Traces the world-wide development of distance education, including recent innovations that have enhanced its status as an appropriate and effective mechanism for adult education and training. Discusses the separation of teacher and learner, the role of the institution, the use of technical media, the clientele attracted, and some current trends.…

Designed an intervention to facilitate the first meeting between student and adviser. During orientation, students were asked to focus on career goals in preparing for the adviser interview, recognizing stages through which students typically pass as they progress through college. Skits were used to demonstrate adviser expectations. Advisers…

Defines and discusses the operating principles of the Explorative-Creative Way of language teaching, an approach in which the teacher encourages the students to investigate the target language and to tap the linguistic resources available to them in order to produce a maximum number of new meaningful utterances. (SED)

The reliability and factorial validity of the Self Concept as a Learner Scale was studied, using 12-year-old Anglo-Australians. Reliability was acceptable for total scale and three subscales (task orientation, problem solving, and class membership), but not motivation. The validity of the factorial subscales was not confirmed. (GDC)

Describes a pilot "work required" assessment procedure in a high school English class. Shows how the skills of classroom negotiation work when students plan and manage instruction. Discusses learning to negotiate, the advantages of the program, trials and errors, the change in classroom climate, and negotiating reading. (EL)

Describes a procedure termed free associational assessment that uses free recall and associational thinking. A sample lesson is provided. (HOD)

Discusses details for establishing and evaluating student directed reading groups. (HOD)

The last few decades saw a dramatic progress in computer technology, which challenged many taken-for-granted assumptions about human communication. In terms of language classroom settings, integrating computers into teaching and learning brings certain communication patterns and, at the same time, poses the question about adaptation of classroom…

This paper discusses the roles of the student, teacher, and language researcher in understanding motivation to learn another language. It highlights the socioeducational model of second language acquisition. Although this model considers motivation to learn another language from the student's point of view, other contributors include the teacher,…

A discussion of the work of Lev Vygotsky in the field of cognitive development focuses on how the Vygotskian concepts of internalization and mediated knowledge are crucial to the development of both learner and teacher autonomy in second language instruction. Focus is on theory, with empirical studies used as illustration. First, the Vygotskian…

This study considered the problem of evaluation--"how do we know when a student is ready to move into the regular college writing classroom." The subjects were culturally diverse students in a basic writing course at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico. Findings suggest that: (1) students in the course do not fit neatly into any…

This article reports a study examining the use of group activities in English language coursebooks published since 1990. Ten coursebooks were randomly selected for examination. The number and percentage of group activities and of group activities rated as fostering cooperation were calculated. The results are discussed in light of theory and…

John C. Pittenger is not satisfied with his bureaucratic job as Pennsylvania's education secretary. He also teaches a social studies class, coaches a college squash team, and tries to inject some life and humanity into the state's public schools. (Editor)

The DeKalb Open Campus High School's experiment with a college type of environment, which students and teachers felt enhanced the learning experience. (JB)