It is the consensus that, as a result of the extra constraints placed on working memory, texts written in a second language (L2) are usually of lower quality than texts written in the first language (L1) by the same writer. However, no method is currently available for quantifying the quality difference between L1 and L2 texts. In the present…

Sixty percent of America's teachers choose traditional baccalaureate programs while the remaining choose one of several alternative pathways. While certification/training is certainly important to preparing effective teachers, other research indicates that teacher efficacy serves as the foundation of teacher behaviors and classroom practice. The…

This study examines ways in which Chinese immigrant families are involved in their children's mathematics education, particularly focusing on how different types of families utilize different forms of capital to support their children's mathematics education. The theoretical framework defines four types of Chinese immigrant families--working…

The purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which "plagiarismdetect.com," an internet help/tool to detect plagiarism helps academicians tackle the ever-growing problem of plagiarism. Concerned with term papers, essays and most of the time with full-blown research reports, a tool like "plagiarismdetect.com" may…

Although much has been written in the past 50 years about the pedagogical value of "The Sociological Imagination", one section of Mills's book has been underutilized for far too long. Namely, the essay in the appendix, "On Intellectual Craftsmanship," has been rarely invoked by sociologists discussing the significance of "The Sociological…

Of all the reasons to use "The New Yorker" in a college writing class, the most compelling may be that its articles go beyond--well beyond--the five-paragraph model. Why, oh why, did that paradigm become such a fixture in composition courses? Students in the author's writing classes invariably suppose they can compose a quick introduction, add…

Dr. Sreyashi Jhumki Basu was a scholar committed to equity and social justice in science education who passed away in December 2008. In this essay, I describe Jhumki's research and the call to action her life's work has laid out for the science education community. In particular, I draw attention to the role of critical science agency in learning…

This study examines preservice teachers' conceptual understanding of global education subsequent to participation in an asynchronous web-based multinational project to discuss issues related to cultural diversity and global challenges. Data included 59 preservice teachers' online messages and reflective essays. Six perspectives emerged from this…

In this article we report on the development of an interactive open source extensible software, dubbed "The 7 Keys of the Dragon," for the teaching/learning of Albanian and Russian to students (9-12 years old) with the respective languages as their heritage languages. Based on the assumption that games in language learning are associated…

This study aimed to identify salient problem characteristics perceived by students in problem-based curricula. To this end, reflective essays from biomedical students (N = 34) on characteristics of good problems were text-analyzed. Students identified eleven characteristics, of which they found the extent to which the problem leads to desired…

This study is the result of continuous four-year work in the field of noting and reviewing of errors in learning English. The object of this research were 50 students at the State University of Tetova who study English. In this work were studied errors made by students during tests, interviews, dictations, writing paragraphs and different essays.…

Writing assignments are ubiquitous in higher education. Writing develops not only communication skills, but also higher-level cognitive processes that facilitate deep learning. Cognitive visualizations, such as concept maps, can also be used as part of learning activities including as a form of scaffolding, or to trigger reflection by making…

In this study, a corpus of essays stratified by level (9th grade, 11th grade, and college freshman) are analyzed computationally to discriminate differences between the linguistic features produced in essays by adolescents and young adults. The automated tool Coh-Metrix is used to examine to what degree essays written at various grade levels can…

This dissertation consists of two essays which examine the relationship between dyslexia and the application and acquisition of financial knowledge. Recent behavioral research has documented that factors such as representativeness, overconfidence, loss aversion, naivete, wealth, age and gender all impact a person's risk perception and asset…

With tips on punctuation, style, grammar and essay structure, this handy guide provides succinct and practical guidance on students most common areas of concern in their written work. Each tip is supplemented by authentic examples of student writing, suggested re-writes, and appropriate self-help exercises. This book contains four parts. Part I:…