Studies in interlanguage pragmatics have shown that L2 learners' proficiency has an influence on the occurrences of L1 pragmatic transfer. However, questions remain whether the relationship between L1 pragmatic transfer and L2 proficiency is positive or negative. This paper is designed to study L1 pragmatic transfer in requests made by Chinese…

Poems are usually expressed with elaborate rhetoric techniques, which make them hard to be understood. In this study, a cross-text annotation sharing mechanism is proposed to help students comprehend poetry by creating and sharing individual annotations. Furthermore, relevant annotations among various texts can be retrieved to stimulate and help…

The authors believe that the adoption of virtual worlds is suitable for electronic government applications as it can increase the capillarity of public services, facilitate the access to government services and provide citizens with a natural and immersive experience. They present a Government Virtual Institution Model (GVI) for the provision of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a web-based tool that enables the development and provision of learning designs and its reuse and re-contextualization as generative learning objects, aimed at developing educational materials. Design/methodology/approach: The use of learning objects can facilitate the process of production and…

Advances in technology are having a profound impact on distance education as online learning is becoming a preferred educational option. Within these online learning experiences, the asynchronous online discussion has evolved into one of the most commonly used communication tools. However, a lack of cognitive processing and interaction in the…

This study examined the validity of the SILL by performing a confirmatory factor analysis among 914 university students learning English in Korea. The results showed that all the fit indices including chi-square, RMSEA, CFI, and NFI used to test Oxford's two construct and six construct taxonomy of the SILL provided unacceptable fit to the data.…

The purpose of this study was to foster learning through the Multiple Intelligence Approach in achieving educational objectives across the levels of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Multiple intelligences approach facilitates ways for students by ensuring that curriculum and instruction validate the strengths and build on the assets that students possess…

Desktop virtual reality is an emerging educational technology that offers many potential benefits for learners in online learning contexts; however, a limited body of research is available that connects current multimedia learning techniques with these new forms of media. Because most formal online learning is delivered using learning management…

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the process used to examine the inter-rater reliability of the Teacher Work Sample (TWS) Scoring Rubric involved with the senior culminating experience for teacher candidates used at a large comprehensive university. The study compared holistic and analytic scores reported by Student Teacher…

Students in Honors Physical Geology at Louisiana State University (LSU) participated in instruction in eighth- to ninth-grade geology and geography classes in East Baton Rouge Parish Schools (EBRPS) to help meet community needs. LSU students created instructional materials and reflected on the service activity to gain a deeper understanding of…

The purpose of this case study was to describe, assess, and compare the cognitive level of instruction, course objectives, instructional strategies, assessments, and the transdisciplinary nature of two post-secondary degree programs in sustainability. Instructional strategies in these programs included such methods as class presentations, group…

UK educators often express concerns that students from some cultural backgrounds frequently seem unwilling or are unable to apply critical thinking skills within their academic programmes. This may be due not to a lack of ability or confidence but rather to the way they have been previously taught and assessed. Often, the design of UK courses…

Although service learning provides unparalleled real world experiential student learning opportunities and benefits to four major constituencies--student, faculty, community and institution, it takes place in an uncontrolled environment introducing uncertainty into the instructional process. Faculty might avoid this valuable approach to…

An ontology is an effective formal representation of knowledge used commonly in artificial intelligence, semantic web, software engineering, and information retrieval. In open and distance learning, ontologies are used as knowledge bases for e-learning supplements, educational recommenders, and question answering systems that support students with…

To identify the most important competencies for college graduates to succeed in the 21st century workforce, we conducted an analysis of the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database. O*NET is a large job analysis operated and maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor. We specifically analyzed ratings of the importance of abilities (52…