In the field of SLA, there have been various attempts to define second language learning motivation and to discover relationships between motivation and gender. Using two well-known motivational models: Expectancy-value theory, and Gardner's Socio-educational model, the present study sought to (1) first define foreign language learning motivation…

Introduction: Claude Steele's stereotype threat hypothesis proposed that negative group stereotypes increase individual anxiety levels, hurting performance. However, the role of anxiety in stereotype threat has not been fully explored. This study examined the hypothesis that experimental manipulation of stereotype threat would influence real-time…

This article reports the performance of 15-year-old Hong Kong students in mathematical literacy in an international study called PISA 2000, in which Hong Kong has topped the list of 41 participating countries/regions, with a mean score significantly higher than all other countries except Japan and Korea. With the conceptual framework developed by…

Low job satisfaction has been cited as a possible cause of the current teaching crisis in the UK. This article reports on a study that examined job satisfaction among secondary school teachers in different types of secondary school. The results indicate a significant difference in the overall job satisfaction scores of teachers by type of school.…

Over the past several years, numerous reports have reported data documenting declining participation in physical activity among youth. We argue that the gender, race and social class differences in these data have not been an important consideration, and that understanding the implications of these differences is crucial for improving physical…

Based on the social closure perspective, this study examines the intersection of women and minorities in school leadership positions and argues that organizational culture is related to the exclusion of women and minorities from high-rank positions. This argument is tested by an estimation of the likelihood of minority women, minority men,…

Education in rural communities is an interesting site for an analysis of the relationship between place and the cultural politics of schooling. In particular the movements of people, ideas and practices to and from, and also within, rural places suggest the need for theorizing on rural education to consider the relevance of new mobility…

The authors report findings from the first national survey of gambling among college students. They collected information from 10,765 students attending 119 scientifically selected colleges included in the 2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), which indicated that 42% of responding students gambled in the last school…

The relationship between Bible reading and attitude toward drug use is examined among a sample of 25,888 teenagers, 13-15 year olds, throughout England and Wales. Information about sex, age, personality, belief in God, and church attendance was also considered. The conclusion is that Bible reading makes a small but significant contribution to…

Several years ago U.S educators realized that they were not encouraging young girls in math and science. Today girls are catching up, but another void in classrooms has appeared. Some children, especially high-energy boys, face increasingly inappropriate programs, which offer lots of seatwork and little movement. It is as if some teachers are…

This paper is based on research conducted as part of the Equal Opportunities Commission's General Formal Investigation into gender segregation in the United Kingdom labour market. The project comprised a survey of and focus groups with 14/15 year-olds in eight English schools in spring 2004 and a survey of 15/16 year-olds in four Welsh schools in…

The impact of parental child-rearing practices on child outcomes has been the subject of much research and debate for many years. Studies carried out within a variety of disciplines and across a number of different countries in the world have indicated that parents tend to use a different pattern of rearing their sons than their daughters, and…

In this study, the portrayal of tanned skin and sun protection in magazines, television programs, and movies popular with Australian adolescents were analyzed. Images of models in magazines (n = 1,791), regular/supporting characters in television programs (n = 867), and regular/supporting characters in cinema movies (n = 2,836) for the 12-month…

Since the release of former Secretary Margaret Heckler's "Secretary's Task Force Report on Black and Minority Health" more than two decades ago, excess death from chronic diseases and other conditions between African Americans and Whites have increased. The conclusion of that report emphasized excess death and thus clinical care, paying…

The most powerful position in public schools is that of school superintendent, and it is a position dominated by men. Several factors account for the decline of women in superintendency. Perhaps the most important reason there are so few women in the superintendency is that women enter the teaching profession to teach children. Based on the…