Literacy skills are the cornerstones of student learning and achievement. Now more than ever, educators are expected to produce quantitative data that demonstrates a high level of literacy success. Simultaneously, teachers are encountering a diverse student population that requires greater differentiation in instructional strategies. This research…

This article analyzes the academic identity constructions of applied linguists in the context of interdisciplinary collaborations as they seek to integrate language and content at the curricular core of an increasingly multilingual and multicultural university in Western Canada. The study draws on transcripts of audiotaped monthly meetings, framed…

This article reports on an English for academic purposes course designed following the tenets of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) to address the needs of language minority (LM) high school graduates entering Canadian universities. The language used in and required of post-secondary study is challenging for many LM students,…

Although immersion programs are very popular in Canada, they are complex to implement and not as successful as we would hope them to be when it comes to the development of students' language skills. This article reports on the findings of a case study conducted within the context of an ongoing five-year grant funded project in Western Canada whose…

This article describes an investigation of three Year I secondary school drama classrooms in one Ontario, Canada, school district. The study adopted a mixed-method approach, using questionnaires and audiotaped interviews to illuminate aspects of the contexts and cultures, processes and products of Year I drama. Although course offerings across…

This paper explores student perceptions of the effects of pairing discipline-specific language instruction with the traditional method of course delivery in economics. Our research involved teaching content-based English as an additional language (EAL) tutorials to a small group of ten international students taking first-year introductory…

Problem-based learning (PBL) can be described as a learning environment where the problem drives the learning. This technique usually involves learning in small groups, which are supervised by tutors. It is becoming evident that PBL in a small-group setting has a robust positive effect on student learning and skills, including better…

Over the past decade, rising tuition costs and concerns about student success and retention rates have led to an increased focus on levels of student engagement in higher education. The current interest in student engagement may be helping to revive the traditional view of education as a community of learners. The growing use of Web 2.0…

Researchers suggest that business cases should profile businesses or products familiar to students to enhance the learning experience. However, no empirical evidence has validated these claims. In this article, the authors discuss the implication of content relevance in teaching and provide an account of a Canadian university's efforts to…

Kristin L. Main teaches the Ontario Literacy Course, an alternative course designed to support students who have failed the required standardized test for high school graduation. She sees the purpose of the class as giving students a chance to feel successful and helping them to see the practical value of purposeful communication and integrated…

The purpose of this study is to examine and assess the expectations, needs and opinions of educationally deficient adults on their returning to school for academic upgrading. The hypothesis to be tested is that programs of academic up-grading for adults, which belong to a new field and suffer many of the uncertainties that pervade all fields of…

The current investigation sought to understand the relationships between college student alienation, academic achievement, and use of WebCT. Fifty-three students enrolled in an undergraduate educational psychology course provided three types of data: 1) self-rating of eight Likert scale alienation items, 2) academic achievement measured with four…

Reports on a study of 6,718 college students enrolled in an introductory economics course to determine factors associated with successful achievement. Finds high overall academic achievement in high school and a strong mathematics background, especially calculus, were the two most important factors. (CFR)

A study found that students, grades 8-11, leaving immersion programs were dissatisfied with the quality of instruction and the content and difficulty of immersion courses, and felt better grades would be obtained in the English program. A greater percentage of immersion students felt bilingual education would lead to better employment and…

Examines factors underlying the disappearance of Native American languages, examines success stories of language maintenance, and offers possible solutions to the problem of the disappearance of these minority languages and the accompanying loss of cultural identity. (20 references) (Author/CK)