Computer programmers in the U.S. labor force are facing a shortage. Focusing on recruiting females has the potential to address this shortage. Computing is a male dominated field which provides an opportunity to recruit the other 50% of the population, females, to fill the open positions. This work studies gender differences in computer…

Threshold concepts are fundamental to a discipline and, once understood, transform students' understanding and perception of the subject. Despite the value of threshold concepts as a learning "portal" for heuristic purposes, there is limited empirical evidence of threshold crossing or achieving mastery. As a threshold concept, biological…

Quantum physics is challenging for young students, but also a source of fascination. "Observation" is a key concept in order to understand how principles and experimental results in quantum physics differ from what we are used to in classical physics and everyday experiences. In this study we investigate how pre-university physics…

An instrumental case study was conducted at a large, public research university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States to understand undergraduate use of learning analytics dashboard (LAD) interventions. Eighty-one undergraduate students participated in focus groups. Scenario-based questions, modeled on current and future LAD…

Introduction: Reading comprehension is an important skill in the fast pace global society in which we now live. However, reading comprehension is a rather complex process that involves the dynamic interaction of cognitive and metacognitive skills. Method: In the present study, we investigated whether a newly-developed text inconsistency detection…

After reading, "few of the juniors were accepted," focus is on the students not accepted, the complement set. According to the Presupposition Denial Account, negative quantifiers, such as "few," convey a denial of expectation, or shortfall, which leads to complement set focus. In six experiments, we explored the role of the…

This study adopts a creative methodology to investigate how cartoons can serve as visual representations of primary school children's understanding of bullying and compares how their understanding develops over time. The study was carried out in Northern Ireland where the "Addressing Bullying in Schools (Northern Ireland) Act 2016" will…

Effective police interviews are central to the justice process for sexual assault victims, but little is known about either actual communication between police officers and witnesses or the alignment between guidance and real practice. This study investigated how police officers, in formal interviews, follow 'best evidence' guidance to obtain…

Capturing the breadth and variety of children's understanding is critical if studies of children's mathematical thinking are to inform policy and practice in early childhood education. This article presents an investigation of young children's counting. Detailed coding and analyses of assessment interviews with 476 preschoolers revealed…

This study examined how comprehension-based silent reading rate (CBSRR) is affected by grade, genre, and text position. Second and fourth graders read 2 grade-specific passages (one narrative, one informational) in 4 sections, each followed by 4 comprehension questions. Analyses of rate with a criterion level of comprehension showed higher…

In this review article, we discuss the construct of second language (L2) comprehensibility, which refers to listeners' judgments of ease or difficulty in understanding L2 speech. We first briefly describe intelligibility and comprehensibility, two measures that capture listener understanding of L2 speech. We then present evidence that supports the…

With the emergence of different varieties of English in the world, the issue of intelligibility has attracted many researchers' attention. While a large number of studies have focused on the intelligibility of different English varieties for native speakers, few of them have involved Chinese learners of English as participants; yet, they…

Background: Studies indicate that difficulties English second language (ESL) learners experience in the classroom may not be attributed to only listening comprehension of the language of learning and teaching (LoLT). ESL learners' performance-related difficulties may increase when linguistic complexity is added to auditory comprehension tasks.…

Adopted innovative methodologies in teaching reading comprehension have been a topic of interest by reading scholars among which textual awareness raising seems to be effective in the reading classroom. Following this, the present study looked into the effect of reading instruction by raising the students' awareness of different expository text…

In this project, 54 Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners (16 to 21 years) participated in 15 sessions in which they were asked to read and study books from a structured series of L2 reading materials. Half the students studied with relatively easy materials ('i - 1'), that is, materials rated as being below their competency level. The others…