To help ESP college instructors improve the English curriculum taught at polytechnic institutes, colleges and universities, the current study proposes a model for designing English for Polytechnic Purposes (EPP) courses for undergraduate students majoring in mechanical engineering, chemistry, technology, economics, textile industry and other…

The growth of Sino-foreign cooperative universities, departments and courses in China necessitates further discussion of how to develop teaching approaches that suit students attending these institutions. Despite substantial analysis of the commercial dimensions of Sino-foreign university partnerships, discussion of effective teaching strategies…

The problem of adverse effects of prior knowledge in mathematics learning has been amply documented and theorized by mathematics educators as well as cognitive/developmental psychologists. This problem emerges when students' prior knowledge about a mathematical notion comes in contrast with new information coming from instruction, giving rise to…

Most people have struggled with reading in one situation or another, depending on their appreciation for the content, their prior experiences, and the texts. This department column shares ways for educators to help literacy learners unlock their potential with instruction anchored in their skills, knowledge, ways of learning, interests, and…

Since the 1940's, the United States has opened its doors for international students to study and gain knowledge and skills within its borders. However, there are considerable concerns about the integration of these international students and their participation in the classroom. Most international students hail from different cultural and social…

The notion of "resources" is often framed in an economic sense: money, time, equipment and the like. The authors reconceptualise this notion, situating resources as embedded in curricular frameworks, teacher practice and student experience. This leads them to define resources as "the potential to participate in socio-cultural…

Researching students' responses to tasks at different year levels and in varied curriculum contexts can provide insights that relate their understandings to prior learning experiences and teaching approaches. In this article, we discuss evidence of students from three curriculum contexts (English, Australian, and Israeli) (n = 350) ways of…

Prospective teachers perceive peer coaching as a supportive learning opportunity providing benefits in peers' engagement in active learning, communicative competences, and critical thinking about teaching. Little is known about whether peer coaching also promotes the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in teacher education, which is…

Background: When learning with text and pictures, learners often fail to adequately process the materials, which can be explained as a failure to self-regulate one's learning by choosing adequate cognitive learning processes. Eye movement modelling examples (EMME) showing how to process multimedia instruction have improved elementary school…

Purpose: This study aims to illustrate an interactive project in an advanced accounting course at a Middle Eastern higher education institution, which introduced students to practical/applied financial and managerial accounting and sustainability reporting and created an element of cognitive dissonance with regard to their financial…

This study aimed to examine whether principles of effective teaching constitute essential criteria for a systematic and successful analysis of lessons. After watching a video of a complete lesson, the participants (each of nine experienced and pre-service teachers) were asked to analyse this lesson in terms of effectiveness for pupils' learning in…

This case study investigates the variety of constructivist approaches to teaching evident in classroom practice. Teaching practices associated with constructivist perspectives have been prevalent in curriculum reforms for some time. Meanwhile, constructivist approaches have been critically discussed in scholarly literature, revealing problematic…

The variability effect occurs when learners' exposure to highly variable tasks results in better learning. It was hypothesised that learners who studied high variability worked examples would obtain higher post-test scores compared to learners who studied low variability examples, and learners who self-generated problem solutions for the same high…

Prior research shows that self-explanation promotes understanding by helping learners connect new knowledge with prior knowledge. However, despite ample evidence supporting the effectiveness of self-explanation, an instructional design challenge emerges in how best to scaffold self-explanation. In particular, it is an open challenge to design…

Using the "Three Phase Lesson" model, teachers identify prior knowledge that the student must possess in order to be successful in learning the new concepts. Teachers then delineate specific components inherent in the concepts that need to be mastered and identify tasks which will enable the student to practice these new concepts.