Supports predictions concerning two consequences of combining merit pay and other business practices within a reading program: (1) that school personnel would constrict their definitions of reading and reading instruction to those prescribed by district policy and that (2) teachers would consider reading instruction less fulfilling than they did…

Five common play criteria were applied by subjects to a videotape of nursery school children's behavior, rated separately for occurrence of play. The idea that play is best predicted by a combination of criteria was supported by the finding that, when more criteria occurred simultaneously, the more certainly a judgment of play was implied.…

A study of dictionary usage strategies used by 89 college students of Spanish indicated that beginning and intermediate students favored a search strategy based on lexical form, while advanced students used a more successful semantic-based strategy. The data are analyzed against the Vygotskyan theory of human development and self-actualization.…

Provides historical perspective on the contributions of learning and instruction to instructional theory and discusses some major obstacles currently inhibiting its growth. Suggestions for future development of this discipline are provided. Emphasis is placed on the process of theory construction perceived by philosophers of natural and social…

Argues that an academic discipline displays certain characteristics and functions, and explores the question whether distance education, in its current state, reflects these characteristics. A need for further research is noted, and examples of topics about which analyses and theories are needed are included. (MBR)

Effective patient care requires effective communication. The creation of a "Patientspeak" dictionary is offered as a constructive exercise for facilitating communication between health care professionals and their patients and has been incorporated into the freshman psychiatry course. (Author/MLW)

Examines advantages of using videogame format for training, including practicality, relatively inexpensive hardware, ability to use multi-purpose software modules, motivational advantages of increased student interest and instructional effectiveness, and instructional features such as the adaptive interactive nature of videogames. An example of a…

Assesses the value of competency/skill research in speech pedagogy. (PD)

This study attempts to relate some characteristics of the social-emotional interaction to some characteristics of the cognitive interaction in the classroom. (Author/RK)

This book is a guide for parents and teachers to Asperger syndrome, a condition in which individuals have significant social and language peculiarities while simultaneously showing normal development and function in some areas of their lives. Chapter 1 provides an overview of Asperger syndrome, including definitions and characteristics. Chapter 2…

This paper describes prospective secondary school mathematics teachers' images and definitions of inflection points. The data indicate that prospective teachers tended to regard f[prime](x)=0 and/or the location "where the graph bends" as necessary/sufficient conditions for inflection points. The solutions were based on previous…

A study of second language acquisition in two Japanese children, and corresponding examination of research literature, led to this effort to clarify terminology related to cross-linguistic influence in language contact situations. Terms include: bilingualism, code-switching, language mixing, language transfer, and borrowing. Two forms of transfer…

This paper is concerned with the assessability of metacognition, asserting that unless metacognition can be assessed, then it will never be considered a legitimate part of curriculum. The paper focuses on a pilot study conducted with grade-six students in the curriculum domain of mathematics. It reports the results of student questionnaires and…

This paper summarizes current knowledge on the transition to adulthood of youth with serious emotional disturbance in terms of epidemiology, effective interventions, and program models. The first section is introductory and provides definitions and characteristics of transitional youth noting special developmental tasks, outcomes for young adults,…

This literature review examines the relationship between phonemic awareness and the ability to read. It addresses four main issues: (1) if phonemic awareness is a prerequisite for or a consequence of learning to read; (2) what is needed to teach phonemic awareness; (3) tasks or activities and assessment tools to develop phonemic awareness; and (4)…