The present article explores the idea of using movies in EFL classrooms to develop students' writing skill. In this qualitative study, 15 EFL learners were engaged in different writing activities in a contextualized form of movies, meaning that the films acted as text-books, and activities were designed based on the contexts of the films. Taking…

This action research project sought to investigate the role of explicit citation vocabulary instruction in the learning of citation style guidelines for an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course at an English-medium university in Northern Thailand. The participants consisted of 120 undergraduate students enrolled in the EAP writing…

This study explores the relationship between small, differentiated reading groups and fourth-grade students' reading motivation. Using self-study methodology, the author examined her own process of implementing these reading groups through two cycles of action research. Data were analyzed from two different administrations of the Motivations for…

The paper reports the findings of a project that assessed the benefits of peer feedback as a formative assessment intervention for postgraduate international learners in the United Kingdom. The aim was to improve participants' understanding of quality in academic writing, and hence improve the summative assessment scores, by improving the quantity…

Because of the recent revolutionary developments brought about by Web 2.0, the emergence and popularity of blogs as learning tools represent an important area of consideration by the higher education sector. Indeed, while many researchers have acknowledged the advantages of using blogs in this environment, it is clear that more investigation is…

This paper presents the results of a small scale action research project in which a group of seven Year 2 undergraduate initial teacher education (ITE) students experienced three interventions which were concerned with feedback on essay assignments--provision of traditional written tutor feedback; completion of a tutor feedback analysis worksheet;…

This small scale action research study investigated the experiences of learners over two iterations as they completed a patchwork text assignment within the digital medium of a personal learning system (PLS). The aim was to investigate the extent to which using a PLS can facilitate formative and collaborative feedback to assist student learning. A…

A study described and evaluated a program for increasing student retention and transfer of weekly spelling words into daily writing. The targeted population consisted of second-grade students in two different middle-class communities. One community was growing, while the other was more established; both are located in suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.…

This study describes a program for students in the target 4th, 7th, and 8th grades who exhibit low achievement in writing. This low achievement affects behaviors, attitudes, and peer interactions. Discipline referrals, district assessments, and teacher written assessments substantiate this dilemma. Probable cause for lack of writing skills has…

This report describes a program to increase intermediate students' interest in writing through the integration of technology. The targeted population consisted of fifth grade students at a medium sized elementary school in the suburb of a large midwestern city. The problem was the low level of student interest in classroom writing activities. The…