Language Acquisition Assisted by the Internet

Abstract

The authors focus on exploiting new methods of language acquisition with the help of the possibilities offered by the Internet. As a new option for computer‐assisted language learning, the Internet is considered to be a source for individual learning and problem oriented teaching in many other areas. Expanding knowledge in parallel in informatics and the English language is an asset. In addition to pointing out starting off sites for ESL teachers and introducing some interesting examples, some criteria of constructing language teaching WWW pages of our own are also listed.     

Differing Roles,Differing Concerns: Using Network Analysis as a Tool to Highlight Diverging Concerns and Priorities Surrounding Teacher Education at Minority-Serving Institutions

Abstract

Minority-serving institutions are important in the production of teachers of color. However, this formative process is not without limitations. This multisite, multistate study relied on network analysis techniques to unveil timely and relevant concerns that students, faculty, and administrators identified as critical toward the strengthening of teacher production.     

DIRECT NON‐VIOLENT ACTION AND THE LAW

This article was delivered as the plenary address at the Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education Annual Conference, November, 1986. The style of the speech has been preserved.     

The effect of context on students’ reasoning about forces

When attempting to solve closely related problems in science, students will often respond to irrelevant contextual features in the questions rather than generalizing their conceptions over the range of relevant situations. In this study, a group of 40 students (one group of 15‐16‐year‐olds and another of preservice science teachers) was surveyed and interviewed to determine the effect of context on the reasoning which they used to solve problems concerning the forces acting on objects in linear motion. It was found that the younger group of students were influenced by contextual features such as the speed, weight and position of the moving object, the direction of the motion and their own personal experience of the context. There were clearly two types of contextual effects ‐‐ primary and secondary, which are described. The older group of students was generally less affected by context and thus more consistent in their reasoning.