This study takes the initiative to use structural equation modeling to verify an integrated willingness to communicate in an L2 (L2 WTC) model proposed from the socio-psychological perspective in the China's English as a second language context. A total of 1007 college freshmen (Male: n = 745; Female: n = 262) from eight universities in mainland…

Learning the basic concepts of programming and its foundations is considered as a challenging task for students to figure out. It is a challenging process for lecturers to learn these concepts, as well. The current literature on programming training abounds with the examples of a wide range of methods employed. Within this context, one of the…

This study explores relationships of student mindfulness and resilience with student stress, depression, and anxiety before and after a first-year seminar course introducing mindfulness and resilience techniques to undergraduate Saint Louis University (SLU) students. Mindfulness and resilience concepts and practice were introduced through large…

The present study attempted to validate the linguistic threshold hypothesis (LTH) and the interactive-compensatory model (ICM) in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting by assessing the relative contributions of English proficiency and reading strategy use to English reading and examining the mutual compensation between these two factors…

The instructional practices used in introductory college courses often differ dramatically from those used in high school courses, and dissatisfaction with these practices is cited by students as a prominent reason for leaving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. To better characterize the transition to college course…

The development of speaking fluency is a major goal for many EFL language learners and several researchers have proposed frameworks for fluency instruction based on theories of cognitive science. It is unclear however, whether EFL students with restricted opportunities to use English outside of language classrooms can benefit from fluency…

This paper reports on the evaluation of an ambitious attempt to embed academic literacy support within a core content course for first-year students at the University of the South Pacific. The course is offered in both blended and online modes, catering for on-campus and off-campus students, respectively, using Moodle as the virtual learning…

Since the turn of the century, higher education organizations and educational policy makers have urged U.S. colleges and universities to internationalize due to globalization pressures of the twenty-first century. The desired outcome of these internationalization efforts is intercultural competence. Decades of literature have provided a number of…

The educational literature generally suggests that supplemental instruction (SI) is effective in improving academic performance in traditionally difficult courses. A pilot program of peer teaching based on the SI model was implemented for an undergraduate course in human anatomy. Students in the course were stratified into three groups based on…

When implementing innovative teaching techniques, instructors often seek to gauge the success of their methods. Proposing one approach to assessing classroom innovation, this study examines the ability of students' ratings of engagement and instructional practices to predict their learning in a cooperative (team-based) framework. After identifying…

This quantitative study examined the relationships and effects of women's learning styles and achievement and success at a Midwestern, private, Catholic, liberal arts women's undergraduate program. The primary focus was on first-year female students' learning styles and how these learning styles may affect their GPAs and decisions to persist to…

Background. Although the evidence in support of the variability of students' learning strategies has expanded in recent years, less is known about the explanatory base of these individual differences in terms of the joint Influences of personal and contextual characteristics. Aims. Previous studies have often investigated how student learning is…

Anxiety is a psychological factor commonly associated with such feelings as fear, apprehension and uneasiness. It is an individual's affective reaction to a perceived or a real threat (MacIntyre, 1995). Foreign language reading anxiety (FLRA) refers to one's negative attitudes which may, to some extent, account for the inhibition that s/he suffers…

Colleges and universities recognize that one of the primary goals of higher education is to promote students' ability to think critically. Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS), this study examined the relationship between faculty teaching practices and the development of students' critical thinking skills,…

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictors of student grades in introductory physics courses utilizing problem-based learning (PBL) approach and traditional lecturing. The study employed correlational/predictive methods to investigate and describe/explain relationships of students' physics grades with their expectations, attitudes,…