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Explicit instruction is a teaching model that demonstrates to students what to do and how to do it. One purpose of ideology is to focus the who, what, when, where, and why of a disciplinary field. Trained home economists make a sustained commitment to the core ideology of home economics. Mechanisms for identifying locally relevant challenges faced by individuals, families, and communities are embedded in the home economics knowledge base. To identify challenges and locate solutions (who, what, when, where, and how), home economics education programmes must actively teach or provide explicit instruction about the ideology that underpins the home economics disciplinary field. Neglecting ideology results in teaching unrelated subjects or compartmentalised content that may dilute connection to the core aims of the home economics��� ���big picture���. This paper outlines how explicit instruction and embedded home economics ideology have positively impacted perceptions of the discipline amongst professionals who are new to the field. In teaching and learning environments, making home economics ideology visible and reinforced continuously across all content specialisation areas, the author observed that students acquired the words and concepts to explain the importance of home economics to others. Professionals who are new to the field became more confident and passionate advocates for home economics, because they had learnt and appreciated, through explicit instruction techniques, the what, the how to, and the why of home economics. Equipped with the discipline���s core ideology, professionals who make visible the home economics ���big picture��� (i.e., the why) to others are better equipped to enact real-world applications of home economics that can adapt continuously to meet ever-changing and complex societal needs. (DIPF/Orig.)

The objective of this study is to examine the influence of instructions (focused on creativity vs. personal relevance) and problem scope (narrow vs. broad problem) on problem construction performance. We look at how the problem construction performance subsequently influences performance during solution generation and selection.

There is profound and long-standing debate over the role of explicit instruction in reading acquisition. In this research, we investigated the impact of teaching regularities in the writing system explicitly rather than relying on learners to discover these regularities through text experience alone. Over 10 days, 48 adults learned to read novel words printed in two artificial writing systems. One group learned spelling-to-sound and spelling-to-meaning regularities solely through experience with the novel words, whereas the other group received a brief session of explicit instruction on these regularities before training commenced. Results showed that virtually all participants who received instruction performed at ceiling on tests that probed generalization of underlying regularities. In contrast, despite up to 18 hr of training on the novel words, less than 25% of discovery learners performed on par with those who received instruction. These findings illustrate the dramatic impact of teaching method on outcomes during reading acquisition.

No presente trabalho, caracterizamos as práticas pedagógicas de treinamento perceptual e instrução explícita de pronúncia, discutindo os seus diferentes objetivos e seu papel ao longo dos anos. Argumentamos que os referidos estudos, por apresentarem caráter interdisciplinar, contribuem para diferentes áreas basilares da linguística, como a Fonética, a Fonologia, a Psicolinguística e a Linguística Aplicada ao Ensino de Línguas Estrangeiras. Para exemplificar tais contribuições, apresentamos alguns dos recentes trabalhos sobre treinamento perceptual e instrução explícita que temos desenvolvido junto ao Laboratório de Bilinguismo e Cognição (LABICO –UFRGS). Tais trabalhos serão organizados em dois grupos, de acordo com seus objetivos: (i) estudos com foco no grau de acuidade/grau de acento em L2 e (ii) estudos com foco nos graus de inteligibilidade e compreensibilidade em L2. A partir de tal exposição, elencamos asprincipais implicações teóricas advindas de tais estudos, bem como discutimos os principais desafios a serem enfrentados em futuros projetos de pesquisa. In this article, we characterize the pedagogical practices of ‘perceptual training’ and ‘explicit pronunciation instruction’, as well as discuss their different goals over the years. We argue that these studies, which have an interdisciplinary character, contribute to different basic areas of Linguistics, such as Phonetics, Phonology, Psycholinguistics and Applied Linguistics to Foreign Language Teaching. As we discuss their contributions, we present some recent studies on perceptual training and explicit instruction, which we have carried out at Laboratório de Bilinguismo e Cognição(LABICO -UFRGS). These studies will be organized in two groups, according to their main goals: (i) studies focusing on accuracy/degree of L2 accent and (ii) studies focusing onL2 intelligibility and comprehensibility. We list the main theoretical implications arising from these studies, as well as discuss the main challenges to be faced in future research projects.

Partindo-se de uma concepção de ensino de pronúncia com foco na inteligibilidade da fala (LEVIS, 2005, 2018), verificamos os efeitos da instrução explícita na identificação, por ouvintes brasileiros, das vogais médias anteriores do PB produzidas por um aprendiz argentino. O instrumento de percepção contou com dados obtidos de um pré-teste, um pós-teste imediato e um de retenção (18 semanas após a instrução). Os resultados evidenciam uma melhora significativa nos índices de identificação da categoria /ɛ/ no pós-teste imediato. A análise acústica dos estímulos, associada à verificação dos dados de identificação, mostra que os ouvintes brasileiros tomam F1 como pista prioritária para a distinção entre as categorias fonológicas de /e/ e /ɛ/ nas produções em L2 do aprendiz. Departing from a conception of pronunciation teaching based on the Intelligibility Principle (LEVIS, 2005, 2018), in this paper we verify the effects of explicit instruction on the identification, by Brazilian listeners, of the front mid vowels produced by an Argentinian learner of Brazilian Portuguese. The perceptual experiment included data obtained from a pre-test, an immediate post-test and a retention test (18 weeks after instruction). The results show a significant improvement in the identification rates of /ɛ/ in the immediate post-test. The acoustic analysis of stimuli and the verification of the identification data show that Brazilian listeners take F1 as a main cue in the distinction between the phonological categories of /e/ and /ɛ/ in the learner’s L2 productions.

espanolAunque la eficacia del feedback sobre la competencia escrita de los estudiantes de una lengua extranjera ha sido ampliamente analizada y ha suscitado una gran controversia entre defensores y detractores, todavia es posible investigar en mayor profundidad como puede integrarse en el proceso de aprendizaje para mejorar la produccion escrita del alumnado. Este articulo demuestra las ventajas de combinar el feedback con la instruccion explicita de las convenciones retoricas para mejorar la competencia escrita del alumnado en el contexto de la educacion superior. En un estudio longitudinal de la produccion escrita de cuatro grupos de estudiantes se investigaron tres variables: el efecto del feedback, el efecto de la instruccion explicita y la combinacion de ambos, junto con un grupo de control que no recibio tratamiento. Los alumnos fueron asignados a cada grupo en base a la asistencia y a las tareas realizadas y se compararon los resultados de los analisis de la produccion escrita de cada grupo, los cuales confirman que el grupo que recibio un tratamiento combinado obtuvo mejores notas y demostro un mayor dominio de las microdestrezas. Ademas, se demostro que ni el feedback ni la instruccion explicita por separado son tan eficaces para mejorar la competencia escrita como la combinacion de ambos. EnglishThe efficacy of feedback on EFL students’ writing proficiency has been researched extensively and has also sparked off considerable controversy among detractors and supporters alike. However, there is still room for further investigation on how feedback can better contribute to students’ writing performance and how it can be fully integrated into the learning process. This article empirically demonstrates the learning advantages of combining both feedback and explicit rhetorical instruction for improving EFL students’ writing skills in the context of higher education. In a longitudinal study of the rhetorical competence of students’ written production carried out over a semester, three treatment variables were investigated: the effect of feedback, the effect of explicit instruction and the combination of both, along with a control condition of no treatment at all. Students were allocated to a treatment group on the basis of their attendance and work profile and the results of the analysis of the written production of each group were compared. The findings confirm not only that the group that received the combined treatment achieved higher grades and displayed a better control of relevant microskills in their written production, but also that neither feedback nor explicit instruction alone proved as effective in terms of rhetorical competence as the combination of the two variables.

This mixed methods research study investigated if explicit instruction could affect EFL teachers’ perceptions and practices of classroom justice considering its three-dimensional conceptualization based on the social psychology theories of justice, encompassing the distributive, interactional, and procedural justice. To this end, 77 Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, chosen through maximum variation sampling, attended a four-session online justice-training course. The data were collected both before and after the course intervention through close- and open-ended questionnaires. Quantitative data analysis results, obtained through running paired samples t-tests and Wilcoxon signed ranks tests, indicated that except for the distributive component, the treatment was effective in significantly enhancing the Iranian EFL teachers’ procedural, interactional, and total classroom justice perceptions. Content analysis of the posttest qualitative data, done through MAXQDA, revealed that the participants approved the course usefulness, its significance, and uses of justice enactment strategies in their classroom. Furthermore, they confirmed positive changes in their conceptions and practices of justice because of attending the course and showed enthusiasm in attending more such courses in the future. The convergence of the quantitative and qualitative results in this study demonstrated the effectiveness of the justice-oriented training course for enhancing EFL teachers’ just classroom behaviors. Hence, the results would be fruitful for teacher educators aiming to promote the pre- and in-service EFL teachers’ professional effectiveness through explicit instruction on classroom justice and its use in teacher education programs.

An efficient approach to fostering students’ scientific inquiry (SI) competencies (e.g., planning investigations) is to combine student engagement in inquiry activities with explicit instruction that addresses corresponding concepts (e.g., the control-of-variables strategy). Despite its effectiveness, explicit instruction on SI-related concepts seems to be rarely employed in science classrooms. As a vital component of professional competence, teachers’ beliefs are a potential cause for the rare use of explicit instruction. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between teachers’ beliefs about the usefulness of explicit instruction as well as their own abilities and teacher performance. In a mixed method approach, the beliefs of N = 16 teachers were captured with a questionnaire, while their teaching practice was approximated through a combination of a lesson planning task and a semi-structured interview. Analyses of response patterns, a qualitative content analysis of the planned lessons, and correlation analyses were used to investigate the relationship between beliefs and performance. The findings suggest that beliefs about the usefulness of explicit instruction for fostering SI competencies may be a necessary but not a sufficient condition for its implementation. Furthermore, the results suggest the importance of assessing and investigating teachers’ beliefs on a goal-specific level.

Mathematics education for students with and at-risk for a disability is important and high-quality, research-supported practices should be used for online teaching—whether intentional or as a result of a global pandemic. This single-case design multiple probe replicated across participants study explored the online delivery of an intervention package consisting of the virtual-abstract instructional sequence—taught via modified explicit instruction—and the system of least prompts to three upper elementary students with a disability or at-risk in solving equivalent fractions. Researchers determined a functional relation existed between the intervention package and student accuracy. Researchers also found students were independent and able to maintain accuracy when instruction did not proceed either following the intervention or with the support of boost sessions. Implications for providing mathematical interventions to students with disabilities or at-risk online exist. Further, the study lends support to virtual manipulative-based instructional sequences, as the setting, population, and implementation of explicit instruction differed in this study as compared to previous research.

The present study explored knowledge and beliefs about reading instruction of Chinese teachers teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile and the Survey of Basic Language Constructs Related to Literacy Acquisition were administered to 262 EFL teachers in the south-eastern part of China. Additionally, three teachers were interviewed, and their instructional practices were observed. The results showed that there was no correlation between teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and the performance on the knowledge of basic language construct survey. However, it was found that teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and instructional practices were mediated by the Chinese EFL contextual factors. Educational and practical implications are discussed.

The development of oral communication competence is acknowledged as generally overlooked or misunderstood in the literature. The aim of this article is to discuss results from an investigation into the use of explicit instruction as a pedagogical approach to mitigate pronunciation interference among third-year university students learning Spanish as a second-language. Two groups were formed: an experimental group, which received explicit phonetic instruction, and a second group, which served as the control group. Three raters independently evaluated phonetic accuracy in pretest and post-test sessions. Results suggest that pronunciation instruction leads to statistically significant improvement with regard to syllabification, prosodic stress, natural reading speed, intonation patterns, and the pronunciation of rhotic, voiced stop, approximant, and fricative consonants. Results also indicate that the assessment tools developed in this study are appropriate for measuring the overall enhancement of Spanish pronunciation accuracy, and could therefore be used in the foreign language classroom. El tema de la competencia comunicativa oral del lenguaje por lo general se reconoce en la literatura como obviado (o malinterpretado). Este artículo pretende abordar los resultados de un estudio que evalúa la eficacia del método de enseñanza explícita como enfoque didáctico con el objetivo de mitigar la interferencia fonética en estudiantes universitarios del tercer año de español como lengua extranjera. Se formaron dos grupos: un grupo experimental, que recibió la enseñanza de fonética explícita, y un grupo de control. Tres evaluadores analizaron de forma independiente la pronunciación en fases pretest y post-test. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que la enseñanza de la pronunciación conlleva a una mejora estadísticamente significativa en cuanto a la silabificación, el acento prosódico, la velocidad natural de lectura, la entonación y la pronunciación de consonantes vibrantes, oclusivas sonoras, aproximantes y fricativas. Los resultados también constatan que las herramientas evaluativas creadas para este estudio resultan apropiadas para medir el progreso realizado en comunicación oral durante la adquisición fonética articulatoria del español y por tanto se podrían incorporar en el aula de lengua extranjera. La littérature reconnaît que le sujet de la compétence communicative orale a généralement été négligé (ou mal interprété). Cet article prétend aborder les résultats d'une étude qui évalue l'efficacité de la méthode d'enseignement explicite comme une approche didactique dans le but d'atténuer l'interférence phonétique chez des étudiants universitaires de troisième année d'espagnol comme langue étrangère. Deux groupes ont été formés: un groupe expérimental, qui a reçu une instruction phonétique explicite, et un groupe témoin. Trois évaluateurs ont indépendamment analysé la prononciation dans les phases pré-test et post-test. Les résultats obtenus suggèrent que l'enseignement de la prononciation conduit à une amélioration statistiquement significative en termes de la décomposition en syllabes, d'accent prosodique, de vitesse de lecture naturelle, d'intonation et de prononciation des consonnes vibrantes, d’occlusives sonores, d'approximations et de fricatives. Les résultats confirment également que les outils d'évaluation créés pour cette étude sont appropriés pour mesurer les progrès réalisés dans la communication orale pendant l'acquisition phonétique articulée de l'espagnol et sa disponibilité pour l'incorporation immédiate dans la classe d'espagnol pour étrangers.

The aim of the current study is to test whether explicit instruction of various L2 request forms can be a useful measure in developing Saudi learners’ linguistic and pragmatic competences. This study is based on the results obtained from a previous research investigating interlanguage requests. The findings in that study suggested that the second language learners were not aware of some of the request strategies which were exclusively employed by the British English native speakers. The aim and the question of this study is to find out whether explicit instruction of request strategies will be effective in helping Saudi EFL learners gain linguistic knowledge and achieve pragmatic appropriateness in making requests in L2. Thirty female foundation year students participated in this study. They were all EFL learners studying at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The group underwent three phases of instruction: pre-test, instruction/intervention, and post-test. The first and last phases consisted of written questionnaires which were distributed right before and after the instruction phase. The results showed that in the third phase, the students demonstrated great progress in their understanding of request forms in L2. Their improvement was manifested by the learners’ acknowledgement of these forms as proper employment of request strategies in English, recognition of request function names, ability to assign correct functions to linguistic realizations and their overall understanding of the appropriate use of these forms dictated by the weightiness of different request situations.

Over recent years, pragmatic knowledge has been a major area of interest within the field of second language acquisition. Despite this, most studies available in the literature have only focused on testing and analyzing L2 learners’ knowledge of speech acts such as request and suggestion structures. However, pragmatic competence stretches beyond these structures to encompass more significant issues including conversational implicatures, a key element in interactional conversations. This paper seeks to remedy the problem by analyzing the effects of explicit vs. implicit instructions of implicatures on developing intermediate EFL learners’ pragmatic competence in a pre-test, post-test, and delayed-post-test equivalent-groups research design. The participants were 63 intermediate EFL learners randomly assigned into two experimental groups and a control group. The first experimental group received explicit instructions on conversational implicatures and the second one received implicit instructions. The results revealed that the explicit group outperformed the implicit group. Accordingly, explicit instruction had priority over implicit instruction leading to a significant increase in learners’ pragmatic competence development. The results also indicated that explicitly instructed materials enjoyed significantly greater chances of retention after a one-week delay.

As writing is a complex and resource demanding task, high-quality writing instruction is indispensable from primary grades on to support beginning writers in developing effective writing skills. Writing research should therefore provide teachers and schools with evidence-based guidelines for teaching writing in daily practice. In this respect, the present study first investigates the distinct and combined effectiveness of two instructional writing practices (i.e., explicit writing instruction and writing with peer assistance). Second, the present study aims to examine differential effects for students with different background characteristics (i.e., gender and general achievement level). Eleven teachers and their 206 fifth and sixth-grade students participated in the study and were randomly assigned to either one of the four experimental conditions (i.e., EI+IND: explicit instruction + individual writing, EI+PA: explicit instruction + writing with peer assistance, IND: matched individual practice comparison condition, and PA: matched peer-assisted practice comparison condition) or the business as usual condition. Multilevel analyses showed that EI+IND, EI+PA, and PA students outperformed the business as usual students. As to the distinct impact of explicit writing instruction, EI+IND students outperformed IND students at posttest, revealing the effectiveness of explicit writing instruction. As to the effect of peer-assisted writing, there were no significant differences between the individual writing conditions (EI+IND and IND) and the peer-assisted conditions (EI+PA and PA respectively).

This paper presents data on the production of English vowels [i ɪ ɛ æ u ʊ] by Brazilian English Language Teaching (ELT) undergraduate students before and after taking a course on English Segmental Phonology. Brazilian learners tend to assimilate the contrasts present in [i ɪ], [ɛ æ] and [u ʊ] into the prototypical categories of Brazilian Portuguese [i], [ɛ] and [u], respectively. Thus, this paper investigates the influence of receiving explicit metalinguistic instruction of English segmental phonology on the production of the target pairs of vowels. The data analysis is of acoustic nature (spectral quality), and the results show that some learners created new phonetic categories for the English vowels after receiving the metalinguistic instruction. Este artigo apresenta dados sobre a produção de vogais inglesas [i ɪ ɛ æ u ʊ] por estudantes de graduação de Ensino de Língua Inglesa (ELT) antes e depois de fazer um curso de fonologia segmentar inglesa. Os aprendentes brasileiros tendem a assimilar os contrastes presentes em [i ɪ], [ɛ æ] e [u ʊ] nas categorias prototípicas do português brasileiro [i], [ɛ] e [u], respectivamente. Assim, este trabalho investiga a influência de receber instrução metalinguística explícita da fonologia segmentar inglesa na produção dos pares alvo de vogais. A análise de dados é de natureza acústica (qualidade espectral), e os resultados mostram que alguns alunos criaram novas categorias fonéticas para as vogais inglesas depois de receberem a instrução metalinguística.

There is evidence that spatial thinking is malleable, and that spatial and mathematical skills are associated (Mix et al. [2016] Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 1206; Mix et al. [2017] Journal of Cognition and Development, 18, 465; Uttal et al. [2013] Psychological Bulletin, 139, 352). However, few studies have investigated transfer of spatial training gains to mathematics outcomes in children, and no known studies have compared different modes of spatial instruction (explicit vs. implicit instruction). Based on a sample of 250 participants, this study compared the effectiveness of explicit and implicit spatial instruction in eliciting near transfer (to the specific spatial skills trained), intermediate transfer (to untrained spatial skills) and far transfer (to mathematics domains) at age 8. Spatial scaling and mental rotation skills were chosen as training targets as previous studies have found, and proposed explanations for, associations between these skills and mathematics in children of this age (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 2016 and 1206). In this study, spatial training led to near, intermediate and far transfer of gains. Mental visualization and proportional reasoning were proposed to explain far transfer from mental rotation and spatial scaling skills respectively. For most outcomes, except for geometry, there was no difference in the effectiveness of implicit (practice with feedback) compared to explicit instruction (instructional videos). From a theoretical perspective, the study identified a specific causal effect of spatial skills on mathematics skills in children. Practically, the results also highlight the potential of instructional videos as a method of introducing spatial thinking into the classroom., Both explicit and implicit training of mental rotation and spatial scaling led to near transfer (to the specific spatial skills trained), intermediate transfer (to untrained spatial skills) and far transfer (to mathematics domains) in children aged 8 years. Mental visualization is proposed to explain far transfer of gains from mental rotation to missing term problems and geometry performance. Proportional reasoning is proposed to explain far transfer of gains from spatial scaling to number line estimation and geometry performance. This study identified a specific causal effect of spatial skills on mathematics skills in children (n = 250).

The Afro-Hispanic creole, Palenquero, has been spoken (together with Spanish) in the village of San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia, for centuries. Until recently, Palenquero was endangered due to prejudice, but language revitalization efforts are underway, and younger speakers are learning Palenquero, but with little reinforcement out of school. The school instruction involves no grammatical explanations, almost no student production, or critical feedback. Adult speakers usually do not address younger speakers in Palenquero, thus leaving school-acquired forms suspended without reinforcement. This represents a unique scenario of heritage acquisition of a language with no bidirectional communication between younger and adult speakers. The present study focuses on the use of preverbal particles and prenominal plural marker by heritage speakers of Palenquero before and after explicit instruction. Communication activities explicitly presented the prenominal plural ma and preverbal particles, such as zero morpheme (simple present), asé (habitual), ta (progressive), a (perfective/simple past) and tan (future). Participants performed better at the post-test and results suggest that explicit explanation of grammatical rules, practice, repetition, and corrective feedback improved the usage of ma and tan. This result lines up with previous studies that posit the amount of time and exposure that learners need in order to acquire complex morphology.

Secondary students who struggle with reading often have deficits in the area of reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of explicit main idea and summarization instruction on reading comprehension of expository text for alternative high school students. The lead researcher explicitly taught participants how to summarize expository passages. Participants were taught to generate a big idea topic of a passage, identify key words and phrases, locate or generate main ideas, and generate an oral summary. The three participants increased their performance on the researcher-developed oral summary measure and the summarization guide after receiving the reading comprehension intervention. Furthermore, participants felt they were able to learn how to summarize expository passages, perceived the intervention as effective, and that it helped their reading comprehension. Overall, results indicated that the intervention, which was explicit main idea and summarization instruction aimed to improve reading comprehension, is an effective practice for students who attend alternative high schools.

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of explicit instruction by using phrase structure rules on acquisition of noun clauses functioning as a subject, an object of a verb and an object of the preposition since they are considered a complex structure that poses difficulty for students learning English. The participants were one class of 12th grade students studying at a secondary school in Surin, Thailand. The instruments used to collect the data were a pretest and posttest and a semi-structured interview. There were 16 training sessions. Each session was conducted within the 50-minute class period. The results of the tests showed that the explicit instruction using phrase structure rules helped improve the participants’ knowledge of noun clauses and helped the participants acquire noun clauses. The results of the semi-structured interview revealed that the participants’ opinions toward the explicit instruction using phrase structures rules were mostly positive. Many of them said that phrase structure rules helped them understand the structures and functions of noun clauses, which also helped improve their reading skills.

Les difficultés en lecture représentent un facteur de risque important de décrochage scolaire, problématique affectant davantage les garçons. L’étude présentée dans le cadre de cet article s’est attardée au développement de deux stratégies de compréhension en lecture, soit l’inférence et le rappel de récit, à l’aide d’une approche s’appuyant sur la bande dessinée. L’objectif était de mesurer l’impact de cette intervention sur la motivation en lecture ainsi que le degré d’acquisition des deux stratégies étudiées auprès de 30 garçons de 5e année du primaire éprouvant des difficultés d’apprentissage. Les résultats suggèrent que l’intervention aurait eu un certain impact sur la motivation des élèves du groupe expérimental en ayant possiblement atténué, chez ces derniers, la baisse de motivation qui s’est produite chez les élèves ayant reçu un enseignement régulier. De plus, il est également possible d’observer une tendance statistique très près d’être jugée statistiquement significative au sein du groupe témoin, où l’habileté à utiliser les indices pour produire une inférence semble diminuer entre les deux passations, tendance non observée chez les élèves ayant participé à l’intervention. Enfin, les résultats montrent une augmentation presque significative au sein du groupe expérimental sur le plan de l’habileté à produire un rappel de texte de bande dessinée, ce qui n’a pas été constaté au sein du groupe témoin., Reading difficulty represent an important factor of risk of dropping out of school, issue who is more present to the boys. The study presented in this article focused on the development of two reading comprehension strategies, inference and text recall, using an approach based on comic book. The aim of this study was to measure the impact of this intervention on the reading motivation and the degree of acquisition of the two strategies studied on 30 fifth grade boys experiencing learning difficulties. The results suggest that the intervention would have had some impact on the motivation of students in the experimental group which possibly attenuated, among them, the lack of motivation that occurred among students who received regular teaching. In addition, it is also possible to observe a statistical trend that is very close to being considered statistically significant in the control group where the ability to use clues to produce an inference seems to decrease between the two test periods, unobserved trend among students who participated in the intervention. Finally, the results show an increase which is close to being considered significant in the experimental group in terms of the ability to produce a text recall of comic book, which was not observed in the control group.

National assessments of writing achievement indicated that a majority of students do not meet grade level expectations (National Center for Education Statistics, 1999; National Center for Education Statistics, 2003; National Center for Education Statistics, 2008; National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). Students with disabilities generally struggle with writing more than students without disabilities (Graham & Harris, 2002; Troia, 2006). The National Commission on Writing (2003) recommended a reform in writing instruction to address the state of writing achievement. Among these recommendations, they recommended professional development in writing instruction and partnerships between universities and school divisions. This study partnered with a local school district to provide professional development in writing instruction. Three 8th grade English teachers participated in this single case multiple baseline research design. The professional development intervention they received, called Content Acquisition Podcast – Professional Development (CAP-PD), consisted of instructional modeling vignettes, customizable curriculum supports, and instructional coaching. CAP-PD was targeted at improving the teachers’ use of explicit modeling. The primary dependent variable was the number of modeling implementation markers recorded on the Classroom Teaching Scan that teachers demonstrated during writing instruction. Results demonstrated a functional relationship between the intervention and the number of modeling implementation markers teachers demonstrated. Results maintained above baseline levels for the duration of the study. Teachers indicated they were satisfied by the CAP-PD as a professional development intervention and modeling as an instructional strategy.

Este estudio busca determinar el efecto de la instrucción explícita sobre la comprensión de implicaturas en español como segunda lengua (ESL); determinar si existe una relación entre la competencia gramatical de los aprendientes y su comprensión de implicaturas; y observar si existe un tipo de implicatura que muestre mayor dificultad en la adquisición. En la muestra participaron 23 aprendientes de ESL que fueron divididos en seis grupos (tres experimentales y tres de control) de acuerdo a su nivel de competencia en español. Los tres grupos experimentales participaron de una sesión de 30 minutos de instrucción explícita sobre implicaturas. Los resultados no muestran respaldo estadístico, sin embargo, se observa una leve mejora entre los participantes de mayor nivel de competencia gramatical, lo cual va en línea con otros estudios respecto a que quienes más se benefician de la instrucción para la comprensión de implicaturas, son los aprendientes de niveles más avanzados. This paper aims to determine first the effect of explicit instruction on the comprehension of implicatures in Spanish as a Second Language (SSL); second, whether there is a connection between learners’ grammatical accuracy and their ability to understand such implicatures; and third, if there is a type of implicature which proves more difficult/problematic to acquire. The sample was formed by 23 participants, learners of SSL. They were divided into 6 groups (3 experimental groups and 3 control groups) according to their competence level in Spanish. The 3 experimental groups participated in a 30- minute-long explicit instruction session about implicatures. Even though the statistics did not support the results, there was a slight improvement of the group with the highest competence level. This result is line with previous studies showing that highest level learners profit more from explicit instruction to interpret implicatures. Cette étude cherche à déterminer l'effet d'une instruction explicite sur la compréhension des implicatures en espagnol comme langue seconde (ELS); à déterminer s'il existe une relation entre la compétence grammaticale des apprenants et leur compréhension des implicatures; et à observer s'il existe un type d'implicature qui présente une plus grande difficulté dans l'acquisition. L'échantillon a impliqué 23 apprenants d'ELS qui ont été divisés en six groupes (trois expérimentaux et trois témoins) selon leur niveau de compétence en espagnol. Les trois groupes expérimentaux ont participé à une session de 30 minutes d'enseignement explicite sur les implicatures. Les résultats ne montrent pas de soutien statistique mais il y a une légère amélioration chez les participants de plus haut niveau de compétence grammaticale, ce qui est conforme à d'autres études qui montrent que ceux qui bénéficient le plus des l’instructions pour la compréhension des implicatures sont les apprenants des niveaux les plus avancés.

This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Cognition and Instruction on 20 march 2018 available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/07370008.2018.1425300, The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of 2 different types of intervention aimed at improving written argumentative synthesis by integrating conflicting information from different sources. Both interventions combined the use of a guide with collaborative practice, but one of them also included explicit strategy instruction. Only students who received additional explicit instruction showed an improved ability to integrate conflicting information and increased the number of arguments they selected from the sources, This research project was funded under the National Program for Basic Research Projects 2014–2016 by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (EDU2013-46606-C2-1)

This study evaluated the effect of an explicit comprehension read-aloud routine of science content on first grade students��� listening comprehension.The read-aloud routine taught the structures common in the informational text (compare, contrast, and compare-contrast) and found in first grade science big books with the goal of improving understanding of the science content. Students who received the intervention showed improvements in their ability to understand the compare-contrast text structures compared to students who were taught the same content without the routine or students who were taught typical science read-aloud content without the routine. Observations revealed that teachers who were most consistent in implementing high quality comprehension strategies during the read aloud had students who made the best gains in listening comprehension of the content, regardless of whether the teachers used explicit text the compare-contrast text structure routine.The results demonstrated that even though the instruction of the compare-contrast text structures was not necessary to produce listening comprehension of science content, the compare-contrast instruction added value to the high quality comprehension instruction for students assigned to the intervention group. The results of the study are discussed in terms of the available research on instruction of informational text structures in the early grades. Recommendations for future research are provided.

The study aimed to investigate the influence of thecross-linguistic variation on the construction of boundary-crossing motionevents in the translation production of the Turkish speakers of L2 English andmeasure the impact of explicit instruction and metalinguistic awareness on the learners’understanding of typological differences and hence their development of L2 waysof expressing motion events. To this aim, the study followed a pre-testpost-test quasi-experimental research design, involving a treatment and acontrol group. A total of 46 second-year university students participated inthe study. They were all majoring in English at the English Language TeachingDepartment, at a state university in Turkey. The control (18 females and 5males) and the treatment group (15 females and 8 males) received a two-weekinstructional treatment, the first group receiving an implicit instruction, andthe second an explicit instruction of the boundary-crossing motion eventconstructions. Prior to the instructional intervention, a pre-test wasadministered to the participants. Mann-Whitney U test run on the meanscores obtained from the pre-tests indicated no significant differences betweenthe control and the treatment group, U = 282.5, z = .416, p = .678. Within-group analysis based onpost-test results after the termination of the instructional treatment revealedthat while the implicit instruction had no effect on learners’ acquisition of motionevents, z = 1.842, p = .066., the explicit instruction had a significanteffect on L1 Turkish learners’ development of their knowledge of L2-likeEnglish patterns in construing motion events. Similarly, between-group analysisrevealed that the treatment group (Mdn = 4.00), who received an explicitinstruction significantly outperformed the control group (Mdn = 2.00), whoreceived implicit instruction, U = 410.5, z = 3.257, p = .001. The study concludedwith the implications of findings for English language teaching and suggestionsfor future studies., Çalışma İngilizce’yi ikinci dil olaraköğrenen Türk konuşucularının çevirilerinde sınır-geçişli devinim olaylarınınkurulmasında dillerarası değişimin etkisini araştırmayı ve açık öğretim veüstdil farkındalığının öğrenicilerin dillerarası farklılıkları anlamadakietkisini ölçmeyi hedeflemiştir. Bu amaçla, çalışma, öntest, sontest kontrolgruplu yarı-deneysel bir araştırma deseni takip etmiştir. Tamamı Türkiye’de birüniversitede İngilizce öğretmenliğinde okuyan toplam 46 üniversite ikinci sınıföğrencisi çalışmaya katıldı. Birinci grup örtük, ikinci grup açık olmak üzere kontrolgrubu (18 kız, 5 erkek) ve uygulama grubuna (15 kız, 8 erkek) sınır-geçişlidevinim olayları yapılarını içeren iki haftalık öğretim uygulandı. Öğretimuygulamasından önce öğrencilere verilen öntest sonuçlarının Mann-Whitney U testçözümlemesi iki grup arasında anlamlı farkın olmadığını gösterdi, U = 282.5, z= .416, p =.678. Öğretim uygulamasınınardından verilen sontest sonuçlarına dayalı grup içi Wilcoxon signed-rank test çözümlemeleri örtük öğretimin öğrenicilerin devinimolaylarını edinmesinde hiçbir etkisi olmazken, z = 1.842, p =.066.,açık öğretimin öğrenicilerin hedef dil benzeri İngilizce örüntü bilgilerinigeliştirmede anlamlı bir etkisi olduğunu göstermiştir, z = 3.406, p =.001. Aynı şekilde,gruplar arası çözümlemeler, açık öğretim uygulanan uygulama grubunun (Mdn= 4.00), örtük öğretim uygulanan kontrol grubundan (Mdn = 2.00), çok daha üstünbir edim göstermiştir, U = 410.5, z = 3.257, p = .001. Çalışmanın sonunda, eldeedilen bulguların İngilizce dil öğretimi açısında sezdirimleri ve gelecekteyapılabilecek çalışma önerileri sunulmaktadır.

Este estudio afirma que la instrucción explicita (EI) con la corrección de error explicito (EEC) pueden ser eficaces para adquirir elementos lingüísticos que no se hayan enseñado lo suficiente y que mayormente expresen significado léxico. Por otra parte, EI con EEC no pueden ser eficaces para los elementos lingüísticos que mayormente expresen funciones gramaticales formales, que los aprendices ya conocen muy bien. El estudio asume que el orden linear fijo para algunos elementos (e. g., morfemas gramaticales) no es influenciado por estímulos externos (i. e. , EC con EEC): como L1, el proceso de la adquisición de la L2 no es al azar, sino ordenado. Sin embargo, el estudio no necesariamente niega el rol de la instrucción explicita del profesor para cada uno de los aspectos de la adquisición de la L2. El estudio también afirma que EI y EEC son más eficaces para aquellos aprendices quienes tengan sus niveles de competencia general de la L2 altos. Apoyamos estas suposiciones presentando tres experimentos con respecto a la adquisición de los sujetos de la oración y los morfemas gramaticales en inglés por japoneses adultos, aprendices del idioma Inglés. This study claims that explicit instruction (EI) with explicit error correction (EEC) can be effective for acquiring linguistic items which mainly convey lexical meaning, and have not been taught enough. On the other hand, EI with EEC cannot be effective for linguistic items which mainly convey formal grammatical functions, which are already well known to the learners. The study assumes that the fixed linear order for some grammatical items (e.g., grammatical morphemes) is not influenced by external stimuli (i.e., EC with EEC): Like L1, the L2 acquisition process is not random, but orderly. However, the study does not necessarily deny the role of teacher’s explicit instructions for every aspect of L2 acquisition. The study also claims that EI with EEC are more effective for those learners whose general L2 proficiency levels are high. We support these assumptions by presenting three experiments concerning the acquisition of English sentential subjects and grammatical morphemes by Japanese adult learners of English.

The present investigation assessed the putative benefits of reducing instructions for older adults' learning of an assembly task. Young and older adults had to build a product by assembling six components. Two groups practiced following instruction methods that differed in the degree of explicit information they conveyed about the correct assembly order. After practice, retention, consolidation of performance (tested immediately after practice and on a separate day, respectively) and stability of performance (tested by introducing a concurrent second task) were assessed. Younger adults showed similar performance levels for both instruction methods. Older adults, however, showed similar retention but clearly weaker consolidation and stability of performance following less encompassing instructions. Contrary to expectations, enhancing the involvement of explicit processes allowed older adults to gain a more permanent and stable performance improvements. The findings are discussed relative to the characteristics of the assembly task. Practitioner Summary: We addressed how performance and learning of older adults in an assembly task can be optimised through different types of instruction. The findings suggest that increasing awareness of task characteristics enhance not only long-term performance, but also resilience against distraction. Future work must evaluate if these findings generalise to more complex tasks. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Enabling language learners to produce the correct target language forms is the main goal of many production practices. The present study compared the effects of two kinds of instruction directed at problematic constructions. Three parallel homogeneous groups of learners were exposed to two different conditions of grammar teaching. The first experimental group was treated through the garden path technique in which the structures were induced and the errors were immediately corrected. The second experimental group was taught the structures explicitly (usual board use and grammar explanation) and the errors were immediately corrected. The third group only benefited the explicit grammar but the errors were tolerated. The obtained data subjected to one-way ANOVA showed that students who enjoyed ‘down the garden path treatment’ outperformed the other groups, and the two groups with the advantage of corrective feedback out-performed the group who was not provided by the error correction. In line with what Tomasello and Harrison (1988, 1989) suggested, the ‘garden path technique seems to increases the learners’ motivation and curiosity to know about the rules, and encourages the learners to make a cognitive comparison between their own faulty structures and the correct ones. Indeed, Error correction which has been proved to be beneficial by many researchers will be more beneficial when it is accompanied by the appropriate technique of instruction.

This paper investigated the usefulness of focus on form in the retention of the vocabulary items. Two homogenous groups were chosen for this study. The teacher taught both the form delicacies and the meaning of the words to the students of the experimental group but only the meaning of the words to the comparison group. Both groups studied 3 chapters of a book. At the end of the treatment period, the same vocabulary test was given to both groups. Statistical analysis showed that students who had learned the form and the meaning components of vocabulary together outperformed the other group.

The English present perfect is one of the most difficult grammatical items for the Persian EFL learners to comprehend. The current study examined whether an explicit grammar explanation would work for this grammatical item among sixty university level learners. Experimental group practiced the target structure with explicit grammar explanation and control group practiced the target structure in the same manner without explicit explanation. The statistical analysis revealed that a significant difference between the pre-test and immediate post-test was found in those who had explicit explanation prior to practice. However, the results of delayed post-test suggested that their comprehension is temporary.

The current study tried to address whether explicit collocation teaching has a positive effect on reading comprehension compared to explicit single-item vocabulary instruction. Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKL) and vocabulary pretest were used to determine prior knowledge of 3rd year ELT department students in Pamukkale University. Of the two treatment groups one received explicit collocation teaching and the other received single -item vocabulary instruction followed by a reading passage (Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score: 28). Five of the six reading comprehension questions aimed to elicit the target collocations in the answers. The two-tailed t-test significance values were higher than 0.05 for all the questions (q1: 1,000; q2: 0,64; q3: 0,39; q4: 0,106; q5: 0,768), and yet indicated differences between participant means were likely due to chance and not likely due to the difference in treatment types (single-item vocabulary instruction and collocation instruction). The inconclusive findings could be due to only one treatment session.

Much is known about short-term—but very little about the long-term—effects of reading interventions. To rectify this, a detailed analysis of follow-up effects as a function of intervention, sample, and methodological variables was conducted. A total of 71 intervention-control groups were selected ( N = 8,161 at posttest) from studies reporting posttest and follow-up data ( M = 11.17 months) for previously established reading interventions. The posttest effect sizes indicated effects ( dw = 0.37) that decreased to follow-up ( dw = 0.22). Overall, comprehension and phonemic awareness interventions showed good maintenance of effect that transferred to nontargeted skills, whereas phonics and fluency interventions, and those for preschool and kindergarten children, tended not to. Several methodological features also related to effect sizes at follow-up, namely experimental design and dosage, and sample attrition, risk status, and gender balance.

The purpose of this study is to explore the components that foreign language learners need to acquire in order to develop their pragmatic competence. This paper presents a description of phase one of an ongoing research project at Goce Delcev University-Stip, Republic of Macedonia, on developing pragmatic competence of foreign language learners. We first define pragmatic competence; then we discuss data collection instruments and procedures; and we conclude with an outlook on further research. Keywords: Discourse Completion Test, explicit instruction, pragmatic competence, role play, speech acts

This study examined the effectiveness in using media to enhance the level of critical literacy of tertiary students particularly in their EFL argumentative writing (N=46). Gains in the writing scores of the experimental group exposed to explicit instructional approaches of critical thinking were compared to those in the control group provided with imbedded instruction designed in their course materials. Results in the pretest and posttest demonstrated a significant difference (p

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar o papel da instrução explícita no aprendizado do Present Perfect por aprendizes universitários brasileiros em um contexto formal. Os participantes foram divididos em dois grupos e foram testados em sua compreensão e produção da estrutura duas vezes em um intervalo de três semanas. Na segunda semana, os participantes do grupo experimental foram expostos à instrução explícita sobre uso e forma do Present Perfect Tense. Os resultados indicam que os participantes do grupo que recebeu instrução obtiveram escores mais altos nos testes, corroborando a ideia de que a instrução explícita é benéfica, ou pelo menos não é prejudicial, ao aprendizado da língua estrangeira. This paper aims at analyzing the role of explicit instruction in the learning of the Present Perfect by Brazilian university students in a formal setting. Participants were divided into two groups and tested twice in comprehension and production tasks during a three-week interval. In the second week, the experimental group was exposed to explicit instruction on use and form of the target topic. Results indicate that the explicit instruction group showed overall improvement, providing support to the claim that explicit instruction is beneficial, or at least it is not prejudicial, to foreign language learning.

Executive Summary Possessing the ability to read critically allows one to be a fully-participating member of our democratic society (Apple, 2000; Kretovics, 1985), and conversely, not having critical reading skills limits one’s opportunities. As such, teaching students to read in elementary school is a fundamental concern, and schools spend a great deal of time, effort, and resources toward reaching this endeavor. However, many students do not reach high levels of reading skills (NAEP; National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2011), and many of these students are either living in poverty, non-White, or both, making this problem a social justice issue. This national issue pertains to Springwell Elementary School in particular. The problem of practice at the school is that many students do not achieve high levels in reading. School data show that many students do not make the necessary progress to be on grade-level by the end of the school year. Researchers have found that offering students explicit classroom instruction that meets their developmental needs in the early grades can increase students’ reading achievement (Piasta, Connor, Fishman, & Morrison, 2009) and reduce the incidence of reading disabilities (Vellutino & Scanlon, 1999). Purpose The purpose of this capstone project was to examine kindergarten teachers’ reading instruction for low-performing emergent readers at Springwell Elementary School and to describe the preactive and interactive decisions of kindergarten teachers. Ultimately, the findings and implications were used to make recommendations to Springwell Elementary School on ways to improve kindergarten reading instruction. Methodology Using a qualitative multiple-case study design, I examined small-group reading instruction in three kindergarten classrooms at Springwell Elementary School over a period of eight weeks. I collected observation, interview, and document data, and analyzed data iteratively by coding, composing analytic memos, creating data displays, and developing assertions, in order to search for confirming and disconfirming evidence of findings. Findings The overall findings of this capstone study are: 1. Kindergarten teachers at Springwell Elementary School relied primarily on assessed Rigby (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007) reading levels to flexibly group students for small-group instruction during their literacy block. The prominent focus on Rigby levels may hinder teachers from addressing multiple indicators of emergent reader development. 2. Kindergarten teachers at Springwell Elementary School often planned and implemented differentiated small-group reading instruction for low-performing emergent readers. However, teachers did not appear to use a systematic approach, as instructional content and activities were delivered inconsistently; at times, teachers offered activities other than reading instruction during designated small-group time. 3. During interactive teaching, kindergarten teachers at Springwell Elementary School made two types of “pedagogical maneuvering decisions” (Duffy & Ball, 1983, p. 16) in response to student behaviors (i.e., stuck, incorrect, and correct): procedural (i.e., activity-oriented) and substantive (i.e., goal-focused). Within the initiation-response-feedback (IRF) framework, teachers missed opportunities to make substantive decisions to exploit their feedback turns. Additionally, instructional activities that seemed to be more goal-focused increased the potential for teachers to make substantive decisions. Implications and Recommendations The implications of the findings from this capstone study revealed that kindergarten reading instruction at Springwell Elementary School may both encourage and limit student growth. The recommendations to Springwell Elementary School on possible ways to improve kindergarten classroom instruction are: 1. In order to increase (1) teacher knowledge of emergent reader development, and (2) teacher skill in using assessment data to plan targeted instruction: Provide teachers instructional support in analyzing how the school’s literacy-diet-based emergent reader lesson plan components (i.e., concepts of print, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, COW-T, and writing) and instructional activities can be used to support emergent reader development. 2. To improve the quality of teacher decisions when implementing small-group reading instruction: Provide teachers instructional support in (1) contrasting procedural (i.e., activity-based) and substantive (i.e., goal-focused) decisions, and in (2) identifying and exploiting opportunities to make substantive decisions (i.e., asking metacognitive questions, offering explicit instruction, offering specific praise, and confirming with elaboration). 3. As part of a systematic approach to reading instruction: a. Use valid, reliable, and instructionally transparent assessment tools (e.g., PALS-K [Invernizzi, Swank, Juel, & Meier, 2003] and PALS-K Quick Checks) to determine students’ strengths and weaknesses with respect to multiple indicators of emergent reader development including COW-T, spelling, letter recognition, letter sounds, and phonological awareness (i.e., rhyme and beginning sounds). Use these assessment data to flexibly group students and plan for differentiated small-group instruction. Kindergarten teachers and other collaborating teachers (e.g., ESOL, reading specialists, SPED) should meet at least monthly to discuss student progress (as measured on assessments) and adjust instruction. b. Design and use a daily record-keeping system to track which literacy components (i.e., concepts of print, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, COW-T, and writing) each teacher or teaching assistant is delivering during small-group instruction, to ensure that each student is getting appropriate amounts of instruction across the McGuffey literacy diet (http://readingfirst.virginia.edu/pdfs/diets.pdf) and to allow teachers to maintain a consistent daily routine (e.g., reread books, practice letter sounds, and read a new book) with their emergent reader groups.

The contents and appropriateness of instructional explanations in a worked example may determine the occurrence of the worked example effect. When a worked example involves principle-based information as instructional explanations, it may induce learners to spontaneously self-explain the subsequent solution steps and thereby enhance their performance. Advocates of minimally-guided instruction claim that scaffolded problem solving followed by direct instruction such as worked examples outperform the reverse sequencing instruction, entirely contradicting the expectation of cognitive load theory. Three experiments investigated the effects of worked examples involving principle-based information/guidance on physics learning and the accuracy of assertion made by the advocates of minimally-guided instruction using strictly randomized and controlled experimental designs. Experiment 1 investigated the effect of level and location of guidance in a worked example. The results demonstrated the overall advantage of an example-problem sequence over the reverse sequence and indicated that presenting instances of principle application in worked examples could facilitate learning for less knowledgeable learners. Experiment 2 investigated the performance of less knowledgeable learners who studied the same problem in the same learning phase except for the instructional form (i.e., worked example or problem solving) and solved the problem with or without principle-based guidance on immediate and delayed tests. The results demonstrated that principle guidance in the problem-solving phase of the problem-example sequence could reduce cognitive load relative to the equivalent condition without such guidance during the learning phase. However, this reduction of load did not translate to an advantage on other learning indicators in the problem-example sequence compared to the reverse sequence. Experiment 3 compared the effect of different levels of scaffolding in problem solving (from entirely independent problem solving to a problem with principle-based guidance and entire solution steps) followed by direct instruction (i.e., example-problem pairs). Although there were no differences between the groups on the immediate test, the results of the delayed test demonstrated that a condition with solution reflection activities following initial problem solving with the guidance was superior to initial problem solving without principle-based guidance. The worked example followed by direct instruction group also outperformed the group with entirely independent problem solving followed by the same direct instruction in learning retention. Accordingly, the assertions of the advocates of the benefits of minimally-guided problem-solving activities preceding direct instruction remain questionable according to the findings of the three experiments that favored the predictions of cognitive load theory.

Much is known about short-termbut very little about the long-termeffects of reading interventions. To rectify this, a detailed analysis of follow-up effects as a function of intervention, sample, and methodological variables was conducted. A total of 71 intervention-control groups were selected (N = 8,161 at posttest) from studies reporting posttest and follow-up data (M = 11.17 months) for previously established reading interventions. The posttest effect sizes indicated effects (dw = 0.37) that decreased to follow-up (dw = 0.22). Overall, comprehension and phonemic awareness interventions showed good maintenance of effect that transferred to nontargeted skills, whereas phonics and fluency interventions, and those for preschool and kindergarten children, tended not to. Several methodological features also related to effect sizes at follow-up, namely experimental design and dosage, and sample attrition, risk status, and gender balance.

Empirical studies have shown that explicit instruction leads to the improvement of perception (e.g. Strange and Dittman 1984; Jamieson and Morosan 1986; Cenoz and García Lecumberri 1999) and oral production (e.g. Couper 2003; Derwing and Munro 2005; Smith and Beckman 2005). Nonetheless, it is necessary to test different types of activities intended for the explicit teaching of pronunciation. This action-research study aims to test the efficacy of a reading aloud task with a noticing and an awareness component in the teaching of pronunciation, and to gauge learners’ beliefs regarding the use of this learning tool. Twenty first-year students of the BA in English Studies at the University of the Basque Country participated in the investigation. Ten written texts were selected by the instructors in order to practice reading aloud for ten weeks. Students went through two phases when doing this task in class: noticing and awareness. They were tested on articulation of sounds, stress placement and intonation through two different texts at two different times. Students were also administered a questionnaire to analyze their opinions regarding the usefulness of this learning task. The assessment of the recordings revealed that learners obtained better means in the case of the second text analyzed. Similarly, the analysis of the responses given to the questionnaire indicated that students considered the reading aloud task a good instrument to improve their pronunciation in English.

The article describes a study of 11 U.S. high school physical education teachers with respect to their curricular and instructional activities. The most important professional task of teachers, from the public perspective, is the delivery of curriculum to students through instructional classes. The teachers in the study all worked in school districts that had an official curriculum for physical education, and all taught from 4 to six classes each day. The data used to analyze and interpret curricular issues was collected from curriculum guides for each district. Each teacher also completed a Values Orientation Inventory. Also data such as unit length, lesson length, and days per week about each teaching situation were collected. Data from interviews was also used. 13 4 375 20751969; J1: Journal of Teaching in Physical Education