This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of the L2 acquisition of Spanish psych-verbs (e.g. "gustar" "to like") across four different proficiency levels. In particular, psych-verbs constitute a testing ground for the predictions of the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace and Filiaci, 2006; Tsimpli, Sorace, Heycok &…

Clause connectives are linguistic forms that convey relations between clauses in a sentence. They are typically compared, whether within a language or across languages, on the basis of a shared syntactic category, such as coordination and subordination, or a semantic one, such as sequence, cause, or addition. While the inadequacy of the…

This dissertation investigates second language (L2) development in the domains of morphosyntax and semantics. Specifically, it examines the acquisition of definiteness and specificity in Russian within the Feature Re-assembly framework (Lardiere, 2009), according to which the hardest L2 learning task is not to reset parameters but to reconfigure,…

In recent years the majority of California community colleges evaluated for re-accreditation received sanctions requiring documented improvement in the integration of college planning and budgeting processes. This study explores the challenges colleges face and the best practices utilized by successful colleges in implementing integrated…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between oral reading fluency (ORF) and Maze, two common Curriculum-Based Measures (CBMs), and the statewide large-scale assessment of reading in Oregon, the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills- Reading (OAKS-R). A sample of three cohorts of eighth-grade students in an Oregon school…

Since 2009, the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (JGC) at Stanford University has worked in partnership with the Redwood City School District (RCSD) to gain a deeper understanding of classroom practices that promote motivation and achievement in middle school. Each spring, all middle school students in the district complete a…

The present study aims to find out the influence of personality traits on the choice and use of Memory English Language Learning Strategies (MELLSs) for learners of English as a foreign language, and the role of personality traits in the prediction of use of such Strategies. Four instruments were used, which were Adapted Inventory for Memory…

A study incorporating components of a standards based model of teaching (Danielson, 2007) was undertaken to examine the relationship between the principal's evaluation of the teacher's effectiveness, the teacher's self-evaluation of effectiveness, and student achievement. Participants were solicited from a large school district and…

The research project reported in this chapter consists of three studies in which syntactic complexity, lexical variation and fluency appear as dependent variables. The independent variables are task complexity and proficiency level, as the three studies investigate the effect of task complexity on the written and oral performance of L2 learners of…

A crucial part of language development is learning how various social and contextual language-external factors constrain an utterance's meaning. This learning process is poorly understood. Five experiments addressed one hundred thirty-one 3- to 5-year-old children's use of one such socially relevant information source: talker characteristics.…

Sampling tasks and sampling distributions provide a fertile realm for investigating students' conceptions of variability. A project-designed teaching episode on samples and sampling distributions was team-taught in 6 research classrooms (2 middle school and 4 high school) by the investigators and regular classroom mathematics teachers. Data…

This study examined a full path model of stress process for predicting illicit drug use among Asian and Latino immigrants' adolescent children. Using 2-year longitudinal data (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health) from a sample of adolescents with Asian or Latino immigrant parents (N = 2,353), the study explored structural…

The primary aim of this study was to assess the moderating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between some components of social information processing (hostile interpretation and anger) and aggressive behavior. The secondary aim was to assess whether emotion regulation, hostile interpretation, and anger account for gender differences…

Disproportionality plagues schools nationwide in special education placement, dropout, discipline referral, suspension, and expulsion rates. This study examined predictors of teacher referrals to school counselors for disruptive behavior in a sample of students selected from the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 (National Center for Education…

The personality trait self-control has been associated with various adaptive outcomes. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to explore whether self-control is associated with self-reported leisure time physical activity (LTPA), Body Mass Index (BMI), muscle-fitness and aerobic fitness among young men. Participants (482 male conscripts;…