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This research compared the contributions of lexical inferencing, decoding, and listening comprehension to reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking learners of English as a second language (ESL) enrolled in university bridging programs in the U.S. and Chinese-speaking university learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in mainland China. The findings suggested that the contributions of these three reading component skills differed in ESL and EFL contexts: In the ESL context, both second language (L2) lexical inferencing and L2 decoding were significant predictors of L2 reading comprehension, but L2 listening comprehension did not correlate with L2 reading comprehension. In the EFL context, L2 lexical inferencing was the only significant predictor of L2 reading comprehension. Thus, it appears that the Simple View Reading (decoding + listening comprehension = reading comprehension) is not applicable to Chinese-speaking adult learners of L2 English because learners in both ESL and EFL contexts rely on word-level reading subskills.

The benefits of incorporating process information in a large-scale assessment with the complex micro-level evidence from the examinees (i.e., process log data) are well documented in the research across large-scale assessments and learning analytics. This study introduces a deep-learning-based approach to predictive modeling of the examinee's performance in sequential, interactive problem-solving tasks from a large-scale assessment of adults' educational competencies. The current methods disambiguate problem-solving behaviors using network analysis to inform the examinee's performance in a series of problem-solving tasks. The unique contribution of this framework lies in the introduction of an "effort-aware" system. The system considers the information regarding the examinee's task-engagement level to accurately predict their task performance. The study demonstrates the potential to introduce a high-performing deep learning model to learning analytics and examinee performance modeling in a large-scale problem-solving task environment collected from the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC 2012) test in multiple countries, including the United States, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Our findings indicated a close relationship between the examinee's engagement level and their problem-solving skills as well as the importance of modeling them together to have a better measure of students' problem-solving performance.

A large amount of literature exists on how native speakers derive and process pragmatic inferences, yet few studies have examined the issue in second language learners, despite a controversial debate of second language (L2) ultimate attainment of phenomena situated at external interfaces. This study contributes to the debate on the integration of external interfaces in highly proficient end-state adult L2 grammars. In an effort to bridge the empirical gap in the past literature, this article reports on two sentence-picture verification tasks designed to test the processing cost of the exhaustive inference associated with cleft sentences in the L2 French of English learners with different proficiency levels. Truth-value judgments and reaction times were recorded in contexts that violated or supported the exhaustive inference. Overall, results show that L2 learners diverge from the natives in their online processing of the exhaustive inference only and that proficiency plays an important role in predicting their behavior. Nevertheless, what post-hoc observations of the data reveal is that L2 length of exposure to native input might be an even better predictor, since only those L2 speakers who have had more exposure to native French input compute the exhaustive inference in clefts as fast as French natives.

This study investigates (1) whether second language learners (L2ers) acquire the Mandarin system of pronouns and reflexives despite differences from their first languages (L1s) and (2) whether L1-English and L1-Korean L2ers differ due to L1-transfer. Unlike English, Mandarin and Korean allow long-distance (LD) reflexives. While "himself/herself" and the Mandarin equivalent "taziji" both require local readings, Mandarin "ziji" 'self' allows both local and LD readings. In Korean, "caki" and "casin" allow LD readings while "caki-casin" requires local readings. For pronouns, English "him/her" and Mandarin "ta" both disallow local readings while Korean "ku/kunye" allows them. These cross-linguistic differences lead to different transfer-based predictions for L1-Korean and L1-English L2-Mandarin learners. Sixty-two Mandarin native speakers, 42 L1-Korean L2ers, and 32 L1-English L2ers completed a picture-based Truth Value Judgment Task and a Mandarin proficiency test. Results show that proficiency-matched L2ers from both L1s predominantly allowed only local readings of "ziji," suggesting that the local reading is the default option, and that Korean speakers do not transfer the properties of Korean simplex reflexives onto "ziji," possibly because LD "ziji" is logophoric, while "caki" is not. Regarding "ta," L1-Korean L2ers under-accepted LD readings and over-accepted local readings, a result that can be attributed to transfer, per Kim's analysis that Rule I, posited by Grodzinsky and Reinhart, that regulates the distribution of pronouns is weak or absent in Korean.

The elicited imitation task (EIT), in which language learners listen to a series of spoken sentences and repeat each one verbatim, is a commonly used measure of language proficiency in second language acquisition research. The "TOEFL® Essentials"™ test includes an EIT as a holistic measure of speaking proficiency, referred to as the "Listen and Repeat" task type. In this report, we describe the design considerations that informed the development of the EIT for TOEFL Essentials. We also report the results of a series of investigations conducted during the prototyping and pilot phases of test development, which were undertaken with the goal of confirming task design specifications, evaluating scoring performance, and obtaining initial validity evidence to support score interpretation and use of the EIT in the TOEFL Essentials test. We found that task design variables generally performed as expected. The length of input sentence was strongly associated with performance (Pearson r = 0.88), consistent with the construct measured by the EIT, while other task variables not directly related to the EIT construct did not impact performance (e.g., graphics, speaker accent, and response time). Scorers drawn from TOEFL iBT test raters were able to score responses consistently with over 98% exact or adjacent interrater agreement on a 6-point scale, and scores on the pilot version of the EIT were highly reliable (Cronbach's [alpha] = 0.93 on the 15-item pilot version). Correlations between EIT scores and other measures were generally as expected: Correlations with other speaking tasks were high (0.78-0.84) and slightly to somewhat lower for other language measures (0.73 for writing, 0.68 for listening, and 0.57 for reading). Correlation with an independent measure of holistic language proficiency (C-test) was moderately high (0.69), as expected. We discuss the study findings in terms of the TOEFL Essentials test validity argument and point out limitations to the current results along with future research needs. Overall, we believe that the findings provide initial support to warrant the use of the EIT as operationalized in the TOEFL Essentials test.

Research has observed that monitoring one's own learning modifies memory for some materials but not for others. Specifically, making judgments of learning (JOLs) while learning word pairs improves subsequent cued-recall memory performance for related word pairs but not for unrelated word pairs. Theories that have attempted to explain this pattern of results assume that people attend to and process cue-target relatedness during learning more when making JOLs than they spontaneously do when not making JOLs. The present research directly tested this relatedness-processing assumption with unrelated and related word pairs as well as with hitherto unexamined materials: identical word pairs. In three experiments, participants studied word pairs while either making or not making JOLs. Results revealed that making JOLs improved memory for related word pairs as well as for identical word pairs, but not for unrelated word pairs. Importantly, in two of the experiments, participants were further asked to judge at test whether each cue appeared with an unrelated, related, or identical target before attempting to recall it. Results revealed that making JOLs improved the accuracy of these relatedness judgments independently from its effect on recall, thus providing direct evidence that people process cue-target relatedness when making JOLs more than they spontaneously do when not making JOLs. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of why judging one's own learning can modify memory and, more broadly, suggest that instructions to monitor learning can direct people's attention to information that is not or less processed otherwise.

During the preschool years, children are simultaneously undergoing a reshaping of their mental number line and becoming increasingly sensitive to the social norms expressed by those around them. In the current study, 4- and 5-year-old American and Israeli children were given a task in which an experimenter laid out chips with numbers (1-5), letters (A-E), or colors (Red-Blue, the first colors of the rainbow), and presented them with a specific order (initial through final) and direction (Left-to-right or Right-to-left). The experimenter either did not demonstrate the laying out of the chips (Control), emphasized the process of the left-to-right or right-to-left spatial layout (Process), or used general goal language (Generic). Children were then asked to recreate each sequence after a short delay. Children also completed a short numeracy task. The results indicate that attention to the spatial structuring of the environment was influenced by conventional framing; children exhibited better recall when the manner of layout was emphasized than when it was not. Both American and Israeli children were better able to recall numerical information relative to non-numerical information. Although children did not show an overall benefit for better recall of information related to the culture's dominant spatial direction, American children's tendency to recall numerical direction information predicted their early numeracy ability.

Student-centered instruction is a shared goal in English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) settings that embrace communicative language teaching (CLT) principles (East 2015). Student-centered classrooms create opportunities for learners to have consistent and meaningful interactions--two-way exchanges of ideas--using their second language (L2). Such interactions promote L2 development, as peers provide modified input and speakers are pushed to produce language that their partners understand (Hall 2011). As the popularity of student-centered classrooms has grown, knowledge-based objectives (testing for grammar and vocabulary knowledge) have been overtaken by more-communicative learning objectives (Plews and Zhao 2010). Beyond memorizing grammar or vocabulary for drills or exams, students must show that they can use real-life language to perform speaking and writing activities, often in small groups. This article will first discuss CLT principles and important criteria for communicative activities in the classroom and then describe four successful and engaging activities.

There is emerging evidence that collocation use plays a primary role in determining various dimensions of L2 oral proficiency assessment and development. The current study presents the results of three experiments which examined the relationship between the degree of association in collocation use (operationalized as t scores and mutual information scores) and the intuitive judgements of L2 comprehensibility (i.e. ease of understanding). The topic was approached from the angles of different task conditions (Study 1), rater background (first language or L1 vs. second language or L2) (Study 2) and cross-sectional vs. longitudinal analyses (Study 3). The findings showed that: (1) collocation emerged as a medium-to-strong determinant of L2 comprehensibility in structured (picture description) compared to free (oral interview) oral production tasks; (2) with sufficient immersion experience, L2 raters can demonstrate as much sensitivity to collocation as L1 raters; and (3) conversational experience is associated with more coherent and mutually-exclusive combinations of words in L2 speech, resulting in greater L2 comprehensibility development.

This meta-analytic study compared the effect of peer-led learning versus non peer-led learning on students' cognitive achievement in post-secondary education. Twenty-eight studies published in English from six countries between 1993 and 2017 were identified and used in the analysis. Result of the analysis on the random-effect model showed a moderate but positive effect, meaning that peer-led learning was associated with higher cognitive achievement than non-peer-led learning. Three study characteristics were examined including duration, student leaders' training, and task type. Only the task type was found significant in moderating the effect of peer-led learning. Student leaders' facilitation of problem-based learning tasks outperformed other types of tasks. Results of this study not only provided suggestions for peer-led learning designers and coordinators but also called for future research of student leaders' readiness as well as online peer-led learning.

This paper takes a multimodal conversation analytic approach to explore knowledge-in-interaction in a technology-mediated online environment (Skype videoconference) during a meeting between eight university students studying to become language teachers. The analysis considers the ways in which the student-teachers demonstrate their knowledge or understanding of telecollaborative project-based language learning while taking part in a telecollaborative exchange themselves. Given the growing predominance of online teaching and learning, it is increasingly relevant to have a deep understanding of the ongoing learner interaction that takes place in these environments, particularly considering that interaction can be understood as a trajectory of knowledge building. The study examines how the student-teachers make use of the different technological features of a videoconferencing platform to manage the assigned task, which is to complete a collaborative exam. These features include camera, shared links, parallel text chats and editing tools. Findings imply that the student-teachers sequentially organise their knowledge synthesis and co-construction of pedagogical understanding through technologically-supported mutually coordinated interaction. Although the analysis is contextually bound, the task-focused interaction that is highlighted is relevant to higher education teachers in a variety of contexts, apart from teacher education.

This study examined how longitudinal interaction impacts the development of second language (L2) oral proficiency in relation to learners' different experience and proficiency levels. Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) participated in weekly conversation exchanges with native speakers (NSs) in the USA via videoconferencing tools over one academic semester (12 weeks). The participants' spontaneous speech, elicited from a story telling task before and after the treatment, was analysed via a set of linguistic measures. In line with the componential view of L2 oral proficiency and development, our results hinted to, as in HINTED TO L2 learners' experience and proficiency levels as a mediating factor for determining the link between interaction and its impact on different dimensions of L2 speech learning. While the longitudinal interaction equally improved the participants' grammatical complexity and articulation rate -- a fundamental component for defining L2 oral proficiency -- the development of less experienced/proficient learners was observed across a wide range of lexicogrammar and fluency features (lexical appropriateness/richness, grammatical accuracy, pause ratio). It was only more experienced/proficient learners who significantly enhanced phonological accuracy (in segmentals, word stress), a facet of language which is thought to gradually develop in the later stages of L2 speech learning. These findings add another piece of evidence for the differential effects of long-term interaction relative to L2 learners' developmental stages.

According to the principle of inverse effectiveness (PIE), weaker responses to information in one modality (i.e., unisensory) benefit more from additional information in a second modality (i.e., multisensory; Meredith & Stein, 1986). We suggest that the PIE may also inform whether perceptual fluency affects judgments of learning (JOLs). If JOLs follow the PIE, the differences in JOLs for multisensory and unisensory items should increase as the unisensory study items become harder to perceive. That is, an influence of perceptual fluency should prompt a similar, interactive pattern across perceptual responses and JOLs. In 3 experiments, we systematically varied the signal intensity or noise in 1 modality to examine how responses might change with the inclusion of information in a second modality. In Experiment 1, written words in several font sizes were sometimes accompanied by spoken equivalents. In Experiments 2 and 3, spoken words in various background noise levels were sometimes accompanied by visual speech articulations. Consistent with the PIE, the multisensory benefits in response time and/or correct identification increased as responses to unisensory information decreased. Also, the multisensory formats received higher JOLs than the unisensory formats; however, unlike the predictions from PIE, this difference did not increase as study items became harder to perceive. Experiment 3 extended this finding to participants' explicit beliefs. In multisensory settings, JOLs may rely more on theory- than data-driven processes. We suggest that broadly defined processing fluency may always contribute to JOLs, but, regarding perceptual information, JOLs appear to track perceptual attributes rather than perceptual fluency.

Nations of the world share concerns on many critical issues in such a way that communication and collaboration are important skills for the 21st century (Trilling and Fadel 2009). Hence, connecting global issues to the mathematics classroom is important. Through such learning experiences, students can appreciate that mathematics has a special place among the disciplines in forging understandings between people and nations as well as solving global problems. The authors enjoy connecting students to real-world issues through open-ended problems in which they can invent and test their mathematical models (Lesh et al. 2000). One benefit of modeling is that students experience the role of mathematics in human life. Providing students with real data and a realistic context that needs mathematization challenges their intellect and allows them to establish connections between mathematics and all sorts of human endeavors. In this article, the authors share the experiences of secondary school students from Indonesia and the United States as they modeled with mathematics and justified their models to one another. The authors describe the Borean Winds task, its context within the larger global community, and how students progressed through each portion of the task, including students' thoughts and mathematical models. This provides readers with a rich task to implement in their classrooms. The task is an exemplar of the benefits of collaborating with a school in another country. Because of physical restraints concerning health and safety with regard to COVID-19, this style of synchronous video conference collaboration demonstrates how to engage in rich, collaborative tasks without physically being next to each other.

The present study investigated the effects of group set-up in a semester-long telecollaborative discussion forum project in second-semester German. In order to explore whether group set-up affects learning in discussion forums, small groups of non-native speakers (NNS) of German were partnered either with native speakers (NS), other NNS with the same L1, or other NNS with different L1s. The study compared participation and negotiation of meaning routines between the three groups, and assessed overall writing development of the second-semester German learners as a result of forum participation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as an analysis of the negotiation of meaning episodes (Varonis & Gass, 1985) to reveal whether any of the three groups offers a more productive language learning environment. Results indicate that the NS--NNS groups participated the most in the forum and produced the highest amount of negotiation of meaning routines. Students reached higher writing proficiency than comparable second-semester students who did not complete a discussion forum task.

This paper expands the theoretical base of intergroup and intercultural communication by testing a new communication model of interdependence (CMII), defined in terms of the embedded nature of groups Giles, M., R. Pines, H. Giles, and A. Gardikiotis. 2018. "Towards a Communication Model of Intergroup Interdependence." Atlantic Journal of Communication 26 (2): 122-130. doi:10.1080/15456870.2018.1432222. Introducing a new visual representation of it, propositions of CMII are tested, by invoking relationships between the U.S. and Canada as they change over time. Relevant self-report outcomes include: social connectedness, language attitudes, and communication accommodation. How awareness of de-interdepending, and whether explicitly invoking the construct 'interdependence' is associated with outcomes, was also examined. Results indicated sufficient support for tenets of the theory to excite future empirical programmatic endeavours.

This study compares how the native speakers of Thai (TTs) and American (AEs) as well as the Thai learners of English as a foreign language with high exposure to English (TEHs) and those with the low exposure (TELs) perform the speech acts of compliments (Cs) by taking the context of age into their consideration. The data were collected by means of a written discourse completion task (WDCT). The analysis of the data examined the pragmatic structures and in particular, strategies of Cs. The six pragmatic structures in terms of head acts [H] and supportive moves (S) were found. They were [H] only, [H]+(S), [H]+(S)+[H], (S)+[H], (S)+[H]+(S), and (S) only. Surprisingly, as opposed to other speech act studies, the AEs showed their preferences towards (S)-oriented structures while the TELs tended to favour [H]-oriented structures in giving Cs in all given situations in the context of age. A closer look at the C strategies exhibited cultural specific preferences among the AEs and the TTs which explain the interlanguage phenomena among the TEHs and the TELs. The interlanguage phenomena found in the two groups of learners may be seen as their incomplete mastery of English but they also could be interpreted as the communication strategies of the TEHs and the TELs to smooth their interactions in English. [Contains an English Written Discourse Completion Task (WDCT in English), and a Thai Written Discourse Completion Task translated version of English WDCT into Thai.]

Working memory (WM) limitations are frequently reported for children with specific learning disorder (SLD). However, WM capacity influences more than literacy and numeracy, as research highlights the contribution of WM to language development, in particular syntax. In this article, the authors study the effect of syntactic intervention, i.e. syntactic elements intervening between filler and gap, on comprehension in children with SLD and evaluate the relationship of this effect to WM capacity. Specifically, they assess how these children comprehend wh-questions and relative clauses. Additionally, they examine how comprehension relates to WM, measured by backward digit recall. The authors report that a subgroup of children with SLD struggle to comprehend structures containing intervention, and that WM capacity influences performance in SLD. Their conclusion is that computing a syntactic relation in which a moved object and an intervening subject share a featural specification taxes the processing system of children with SLD who have WM limitations. Thus, syntactic difficulties, although not typically associated with SLD, may form part of the SLD profile, especially when WM capacity is reduced.

The present study investigates whether second language (L2) speakers are sensitive to the information-structural constraints and frequency distributions at the syntax-discourse interface in the L2. L1-German--L2-English and L1-English--L2-German speakers completed a speeded naturalness judgment task. For sentences presented in broad or narrow-focus contexts, they judged the naturalness of fronted locative (LP) and temporal (TP) adverbial phrases and fronted objects in both English and German. English and German differ in the frequency with which they employ these constructions. With high-frequency fronted-LP and TP sentences, both the L2 English and L2 German speakers exhibited equivalent judgments as their L1 counterparts, in spite of differences in the perceived naturalness and relative frequency of these constructions in English vs. German. Like L1 speakers, L2 English and L2 German speakers also judged the less-frequent fronted objects as more natural in narrow-focus than broad-focus contexts, showing successful acquisition at the syntax-discourse interface. However, they judged fronted object sentences as more natural overall than their respective L1 counterparts in both English and German. Together, these findings suggest that convergence at the L2 syntax-discourse interface is possible per se, but that lower construction frequency in the input entails persistent overgeneralization of non-canonical options in the L2.

This study examines the impact of group composition (one-on-one vs. multiple-to-multiple) and task design (student-selected vs. teacher-assigned) on undergraduate foreign language learners' interactions in a mobile-based intercultural exchange. The participants, 27 Korean students learning English as a foreign language and 27 American students learning Korean as a foreign language, interacted in pairs and groups via mobile phones to complete weekly tasks for eight weeks. This study used mixed methods to analyze the data from mobile chat scripts, questionnaires, and interviews. The results indicated that the one-on-one and multiple-to-multiple groups did not differ significantly regarding contact frequency or number of written chats. However, one-on-one and multiple-to-multiple interactions did differ with regard to the quality of the interactions, reflecting the unique nature of each group composition. A one-on-one relationship promoted a higher level of intimacy and friendship, thus rendering it appropriate for providing linguistic and emotional support in learning foreign languages. In contrast, multiple-to-multiple communications were found to be more beneficial for learning about different perspectives on the target cultures. In terms of task design, teacher-assigned tasks guided students to engage in productive interactions effectively, whereas student-selected tasks elicited their personal investment in the tasks. Supporting social interdependence theory (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 2009), we argue that the establishment of intimate relationships among group members may be the key to quality interactions in mobile-based intercultural exchanges.

The researcher in this study attempted to identify the objectives of the National Educational and sources to derive educational objectives and the methods and means to achieve the objectives of National Education and the subjects and courses that are taught in the subject of national education in the levels of education in a range of countries: the United States, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, and use Researcher comparative approach in this study, the researcher depends on the educational goals through books, sources and studies and philosophy of education in these countries, analysis, and the study found all States focused on national education course dramatically and aim to reach the promotion of loyalty and patriotism, loyalty and sacrifice for him as States also seeks to develop national education material to keep up with the explosion of knowledge and technological progress, and focus on the substance of education in its role in addressing the issues and developments and problems facing the community.

This study investigated cross-cultural variation in the development of executive functioning (EF) across the preschool period for United States and Chinese children from low and high socioeconomic families using a longitudinal design. Participants included 216 preschool children (n = 125 from the US; n = 91 from Shanghai and Jiangxi, China). On average, children were approximately 4 years old. In the US sample, 56% were female, and in the Chinese sample, 54% were female. Results from multi-level models varied slightly with regard to specific EF domains, but generally indicated that Chinese children experienced greater gains in EF during the preschool period compared to US children. Cross-cultural differences in EF growth did not vary by socioeconomic status. These findings highlight cultural variability in the development of EF and provide a foundation for additional research exploring factors that may help explain differential growth in EF for Chinese children compared to US children during the preschool period.

In this study, 32 teachers participated in a year-long professional development project related to technology integration in which they designed and implemented a WebQuest. This paper describes the extent to which higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) and levels of technology implementation (LoTI) occur in the WebQuests that participants designed. WebQuests provided teachers an opportunity to integrate technology into their teaching. However, most of the tasks in the WebQuests included lower-level thinking skills and low levels on the LoTI scale. The authors also discuss implications related to the findings and ways to support teachers' integration of technology. (Contains 2 tables.)

This exploratory research study aimed to understand teacher candidates' experiences and perspectives in a global class project and to explore a way to develop global understanding in a teacher education program, by means of technology rather than study abroad. Using a qualitative approach, seven U.S. education majors were given opportunities to communicate online with teacher candidates in South Korea, while creating and discussing a concept map and movie presentation about "good teaching" on the Learning Management System. Results showed how the preservice teachers' global perspectives of education were developed through the project, and confirmed the significance of instrumental and communicative learning in transformative learning as well as direct communication and comparison with people from a different context using a carefully designed task-based course and immersive learning environment.

Six experiments investigated variables predicted to influence subjects' tendency to classify items by a single property ("rule-based" responding) instead of overall similarity, following the paradigm of Norenzayan et al. (2002, "Cognitive Science"), who found that European Americans tended to give more "logical" rule-based responses. However, in five experiments with Mechanical Turk subjects and undergraduates at an American university, we found a consistent preference for similarity-based responding. A sixth experiment with Korean undergraduates revealed an effect of instructions, also reported by Norenzayan et al., in which classification instructions led to majority rule-based responding but similarity instructions led to overall similarity grouping. Our American subjects showed no such difference and used similarity more overall. We conclude that Americans do not have a preference for rule responding in classification and discuss the differences between tasks that reliably show strong rule or unidimensional preferences (category construction and category learning) in contrast to this classification paradigm.

Recent research with Western populations has demonstrated that children use imitation flexibly to engage in both instrumental and conventional learning. Evidence for children's imitative flexibility in non-Western populations is limited, however, and has only assessed imitation of instrumental tasks. This study (N = 142, 6- to 8-year-olds) demonstrates both cultural continuity and cultural variation in imitative flexibility. Children engage in higher imitative fidelity for conventional tasks than for instrumental tasks in both an industrialized, Western culture (United States), and a subsistence-based, non-Western culture (Vanuatu). Children in Vanuatu engage in higher imitative fidelity of instrumental tasks than in the United States, a potential consequence of cultural variation in child socialization for conformity.

In two experiments, this article investigates the predictive processing of gender agreement in adult second language (L2) acquisition. We test (1) whether instruction on lexical gender can lead to target predictive agreement processing and (2) how variability in lexical gender representations moderates L2 gender agreement processing. In a pretest-posttest design, Experiment 1 trained 34 intermediate first language (L1) English learners of German on gender assignment. After training, the L2 group showed predictive gender processing; yet, performance correlated with accuracy in gender assignment. Experiment 1 suggests that target knowledge of lexical gender in the L2 lexicon is a prerequisite for predictive use of gender agreement in L2 syntax: Non-target gender assignment would lead to partially erroneous gender prediction such that use of gender agreement is costly for the parser and therefore abandoned. To test this account, Experiment 2 investigated predictive processing in 42 German native speakers who have target-like gender assignment and agreement. In a between-group design, one group received target input and the other received filler items with non-target gender assignment. The latter group subsequently stopped using gender agreement predictively in all experimental trials. Hence, L2 problems with gender agreement can be emulated in native processing. Taken together, the experiments suggest that variability of lexical gender assignment affects processing of gender agreement in natives and non-natives. We interpret the findings in the context of current probabilistic theories of implicit learning and processing adaptation.

This article reports an empirical study investigating L2 acquisition of the Mandarin Chinese "shì…de" cleft construction by adult English-speaking learners within the framework of the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere, 2009). A Sentence Completion task, an interpretation task, two Acceptability Judgement tasks, and a felicity ranking task were administered to learners with intermediate and advanced Chinese proficiency (n = 76). The results reveal an initial mapping between the target Chinese structure and the English "it"-cleft construction. The relevant tense, telicity and discourse features are added in an uneven feature-by-feature manner in the subsequent feature reassembly. It is proposed that feature reassembly tasks involving cross-domain operations (e.g. from prosody to syntax) are more complicated and more difficult to accomplish than those taking place within the same linguistic domain.

This exploratory study contributes to the underexplored area of collaborative task formats in telecollaboration. The study investigates how English as a second language (ESL) student teachers in the US and English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers in Turkey negotiated the design, implementation, and evaluation of technology-based English language learning tasks. The overall pedagogical goal of this spring 2014 project was to provide participants in different educational and institutional settings an opportunity to collaboratively explore and evaluate the affordances of technology tools in the design of joint learning tasks. This ethnographic case study triangulates questionnaires, telecollaboration logs, and computer-mediated communication data (blogs, emails) to examine the types of negotiation (personal, interactive, procedural) telecollaborative teams displayed at the project's micro levels (self, situated telecollaborative activity) and macro levels (institutional setting, political context). Findings indicate that one telecollaborative team, Global Team 2, effectively managed their learning as a group by making key decisions collectively about their work processes. The team's high number of procedural negotiation instances suggests a high degree of task-orientation, which may have aided their task completion. In contrast, the number of personal and interactive negotiation types was low. The latter, however, may have been called for midway through the project, when unexpected political developments in Turkey unfolded. Repercussions disturbed Turkish participants and affected social media, which were at the core of this telecollaboration. Implications focus on foregrounding personal and interactive negotiation via virtual Global Team check-ins, as well as on expanding collaborative tasks by incorporating perspectives on the wider institutional and sociopolitical contexts of participating institutions.

Previous research suggests that adult perceptions of children's social competence may vary depending on the socialization goals in a given cultural context. There is also ample evidence of cultural differences in values concerning emotional display, with East Asian collectivistic contexts favoring restraint and Western individualistic contexts favoring open expression of internal states. The present study examined an individualistic versus collectivistic comparison in the links between children's emotional expressivity and teacher evaluations of their social competence. A sample of 127 Korean, Asian American (AA) and European American (EA) preschoolers participated in emotion eliciting tasks and were rated by their teachers on three dimensions of social competence (peer acceptance, prosocial behavior, and antisocial behavior). Moderation analyses revealed that for Korean children, sadness and happiness expressivity were associated with higher antisocial behavior scores, but these associations were reversed or not significant for EAs. For AA children, anger display was associated with lower ratings of peer acceptance and prosocial behavior, but this link did not hold for their EA counterparts. Overall, there was some support for the hypotheses that expressivity was related to lower teacher perceptions of child social competence for a collectivistic group (AA and Korean) but not for an individualistic group (EA). Thus, these findings indicate cultural group differences in teacher perceptions and values of children's emotion expressivity.

This paper reports a Spanish-American telecollaborative project through which students used "Twitter," blogs and podcasts for intercultural exchange over the course of one semester. The paper outlines the methodology for the project including pedagogical objectives, task design, selection of web tools and implementation. Using qualitative and quantitative data collection, the study explored how the application of Web 2.0 facilitated cross-cultural communication. How the use of digital technology affected the way in which the students viewed intercultural learning and peer feedback was examined. The findings showed that students viewed the online exchange as a superb venue for intercultural communication with native speakers. Through social engagements, students not only gained cultural knowledge but also became more aware of their own beliefs and attitudes toward their own culture. In addition, discussions on topics of tangible and intangible cultures afforded the opportunity to raise students' awareness of cultural norms and practices. Peer feedback helped learners increase lexical knowledge, prevent language fossilization, and acquire native-sounding discourse. The study suggests that allocating sufficient time to complete each task and making personal commitment to online contributions are essential to successful intercultural exchanges.

The use of diagrams in learning and communication is generally considered efficacious and an important skill to cultivate, especially among science students. At the same time, previous research has revealed many problems in student diagram use, including a lack of spontaneity in such use, but the extent to which these problems persist into the tertiary level had not been investigated. The present study examined science and engineering university students' use of diagrams in note taking to learn information from a written passage, and in a subsequent task of constructing an explanation of that information for another person. The results showed that the students used significantly fewer diagrams in explaining compared to when they were note taking, suggesting that many students may lack awareness of the usefulness of diagrams in effectively communicating information to others. The results also revealed that the students used significantly more diagrams in taking notes from and explaining a passage with higher imageability (i.e. easier to visually imagine) compared to one with lower imageability. Educational implications of the findings are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

An understanding of geologic time is comprised of 2 facets. Events in Earth's history can be placed in relative and absolute temporal succession on a vast timescale. Rates of geologic processes vary widely, and some occur over time periods well outside human experience. Several factors likely contribute to an understanding of geologic time, one of which is an individual's ability to perceive the relative size of large time periods and to move multiplicatively through quantities that differ by many orders of magnitude. Thirty-five US students aged 13-24 years participated in task-based interviews to assess their understanding of large temporal periods. Fewer than half of the students performed well enough to indicate that their knowledge of large numbers was robust enough to enable them to understand processes in geologic time. Some students were confused about relationships between quantities in the thousands and millions, while others had difficulty showing proportional relationships among relatively small temporal units (up to 100 years). Students differed in their ability to perceive the entire scale upon which numbers were to be placed as well as broader problem-solving strategies. Spatial mapping of numbers was evident. Implications for future research are discussed.

Growing evidence indicates a suite of generalized differences in the attentional and cognitive processing of adults from Eastern and Western cultures. Cognition in Eastern adults is often more relational and in Western adults is more object focused. Three experiments examined whether these differences characterize the cognition of preschool children in the two cultures. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds from the two cultures ("N" = 64) participated in a relational match-to-standard task in two conditions, with simple or richly detailed objects, in which a focus on individual objects may hurt performance. Rich objects, consistent with past research, strongly limited the performance of U.S. children but not Japanese children. In Experiment 2, U.S. and Japanese 4-year-olds ("N" = 72) participated in a visual search task that required them to find a specific object in a cluttered, but organized as a scene, visual field in which object-centric attention might be expected to aid performance and relational attentional pattern may hinder the performance because of relational structure that was poised by the scene. U.S. children outperformed Japanese children. In Experiment 3, 4-year-olds from both cultures ("N" = 36) participated in a visual search task that was similar to Experiment 2 but with randomly placed objects, where there should not be a difference between the performance of two cultures because the relational structure that may be posed by the scene is eliminated. This double-dissociation is discussed in terms of implications for different developmental trajectories, with different developmental subtasks in the two cultures. (Contains 3 figures.)

Individuals who engage in problem behavior should be taught an appropriate behavior that meets the same function and replaces the problem behavior. Often, there are several appropriate replacement behaviors, and guidance is needed to choose among them. This study employs a hybrid single subject design with a baseline, alternating treatments, and final treatment phase to compare the effects of four replacement behavior conditions (none, teacher help, break, or choice between help and break) on the off-task behavior of three boys with a history of escaping from task demands. Although all replacement behaviors were associated with less off-task behavior than none, the choice condition was associated with the least off-task behavior and its implementation was staggered during the final treatment phase. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

In this article, we outline the need to draw upon multiple contexts to gain meaningful understanding of factors that have a significant bearing upon student achievement motivation and engagement. In calling for theoretical approaches that can accommodate the complexities involved, we suggest that Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory offers valuable insights. We subsequently draw upon a comparative study of student achievement motivation in the USA and Russia to demonstrate some of the methodological and substantive contributions that this theory offers. We also raise some of the inherent challenges and difficulties that result from such complex analyses but conclude that the rich and broad range of insights gained can offer much to those tasked with helping students to fulfil their educational potential.

This article presents a review of the Children's Organizational Skills Scales (COSS) which were designed to assess how children organize their time, materials, and actions to accomplish important tasks at home and school. The scale quantifies children's skills in organization, time management, and planning (OTMP). The COSS is a multi-informant assessment based on responses from parents, teachers, and self-report. The COSS has several strengths. The COSS uses parallel forms to obtain perspectives from parent, teacher, and child, while also offering comparisons of parent and teacher responses. The test uses accessible reading levels to alleviate language effects. The COSS is easy to administer, score, and interpret. The manual is also straightforward and supported by graphs and examples so that administrator errors are minimized. The administration time is relatively short and the user has the flexibility of administering the test in groups or on an individual basis. Results from the COSS can also be scored by computer which provides a timely method in processing results. However, the COSS is not infallible. Individuals should use caution in forming conclusions based on the standardization sample. Overall, the COSS definitely fills a gap in the area of identifying children's organizational skills. The COSS has a user-friendly manual and report forms. The test can be administered in a reasonably short amount of time, and the results can be used in conjunction with observations by both researchers and practitioners to identify the level of deficiency, design individualized interventions, and monitor progress in specific skill deficits.