Teacher educators’ personal practical knowledge of language

This paper describes teacher educators’ understanding of language for classroom communication in higher education. We argue that teacher educators who are aware of their personal practical knowledge of language have a better understanding of their students’ language use and provide better support for knowledge construction. Personal practical knowledge originates from teachers’ professional practice and is based on their past experience, current awareness and future expectation. Data from focus group interviews with teacher educators (N = 35) were used for content analysis. Findings demonstrate an emerging conceptualization resulting in two language modalities of personal practical knowledge, specified as: ‘language-sensitive and interpersonally oriented’ and ‘language-focused and pedagogically oriented.’ The insights contribute to building a professional practical knowledge base of language and communication-oriented teaching.     

Measurement Invariance in International Surveys: Categorical Indicators and Fit Measure Performance

In spite of the challenges inherent in making dozens of comparisons across heterogeneous populations, a relatively recent interest in scale-score equivalence for non-achievement measures in an international context has emerged. Until recently, operational procedures for establishing measurement invariance using multiple-groups analyses were typically supported with research that was limited in scope to few groups and relatively small sample sizes. Recent research that examined situations more representative of international surveys recommended some revisions to typically used fit measures. The current study extends this research and evaluates the performance of several fit measures when data are assumed to have an ordered categorical, rather than the typically assumed continuous, scale. Using a simulation study based on empirical results, findings indicated that classic measures and associated criteria were either unsuitable in a large-group and varied sample-size context or should be adjusted, particularly when observed variables were not normally distributed. We provide specific recommendations for revising currently used criteria for evaluating overall and relative fit based on the chi-square test, root mean-squared error of approximation, and comparative fit index (CFI).     

A Standardized Generalized Dimensionality Discrepancy Measure and a Standardized Model‐Based Covariance for Dimensionality Assessment for Multidimensional Models

The standardized generalized dimensionality discrepancy measure and the standardized model‐based covariance are introduced as tools to critique dimensionality assumptions in multidimensional item response models. These tools are grounded in a covariance theory perspective and associated connections between dimensionality and local independence. Relative to their precursors, they allow for dimensionality assessment in a more readily interpretable metric of correlations. A simulation study demonstrates the utility of the discrepancy measures’ application at multiple levels of dimensionality analysis, and compares them to factor analytic and item response theoretic approaches. An example illustrates their use in practice.     

Using Necessary Information to Identify Item Dependence in Passage-Based Reading Comprehension Tests

Applications of traditional unidimensional item response theory models to passage-based reading comprehension assessment data have been criticized based on potential violations of local independence. However, simple rules for determining dependency, such as including all items associated with a particular passage, may overestimate the dependency that actually exists among the items. The current study proposed a more refined method based on cognitive principles and substantive theories to determine those items that pose a threat. Specifically, the use of common necessary information from text was examined as a contributor of local dependence. Cognitively similar item pairs, those with connected necessary information, had higher local dependence values than item pairs with no connected necessary information. Results suggest that focusing on necessary information may be useful to some extent for understanding and managing item dependence for passage-based reading comprehension tests.     

Dimensionality in Compensatory MIRT When Complex Structure Exists: Evaluation of DETECT and NOHARM

This study investigated the effect of complex structure on dimensionality assessment in compensatory multidimensional item response models using DETECT- and NOHARM-based methods. The performance was evaluated via the accuracy of identifying the correct number of dimensions and the ability to accurately recover item groupings using a simple matching similarity (SM) coefficient. The DETECT-based methods yielded higher proportion correct than the NOHARM-based methods in two- and three-dimensional conditions, especially when correlations were ≤.60, data exhibited ≤30% complexity, and sample size was 1,000. As the complexity increased and the sample size decreased, the performance of the methods typically diminished. The NOHARM-based methods were either equally successful or better in recovering item groupings than the DETECT-based methods and were mostly affected by complexity levels. The DETECT-based methods were affected largely by the test length, such that with the increase of the number of items, SM coefficients would decrease substantially.     

A sensemaking model of knowledge in organisations: a way of understanding knowledge management and the role of information technologies

The objective of the paper is to demonstrate how a sensemaking model of knowledge enables better and deeper understanding of knowledge management (KM) processes in organisations and the role of information technologies (IT) in these processes. Inspired and informed by a sensemaking view of organisations, the model identifies four types of knowledge, corresponding to four sensemaking levels: the individual, collective, organizational, and cultural. Each knowledge type, as the paper shows, is of different nature and has different characteristics but is constituted and affected by all other knowledge types. An organisation is thus seen as a ‘distributed knowledge system’ composed of numerous instances of these four knowledge types and their dynamic interplay. By drawing from three empirical studies, the paper illustrates how the sensemaking model of knowledge can be applied to investigate different ways companies (try to) manage knowledge and use IT-based systems to improve KM and ultimately company performance. A deeper understanding of these processes through the lens of the model reveals mechanisms and forces underlying KM phenomena that help explain why some processes were successful and others failed. The paper intends to make the following contributions: propose a theoretical framework of knowledge and KM in organizations, which is reasonably comprehensive and empirically grounded and also demonstrate its relevance and usefulness to both researchers and practitioners as they investigate and make sense of specific KM processes and IT applications in practice.     

Collaborative Learning in a Web-mediated Environment: A study of communicative practices

New opportunities for conceptualising, designing and facilitating collaborative learning are rapidly expanding with the technological innovations and proliferation of web-mediated learning and teaching. By enabling social interactions via an electronic medium, web technologies are not only expanding but also transforming the social interaction space of collaborative learning. This paper explores collaborative learning viewed from these social interaction processes. More specifically, the paper applies a Communicative Model of Collaborative Learning to make sense of students' interactions in a management subject taught in a combined face-to-face and web-mediated mode. This model provides a methodological instrument for the analysis of communicative practices in concrete learning processes. By analysing the empirical data from linguistic interactions among students, the paper investigates not only what these interactions mean but also what they produce in a particular learning situation and how they affect learning. In particular, the paper investigates processes of knowledge co-creation that are integral to the development of capabilities for life-long learning.     

The Socratic Dialogue and teacher education

This article argues that the Socratic Dialogue in the Nelson and Heckmann tradition will prove a considerable contribution in training teachers. A review of the literature and empirical research supports the claim that the Socratic Dialogue promotes student teachers' interpersonal sensitivity while stimulating conceptual understanding. The article provides a new definition of the Socratic Dialogue and introduces the idea of common concept formation. A concrete Socratic Dialogue in the context of teacher education is discussed by way of illustration. Finally we suggest a manner of integrating Socratic Dialogue in teacher education and propose a line of further research.