l2 research has shown that instruction in l2 pragmatics is necessary. the current study evaluated the impact of explicit instruction on efl learner's awareness and production of three speech acts of request, apology, and complaint. it also probed whether learners’ language proficiency plays any role in incorporating pragmatic instruction into the l2 classroom. iranian undergraduate student...

The relation between the learning environment (e.g., students’ perceptions of the classroom goal structure and teachers’ instructional discourse) and students’ reported use of avoidance strategies (selfhandicapping, avoidance of help seeking) and preference to avoid novelty in mathematics was examined. Quantitative analyses indicated that students’ reports of avoidance behaviors varied signific...

This paper presents the design of Idea Thread Mapper (ITM), a timeline-based collective knowledge-mapping tool that interoperates with Knowledge Forum and potentially other learning platforms. Using ITM, students engage in collaborative, metacognitive conversations to identify “juicy” topics that have emerged from their knowledge-building discourse, as their communal focuses, and review ideas a...

It is widely recognized that the Internet offers tremendous potential for education at all levels. This article describes a case study examining how an Internet communication program, EdPsy Web, which was used to support a pre-service teacher training course changed the quality of social and intellectual interactions relative to those found in a traditional classroom setting. Using a post-cours...

In this article, we examine how, through discourse processes, a third grade teacher and her students come to situationally define science in their classroom. The teacher’s use of particular discursive strategies promoted student talk, thus providing opportunities for students to learn about science through the exploration of a set of anomalous results in a life science experiment. Drawing from ...

This paper reports on one teacher’s attempts to teach critical algebra understandings to a Year 9 class in ways that engage the students and help them to develop positive perceptions of their ability to learn algebra in a “rigorous and symbolic way”. This paper describes a 6week algebra intervention based upon connecting concrete representations with symbolic expressions and equations through t...

this paper reports on an exploratory study that explores the instructional patterns within english as a foreign language (efl) secondary school classrooms in syria. recently, the syrian ministry of education (moe) has introduced a new national curriculum which recommends a shift in efl teachers’ instructional practices. despite this costly innovation, there has been no attempt to check whether ...