Given the important role of the affective variables in the process of learning, this paper examines ways of overcoming negative effects (i.e. anxiety, boredom) of the contextual factors. Exemplifying the uses of humor through context-specific, purpose-driven jokes, it maintains that humor can be utilized to produce a resourceful, encouraging and…

Language planning for international scientific communication needs to be understood in the context of some general language policy for the larger field of science and higher education. The academic field is a sociological and sociolinguistic field of production and circulation of science. This field contains monolingual and bi- or multilingual…

In this paper, we demonstrate the dialectical relationship between micro and macro language planning: macro planning influences micro planning and yet macro planning results (or should result) from micro planning. The relation between the two planning perspectives is illustrated within the framework of Language Management Theory (Jernudd &…

Since 2005, there have seen rapid advances in podcasting, a new technology for broadcasting audio programs on the Internet. Podcasting was originally for conveying information and entertainment. But soon educators saw the huge potential it has for teaching and learning. Many writers have pointed out the huge benefits that podcasting can offer…

The rapid growth of online learning has led to the development of faculty inservice evaluation models focused on quality improvement of degree programs. Based on current "best practices" of student online assessment, the Online Faculty Development and Assessment System (OFDAS), created at the Canary Islands, was designed to serve the…

As online learning continues to be utilised in diverse ways from courses being delivered fully online through to class websites used to supplement face-to-face classes, and as the technologies continue to develop, research into the effectiveness of this mode of online delivery needs to be an ongoing process. These research findings need to be fed…

The benefits of play in the learning and development of young children has long been recognized by researchers and early childhood educators. As new teachers face the challenges of increasingly diverse classrooms, in an increasingly demanding political climate, the potential of play has implications for teacher educators who prepare those new…

This article presents a case study of young bilingual students' discussions of literature in a second-grade Spanish/English bilingual classroom in the US. Sociocultural, critical, and Chicana feminist perspectives informed an analysis of the ways the children worked at understanding, marking, and resisting gender boundaries. This critical…

The article is a report on a development project arising from collaboration between the Department of Education in the University of Oulu, the university training school in Oulu, and some secondary schools in Northern Finland. The key aims of the project have been to promote the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teacher…

This article describes the methodology and program effects of the Secondary Schools Demonstration Project (SSDP) conducted in four Ontario schools. The objective of the study was to evaluate the extent to which a universal program model of three interventions--cooperative learning; classroom management; and peer-helping approaches that included…

According to the Committee on the Foundations of Educational Assessment, traditional educational assessment does a reasonable job of measuring knowledge of basic facts, procedures and proficiency of an area of the curriculum. However, the traditional approach fails to capture the breadth and richness of knowledge and cognition. Such a concern…

In order to probe the relationship between reading strategies and comprehension monitoring strategies and how they function to help readers in comprehension process, the present study utilizes think-aloud and retrospective verbal reports to examine 20 EFL readers' performances in reading texts. The results reveal that the engagement of reading…

This article examines the evolution of language-in-education policy in Hong Kong during the first six decades of British rule (1842-1902). In particular, it analyses the changing roles and status of the English and Chinese languages during this formative period in the development of the colony's education system. The textual and statistical data…

This study mapped and audited the types, nature and diffusion of ICTs in LIS education in sub-Saharan Africa. Questionnaires were sent to 51 LIS schools in 19 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, of which 29 (57%) were returned. Most LIS schools have a significant ICT content in their programs, and most ICT modules are highly rated as core/required…

Official accounts of learning in vocational education and training emphasise the acquisition of technical skills and knowledge to foster behavioural competence in the workplace. However, such accounts fail to acknowledge the relationship between learning and identity. Drawing on detailed case studies of three vocational courses--in childcare,…