This paper describes the results of a study that examined the attitudes of Malaysian primary school boys and girls toward reading in English as a Second Language. Using the Students' Reading Attitude Survey, which the researchers adapted from McKenna and Kear (1990) Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, 2,666 responses were analysed using the…

Serious games are generally considered to induce positive effects in the areas of learning motivation and learning gains. Yet few studies have examined how these factors are related. Therefore, an empirical study was conducted to test the relationship between anticipated enjoyment and willingness to play, as well as between game enjoyment,…

This study explored parents' (N = 351) educational optimism in terms of their trust in the possibilities of school to develop children's intelligence. It was found that educational optimism could be depicted as a bipolar factor with optimism and pessimism on the opposing ends of the same dimension. Optimistic parents indicated more satisfaction…

This study (n = 11) examined active community-school collaborative classes using sociocultural constructivist approaches over an academic year in an early childhood institute. A semi-formal interview was conducted to describing how the early childhood teachers and community members worked collaboratively to develop community engagement activities…

The present study aimed to examine the relationship of mental pressure with optimism and academic achievement motivation among second grade second period male high school students. This study followed a descriptive-correlational method. The sample included 200 second grade second period male high school students in Sooran. Data collection tools in…

Gratitude is a key construct in positive psychology. Previous studies seldom examined the salient contextual correlates of gratitude in early adolescence in non-Western society. This study examined the relations among family functioning, class environment, and gratitude in a sample of 202 Chinese elementary school students. The results showed that…

As stated in Cardoso, Smith, and Garcia Fuentes (2015), second language researchers and practitioners have explored the pedagogical capabilities of Text-To-Speech synthesizers (TTS) for their potential to enhance the acquisition of writing (e.g. Kirstein, 2006), vocabulary and reading (e.g. Proctor, Dalton, & Grisham, 2007), and pronunciation…

Laboratories are important environments in science teaching. There is no doubt that the employment of technology in these environments may change the learning of science, especially as the technology has made its way into nearly every aspect of daily life. This study aimed to investigate the impact of using virtual labs on students' achievement…

Concern has been raised globally that a lack of interest by teachers towards teaching science has a negative impact on the children they teach. While attention has been paid to the teacher as a contributing factor to students' attitudes, less has been written about the attitudes of teachers. To bridge this gap, the current study examines six Year…

Purpose: Most EFL textbooks suggest the use of vivid pictures and verbal explanations in teaching English prepositions. However, this word class appears in collocations, and rote-learning does not really help learners retain and use this word class successfully. Cognitive linguistics (CL) has implications for English language teaching as it rests…

This study explores the predictive relationships between psychological capital (PsyCap), meaning-focused coping, satisfaction and performance among undergraduate students. Six hundred and eighty two (n = 682) college students from 29 different academic programmes completed an academic well-being survey, which included measures of PsyCap, coping…

Learners' attributions have received increasing attention in second/foreign language (L2) learning. Studies have shown that how learners attribute their performance influences not only their self-efficacy, motivation, and goal attainment but also their emotions (Hsieh, 2012; Hsieh & Kang, 2010; Hsieh & Shallert, 2008; Weiner, 2000, 2014).…

In this study, the expectations of middle school students' parents regarding to "conceptual understanding and active student participation" "positive attitude and behavior attitude" and "authority and rule-oriented teaching" were examined. A valid and reliable threefactor instrument developed by the Aytekin, Baltaci,…

In Vietnam, despite the widespread use of computers and the Internet in the educational settings, little attention has been paid to the role of the Internet in promoting students' autonomy. Particularly, in the author's real teaching context at Thuong Mai University (TMU), there exists a serious problem relating to students' lack of independency…

While professional development has been emphasised in many countries, few comparative studies have examined the degree of teachers' participation in professional development and its effect on teachers. Using the TIMSS 2007 data, this study analyses to what extent teachers participated in professional development in 50 TIMSS countries and examines…