This study explores whether and to what extent the background information supplied by 10,155 immigrants who took an official language test in Norwegian affected their chances of passing one, two, or all three parts of the test. The background information included in the analysis was prior education, region (location of their home country),…

This investigation examined the approaches bilingual education elementary teachers implemented to develop student science and English language understanding. In this investigation, teachers used Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) to assess bilingual-ELs' (BLs) English writing understanding. Teacher interviews, student writing samples, and the…

Willingness to communicate (WTC) has recently been researched as a dynamic variable, with some investigations viewing it as a complex dynamic system (CDS). One important property associated with CDS is the notion of attractor states, which are characterized by stable patterns of behavior. The present study employed an idiodynamic method to monitor…

Because math knowledge begins to develop at a young age to varying degrees, it is important to identify foundational cognitive and academic skills that might contribute to its development. The current study focused on two important, but often overlooked skills that recent evidence suggests are important contributors to early math development:…

Reading comprehension--the ability to understand the meaning of text--is a foundational ability that enables children to learn in school and throughout life. Children who struggle with reading comprehension in the third or fourth grade are at high risk for dropping out of school, with detrimental effects on their future employment, income, and…

This study investigated the effect of the interaction between test takers' background knowledge and language proficiency on their performance on the "TOEFL iBT"® reading section. Test takers with the target content background knowledge (the focal groups) and those without (the reference groups) were identified for each of the 5 selected…

Tested how domain-related knowledge, syntactic complexity, and reading topic influence inference generation in the written recalls of English-speaking participants after they read Spanish historical texts. Three types of inferences were examined: within-text inferences, elaborative inferences, and incorrect inferences. (Author/JL)

Examines the effect of knowledge about language on the learning of foreign language skills and grammar. Students (n=252) completed a questionnaire, metalinguistic awareness test, Raven's Progressive Matrices Test, a linguistic creativity test, and English tests. Hypothesized that students' knowledge about language would have a significant effect…

The influence on interlocutors' relative content knowledge on conversational participation in interactions between native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) with limited oral skills is investigated. Results indicate that both NSs and NNSs appeared conversationally active, but there were different patterns of participation that could to…