The commonly-occurring mismatch between second language student and course level, resulting in student boredom or intimidation, is due to overreliance on standardized language tests. These tests emphasize passive skills, such as recognition of grammatical structures and translation, and they ignore the element of communicative competence. As a…

The first of a planned series of papers, this document describes in detail a context for writing created by a teacher and her second grade class. Section one includes the teacher's diary of plans for using an imaginary doll, "Mr. Togs the Tailor" as a context for learning during most of a term and selected children's writing on such topics as Mr.…

This study examined whether pupils' causal attribution tendencies could be influenced by teachers' attributions of their performance. In addition, the relationship between pupils' causal attributions and their school anxiety was studied. Based on Weiner's (1979) taxonomy of attributions that distinguishes between external versus internal and…

Elementary and secondary school teachers in 38 schools responded to a questionnaire asking them to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with 21 statements of educational beliefs. These statements concerned teacher control and discipline, basic subjects and skills emphasis, concern for students, and student participation. Six…

This is a final report on the Follow Through Resource Center at Community School 77 in the Bronx (New York). The Center was established in 1977 to disseminate information about the University of Kansas behavior analysis Follow Through model. The report discusses the program's activities during 1980-81, and includes an evaluation of the Center's…

The decade of the 1970's saw an alarming decline in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of entering college freshmen, and it was theorized that this might be attributed to a corresponding decline in study attitudes. To test this hypothesis, math and verbal SAT scores, study habits, and attitudes of college freshmen in the classes of 1973 and…

The literature on the partial determinants of performance in organizational contexts, particularly the research on situational determinants, suggests several different variables which may be of importance to appraisal processes as well. This point may be exemplified with regard to the situational factors of task ease/difficulty and situational…

Because most counselors have experienced a significant amount of success, they often have difficulty understanding the impact of test scores on persons who do not perform well. Counselor educators must develop experiential awareness in an area normally outside the realm of their students. To provide such an experience, 25 counselor trainees took…

Recent research in psycholinguistics shows that experience with language in its communicative function is essential for learning to speak a second language. A suitable linguistic environment provides for the development of strategies for aural comprehension and for the acquisition of means of expression. A different approach to curriculum is…

Given the evidence that many women do pursue achievement successfully, the position that biology requires women to avoid success is unconvincing. Possible sources for the factors that generate avoidance of success include the influence of society, peers, and the family. In a search for sources of achieving behavior, 50 pairs of fathers and…

This monograph, one of four in a series, contains material on a particular aspect of literacy training. Developed from reports, papers, and case studies from the Regional Literacy Workshop (November 29-December 20, 1979) held in Udaipur, India, the monographs are suggested for use in training programs for literacy personnel as background…

The assumptions individuals make about their personal behaviors have received extensive attention, particularly the concepts of locus of control and self-efficacy. An additional concept, change orientation, refers to assumptions about how to change personal behavior. Approximately 180 subjects ranging from college freshmen to graduate students…

A child progresses from listening to speaking, to developing vocabulary and word recognition skills, to reading the printed page. After a child develops language, vocabulary enrichment should be provided in a functional, meaningful, and real manner. Putting words in syntactical structure, hanging them around the room as labels, or mounting them on…

Many computerized educational activities are controlled by the student as well as by the hardware or software being used. When the student can make decisions that will affect the responses of the computer, the computer becomes a tool for exploration and is not merely a vehicle for delivering instruction. Some of the activities that involve student…

Intervention activities in reading and language arts, designed and implemented by the Teacher Corps program at Holland Elementary School (Springfield, Ohio), are described and evaluated. Activities performed by teacher interns included introducing and distributing books; reading stories and poems; constructing learning centers; and planning and…