Study examined the effect of mode of discourse (narration and argument) on the syntactic complexity of compositions written by sixth, tenth, and twelfth graders. At each level, syntactic complexity was greater in argument. Findings suggested that while syntactic complexity increases with age, increases tend to level off earlier in narrative…

Three causal attributions--ability, effort, and test difficulty--were examined for 223 University of Manitoba (Canada) students in relation to perceived performance and the quality of instruction. When instruction was good, causal attributions produced less variability in achievement and control. Implications for teaching are discussed. (SLD)

A study investigated the relationship between undergraduate admissions selectivity at 40 research universities and academic rigor of course examination questions, as determined by the level of understanding required. Results suggest that more selective institutions do not provide more academically rigorous instruction than less selective ones.…

Fifty-five males with learning disabilities and 55 average-achieving males in grades 6-7 studied paired associates of varying difficulty levels, through image construction or pairing rehearsal. Regardless of item type or presentation rate, both groups of students benefited from imagery instructions, with great similarity in between-condition…

It is recommended that listening comprehension have a larger role in second-language instruction, particularly at intermediate/advanced levels. Sample materials focusing on the speech act of disagreement are proposed for university students of Italian. The materials expose students to a variety of registers and strategies and integrate language…

Studied the effect of grading classroom communicative activities on student performance at two different levels. Results indicated no significant difference in scores between the experimental and control groups at either level. (10 references) (VWL)

This study, involving 24 young and elderly normal-hearing adults, addressed the effects of aging on auditory serial-recall performance for natural and synthetic words. Serial recall of monosyllabic words was not affected by age per se or by rate of presentation, but word difficulty affected recall for both groups. (Author/JDD)

Found that (1) children perceived that school failure attributed to lack of competence, task difficulty, and a bad explanation by the teacher is controllable; and (2) children with problems in learning and concentration perceived failure attributed to lack of effort as noncontrollable more often than did children without such problems. (BB)

Two studies of three youths (ages 12-14) with severe mental retardation, who used aggression and self-injury to avoid difficult instructional situations, found that simple commands interspersed among more challenging instructional trials were effective at increasing the learners' responsiveness to instructions and decreasing levels of problem…

Discusses how the Science Activity Filter can facilitate elementary school teachers' choices of appropriate science activities for their classrooms. The filter is a process for choosing activities that considers seven factors: (1) meaningful learning; (2) the amount of time required; (3) cost of materials; (4) safety; (5) level of difficulty; (6)…

Evaluated third graders' preferences for reading and writing tasks. Found that students frequently exposed to high-challenge tasks preferred them because they felt creative, experienced positive emotions, and worked hard. Those with less exposure to high-challenge questioned whether they had the appropriate metacognitive ability to complete them.…

The 11 chapters of this theme issue explore important issues that relate cognitive style to educational concerns. They link cognitive style with reading comprehension, parental teaching, family qualities, teaching, distance learning, strategic learning, socialization, and athletic performance. (SLD)

Six fifth-grade students with learning and/or behavioral/emotional disabilities received peer tutoring on multiplication and division facts using 3 drill and practice conditions varying in the ratio of unknown to known facts (30:70, 50:50, and 70:30). Five of the students mastered facts at a faster rate in the 70% unknown/30% known condition. (DB)

This paper describes a framework for researching the Cognition Hypothesis which claims that pedagogic tasks be sequenced for learners on the basis of increases in their cognitive complexity. It distinguishes dimensions of complexity which increase the conceptual and linguistic demands tasks make on communication, so creating the conditions for L2…

The analytically derived asymptotic standard errors (SEs) of maximum likelihood (ML) item estimates can be approximated by a mathematical function without examinees' responses to test items, and the empirically determined SEs of marginal maximum likelihood estimation (MMLE)/Bayesian item estimates can be obtained when the same set of items is…