Hypertext is well-suited for educational applications where open learning and knowledge exploration is desired. In such applications, principles of good hypertext interface design should be employed to avoid navigational problems so as to maximize learning. Interface design, however, may also directly enhance acquisition of a particular knowledge…

A pretest-posttest control group design with random assignment, together with qualitative data collection and analysis, was used to investigate whether metacognitive, cognitive, and affective-awareness cues embedded in a hypermedia program could facilitate college students' near and far transfer problem solving in biology learning. It was assumed…

A study of children's acquisition of the auxiliary verb system in English is reported. The first section describes the operation of the auxiliary system, and proposes that the behavior of auxiliaries is so complicated that if children were to generalize from one auxiliary to another, they would make predictable errors. The second section reviews…

This protocol study: (1) tested the instructional use of a model of the decision processes involved in revising after feedback; (2) examined whether feedback specifying a text problem was a stronger cue to revision than feedback summarizing the point of a paragraph or predicting forthcoming text; and (3) compared the quality of texts revised after…

The early stages of second language learning in everyday communication, without formal instruction, are examined. It is proposed that in such a situation, the learner draws on: (1) second language input; (2) innate human capacity for learning languages; and (3) native language knowledge. The linguist's typical approach to investigating language…

This paper reports the results of a phenomenographic study which focused on identifying and describing the conceptions of programming and related phenomena of about 120 computer science and computer engineering students learning to program. The report begins by tracing developments in the students' conceptions of programming and its parts, and…

Concerns about using portfolios (collections of student work showing student effort, progress, or achievement in one or more areas) in large-scale assessments are addressed. The products in a portfolio allow the reviewer to make inferences about the process of student learning. Hence, a portfolio should include information about the activities…

Three theories have been proposed to explain the relationship between nonverbal behavior and cognitive learning: arousal theory, depth-of-processing theory, and muscular movement theory. The first two theories place emphasis on the role of the teacher and have been empirically tested. The third theory, muscular movement (which suggests that the…

This study evaluated a cognitive-process approach used to train three secondary-aged students with moderate mental retardation on a social skill involving response to criticism. The cognitive-process approach teaches a generative process of social behavior rather than specific component behaviors; relies on receptive and expressive language…

Instructional Feature Analysis allows teachers to explain, articulate, and evaluate the processes by which students learn and the activities that involve students in those processes. To develop an Instructional Feature Analysis, teachers must first ask what processes their students need to engage in if they are to learn from a reading assignment.…

A five-step method of conflict analysis can help students generate accurate and complex theme statements about literature without teacher intervention. The conflict analysis involves (1) identifying the characters who are in conflict as a series of pairs and determining if the protagonist has an inner conflict; (2) determining the major conflict,…

Learning strategies can be defined as behaviors and thoughts in which a learner engages and which are intended to influence the learner's encoding process. Thus, the goal of any particular learning strategy may be to affect the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge. Good teaching includes teaching…

As early as 1964, cognitive preference was introduced as a way of describing an individual's preference for applying, relating or questioning information. To determine the role of cognitive preference in the pattern of variables predicting teachers' ratings of students' performance, 44 high school students completed a 61-item cognitive preference…

Since there is general agreement that all teachers do not produce the same amount of learning even when provided with similar or identical classes and teaching conditions, this study attempted to determine the relationships between specific teacher behaviors and pupil-on-task-performance. (Author/RK)

This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using the mother tongue in foreign language instruction, specifically in the explanation phase, in exercises and drills, in testing, and in the presentation of new grammar. (CLK)