The purpose of this study is to examine the phenomenon of successful online learning, defined as a higher academic performance (A or 90) and to find if there is the evidence to confirm the role of self-directed learning in the online graduate-level courses. A qualitative method was used to analyze learners' perceptions of online learning…

Characteristics of English for Academic Purposes students' second language (L2) motivation were examined by identifying underlying motivational factors. Using the motivation constructs created by first language reading researchers, a survey was developed and administered to 2,018 students from 53 English language programs in the U.S. Survey…

Numerous studies have reported that extensive reading (ER) has a positive influence on affect. Recent studies suggest that motivation for ER changes. This is in line with recent developments in second language (L2) motivation research that have highlighted the complex and dynamic nature of L2 motivation. This study presents a model of complex and…

This study explores second/foreign language (L2) learners' attitudes toward task-based language learning (TBLL) and how these attitudes relate to selected learner variables, namely anxiety, integrated motivation, instrumental motivation, and self-efficacy. Ninety-one college students of Korean as a foreign language, who received task-based…

Recent surveys and research on second language (L2)/foreign language acquisition help explain the challenges that postsecondary students in lower-level foreign language (FL) courses may experience. The present study extends this line of research by examining changes in students' affective profiles in a two-year Japanese program (n = 382) at an…

This study examined the relationships among visuospatial ability, motivation to learn science, and learner conceptions of force across commonly measured demographics with university undergraduates with the aim of examining the support for an evolved sense of force and motion. Demographic variables of interest included age, ethnicity, and gender,…

The present study reports on the motivations of adult, international learners of English, studying English 20 hours a week in a US-based Intensive English Program (IEP). Though often used as participants in language acquisition studies, there are few studies of these learners' motivational profiles. In the current study, a questionnaire designed…

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition" was published and its…

This book represents the first collection of studies on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) which brings together a range of perspectives through which CLIL has been investigated within Applied Linguistics. The book aims to show how the four perspectives of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL),…

This study stemmed from a concern that homework instruction, verbal and print oriented, did not reflect a 21st century learning strategy for kindergarten students due to their reading levels and their abilities to consistently follow written instructions to complete tasks. The study examined 18 kindergarten students' perceptions of using…

Within the media and the literature the need is often expressed for the establishment of a culture of learning within South African schools. The contrasting view tends to be one of dysfunctional schools that have come into being, giving rise to significant learner behaviour problems and poor pass rates being encountered in practice. This paper is…

This paper claims that the current theories of Self-regulated learning (SRL) are short-sighted. The author provides a comprehensive, but brief, overview of SRL which addresses such issues as (a) SRL processes, (b) SRL strategies, (c) compartments of SRL, (d) theories of SRL, (e) agency in SRL, and (f) models of SRL. He then presents a new model…

For e-learning initiatives to succeed, they must be designed to support a variety of trainees, methods, and content. Two important considerations in the design of any learning environment are the complexity of the tasks being learned and the socialization and connections of the trainees. Therefore, the goal of this research was to investigate how…

In this diary study, the author draws from journals written over the course of 8 years working as an English instructor at a Japanese university, with the aim of documenting the influences on her desire to invest effort in the self-study of Japanese (what she refers to as the "ecology of effort"). An ecological perspective reveals the…

This study examined the mediator and moderator roles of self-regulation and motivation constructs in the relationship between learning experience and academic success. Self-reported measures of learning experience, self-regulation and motivation were obtained from 384 undergraduate students from a university in Hong Kong. Structural equation…