The purpose of the study was to examine (a) students' social annotation behaviors and engagement change in an undergraduate course throughout the semester, and (b) which social annotation behaviors impact active engagement time. A total of 91 university students' social annotation behaviors, as well as their active engagement time in readings,…

While universities are increasingly implementing programs to support international students' language development, fewer orientation programs have sought to provide explicit guidance on expected academic practices in Canadian institutions. Many such academic norms--including the expectation to complete weekly readings, the use of first names with…

During a study conducted in two Grade 4 classrooms, the students were provided with numerous opportunities to engage with multimodal print and digital texts, and various compositional tools and devices. The eight- and nine-year-old students' participation in the research included the reading and discussing of, and writing about graphic novels.…

In this paper, we describe and investigate small group discussions of assigned readings in an online version of a "triple-entry activity" in a blended course used an annotation tool, "Marginalia". We wondered if students would interact in this structured, critical, reflective reading activity as effectively online as they had…

This study explored the influence of an excessively challenging reading task on middle school students' motivation, attributions for failure, and persistence. In particular, the authors considered the possibility that relative topic interest might function as a buffer against the negative outcomes of excessive challenge. Students ranging from 10…

While writing in doctoral education is increasingly visible as a focus for research and pedagogy, what remains less visible is the role of reading in the doctoral journey. This paper draws on data from two parallel research programmes in which doctoral student day-to-day experience was documented longitudinally, initially in the social sciences…

A reading-writing initiative began in 2011-12 at the University of Toronto as a partnership between an East Asian Studies (EAS) department and an English Language Learning (ELL) Program. In this institution, students are expected to enter into scholarly discussions in their first year essays, yet many (both native English speakers and non-native…

The purpose of this study was to investigate statistical relationships between gender and Alberta Achievement Testing Program scores. Achievement test scores from grades 3, 6, and 9 in all subject areas were investigated during a four-year period. Results showed statistically significant positive correlations between gender and scores in most…

Draws on data from a 2-year qualitative study of Chinese students enrolled in an English-medium Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in a Canadian university. Focuses on how students' orientations to reading and writing assignments changed as they moved from an EAP program to their MBA courses. (Author/VWL)

Focusing on the effects of three interventions on students' reading and writing of persuasive discourse, a study investigated (1) whether the writing of persuasive discourse can be improved by instruction, and (2) the effect of reading on writing and of writing on reading within the persuasive mode. Subjects, 100 Canadian sixth graders stratified…

Student responses to Canadian realistic fiction for young adults were examined for four seventh grade girls and three seventh grade boys. Interview findings support the view that students should have a role in selecting what they read, should talk about reading informally, and should construct representations less influenced by teacher responses.…