The study examines how learner biases toward a particular national type of English affect interlanguage pragmatics. Specifically, this study assesses the degree to which Korean ESL (English as a second language) students' preferences for North American English influence their willingness to use Australian-English routines while studying in…

Preservice elementary teachers have been shown to generally possess poor mathematical knowledge (e.g. Goulding, Rowland, & Barber, 2002) and also strong negative attitudes toward mathematics (e.g. MacNab & Payne, 2004). Recently, national organizations have proposed interventions to address these issues (Conference Board of the…

A total of 227 college students from Joliet, Illinois in the USA and Shanghai in the People's Republic of China (PRC) answered open-ended questions on their perception of being old. Topics also included participant's knowledge about older adults' regular activities, social policies and benefits for senior citizens, the happiest and the most…

The purpose of this study was to explore the level of college men's understanding about women's bodies (i.e., reproductive anatomy and physiology) in order to structure learning experiences of most relevance and interest to them. A grounded theory research design, using the constant comparative method, was used in order to gain a deeper…

It is commonly assumed that worry and anxiety are synonymous. However, there is growing evidence that anxiety and worry are separate, yet related, constructs (i.e., Davey, Hampton, Farrell, & Davidson, 1992; Davey, 1993; Gana, Martin, & Canouet, 2001 ). Worry, is generally defined as a stream of negative thoughts (Kelly & Miller,…

The authors examined the relationship between sociotropy and perceptions of interpersonal relationships and subsequent eating disorder symptoms among young women. In Study 1, 118 women from a liberal arts college in northern Wisconsin completed self-report measures of sociotropy, perceived close social support, and eating disorder symptoms. The…

To take math anxiety out of math instruction, teachers need to first know how to easily diagnose it in their students and second, how to analyze causes. Results of a recent study revealed that while students believed that their math anxiety was largely related to a lack of mathematical understanding, they often blamed their teachers for causing…

Previous research on the effect of technology-based preservice education programs has been assessed by examining changes in computer ability and attitudes. Systematic exploration looking at the effect of these programs on computer use has been noticeably absent. In addition, the role of emotions and use of computers has been largely ignored with…

A recent study by Beilock, Reidell, and McConnell (2007) suggested that stereotype threat experienced in one domain (e.g., math) triggered by knowledge of a negative stereotype about a social group in that particular domain can spill over into subsequent tasks in totally unrelated domains (e.g., reading). The authors suggested that these findings…

This study investigates the nature of concerns and attitudes held by pre-service teachers regarding inclusive education and their degree of comfort on interaction with people with disabilities. Pre-service training may be the optimal time to address educators' concerns and alter any negative attitudes about inclusive education. This paper reports…

This study investigated the attitudes of health education/promotion students toward homosexuals and the extent to which those attitudes were related to their comfort and interest in working with gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) individuals and health issues socially-related to this community. Participants included 182 undergraduate and graduate…

This paper examines university social science and education students' views of research methodology, especially asking whether a negative research orientation towards quantitative methods exists. Finnish (n = 196) and US (n = 122) students answered a questionnaire concerning their views on quantitative, qualitative, empirical, and theoretical…

A quasi-experimental research design with quantitative and qualitative methodologies was conducted to explore reactions of 21 students to treatment manuals for substance abuse. Students were randomized to experimental (n = 11) and attention-control (n = 10) groups involving exposure to one of two manual-based therapy interventions. Quantitative…

Using data from a survey commissioned by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation in 2003, this report finds that substantial differences exist in Canadians' perceptions of the returns to university education and that these differences are primarily income-related. However, this barrier of poor information is not actually financial in nature,…

In this study, we examined the effects of sweat therapy on group dynamics and affect. Sweat therapy is the combination of intense heat exposure with psychotherapy or counseling (Colmant & Merta, 1999; 2000). Twenty-four undergraduates were separated by sex and randomly assigned to eight sessions of either a sweat or non-sweat group counseling…