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 reports on a study that examined the readiness levels of students in the South African context. Particularly, the study explored the differences between various students' academic proficiency, support mechanisms, motivational levels and overall integration with the university. A quantitative approach was used and 117 full-time…

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)…

The main aim of this study was to examine second language production and discrimination skills in the light of musical aptitude. Our study was conducted in university settings in south-western Finland. English was used as a model for the second language due to its popularity among young adults. There were three types of tests used in this study: a…

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…

Various reasons may be advanced for conducting proficiency tests in academic literacy at higher education institutions. The Standardised Assessment Test for Access and Placement (SATAP) aims at determining the academic literacy skills that entry-level students should demonstrate as a predictor of their preparedness and success in tertiary…

This study tests a process model of learning in which trainer and trainee traits are simultaneously considered as endogenous variables of learning outcomes. The article builds on a social view of training and similarity-attraction paradigms. In this context, the authors hypothesize that trainer-trainee similarity in personality (agreeableness)…

Scores from the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE) served as the criterion variable in a comparison of the predictive validity of the Dental Hygiene Aptitude Tests (DHAT) and the ACT Assessment tests. The DHAT-Science and Verbal tests combined to produce the highest multiple correlation with NBDHE scores. (Author/DWH)

Examined the structure and relationship of vocational interests and primary abilities in 149 college women. Factor analysis of the ability measures showed a pattern similar to Holland's interest model, except that no ability factor analogous to Realistic interests emerged, and there were two Artistic factors, musical and artistic/spatial. Little…

This study examined the statistical and institutional influences on the prediction of first-year college grades. The sources of information were the Validity Study Services file which summarizes the results of College Board validity studies and the College Handbook file which includes data about college characteristics. The criterion was the size…

Normative data for the Advanced Raven's Progressive Matrices are presented based on 300 University of California, Berkeley, students. Correlations with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Terman Concept Mastery Test are explored. The relationship between the Advanced Raven's Progressive Matrices and Spearman's g is explored. (Author)

Final grades in an introductory psychology course were found to correlate significantly with a test representative of course content and ACT scores. (Author)

An investigation of the correlations between scores on subtests of the National League for Nursing Achievement Tests and scores on the corresponding sections of the Ohio State Board Licensure Examinations revealed significant relationships on all five of the content-similar subtests. (Author/JKS)

The hierarchical and radex models of ability organization are shown to be parallel. Both suggest a complexity continuum for cognitive performance tasks which, in the radex model, corresponds to the general-to-specific dimension in factor analyses. The bases for this continuum indicate its importance for theories of intelligence. (Author/RD)

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of H. Gardner's (1983) theory of multiple intelligences in determining levels of statistics anxiety by correlating each of his dimensions of intelligence with six components of statistics anxiety. Participants were 90 graduate students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds enrolled in 4…