Sociocultural theories consider language learning as a social practice examines students as active participants in the construction of learning processes. This study investigates sociocultural theories' central concepts, which includes peer interaction and feedback, private speech, and self-efficacy. The present study is a case study of twenty…

Few adult second language (L2) learners successfully attain high-level proficiency. Although decades of research on beginning to intermediate stages of L2 learning have identified a number of predictors of the rate of acquisition, little research has examined factors relevant to predicting very high levels of L2 proficiency. The current study,…

Recent publications of longitudinal and sequential analyses of psychometric data have been cited as evidence for "the myth of intellectual decline" with age. This term "myth" has been interpreted by many gerontologists to mean that intellectual functioning does not decline even late in life (except shortly before death). Furthermore, this…

An age-related decline in performance is typically observed in research on tasks that rely on cognitive processing. However, such declines must not be accepted as indisputable evidence that the learning efficiency of older adults is necessarily impared. A number of noncognitive factors also mitigate against optimal performance in the aged. (Author)

Reports on 2 investigations of problems of teaching adults (ages 18-40) vs. teaching pupils 10 and 11 years old. Differences are observed in character, temperament, motivation, work capacity, mental processes. Learning ability increases with degree of education rather than age alone. This fact must be considered in a differentiated methodology.…

Mandatory continuing education forces veterinarians to attend educational programs but not to learn. Acceptance of veterinarians as typical adults and a knowledge of adult learning characteristics are need to maximize learning effectiveness for the casual as well as the eager learning participant. (Author/LBH)