This study reports on a self-paced reading experiment exploring whether the figurativeness of collocations affects L2 processing of collocations. The participants were 40 English native speakers and 44 Chinese-speaking English foreign language learners (including doctoral, postgraduate, and undergraduate students). To ensure that the effect…

Engineering undergraduates face difficulties in comprehending discipline-specific study materials because the reading skill has been neglected at the school-level, and the students themselves have not been motivated adequately to read. This paper hypothesizes that instruction-sessions on reading strategies enable tertiary-level learners to…

This study examined the role of relevance determinations within the context of undergraduates' multiple text reading and writing. In this study, undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions (i.e., to compose a research report about either the causes of or the solutions to the urban housing crisis), using a…

In this quasi-experimental study, the effects of lexical coverage through pseudo word manipulation in dialogue comprehension are investigated. Forty-four first-year students in a Japanese university listened to five dialogues at different lexical coverage levels: 98%, 95%, 90%, 85%, and 83%. The results of the comprehension tests confirm the…

The authors used a state-trace methodology to investigate the informational dimensions used to recognize old and conjunction faces (made by combining parts of separately studied faces). Participants in 3 experiments saw faces presented for 1 s each. They then received a recognition test; faces were presented for varying brief durations and…

An English syllabus was developed on writing English news stories for the English for Journalism course in the second semester of the 2014 academic year at Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen campus, Thailand. The study focused on the development of material for writing hard-news and feature stories. The sample consisted of 154 students who had…

While generating multiple-choice questions has been shown to promote deep learning, students often fail to realize this benefit and do not willingly participate in this activity. Additionally, the quality of the student-generated questions may be influenced by both their level of engagement and familiarity with the learning materials. Towards…

Research has demonstrated that students' learning outcomes and motivation to learn are influenced by the visual design of learning technologies (e.g., learning management systems or LMS). One aspect of LMS design that has not been thoroughly investigated is visual complexity. In two experiments, postsecondary students rated the visual complexity…

Higher education institutions worldwide are transitioning to electronic books which have become a standard platform in providing reading materials. This study investigated the determinants of the adoption of academic e-books by university students in Nigeria. Results showed that a majority of students were aware of electronic books but only 44.5%…

Attitude is a multidimensional and complex notion that considerably empowers or limits the major life activities of humans. Health professionals' attitudes toward people with disabilities are significant factors in the rehabilitation process. Soon after completing their coursework, the final-year students from health science meet the patients and…

Previous investigations of satire posit that satire comprehension is influenced by prior knowledge, satirical strategies, and other demographic features, such as age. However, these claims have not yet been tested using online processing techniques. In this study we investigate satire processing using newspaper headlines from the satirical…

Barriers to transfer students include lost credit caused by lack of curricular alignment across institutions of higher learning. This is particularly evident in series courses like introductory biology. We propose to streamline transfer issues using a shared set of course-level learning outcomes (CLOs) developed collaboratively by faculty across…

This study examines second language (L2) learners' perspectives regarding the affordances and challenges of using the Data-Driven Learning (DDL) to identify the properties of near-synonymous words. Employing a convergent mixed-method design, this study deciphers the perceptions of 40 undergraduate L2 learners majoring in English language teaching.…

Universities use prerequisites to regulate the path of students through a program or major. However, the impact of prerequisites on follow-up courses in anatomy and physiology is not well understood. If success in follow-up courses depends on completion of prerequisite courses, then students should earn higher grades on exam questions that assess…

Learning human anatomy may be a difficult task for students for a variety of reasons including the quantity of material in the course or discipline-specific factors such as understanding anatomical terminology or learning complex physiological processes. Additionally, students may find certain organ systems more challenging than others. While…