The rationale behind this special issue is to underscore the importance of studying instructional materials in context--that is, how materials and textbooks are used by teachers and learners. Research on teaching materials needs to reach beyond traditional 'armchair' analyses and evaluations to appreciate the place of instructional materials in…

This book investigates the content of the grammar syllabus typically employed in mainstream English Language Teaching. Using a mixed-methods approach, the author examines how the syllabuses used in coursebooks are actually constructed, how they evolved and how valid their contents are as a basis for teaching. The research reported consists of a…

The current study measures the extent to which students' self-regulated learning tactics and learning outcomes change as the result of a deliberate, data-driven improvement in the learning design of mastery-based online learning modules. In the original design, students were required to attempt the assessment once before being allowed to access…

Content courses for modern language majors at United States universities are a teaching environment where limited research on second language (L2) vocabulary instruction has taken place. On the surface, it may seem that instructors do not plan vocabulary instruction. This study explores this assumption as well as the potential for learning of…

Despite resurgent public interest in censorship issues, research and reporting on prison censorship policies remain largely localized, with few wide-scale, systematic studies of the issue. There is good reason for this: the highly decentralized nature of the carceral system in the United States and the practical challenges in discovering and…

Students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are in high demand. Over 1 million STEM graduates will be needed by 2022 to meet the projected workforce needs (The Progress Report on Coordinating Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education, 2016). If students are needed to fulfill jobs in areas…

The first and most crucial step towards developing a sustainable curriculum for instructors teaching English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) is a needs analysis. Therefore, the main aim of conducting this study was to investigate the in-service needs of language instructors and content specialists teaching ESAP and to spot the differences…

We have performed comparative analysis on professional training of linguists at British and Ukrainian universities at administrative and managerial, legislative, organizational and pedagogical, systemic, conceptual, socioeconomic levels. As evidenced above, British and Ukrainian systems of professional training of linguists differ significantly,…

Our research aimed to systematically investigate how women and men are portrayed in magazine advertisements, deriving hypotheses from Jean Kilbourne's observed media analysis presented in her "Killing Us Softly" film series. A total of 790 advertisements in 19 magazines were coded. Results revealed support for many of Kilbourne's hypotheses. For…

This study developed a QR-based U-Learning Material Production System (QR-ULMPS) that provides teachers with an education tool to motivate college level students enrolled in a liberal arts course. QR-ULMPS was specifically designed to support the development of u-learning materials and create an engaging context-aware u-learning environment for…

Biological evolution still lacks representation in school, especially below high school level. In order to find new implications that could help achieve significant improvement in teaching evolution, twelve expert interviews with both renowned researchers and experienced science teachers were conducted. Results of the comparison between the…

Content Acquisition Podcasts (CAPs), created using Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, are a form of instructional technology that can deliver critical course content and be used by teacher educators to conserve limited face-to-face instructional time. In this study, the authors investigate whether the sequence of instruction for CAP…

This report describes the findings of an analysis of a series of action research projects conducted by Vigo County School Corporation at Terre Haute North Vigo High School. During the 2009-2010 school year, 17 teachers participated in independent action research studies regarding the extent to which selected instructional strategies enhanced the…

Strategic management has changed dramatically from its beginning in the late 1950s. This study examined and rated eight management business games on their ability to service the field's knowledge domain and its tools and devices. No games were found to provide perfect coverage, indicating the use of complementary course materials was required.…

Compares five textbook courses designed to teach Turkish. All proved disappointing with respect to course content but were well laid-out with good quality cassette recordings. The courses reviewed indicate how little consensus there is over what should go into a beginner's course. They also lacked appropriate milestones for the learner to evaluate…