This study adopted both variable- and person-centered methods to investigate Chinese primary school students' foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) as well as factors associated with these emotions, such as language proficiency, gender, grade level, school type, access to foreign teachers and after-school…

There are two important premises at the core of the American democracy: inclusion and dissent. Focusing on the premise of democratic dissent, the overarching goal of this study is understanding how colleges may encourage desirable civic outcomes. This dissertation is proceeds in an alternative format, containing three distinct manuscripts. Chapter…

Interest has been growing in the role of students' attitudes, beliefs, and dispositions as key factors that can support or inhibit student success. A large body of emerging evidence, including multiple randomized controlled trials, shows that interventions that target academic mindsets, attitudes, and beliefs about the nature of ability and the…

Grounded in social construction theory, the current study investigates the learning context when studying financial planning in high school by analyzing the nesting of student, teacher and classroom characteristics. Key findings were that three student characteristics (initial financial knowledge, gender, senior grade level), one teacher variable…

This study investigates whether significant differences exist across college undergraduates' grade levels, majors, gender, age levels, and income levels regarding their perceptions of visual aid usage in effective presentations. These differences were measured by subjecting 226 college undergraduates at a medium sized state university to a Visual…