self-concept is well established for older children, but there is a paucity of research…