This paper examines the relationship of age factor to second language acquisition. Age as an affective factor brings about different performance stages in second as well as first language learning. Traditionally, research in Critical Period Hypothesis and other variables has derived two major aspects of language learning--the younger = the better…

Conversations between educators and students about choices and strategies are an important pedagogical mechanism to examine the abstract concept of learning. Although students have tacit knowledge about their approach to learning, they are often unable to coherently communicate their ideas. Drawing on the theory of metacognition, the technique of…

Effective teacher beliefs about students are an integral part of effective teaching. Teachers with interventionist beliefs about students ("I can intervene to help a learner with difficulties") show more effective practice than teachers with pathognomonic beliefs ("I blame the learner for his difficulties"). A professional development (PD) course…

The totally unusual experience of participating in the writing of "The University and the Teachers: France, the United States, England" is recalled here by one of the co-authors. This was a collective enterprise, under the direction of Harry Judge, and the other members of the team were two American researchers, Lynn Paine and Michael…

In this study, statements by prospective primary school teachers such as "I think the word global warming ..." or "I think the term global warming means ..." were analyzed by using qualitative phenomenographic research methods. 142 female (48.3%) and 152 male (51.7%) primary school teacher candidates (n = 294) participated in…

This study examined how message-response exchanges produced in the interactions between active learners only, reflective learners only, active-reflective learners and reflective-active learners affected how often active versus reflective learners posted rebuttals to arguments and challenges across four types of exchanges that believed to promote…

Introduction: The main objective of this study is to analyze the dimensions which underlie new university students' preferences for instructional methods, and how these preferences relate to their learning styles and motivational strategies. Method: The sample consisted of 158 students in their first year of teacher training at the University of…

Throughout the twentieth century, comparative education authors in the English-speaking world expressed a range of fears and desires about their field. Many of these authors were or are North American, or spent substantial parts of their careers on that continent. The research reported here systematically maps the discourses of fear and desire in…

Studies have shown that, while learning different concepts, people sometimes take different approaches (learning styles). Accordingly, their performance reflected differently in their academic studies. With the effect of globalisation to the educational environments, the influence of individual learning styles on educational performance is getting…

The aim of this article was to outline the basis for an introductory course to higher education focusing on students' approaches to learning and the role of teaching in higher education. The framework is a discussion on contemporary literature on approaches to learning. In the article experiences are also reported of developing and implementing an…

Randomly chosen high school choristers with extensive training in solfege syllables and Curwen hand signs (N = 38) are asked to sight-sing two melodies, one while using Curwen hand signs and the other without. Out of a perfect score of 16, the mean score with hand signs was 10.37 (SD = 4.23), and without hand signs, 10.84 (SD = 3.96). A…

This study aimed at investigating: (a) the psychometric properties of Kolb's LSI-1985 in a Greek sample of pre-service and in-service teachers (N=338), (b) group differences in their learning styles and (c) possible relations between the participants' learning styles and their metacognitive knowledge about the frequency of using various…

In adulthood, twice as many women as men are depressed, a pattern that holds in most nations. In childhood, girls are no more depressed than boys, but more girls than boys are depressed by ages 13 to 15. Although many influences on this emergent gender difference in depression have been proposed, a truly integrated, developmental model is lacking.…

The reality is that approximately 5-8% of school-age students have memory or other cognitive deficits that interfere with their ability to acquire, master, and apply mathematical concepts and skills (Geary, 2004). These students with Mathematical Learning Disabilities (MLD) are at risk for failure in middle school mathematics because they…

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) commissioned NatCen to conduct a project to explore why some young people disengaged from education and underachieved at KS4, assess the longer-term impact of such disengagement and underachievement and consider ways in which it may be prevented or countered. It involved an analysis of…