This study examined how constructivist and didactic instruction was related to students' cognitive, motivational, and achievement outcomes in English classrooms, using a sample of 3000 Grade 9 students from 108 classrooms in 39 secondary schools in Singapore. Results of hierarchical linear modeling showed differential cross-level relations. After…

Bilingual education programs implicitly assume that the acquired knowledge is represented in a language-independent way. This assumption, however, stands in strong contrast to research findings showing that information may be represented in a way closely tied to the specific language of instruction and learning. The present study aims to examine…

Immigrant students' school success is often hampered by limited second language (L2) proficiency, yet the effectiveness of different approaches to L2 support is unclear. Using a summer camp setting, we tested effects of (1) implicit support focusing on meaning of language by engaging students in language-intensive activities without drawing their…

The mnemonic keyword method is an effective technique for vocabulary acquisition. This study examines the effects on recall of word-meaning pairs of (a) training in use of the keyword procedure at the time of retrieval; and (b) the influence of the self-rated ability to image. The performance of students trained in bidirectional retrieval using…

Can archives of audiovisual TV interviews be used to make authors more visible to students, and thereby reduce the learning gap between native and non-native language speakers in college classes? We examined students in a college course who learned about one scholar's ideas through watching an audiovisual TV interview (i.e., visible author format)…

One hundred and forty-three Jewish and Arab 6th grade children in Israel participated in this study, which explored several attitude dimensions and willingness to communicate (WTC) in the language of the other. Analysis of variance indicated differences between groups, with Arab children having in general more positive attitudes and higher WTC in…

In an example of the redundancy effect, learning is inhibited when written and spoken text containing the same information is presented simultaneously rather than in written or spoken form alone. The current research was designed to investigate whether the redundancy effect applied to reading comprehension in English as a foreign language (EFL) by…

Papers in this collection represent different aspects of current research into writing in a second language. Papers deal with: (1) backtracking in writing the second language; (2) developmental relationships in the acquisition of English syntax; (3) models of adult second language writing instruction; (4) and second language writing subprocesses.…

Studied secondary language learning and literacy practices for Swedish deaf bilingual students for whom Swedish Sign Language is the primary language and written Swedish is the secondary language. Observations in schools for the deaf over 3 years show how everyday classroom interaction makes available and restricts opportunities for students to…

Effects of a keyword learning strategy on immediate and delayed recall of foreign language vocabulary were studied with 40 female Australian high school students. Analyses show a significant and substantial advantage of keyword users immediately and later. (SLD)

Studied the effects of Language 1-assisted (L1) reciprocal teaching (in this case, Mandarin) on the comprehension of English expository text by 12 year-7 and year-8 (grades 6 and 7) Taiwanese students. The use of reciprocal L1 and L2 (English) teaching appeared to increase comprehension when reading L1 and L2 texts. (SLD)