Teaching developmental writing courses is a high-wire act, complicated by its need to balance both rudimentary skill-building and college-level writing preparation. However, many developmental writing instructors spend most of their time on the former, focusing on rote memorization of grammar rules and sentence skills development, which often…

The ability to effectively communicate with individuals from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds is an invaluable asset. Learning a second language proves useful as students navigate the culturally diverse world; however, studying a second language can be difficult for learners who are not immersed in the real and natural environment of…

Engaging and extending middle years students in mathematics is a continual challenge. One of the aims of the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" is to ensure that students are "confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics" (ACARA, 2011). Use of mathematical models and/or problems has been suggested as methods of…

Given the fact that more and more universities stress on using English as medium to teach students with diverse backgrounds, the content and language integrated learning approach (CLIL) is now frequently introduced to faculty to support effective instruction and learning. Inspired by a CLIL workshop I attended, in which the instructor offered an…

This paper explores how wiki may be used to support secondary education students' collaborative creativity processes and how such interaction can promote critical and creativity thinking. A science case-based project in which 81 secondary students participated was designed, implemented and evaluated. Students worked in the science wiki project…

In this article I focus on the mediational role of communicative activity in the co-construction of meaning involved when pupils write collaboratively. I explore the developmental nature of peer intermental or social activity within a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) by drawing on perspectives from sociocultural theory and the dialogical aspects…

This volume represents the first collection of empirical studies focusing on peer interaction for L2 learning. These studies aim to unveil the impact of mediating variables such as task type, mode of interaction, and social relationships on learners' interactional behaviors and language development in this unique and pedagogically powerful…

The digital environment has had an immense effect on American society, learning, and education: we have more sources available at our fingertips than any previous generation. Teaching and learning with these new sources, however, has been a challenging transition. Students are confronted with an ocean of digital objects and need skills to navigate…

In the current research study the use of Wikis as an online didactic tool to apply project-based learning in higher education was reported. The study was conducted in university teacher education programmes. During the online activities, participants developed interdisciplinary projects for the primary school working collaboratively in small…

Wikis (websites that can be edited quickly by multiple authors) were used with upper-primary school children to write group reports on a science topic. Two teachers observed the children working, and their observations were used alongside the texts from the wikis and group interviews with children to explore the question of whether using wikis…

Web 2.0 technologies, such as social networks, wikis, blogs, and virtual worlds provide a platform for collaborative working, facilitating sharing of resources and joint document production. They can act as a stimulus to promote active learning and provide an engaging and interactive environment for students, and as such align with the philosophy…

The need for supporting student writing has received much attention in writing research. One specific type of support is feedback--including peer feedback--on the writing process. Despite the wealth of literature on both feedback and academic writing, there is little empirical evidence on what type of feedback best promotes writing in online…

Some recent proposals on CSCL scripts have suggested that one key factor for their effectiveness is the ability of the teacher to adapt the scripts to the students and to the specific teaching and learning situations. In this context, this paper presents a multiple-case study dealing with the relationship between the assistance given by the…

This study investigates the dynamics in the Spanish classroom between heritage language learner (HLL) dyads, second language learner (L2L) dyads, and mixed HLL-L2L dyads. Specifically, it examines oral, written and embodied discourse that informs our understanding of how learners attend to language. Analysis for this dissertation examined…

This paper reports on a pilot study designed to develop writing proficiency in French via collaborative writing activities at intermediate level at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Twenty four students in the final year of French studies program took part in this innovative approach which integrates multimodal functionality of the…