This study examines mother-child reminiscing conversations with respect to variation in use and function of mothers' elaborations, the nature of children's memory elaborations, and the connections between the two, in three Western middle-class cultures where autonomy is valued over relatedness. Mothers participated with their 4-year-old children…

Abstract: Nutrition and food students at Sheffield Hallam University completed an "active learning" assessment as part of a final year module, Applied Nutrition 2. The purpose of the "active learning" assessment was to encourage and enhance learner autonomy. The assessment consisted of 5 main stages: a briefing, thought shower,…

Motivation has received increasing attention across counseling approaches, presumably because clients' motivation is key for treatment effectiveness. The authors define motivation using a self-determination theory taxonomy that conceptualizes motivation along a relative-autonomy continuum. The authors apply the taxonomy in discussing how various…

Psychological need theories offer much explanatory potential for behavioral scientists, but there is considerable disagreement and confusion about what needs are and how they work. A 2-process model of psychological needs is outlined, viewing needs as evolved functional systems that provide both (a) innate psychosocial motives that tend to impel…

This article analyses the discursive unities which make possible the current transformation of teacher training and our understanding of teaching as a profession, while focusing particularly on European educational policy and the situation in Slovakia. Using Foucault's archaeological method, we reconstruct the discursive link points between the…

Children's artwork displays are a distinct and key feature of early childhood classrooms. The artwork produced by young children in the classroom is often linked to the educational program. After the completion of the art projects, early childhood educators face the challenge of displaying the children's artwork. With minimal research available on…

This is the second of four essays discussing Wu's "Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation: Chinese pedagogic discourse in a cross-cultural perspective" (JCS, 43(5), 569-590). The essay is interesting against the background of recent debates, both inside and outside China, about the relationship between the Chinese and Western…

Using new data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), the authors consider how educational and parental status influence the relationship between wives' relative earnings and the time they devote to housework in a climate of heightened gender egalitarianism and growing similarity between women's and men's time use. The authors capitalize on the…

This study examines the effects of two learning environments (i.e., problem-based learning [PBL] versus lecture-based [LB] environments) on undergraduates' study motivation. Survey results demonstrated that PBL students scored higher on competence but did not differ from LB students on autonomous motivation. Analyses of focus groups further…

A Gap Year is a break in an educational career, principally taken between leaving school and beginning university. Previous research on the Gap Year has suggested it is a form of social class positioning or forum for undertaking transitions in identity during young adulthood. This paper extends this research into the context of higher education…

This paper offers a critique of the "democratic state of education" proposed by Amy Gutmann in her influential book "Democratic Education". In the democratic state of education, educational authority is shared among the state, parents and educational professionals; and educational objectives are geared toward equipping future citizens to…

Education is the totality of the process within which the students experiences are structured in order to promote desired learning. Education is a plan and procedure for the development of an individual. Education helps to attain the goal of life of an individual. Student period is one of the important periods in life to plan their future. To…

The purpose of this study was to establish whether and how authentic assessment activities and learner autonomy converged to productively engage both the teacher and learners in shared authenticity. The study employed case study methodology to investigate the phenomena within an online course in ICT designed for continuing professionals in…

As the school-aged English language learner (ELL) population continues to grow in the United States and other English-speaking countries, psychometrically sound instruments to measure their language learning strategies (LLS) become ever more critical. This study adapted and validated an adult-oriented measure of LLS (50-item "Strategy…

This paper reports a study that is done in an English Language Teaching (ELT) pre-service teacher undergraduate course at a university in Turkey. Seventy six EFL pre-service teachers were asked to create Thematic Blogs in groups by using WordPress. Each group was assigned a specific topic of the course and took the role of an "expert" in…