Foreign language instruction and related research on second language acquisition in the United States can be understood only in the context of the role of English, of American education, and of speech and language research. Any part of an educational system is both a result of historical processes and a response to current needs and values. The…

A kindergarten teacher implemented and evaluated a practicum intervention designed to develop positive attitudes among 122 parents concerning their children's learning through play in developmental kindergarten and pre-first grade programs. Teachers reported that parents did not appreciate the benefits of learning through play, and preferred…

Three variables (verbal aptitude, listening ability, and notetaking) that may mediate how much college students learn from a lecture were studied. Verbal aptitude was operationalized as a Verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (VSAT) score. Listening ability was measured as the score on an auditory short-term memory task, using the serial running memory…

Computers provide particularly powerful environments in which to examine individual differences in cognitive processing and learning outcomes. The computer's capacity to collect and record response protocols facilitates detailed process analysis. Such analyses contribute to increased understanding of how individuals differ in their ability to…

Eighty-two undergraduate and graduate students at a major southwestern university participated in a study integrating reading research utilizing tachistoscopes with current knowledge based on analysis of reading connected texts. A tachistoscope was used to examine the nature of visual perception in relation to the ability of the subjects to apply…

The pamphlet reviews cognitive and developmental psychology research in which skilled and less skilled performance patterns and mechanisms have been compared. Knowledge has been described, in theory, in terms of an associative network in which concepts are represented as the nodes of the net, and relations between concepts serve as associative…

This booklet is intended to assist managers at all levels and in all types of firms in coaching employees of two types: those with managerial responsibilities or those being developed as managers. The principles and approaches described, however, are applicable to all levels of employees. Discussed in the individual sections of the guide are the…

This summary of Council for Educational Technology (CET) activities begins by describing supported self-study, which is offered to secondary school pupils so that they will become more actively involved in the learning processes; find their work more adaptable to their individual needs; and learn how to become more responsible for their own…

The 30 or more major educational reform reports that have appeared since "A Nation at Risk" are in solid agreement that public education falls short of excellence. While suggestions for reform in elementary/secondary education have focused on teaching, in colleges and universities the emphasis has been more on curriculum than instruction. However,…

The purpose of this paper is to review the relevant evidence concerning the relationship between knowledge and its effect on learning, with an end to answering the questions: (1) How important is knowledge to learning? and (2) How does the relative importance of knowledge change with development? The paper is divided into three main sections:…

A study examined developmental differences in students' recognition of the types of explanations that help most in mathematics peer-group interactions. Scripted interactions of eight male and eight female dyads working on math problems were videotaped. In each interaction one actor in the dyad would request non-specific assistance and the other…

A study of the language used in the dialogue journals of beginning students of English as a second language (ESL) focused on the acquisition of English morphology. The study used two methodological approaches: a comparison of journal language with that used in speech and other written samples, and a longitudinal look at change patterns that also…

In order to accurately assess the learning of vocabulary words, a criterion of learning achievement must be set for each word or group of words. This criterion would reflect: (1) the amount of semantic, grammatical, and phonological information the learner had to possess in order to have learned the word; (2) the receptive and productive processes…

Focusing on the application of new technologies to the creation of rich environments for writing, this project entailed the assembling of a low-cost microcomputer system that included a microcomputer, speech synthesis, voice recognition, and videodisk player. A variety of alternative input devices were explored, and software that permitted the…

Based on the idea that inference abilities are essential to comprehension, this essay discusses systematic oral questioning strategies designed to help both junior and senior high school teachers develop students' reading comprehension abilities. Questioning strategies are examined in terms of their purpose, efficiency, motivation, and required…