This study investigated the relationship between task-induced involvement load and ESL learners' inferencing and learning word meanings from context. Thirty-two ESL learners were randomly assigned to one of three groups, with each group receiving a different version of a text that was assumed to differ from one another in terms of the degree of…

What kinds of things do we research when we use arts-based research? And when we apply arts-based research to educational contexts, what kinds of contributions to the scholarship of learning and teaching can we make? Taking as its basis three case studies in which art processes were used to investigate culture and identity, this essay examines the…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate instruction in individually mentored piano classes in nursery and kindergarten teacher training programmes. Questionnaires were developed and administered to piano class students; using the resulting data, relationships among the variables that affect student's satisfaction with piano classes and their…

The aim of this article is to explore the perceptions and attitudes of Turkish university students about to embark on a European exchange trip. This qualitative study sheds light on their hopes and fears about travelling to and living for a period of three months in a western country. The article shows how participants shared common aspirations…

American degrees have become increasingly fashionable among members of China's rapidly growing middle class who are eager for their children to study American business practices, become well-rounded by getting a higher education degree steeped in the liberal arts and master the English language. In a five-year period beginning in 2005-06, the…

This paper presents empirical evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2003 survey on the role of students' attitudes towards competition and cooperation in mathematical literacy achievement. While individual competitive attitudes are positively correlated with test scores, the reverse occurs when considering the…

The goals of this study are twofold. First, it aims to understand immigrant graduate students' experiences in higher education and how these influence cultural transitioning and social integration to Quebec society. Second, the study examines the career counselling and mentoring needs of immigrant graduate students while attending university.…

The European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) supports students to pursue temporary periods of study in other European universities. During the academic year 2007/08 the UK received 15, 975 ERASMUS students. Although much research exists about the experiences of international students less attention has…

The last decade has seen significant changes in all aspects of internationalization but most dramatically in the area of education and research moving across national borders. The most recent developments are education hubs. The term "education hub" is being used by countries who are trying to build a critical mass of local and foreign…

Despite the significant implications of the foreign doctorates' stay or return decision on a personal level, as well as for the home and host countries, there is very little research that provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors that predict international doctorates' decision to stay in the US and how those factors differ by country…

The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of changing patterns since the mid-1990s in the Korean government's policies for internationalizing its higher education system. The study examines the driving forces behind the government's internationalization policies for Korean higher education, how the internationalization process affected…

This study examined how English learners in second-language (SL) and foreign-language (FL) contexts employ tense backshifting in indirect reported speech. Participants included 35 international students in the United States, 37 Bulgarian speakers of English, 38 Bosnian speakers of English, and 41 native English speakers. The instrument involved…

While extensive discussion has been devoted to internationalising the curriculum in a response to the presence of international students, little is known about how academic staff members perceive the presence of this student cohort. Using data collected through semi-structured interviews with 80 academic staff from four different faculties in one…

Critical thinking (CT) skills are generally considered to be vital to success at university, but Asian students are sometimes perceived as lacking these skills. This research explores the effect that thinking in a second language has on CT performance. To assess this, two groups of students were tested on a split-test version of the "Watson…

This study investigated factors that influenced the academic self-efficacy of Caribbean overseas students attending universities in the United States, and the themes that emerged from their perceptions of variables impacting their academic self-efficacy. Seven major themes (educational background, faith in God, finances, age and maturity,…