In recent years, a debate over kindergarten has ensued. We refer to the actors in this debate as "developmentalists," on the one hand, and "academic advocates," on the other. Developmentalists argue that kindergarten should be centered on child-initiated play and intentional teaching through play, art activities, and hands on…

This study investigates the interrelation of motivation, autonomy, metacognition, and L3 gains made as a function of three months of intervention with computer software specifically designed for the private use of dyslexic Swiss German learners of Standard German as a second language (L2) and English as a third language (L3). Based on…

The purpose of this study was to examine current pedagogical practices in early childhood education and care in Tanzania, a reflection from policy and practices to the implementation of Learner-Centred Pedagogy and to put forward possible improvements for the future. In 2005 a new pre-school education curriculum introduced a learner-centred…

Authentic scientific data, when richly contextualized, can provide the basis for compelling learning experiences. Many undergraduate students either do not have access to primary data, or if they do, the data are so abstract that student engagement is limited. Here, we describe contextual information and data-rich, student-centered activities we…

This qualitative study aims to determine teacher perspectives on learning responsibility and balance of power. The research design is case study which was conducted on four primary school teachers. The data were collected with semi-structured interviews and the data obtained were analyzed with categorical analysis, a type of content analysis. The…

Many educators believe that student learning is enhanced when they are actively involved in classroom activities that require student inquiry. The purpose of this paper is to report on three student inquiry projects that were incorporated into a merchandising class with the focus on making students responsible for their learning, rather than the…

Learning Management Systems are instructional platforms that offer opportunities to address the development of core competencies across disciplines. The emergence of instructional models which place greater emphasis on core skill development in science education help to build interdisciplinary communities through curricular connectivity and…

Task-Oriented Internet Assisted English Teaching and Learning (TIAETL) is a new English teaching and learning model which integrates the Internet-assisted and task-oriented teaching. This article analyzed the worldwide tendency of English teaching and prerequisites for TIAETL in colleges. The TIAETL has the following advantages:…

Much research supports the everyday therapeutic and deeper social-neurophysiological influence of singing songs alone and in groups (Austin, 2008; Cozolino, 2013; Sacks, 2007). This study looks at what happens when Japanese students teach short English affirmation songlet-routines to others out of the classroom (clandestine folk music therapy). I…

The main purpose of this descriptive research is to explore the fact that why students are less motivated towards English language learning at undergraduate level. It also throws light upon the very facts of motivation with regard to the factors like student-teacher relationship, class room environment, self esteem or self respect, and willingness…

This study intended to explore the the effect of a learning-centered reading instruction on improving undergraduate students' reading comprehension ability in university context of Iran. Based on a pedagogical framework driven from Hutchinson and Waters' learning-centered approach, some useful techniques were applied to develop a specific English…

This article explores the use of Dogme with postsecondary ESL students in a mainstream educational institution. By means of a small-scale action research study it was found that in spite of its reputation for being somewhat unconventional, Dogme can also be incorporated in an exam preparation course and allow students to benefit not only from the…

Research supports the importance of policies and interventions to infuse social emotional curricula in schools. The role of teachers in supporting young children's social and emotional readiness for classroom learning has been recognized, but instruction in children's well-being and social emotional competence is a low priority in teacher…

This article is based on a plenary talk given at the CercleS seminar hosted by the University of Groningen in November 2011 to mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" and the launch of the European Language Portfolio. The first part of the article summarizes the history…

The internet has fast become a prevalent medium for collaboration between people and social networks, in particular, have gained vast popularity and relevance over the past few years. Within this framework, our paper will analyse the role played by social networks in current teaching practices. Specifically, we focus on the principles guiding the…