The norm of relevance is central to teachers' professional identities, and therefore, decisions about the form of inservice education for teachers (INSET) are crucial for professional autonomy. Relevance is affected by notions of practicality, age, gender, seniority, and area of specialization. Teachers' views of relevent INSET are examined and…

Briefly discusses several frequently encountered barriers to learning--negative impact on inner self, threatening situations, rewards, and blockage of spontaneous exploration--from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Ways in which Logo is useful in removing these barriers are noted. (MBR)

Presents techniques from Writing Across the Curriculum adapted to the foreign language classroom. Strategies for encouraging students to write more effectively in the foreign language are described. The strategies include assigning relevant topics, treating writing as a process, and responding to and evaluating student writing in a more…

A study conducted with 12- to 14-year-old Nigerian students showed that ridicule (and to a lesser degree insult) is an effective motivator to improved academic achievement in the classroom. It should be asked, however, whether the emotional and psychological implications of ridicule justify its use in education. (Author/GC)

Language teachers are urged to explore, develop, and use the entire range of applications made possible by the computer and to realize that the computer can do almost anything but generate ideas. (MSE)

Considering the computer as a collaborator rather than a machine, it is encouraged that those in the humanities and the arts fields take advantage of the great potential that artificial intelligence can offer. Stresses that unless deliberately restricted, the computer is an inherently interdisciplinary medium, and capable of interacting with any…

Lists three suggestions for helping teachers resolve the problem of how to endow a subject-matter discipline with the spirit of liberal education. (Author/RK)

This study reported how four science teachers used action research to promote their students' motivation in learning physical science. Four teachers with one of their 8th grade physical science classes participated in the study. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research design were used in the study, and data collection included…

Recent literature on motivation has documented that perceptions of self-competence and motivational orientations for learning are interrelated. This study focuses specifically on childrens perceptions of their scholastic abilities, how these perceptions develop and how they relate to intrinsic motivation for learning. The rationale for this study…

This study examines the functioning of an instrument for measuring elementary school students' motivation to learn about technology. The theoretical framework of the study is based on expectancy-value theory, which focuses on cognitive factors in determining achievement behaviors. Participants were 129 sixth grade students. A questionnaire was…

Motivation and affect have mostly been studied separately, but both research and practical experience suggest that they are reciprocal features of learning experiences and should be studied together. The present research examines the relationships among cognition, motivation and affect in fifth- and sixth-grade children during mathematics classes…

Teachers are trained to adjust curriculum and give extra help to students who struggle to learn. However, teachers are not as prepared to deal with students who resist learning yet seem to have the ability to do well in school and apparently choose not to complete assignments or participate in class activities, consequently choosing to earn…

By reviewing the recent studies on motivation in language learning, this paper attempts to recognize what has been done in the area of research on foreign and second language (L2) learning motivation in the late 1980s and 1990s and to discuss some problems and issues found in those studies in relation to the construct "motivation" in language…

Five principles of learning and their application to typewriting are considered; before they can be utilized, however, one must be sure students want to learn. To accomplish this task, seven principles of motivation are offered for incorporation into the typing course. Both sets must be considered together for optimum learning. (Author/AJ)

A well acknowledged function of teaching is to stimulate. Inciting learning is dealt with in this article in a comprehensive way. (Editor)