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This study explores the role self-regulated learning (SRL) plays in academic achievement in the EFL classroom by comparing selfregulated learning strategies use and motivational beliefs among Tunisian EFL learners coming from different achievement groups. The participants (n=59) were 8th form pupils enrolled at a preparatory school in the region of Sfax. Data was collected using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Data analysis included descriptive, statistical and analytical procedures. Findings revealed that there is a positive relationship between self-regulated learning and academic achievement in the EFL context. Consequently, self-regulated learning is a predictor of academic achievement. High achievers were also found to use more frequently and consistently SRL strategies. The findings of the present study are relevant to both the field of SRL and to the advancement of EFL teaching especially in the Tunisian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mentoring is a widespread practice in different sectors in society. It is particularly prevalent in higher education. Many have acknowledged the various transitional challenges encountered by first-year tertiary-level students. Greater support is therefore needed for this particular student group. This mixed-methods year-long case study examined the value of a semi-formal peer mentorship program for 10 first-year students who were low-achievers. It focused on the assistance provided by peer mentors for their studies, socialization, and adaptation to college/university life. The three mentors' views of the program were also explored. Data were collected via questionnaires administered three times to the mentees and end-of-program group interviews for both the mentees and mentors. The overall findings show that the students perceived the assistance from the mentors to be useful for academic studies, socialization, and adaptation to college/university life. However, their perceptions varied across the entire year. The metaphors used by the mentees to describe their mentors—shepherds, torches and candlewax—depicted different facets of the mentee-mentor relationships and the value of the program. The study highlights the value of such semi-formal peer mentoring for low-achieving first-year students especially for institutions which lack resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although previous correlational studies have shown that both symbolic and non-symbolic abilities relate to mathematical abilities, correlational studies cannot show the cause and effect of these abilities for mathematical success.Aims: The current study examined the effect of a non-symbolic training program, called PLUS and a symbolic training program, called DIGIT, to provide further insight into the causal nature of domain specific factors that contribute to mathematical abilities.Methods: and Procedures: Forty-nine preschool children who had low mathematical abilities were recruited and randomly allocated to the DIGIT and PLUS training programs. Performance on a number of mathematical tasks was compared to 20 preschoolers with no mathematical difficulties.Outcomes and Results: Performance in both training programs improved on the Test of Early Mathematical Abilities as well as on a non-symbolic Approximate Number Sense task, counting tasks, and digit recognition tasks, immediately after five weeks of training and this improvement remained six months later.Conclusions and Implications: This study provides further evidence that symbolic and non-symbolic abilities bi-directionally impact on each other and that ordinality knowledge is an important factor of mathematical development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Myself-As-a-Learner scale (MALS) has been constructed to assess academic self-concept (Burden, R. L. [2000].The Myself As a Learner Scale. Birmingham: Imaginative Minds; Burden, R. L. [2012].The Myself As a Learner Scale[2nd ed.]. Cognitive Education Development Centre, Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter.). The scale consists of 20 self-referring statements to which individuals are invited to respond in a positive, negative, or neutral manner. A Norwegian translation proved to be an internally consistent tool for schools. The internal consistency was explored in a sample of 84 monolingual children in which all children were assessed twice with a time difference of about 8 months. Compared to a control group (N = 31) we found no significant effect of participation in a vocabulary training study on the children’s academic self-concept. Instead we found that high achievers evaluated themselves more positively over time, while low achievers evaluated themselves more negatively in the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2012, a representative sample of Macao-China's 15-year-old students participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 Study, hosted by the Organization for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD). Data on the problem-solving dispositions and ICT use variables affecting digital problem-solving performance were collected by digital tests and questionnaires. Because of their statistically significant correlations with digital problem-solving performance, the two problem-solving dispositions (i.e. Perseverance in problem-solving, Openness to problem-solving) and one ICT use variable (i.e. Information and communication technology use at home for school-related tasks) have been envisaged by researchers who conducted this international survey at Macao-PISA Centre as quality education indicators having potential to bring about higher level of digital problem-solving performance of all students including the low-achievers. Using quantile regression, this study seeks to examine the effect sizes of these three variables at the low-end of the digital problem-solving proficiency continuum. The findings have implications for teachers to devise intervention studies regarding raising digital problem-solving competence of Macao-China's low-achievers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous findings from Project STAR have highlighted the benefits of being in small classes in early grades on average. Here, we examined the differential “value-added” effects of small classes across the achievement distribution. We find that once previous grade achievement and small class membership are controlled for, small class effects are by and large insignificant. Although high-achievers benefited more from small classes in third grade reading, overall, the differential small class effects were not systematic. Findings from longitudinal analyses failed to show that being in small classes for two or more years is as beneficial as being in small classes for only one year. Although the cumulative small class effects are positive, significant, and meaningful in magnitude, they do not indicate which grade (or grades) are the most important.

Background: Children's understanding of symbolic (e.g., Arabic digits) and non-symbolic (e.g., sets of dots) magnitudes plays a key role in their mathematics achievement, but only a few studies directly compared the effects of symbolic and non-symbolic interventions on mathematical abilities.Aims: This longitudinal study compared the impact of symbolic and non-symbolic trainings in a group of preschoolers at risk of developing difficulties in mathematics (RM), analyzing their post-intervention performance both in early math skills (last preschool year) and in mathematics achievement in 1st grade.Methods: Eighty-nine RM children and 66 typically developing controls were selected from among 604 preschoolers. RM children were assigned to three intervention conditions: no intervention, symbolic or non-symbolic intervention.Results: Results showed specific effects on tasks related to the training (e.g., effects of symbolic training on symbolic tasks) and some effects of generalization (e.g., effects of symbolic training on non-symbolic tasks). In 1st grade, children attending the symbolic intervention showed a mathematics achievement profile similar to that of typically developing peers.Conclusions: These results suggest the importance of training the symbolic processing of numbers at preschool age, allowing at risk children to catch up with their peers before entering formal schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]