Students in lower-level Spanish classes completed a questionnaire assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for learning Spanish, feelings of autonomy and competence in language learning, integrative orientation, and perceptions of teachers' communication style. Results of a path analysis showed that the more controlling the teacher was…

Secondary school teachers participating (n=371) and not participating (n=422) in continuing education in Hong Kong were surveyed. Such variables as situations, dispositions, attitudes, beliefs, and social norms did not distinguish participants from nonparticipants. The only significant factors were socioeconomic status and motivations. (SK)

Interviews with 26 Latino high school students in California indicated that distinct school cultures (career academy, advanced placement, general education) were experienced in different ways by U.S.-born and immigrant Latinos. These experiences influenced their school engagement and academic success. (Contains 48 references.) (SK)

Argues for creation of learner-centered schools where children's early passion for learning can be nurtured and sustained. Discusses role of parents and teachers in providing students with learner-centered education environment. (PKP)

Paul R. Pintrich was a leading figure in the field of self-regulated learning. This article discusses some of Paul's major contributions: (a) formulating a conceptual framework for studying self-regulated learning comprising phases (forethought, planning, activation; monitoring; control; reaction, reflection) and areas for self-regulation…

The present study investigated the causes to which parents attribute their children's academic successes and failures during children's transition from preschool to primary school. It followed 182 mothers and 167 fathers of 207 children. The parents completed a questionnaire concerning their causal attributions, level of education, and parenting…

This brief article describes how one young man who once was unmotivated and uninterested in learning more than just the minimum required for graduation transformed into an active, motivated student through a program called MOUSE (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education), a NYC based non-profit dedicated to empowering students…

There has been an increasing effort to integrate use of self-reports and a more profile-oriented approach with observations and interviews conducted during the actual learning process. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how students with different goal orientation profiles involve themselves in actual learning situations over four…

In this 2-year longitudinal study the developmental relationships among letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid naming, and task orientation were examined, and linguistic-motivational pathways of word reading acquisition were traced from kindergarten to Grade 1 by means of structural equation modeling. The participants were 100…

Protege selection was examined in a laboratory experiment and a field study of experienced mentors. The results from both studies indicated that protege willingness to learn was a critical component of protege selection. Results of the field study also revealed that organizational rewards for developing others related to the influence protege…

Previous research on interlanguage pragmatics revealed that, under implicit pragmatic instruction, some learners noticed the target pragmalinguistic features, whereas others receiving the same instruction did not. This suggests possible effects of individual difference (ID) variables on learners' noticing of pragmalinguistic features. Among the ID…

Two experiments investigated the effect of achievement goals on the transfer of a problem-solving strategy in 7- and 11-year-old children. In the first experiment, motivational priming took place before the learning of the strategy, affecting the learning as well as the transfer of the strategy. In the second experiment, motivational priming took…

In this article, the author shares the details of her visit to India in 2004 where she had the opportunity to conduct two workshops, one in Mumbai, previously Bombay, and the other one in Chennai, formerly known as Madras. She details her observations of the two groups, focusing first on the preservice group and moving on to the experienced…

The study examined the validity of the Child Observation Record (COR). Participants were 242 children, a stratified, random sample of a large, urban Head Start program. Teachers trained to collect COR data provided assessments on the Cognitive, Social Engagement, and Coordinated Movement dimensions of the COR. Outcome data included cognitive and…

The present article highlights the importance of the motivational construct for the foreign language learning (FLL) process. More specifically, in the present article it is argued that motivation is likely to play a significant role at all three stages of the FLL process as they are discussed within the information processing model of FLL, namely,…