Recent developments in literacy teaching have tended to target the needs of primary, rather than high school pupils and focus on technical, rather than affective aspects of reading. This paper describes a questionnaire-based study undertaken to identify perceptions and views held by Key Stage 3 readers of different ages, genders and abilities.…

In this article we describe how the RADIO process enabled EPiTs to negotiate research with an EPS around its desire to evaluate and develop its consultation work with schools. Findings of the evaluation and their implications for the Service are described and the potential of RADIO as a tool for providing external research support from HEIs for…

In this paper we draw on our research on interest to explore the questions posed for this special issue. Interest is conceptualized as an affective state that represents students' subjective experience of learning; the state that arises from either situational triggers or a well-developed individual interest. Drawing on the broad research…

Understanding the interrelations among students' cognitive, emotional, motivational, and volitional processes is an emergening focus in educational psychology. A dynamical, component systems theory of emotions is presented as a promising framework to further unravel these complex interrelations. This framework considers emotions to be a process…

To better inform and improve classroom teaching and learning, now more than ever before, educational researchers need to effectively and efficiently describe essential components of positive learning environments. In this article, we discuss how our research findings about motivation in classrooms have led to a closer examination of emotions. We…

This article represents our current reflections on our approach to inquiry on emotions in education. Our views reflect an eclectic blend of, educational, psychological, and social historical approaches to inquiry on emotion and emotional regulation. In an effort to explicate our approach, we address our working definitions of emotion and emotional…

This article describes the control-value theory of achievement emotions and its implications for educational research and practice. The theory provides an integrative framework for analyzing the antecedents and effects of emotions experienced in achievement and academic settings. It is based on the premise that appraisals of control and values are…

Longitudinal data from kindergarten to 5th grade on both family involvement in school and children's literacy performance were examined for an ethnically diverse, low-income sample (N = 281). Within families, increased school involvement predicted improved child literacy. In addition, although there was an achievement gap in average literacy…

Preschoolers' (N = 156) classroom language and literacy experiences, defined across multiple dimensions, and their vocabulary and emergent literacy development were investigated. Videotaped classroom observations revealed substantial variability in amount and types of language and emergent literacy activities, across classrooms and for individual…

First-grade children's reading, writing, and spelling competencies in 2 different instructional contexts for teaching phonics were examined. Reading, writing, and spelling abilities were measured at the beginning, middle, and end of 1st grade. Children were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments designed to teach grapheme-phoneme correspondences,…

Using a pretest-posttest comparison-group design, this 16-week study investigated the effects of 2 instructional approaches on the phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and early reading of kindergarten children. The primary goal was to compare a form of contextualized instruction based on an adapted interactive writing program with a…

Meta-analysis was used to examine social, self-concept, and behavioral effects of peer-assisted learning (PAL) interventions with elementary school students. An electronic search of PsycINFO and ERIC databases resulted in 36 relevant PAL studies. Overall, effect sizes were small to moderate across the 3 outcome variable domains. Both social and…

The main impetus for the SPRinG (social pedagogic research into grouping) project was to address the wide gap between the potential of group work and its limited use in schools. It is an ambitious project that developed key principles and strategies to improve the effectiveness of group work in everyday primary classes and across a whole school…

The present research examines whether mastery and performance goals predict different ways of reacting to a sociocognitive conflict with another person over materials to be learned, an issue not yet addressed by the achievement goal literature. Results from 2 studies showed that mastery goals predicted epistemic conflict regulation (a conflict…

Attribution theory provides a framework for examining personal and interpersonal motivation for collaborative projects. Undergraduates were asked to read vignettes concerning student dyads engaged in collaborative projects. The vignettes systematically varied on outcome of the project, student self-ability, student self-effort, partner ability,…