This commentary critiques Ambridge's radical exemplar model of language acquisition using research from the Longitudinal Study of Early Language, which has tracked the language development of 30+ children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) since 2002. This research has demonstrated that the children's capacity for abstraction at the grammatical…

Ambridge reviews and augments an impressive body of research demonstrating both the advantages and the necessity of an exemplar-based model of knowledge of one's language. He cites three computational models that have been applied successfully to issues of phonology and morphology. Focusing on Ambridge's discussion of sentence-level constructions,…

This study analyzed the impact of different analogical learning approaches (analogies or metaphors) integrated with different presentation modalities (pictures or texts) on middle school students' learning performance of electricity with supporting evidence from their eye movement behaviors. Eighty ninth-grade middle school students were randomly…

This study examines high school students' perceptions of school closed-circuit television systems (CCTVs). It draws on interviews conducted with 83 adolescents recruited from 10th- to 12th-grade classes at 39 Israeli schools. The findings indicate that students' perceptions of CCTVs are embedded in their overall opinions about their school,…

Typically developing, American adolescents in Grade 10 (n = 38) ranked the relative importance of 14 communication skills in their friends' communication with them. The skills were considered those associated with figurative language (e.g., appropriate slang use), empathy (e.g., vocal tone comprehension), or discourse management (e.g., appropriate…

The current research examined how students participating in professional training in education and teaching characterized the concept of the "teacher leader". Layered analysis was employed using quantitative data alongside a qualitative examination of metaphorical representations indicating deeper unconscious perceptions. The…

The aim of this research is to demonstrate the perception of the direction concept of the prospective teachers in the departments of classroom education and social sciences education through metaphors. For this purpose, the research was conducted in 2018-2019 academic year with a total of 174 teacher candidates studying in social sciences teaching…

This study explores the perceptions of Chinese engineering-major students towards their English learning experience after taking a mandatory English composition course in an EMI college. The investigation centers on first-year students' perceptions of transitioning to EMI, with a focus on how the composition course has assisted students'…

Language is one of the hallmarks of intelligence, demanding explanation in a theory of human cognition. However, language presents unique practical challenges for quantitative empirical research, making many linguistic theories difficult to test at naturalistic scales. Artificial neural network language models (LMs) provide a new tool for studying…

Adopting Schiralli and Sinclair's notions of conceptual mathematics (CM) and ideational mathematics (IM), we investigated mathematicians' reasoning about continuity of complex-valued functions. While CM centers on formal mathematics as a discipline, IM focuses on how an individual perceives formal mathematics. There were four IM notions that the…

By combining linguistic analysis with metaphors for mediating between a body of knowledge and teaching practice, we exemplify curriculum developers' voices in teacher guides. We discuss two types of voices, that of the Expert, who talks through the teacher and restricts the pedagogical agency of the teacher, and that of the Philosopher, who speaks…

This paper draws on Lewis Carroll's character of Alice as a metaphor for interrogating identity construction and agency amongst early career academics, a process which can seem like Alice's pursuit of the White Rabbit in a strange land. Keeping in mind the effects of neoliberalism on the tertiary sector, we recognise the centrality of personal…

This paper explores the idea, and some elements of the (potential) practice, of utopian pedagogy. It begins by outlining the general aims of "utopian pedagogy" and notes the shift within contemporary writings away from the metaphor of the architect (armed with a utopian "blueprint") towards that of the archaeologist. The…

The survival and development of migrant students in urban areas were always the focus of all sectors of society. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects are most likely to cause learning difficulties for migrant students, and the beliefs of STEM teachers about migrant students and their role closely affect classroom…

Gifted students differ from their peers in many areas, and require additional effort and skills from their teachers in regular schools. Teachers in regular education play a critical role in the identification of gifted students and education. Therefore, considering their attitudes toward these students and gifted education in general will provide…