Although convergent research demonstrates that well-designed graphics can facilitate readers’ understanding of text, there are select situations where graphics have been shown to have no effect on learners’ overall text comprehension. Therefore, the current meta-analytic study examined 39 experimental studies published between 1985 and 2018 measuring graphics’ effects on readers’ comprehension. We first quantified the overall effect on reading comprehension. Then, we considered interactions with learners’ characteristics, graphic types, and assessment formats. Our analysis revealed that the inclusion of graphics had a moderate overall positive effect (Hedges’s g = 0.39) on students’ reading comprehension, regardless of grade level. Regarding graphic type, we did not find a significant difference among pictures, pictorial diagrams, and flow diagrams. Only when compared to mixed graphics, pictures had a greater effect on comprehension. Additionally, compared with true and false assessments, graphics differentially benefited students’ comprehension on open-ended comprehension assessments and mixed format assessments. Implications for future research are presented.

This study aims to analyze how selected student and school factors may affect teacher job satisfaction, in addition to teacher factors, through multilevel regression and commonality analysis of U.S. data from the Teaching and Learning International Surveys (TALIS) 2013. In the overall model of teacher job satisfaction, the factors of low achievers, behavioral problems, SES, classroom discipline climate, school location, principal job satisfaction, school autonomy for instruction, participation among stakeholders, experience, teacher self-efficacy, teacher-student relationship, teacher cooperation, and effective professional development are important predictors for teacher job satisfaction based on the values of beta weights and structure coefficients. Furthermore, the commonality analysis reveals that student, school, and teacher factors uniquely contribute 4.19%, 7.07%, and 6.41% of variance, respictively. Findings provide significant implications for educational policies on teacher job satisfaction and retention.

This qualitative study explored the experiences of six Chinese and South Korean graduate students in the United States. Semistructured interviews and an interpretive phenomenological approach were used in which three major themes emerged: (a) academic challenges and acculturation, (b) academic support from host institute, and (c) cultural and pedagogical nuances. Challenges included language barriers during lectures, discussions and writing assignments, and lack of support services for international students. One significant finding was Chinese and South Korean students do not have the same graduate experiences in the United States. Participants shared how their prior homeland learning experiences (course delivery, relationships with instructors and assessments) impacted their learning, relationships, and academic challenges in the United States.

This study examined Spanish spelling errors among 166 native Spanish-speaking students from Kindergarten to Grade 3 based on a spelling-to-diction task. Fifteen types of spelling errors were analyzed in a latent class analysis. Results suggested three phases of spellers: Phase 1 students had a high chance of committing almost all types of errors. Phase 2 students had a lower chance of committing vowel-based phonological errors, but still had a high chance of committing consonant-based phonological errors. Phase 3 students had some difficulty differentiating distinct but similar consonant sounds for spelling (e.g., spelling reptile [reptile] as rebtil; Diente [tooth] as viente). Among the word-context factors, syllable complexity and orthography difficulty were the best predictors of phonological and orthographic errors in more proficient spellers, respectively. We suggest that awareness of Spanish vowel and consonant sounds may not grow in tandem, and future research should incorporate word-context features into spelling error analysis.