Children learning Chinese must cope with an opaque orthography lacking transparent relations between oral pronunciations and written characters: a challenge heightened for L2 learners. Use of digital Pinyin input may facilitate connections between oral and written language by allowing learners to access vocabulary they cannot yet write. We…

The objective of this study is to detect the effect of using cooperative learning for teaching idioms to first grade students, learning French as a foreign language. The study was carried out on two groups -- experimental group and control group -- during the academic year of 2017-2018 in the lesson "Reading in French". The lesson was…

Teachers in their practice make choices grounded in their teaching experience resulting in what could be labelled design solutions. An identified problem is that these design solutions stay at the level of individual solutions and do not reach the teaching community. The aim of this article is to study how teachers´ design solutions can be…

Michael Lewis' Lexical Approach attempted to turn the EFL world on its head by proposing that language acquisition comes from lexis rather than grammar. Lewis states that "language consists not of traditional grammar and vocabulary but often of multi-word prefabricated chunks" (1997:3). Lewis' 1997 handbook, "Implementing the…

Mathematical Argumentation skills have historically been overlooked in assessment, but the inclusion of Mathematical Argumentation in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) as one of the Standards of Mathematical Practice challenges assessment developers to assess this mathematical practice. Explanation and justification of one's own thinking to a…

Although different educational agents have been proposed to facilitate student learning, most of them operate from a "smart" (i.e., intelligent and autonomous) perspective. Recently, a so-called "non-smart" perspective is also attracting increasing interest, and is now regarded as a topic worthwhile of researching. To this end,…

This two and a half year study examines how non-native English-speaking Burmese refugee students from first to third grades made meaning of scientific informational texts. The study is framed by sociocultural theory and transactional theory. Primary data were drawn from 160 student retellings of scientific informational texts. Secondary data…

As part of a learner's learning ecology, the informal, out-of-school settings offer virtually boundless opportunities to advance one's learning. This paper reports on "Move, Idioms!", a design for Mobile-Assisted Language Learning experience that accentuates learners' habit of mind and skills in making meaning with their daily…

The development of oral language and specifically increased control over literate discourse is critical to students' ability to create and comprehend texts in the early years of schooling and beyond. For students with home languages that differ from the forms of language used in school, the development of oral language through carefully designed…

This paper proposes the identification and use of principle-based pedagogical patterns to help teachers to translate design principles into actionable teaching activities, and to scaffold student learning with sufficient flexibility and creativity. A set of pedagogical patterns for networked Second language (L2) learning, categorized and…

This paper reports an intervention study on Singapore primary five (fifth Grade) students' ICT (information and communication technology)-mediated Chinese idiom learning. We introduced "seamless learning" to the learning design, that is, the bridging of formal and informal learning, and individual and social learning, conforming to the…

SEX DIFFERENCES IN READING ACHIEVEMENT RESULTING FROM USE OF TWO DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO TEACHING READING IN THE FIRST GRADE WERE STUDIED. A STANDARD BASAL READER APPROACH WAS USED WITH READING GROUPS DIVIDED BY SEX AS WELL AS ABILITY. PACE AND EMPHASIS OF INSTRUCTION FOR THE BOYS WAS ADAPTED TO SUIT THEIR NEEDS. A LINGUISTIC APPROACH ORGANIZED TO…

The techniques used to collect data on the dominant speech patterns and verbal expressions of elementary school children are described as a means of systematizing oral language instruction. Specific recurring errors discovered in children's communication are discussed: the failure to focus on a major point, to support ideas, and to clarify…