This dissertation is composed of projects on three aspects of gathering and learning from data in the social sciences: drawing representative samples, taking valid measurement, and making warranted inductive inferences. Chapter one studies the challenge of drawing representative human samples. It is well documented that most samples used by…

This case study explored Spanish-speaking educators' perceptions and experiences of dual-language immersion (DLI) professional learning (PL). The study aimed to understand how PL offerings could best support and meet the needs of DLI Spanish teachers' best practices in the target language. The perceptions and experiences of seven Spanish DLI…

This preliminary case study used qualitative methods to analyze the experiences of eight short-term education abroad participants prior to, during, and shortly after a two-week program in Taipei. Interpretive analysis of reflection papers, focus group interviews, mobile app assignments, and a post-program evaluation survey revealed that students…

Most students in higher education at present are 'digital natives.' They use technology in every facet of their life, including their education. They learn from formally organised courses as well as from informal learning. Hence, informal learning has been identified as crucial for the sustainability of higher education in the current global…

This design case centers around a creative assignment given to graduate students studying instructional design. The goal of the assignment is to facilitate mastery of learning theories through the theory-based evaluation of an instructional product, using both research and imagination. By applying learning theories in a practical and engaging…

The Topic Hypothesis posits that Chinese language learners progress through a developmental sequence comprising five stages (Gao, 2009; Wang, 2011), which includes the Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) structure at stage 4 and the ba-construct at stage 5. According to this hypothesis, learners typically master the OSV structure before acquiring the…

This article crafts a distinct conceptualization of time in social sciences through two temporal concepts: Chronos and Kairos. Chronos refers to sequential, linear time, which frames quantitative causality and qualitative documentation in research methodology. Kairos, however, captures time as transformative, conceptual, and emotional moments,…

Technology use, education technology, and innovations continue to grow in the 21st century. Information is abundant, and it can be challenging to process and decipher. Students are deficient in critical thinking and experience negative effects from the overuse of technology. Liberal education philosophy focuses on building critical thinking and…

This study sought to explore the power of self-generated drawing to improve reading comprehension of English language learners in a university setting. Fourteen undergraduate students, divided into control and experimental groups, read a chapter from a graded reader. The experimental group was instructed to construct self-generated drawings as…

Open access academic lectures are potential sources for incidental vocabulary learning. These lectures are available in various formats (transcripts, audios, videos, and video with captions), but no studies have compared the learning of vocabulary in these lectures through different input modes. This study adopted a pretest-posttest design to…

Since the COVID pandemic, universities propose online education to ensure learning continuity. However, the insufficient preparation led to a major drop in the learner's performance and his/her dissatisfaction with the learning experience. This may be due to several reasons, including the insensitivity of the virtual learning environment to the…

Capturing evidence for dynamic changes in self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviours resulting from interventions is challenging for researchers. In the current study, we identified students who were likely to do poorly in a biology course and those who were likely to do well. Then, we randomly assigned a portion of the students predicted to perform…

The construct of "learning potential" has been proposed to capture differences between learner independent performance and performance during Dynamic Assessment (DA). This paper introduces a new LPS formula implemented in a DA study involving Pakistani learners of L2 Chinese. Learners were randomly assigned to a control or experimental…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a Tier 2 classroom-based motivational interviewing (MI) intervention--the Aspire Group Intervention (AGI)--designed for ninth-grade students identified as being at high risk for school dropout. The nine-lesson AGI curriculum was…

The United States higher education institutions' mission is to support students' academic success and career development goals by preparing them to become globally competent citizens and workforce-ready graduates. With student workforce preparation at the core of their mission, there is concern that colleges and universities are not adequately…