Most educators think of professional development (PD) as a way to influence the uptake of evidence- based practices. However, PD can also play an important role in sustaining the practices over time--a critical ingredient for improving outcomes for all students. A number of studies have identified key features of PD that support both the long-term…

Purpose: Reading involves the ability to decode and draw meaning from printed text. Reading skill profiles vary widely among learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One fairly common pattern is relative strength in decoding combined with weak comprehension skills--indicators of this profile emerge as early as the preschool years. In order…

Postulating that academic papers can positively impact the actual teaching practices of science teachers, this study analysed the process of understanding and utilising academic papers by science teachers to teach scientific creativity in their schools. The 45--hour graduate course of three science teachers was explored to identify the…

With the increasing popularity of computer-assisted language learning in the past decades, how to teach English reading in the new educational landscape created has become a challenge. Abundant literature has contributed to reading strategy instruction worldwide, however, empirical studies on computer-aided schema strategy training for Chinese…

The present study was focused on acquisition of Chinese relative clauses (RCs) by second language (L2) learners and whether this acquisition was influenced by RC linguistic features, learners' Chinese proficiency levels, and their first language (L1). Data were gathered via a Chinese reading comprehension test, a grammaticality judgment task, a…

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential impact of integrating the Smart Sender platform to gamify and automate L2 e-classes on students' motivation, English language proficiency in reading and language use, engagement, and attitudes towards the platform. This experimental research employed a quasi-experimental design, specifically a…

Analytical writing poses particularly challenging, yet often overlooked, language demands that need attention in educational research and practice. In this article, I discuss the Core Analytical Language Skills (CALS) construct and its relevance for school reading and writing. CALS refer to the set of learners' school-relevant language resources…

Seductive details in text are interesting but unimportant text segments. Although seductive details can make expository text more interesting, they do not necessarily promote learning of main ideas. This study investigated whether task relevance instructions that targeted main ideas would promote memory for main ideas when students read a text…

Teaching students to generate questions to monitor their reading comprehension is an evidence-based practice demonstrated to be effective across grade levels for students with and without disabilities. As self-questioning is a complex skill, many students can benefit from additional instructional supports, especially when they are first learning…

Second language research has traditionally been characterized by the cognitive perspective which focuses on how the individual processes language. There has been an emerging trend over the past few decades on taking into consideration the social influences on second language learning based on diverse theoretical frameworks. Research on second…

Reading-while-listening may be especially well suited for young language learners because of the multimodality provided in many graded readers aimed at this age group (ie., the presence of oral and written text and illustrations). This study compares a group of students who were exposed to 18 sessions of reading-while-listening with a group…

We examined the efficacy of a content acquisition and reading comprehension intervention implemented in eighth-grade social studies classrooms. Using a within-teacher randomized control design, 18 eighth-grade teachers' social studies classes were randomly assigned to a treatment or comparison condition. Teachers taught all their classes…

Purpose: E-learning is part of instructional design and has opened a whole world of new possibilities in terms of learning and teaching. The purpose of this paper is to develop an adaptive e-learning platform that enhances skills from primary school to university learners. Two purposes converge here: a pedagogical one -- offering new…

Students' engagement with two-dimensional (2D) representations as opposed to three-dimensional (3D) representations of anatomy such as in dissection, is significant in terms of the depth of their comprehension. This qualitative study aimed to understand how students learned anatomy using observational and drawing activities that included touch,…

This is a position paper in which we argue for "Teaching for Mathematising" as a pedagogy that supports teaching mathematics for understanding in primary school. Mathematics education in Australia currently emphasises teaching for mathematical understanding, a shift that redirects children's learning from merely memorising computation…