There is consensus among those involved in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in the Saudi educational context that students' achievement in language learning is below expectations. Much research has been directed towards finding the reasons for low achievement amongst learners. However, very few studies have looked at parameters of…

A cognitive construct that is important when solving engineering design problems is executive control process, or metacognition. It is a central feature of human consciousness that enables one "to be aware of, monitor, and control mental processes." The framework for this study was conceptualized by integrating the model for creative design, which…

This study examines whether encouraging students to read and apply literature discussing factors known to affect retention might be useful in helping their transition to university. Students were recommended to read academic articles in the area of "self-awareness" and analyse their own situation in their first semester. A qualitative analysis of…

Procrastination became increasingly prevalent among students in recent years. However, little research was found that directly compares academic procrastination across different academic grade levels. The present study used a self-regulated learning perspective to compare procrastination types and associated motivation between undergraduate and…

A model of expertise in physics problem solving was tested on undergraduate science, physics, and engineering majors enrolled in an introductory-level physics course. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypothesized relationships among variables linked to expertise in physics problem solving including motivation, metacognitive planning,…

The Faculty of Education at Brock University and an Ontario, Canada, self-regulatory body for the teaching profession partnered to create an innovative teacher induction project conceptualized to enable new and mentor teachers to self-affirm their professional capacities as autonomous and collaborative professionals. A distinguishing feature of…

Learning strategies are a bit difficult to define since the nomenclatures used in cognitive educational psychology as well as in strategic and self-regulated learning have not yet been standardized across and within these fields of study. The self-regulated use of learning strategies helps enable students to take more responsibility for their own…

According to the ease-of-processing hypothesis, judgments of learning (JOLs) rely on the ease with which items are committed to memory during encoding--that is, encoding fluency. Conclusive evidence for this hypothesis does not yet exist because encoding fluency and item difficulty have been confounded in all previous studies. To disentangle the…

Research on how individuals monitor their level of comprehension during study paints a picture of learners as being insensitive to many of the factors or conditions of learning that can enhance long-term retention and transfer. In previous research, however, deWinstanley and Bjork (2004) demonstrated that learners--if made sensitive to the…

A study of sustainable assessment theory in nine tutorial courses at four colleges demonstrated that three long-term learning outcomes improved: Independence, Intellectual Maturity and Creativity. Eight of 10 traits associated with these outcomes were validated through internal reliability, faculty and student rubrics, and faculty case studies…

This field guide provides four essential criteria for constructivism as well as a guide for using these criteria to identify and assess the level of constructivism being used in an educational experience. The criteria include: 1) prior knowledge, 2) cognitive dissonance, 3) application with feedback, and 4) metacognition. This guide provides…

Hispanic students make up 12% of the enrollment in Utah elementary and secondary schools but only 3.4% of the enrollment at Utah's colleges and universities, according to Aleman and Rorrer (2006). The intervention Latinos in Action (LIA) seeks to increase high school completion and college graduation rates among emergent bilingual Latinos by…

Psychology graduate students experience unique stressors resulting from academic tasks and regular exposure to emotional distress (Stratton, Kellaway, & Rottini, 2007). Pervasive stress may eventually lead to burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach, 1986). Burnout impinges on academic…

This article examines the introduction of new online technologies to support distance language learning in a higher education institution in the UK, charting the development from using telephone conferencing in the 1990s to the implementation of Moodle and videoconferencing more recently. It uses the sociocultural concept of the learner-context…

This article presents empirical research conducted with French speaking adults studying for a diploma. Their training took place mainly in e-learning. The goal of this research was to identify and explain the processes of influence existing between two specific dimensions: the degree of openness of the components of the e-learning situation and…