This paper reports a study in which Iranian EFL female students' think aloud protocols were analyzed to find out what knowledge sources informed them as they tried to make lexical inference when reading an English text. The study also intended to find out if students' level of their L2 proficiency would affect the pattern of their use of the…

In a time of ever-rising college costs, financial aid is critical to increase college access and success. Federal, state, and institutional aid programs help to ensure that students can afford higher education regardless of economic background. Financial aid is most effective when students and families learn about it early enough to make the right…

This discussion focuses on a research project designed to identify critical leadership behaviors and characteristics of very successful elementary school principals. The project which ultimately became a book published jointly by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and Corwin Press used research methodology inspired by…

Aversive performance incidents play a role in the development of some anxiety disorders. The role of sensitizing experiences in the development of music performance anxiety (MPA) in adolescent music students has not yet been explored. Two-hundred-and-ninety-eight music students were asked to provide written descriptions of their worst performance,…

The current study provides new information on the etiology of adolescent problem behaviors in African American youth by testing the importance of known predictors, namely parenting measures (monitoring, support, and communication), peers, and neighborhood characteristics across rural and non-rural developmental contexts. More specifically, the…

An assessment from a holistic perspective considers the overall well-being of the adolescent and seeks to understand the adolescent's development and resiliency in relation to social relationships and their context and risks, given the association between these factors and the goal to promote each area. It is recommended that measures in the…

In this paper we discuss how the Brigham Young University Technology Assisted Language Learning Group (BYU TALL Group) develops video-based dramatic narratives to increase the amount of context we provide to English as a second language (ESL) learners. First, we discuss the problem of decontextualization in education, the contextualism…

In environmentalist discourse, there is often an assumption that certain non-industrial peoples, usually called "traditional" or "indigenous" live in more "harmonious" relations with nature. The general argument is that instead of treating these communities as "backward" or "uncivilized," the…

This article addresses teachers' understanding of spiritual development in public and religious schools in Boston and Chicago. It examines how teachers define spiritual development in different educational contexts and looks at the way they relate spirituality to a number of factors including community, identity, and character. The data from the…

This study develops an explanatory framework for fear of neighborhood crime based on respondents' social context and local rates of assault injuries. Rates of assault injuries within zip codes are based on hospital discharge records. We find that only four variables have a significant unique contribution to fear of crime: respondent's sex,…

Efforts to develop interventions to improve homework performance have been impeded by limitations in the measurement of homework performance. This study was conducted to develop rating scales for assessing homework performance among students in elementary and middle school. Items on the scales were intended to assess student strengths as well as…

The contribution of teaching assistants, learning support assistants or classroom assistants is becoming increasingly important in inclusive and specialist classrooms. In this article, Marjatta Takala, professor in special education at the University of Helsinki, describes her research into the work of 14 classroom assistants working in a mix of…

The majority of social scientists continue to dismiss literary narratives as data that might lead to complex understandings of human phenomena. Introducing a method I call "novel inquiry", I argue that literary narratives merit inclusion as a source of data for educational inquiry. Utilizing literary narratives as a data source expands and…

This paper reports the findings of a study that sought to identify particular centrally held beliefs of secondary mathematics teachers that underpinned the establishment of classroom environments that were consistent with the principles of constructivism. The nine crucial beliefs identified were held by one or other of two teachers and emerged…

This qualitative case study presents three novices in urban schools who enacted curricular projects as participants in a university-based professional development program. This experience created an opportunity for practical risk taking, enabling them to consider the consequences of curricular choices in personal terms. Such professional…