Focuses on what transpired during a mentor-training course in Hungary that involved prospective mentors and student English-language teachers. In the course, role plays proved to be the stimulus for an exploration of how far the model of mentoring commonly promoted takes sufficient account of contextual factors. (Author/VWL)

Challenges common explanations of why teacher candidates ineffectively teach children of diverse backgrounds. Finds that teacher candidates differ on their positions concerning social difference; to negotiate social difference, the tensions they encounter must be understood. Suggests changing teacher socialization to include tension as integral to…

Reports findings from a longitudinal study tracking the expectations, shifts in expectations, and emergent beliefs of novice self-instructed language learners. Investigates how learners experienced and articulated their experience in a distance-learning context. Focused on learner-context interface, tolerance for ambiguity, and locus of control.…

Schwa epenthesis and schwa deletion are two types of phonological variation that occur frequently in Dutch. In this study, a series of picture-naming experiments investigated whether schwa epenthesis and schwa deletion are arbitrary processes or whether they are contextually driven and take place in speech-planning process. Findings are discussed…

Examined gender and cultural differences in over 3,000 children's ideas about what leads to academic success. Found close correspondence between children's achievement and competence-related beliefs, with the exception that young girls appeared to specifically discount their talent. The effect held regardless of children's achievement,…

The educational leadership field has not kept pace with globalizing events in policy and practice. Discusses major issues (transfer of ideas, clarification of cultural concepts, cultural assumptions in management, politico-cultural contexts, and tensions between indigenous cultures and reform tenets) raised in this special issue and expresses them…

Australian nursing students (n=48) identified instances when clinical teachers used humor. Students felt that humor humanized teachers, created a positive environment, made connections, and facilitated clinical learning. Awareness of personal and cultural values regarding humor was important. (SK)

Considers the narrative function of children's play by focusing on story, imagination, and visual expression. Argues that children's storytelling brings into account their knowledge of the world and of narrative conventions. Suggests that context shapes and constrains the stories told. Concludes that storytelling can enhance literacy and should be…

Study creates and tests a comprehensive model of adolescent problem drinking. Results indicate that high levels of parental support and a positive school climate in the 8th grade influence the formation of relationships with peers with positive values in the 10th grade that guard against problem-drinking behavior in the 10th grade. (Contains 40…

Examines the current status of effective-schools research in the developing world and identifies underlying concerns, including effects of World Bank structural-adjustment policies. Posits a contextually related view of school effectiveness--the need to eschew "objective" checklists and gather different stakeholders' perceptions about…

Argues that existing accountability standards for educational leaders are inadequate to accommodate the diverse contextual realities of working life. Raises critical questions concerning the most appropriate philosophical views of contemporary educational leadership and how to assess such leadership. Organizations as open systems are superior to…

Observations and interviews over six months at seven adult mental health day programs in Canada showed how organizational context shapes occupational therapy practice. The social organization of knowledge forms an invisible controlling apparatus that constrains the empowerment of adult clients. (96 references) (JOW)

This study tested the effect of embedded clauses on recall for 48 English-speaking high school students reading Spanish historical texts. It found that the complexity of sentence structure seemed to cancel the advantage of previous exposure to the content domain. Contains 39 references. (MDM)

Presents an account of existential "there"-sentences in which the postverbal negative phrase (NP) is required to represent a "hearer-new" entity. The article identifies five types of formally definite yet hearer-new NPs that may occur in "there"-sentences. The restriction against definite NPs in "there"-sentences results from a mismatch in…

This article examines how psychometric models based on certain assumptions have come to be used counterproductively by many practitioners in ways that limit the kinds of conclusions that can be made. The general problem of the context's influence on performance is discussed, and some implications are drawn. (SLD)