Reading reform in Egypt: Do the second-grade textbooks reflect the new direction?

In light of disappointing scores on the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), Arabic-speaking countries have begun to reexamine, and in some case reform, how they teach reading in the early grades. Egypt was one of the first countries to initiate early-grade reading reforms in 2010. This article presents a single case study from Egypt, examining whether the grade 2 Arabic-language textbook supports its reform goals. Data were collected through detailed content analysis of the textbook and coded using a “best practices” framework. While the textbook has strengths, it is not consistently in alignment with current research on reading in Arabic. We contend that modest textbook reform could be the easiest and fastest way to improve the teaching and learning of reading in Egypt and the region, in part because teachers depend so heavily on textbooks for lesson structure and because textbooks are generally available.     

Poor Reading: A Deficit in Skill-Automatization or a Phonological Deficit?

This study examined whether the characteristic reading speed impairment of German dyslexic children results from a general skill-automatization deficit sensu Nicolson and Fawcett (1990) or from more specific deficits in visual naming speed and phonological skills. The hypothesized skill-automatization deficit was assessed by balancing, peg moving, and visual search. Rapid "automatized" naming tasks served as measures of impaired visual naming speed, and the phonological deficit was assessed by speech perception, phonological sensitivity, and phonological memory tasks. Dyslexic German children and age-matched control children (all boys) were tested at the end of Grade 2 and as participants of a longitudinal study also at the beginning of Grade 1. No evidence for a skill-automatization deficit was found, as the dyslexic children did not differ at all on the balancing tasks and little on the other nonverbal skill tasks. However, the dyslexic children showed impaired visual naming speed and impaired phonological memory performance that were observed not only in Grade 2 but also before learning to read. Overall, the findings support the conclusion that, even in regular orthographies, difficulties in learning to read are due to a phonological deficit and not to a general skill-automatization deficit.     

How many people are there in your family?

Fred is from New York.His parents are with his grandfather and grandmother.Fred is six years old and now he is in a school.His father takes him to school by car every day.So he is never late     

Essence or practice? Conflicting cultural values in Chinese EFL textbooks: a discourse approach

While increasing attention is being paid to the ideological debate on Confucian-influenced cultural values communicated in Chinese language textbooks, EFL textbooks remain under-examined since the TEFL/TESOL is typically assumed to be ‘technical’ and ‘neutral’. Drawing on critical theoretical perspectives on curriculum, education and applied linguistics, I take the position that language textbooks need to be seen as social and cultural artifacts. By a discourse analytical approach, this study explores how cultural and moral values are constructed in textbooks by various linguistic and rhetorical resources. It is found that in such textbooks dominant cultural and moral discourses are occasionally contested and resisted by competing discourses. These conflicts and ambivalence concerning different cultural discourses highlight the possibilities of critical reading and critical pedagogy.     

Reading, Intensive or Extensive?

Introduction One of the most striking things about teaching in China is that considering the tremendous intrinsic motivation of so many learners and the lengths to which they are prepared to go to try to learn English, their level in some areas (for example, speaking and listening)is often surprisingly low. What can be held mainly responsible for the comparatively low level and slow development of Chinese students in English learning is the traditional teaching method of intensive reading. Chinese readers     

One family,two religions: child belief or child grief in Christian–Muslim families?

This article deals with the results and further consequences of my empirical investigation of Christian–Muslim families and their children in Germany. It gives an insight into the religious world of 4‐ to 12‐year‐old children in Christian–Muslim families through the analysis of evaluated interviews and drawings concerning religious practice and the image of God. Through the presentation of different aspects such as prayer, the image of God, gender issues, religious practice and affinity, the question of children’s own needs is discussed.     

The onion model: Myth or reality in the field of individual differences psychology?

To bring order in concepts related to individual learner differences, Curry (1983) designed the three-layered onion model. As this model provides an interesting way to distinguish related concepts – such as cognitive styles and approaches to studying – on the basis of their stability in learning situations, ample studies build further on this model. Given that only few studies have been conducted to empirically test the model, we conducted two studies to address this research gap. In the first study (N = 113), analyses do not show a clear causal path from three concepts belonging to different layers in relation to learning outcomes. In the second, longitudinal study (N = 162), no support is found for differences in stability between cognitive styles and approaches to studying. Our research does not provide solid evidence for the onion model, which warns to be cautious with applying the assumptions of theoretical models in educational practice without empirical support.     

Reading the Multimodal Ologies: New Literacy Challenges or Old Wine in New Bottles?

In this article, the Ologies series of books are interrogated with a focus on whether they present new challenges for the reader or merely require previously acquired skills. The multimodal texts are unusual in that they combine non-fiction with fantasy while including tactile elements such as flaps, pull-outs and items to stroke. Ways of approaching multimodal texts are discussed with reference to the work of Kress, van Leeuwen and Moss. Finally, reference is made to Mackey’s research on multimodal platforms, applying her terms ‘playing the text’, the notion of ‘performance’ and ‘engaging in the rules of the game’. The conclusion leaves the question posed in the title open and suggests further research into actual readers will reveal more.     

Employment outcomes for people in Australia who are congenitally deaf: has anything changed?

The employment of deaf school leavers is considered by means of data from a recent study conducted in South Australia (Winn, 2005). Its findings are compared with those of three other Australian studies conducted over the past several decades (Australian Federation of Adult Deaf Societies, 1973; Deaf Society of New South Wales, 1998; Hyde, 1988). Compared to the rest of the community, deaf adults have had and continue to have higher unemployment rates, are underemployed in terms of the range of occupations, and typically earn less than the general population in similar occupations. The most recent study (Winn, 2005) provides evidence that Australian deaf adults have poor employment outcomes despite access to higher education and legislation prohibiting discrimination. That employment outcomes have not altered dramatically since earlier studies suggests that positive programs are required to address the general community's attitude about deafness as a disability.     

Reading and spelling in adults: are there lexical and sub‐lexical subtypes?

The dual‐route model of reading proposes distinct lexical and sub‐lexical procedures for word reading and spelling. Lexically reliant and sub‐lexically reliant reader subgroups were selected from 78 university students on the basis of their performance on lexical (orthographic) and sub‐lexical (phonological) choice tests, and on irregular and nonword naming. In spelling of irregular words and nonwords to dictation, the group comparisons failed to support the dissociative predictions for lexical and sub‐lexical reliance that were derived from the dual‐route model: lexical readers were not superior to sub‐lexical readers on spelling irregular words as well as inferior to sub‐lexical readers on spelling regular letter strings (nonwords). In line with a single‐route view, print exposure and phonological coding (nonword naming accuracy) appear to be key factors in the effective learning of both regular and irregular words.     

Native Language Self-Concept and Reading Self-Concept: Same or Different?

In assessing verbal academic self-concept with preadolescents, researchers have used scales for students’ self-concepts in reading and in their native language interchangeably. The authors conducted 3 studies with German students to test whether reading and German (i.e., native language) self-concepts can be treated as the same or different constructs. Compared with other facets of academic self-concept, reading self-concept was more highly related to reading test scores (Study 1) and German self-concept to German grades (Study 2). In Study 3, reading and general school self-concepts demonstrated similar relations to German grades. The findings of the 3 studies, albeit indirect, supported the specificity matching principle and caution researchers against applying reading and native language self-concept scales uncritically to infer verbal self-concept.     

Explaining the expansion of feminist ideas: cultural diffusion or political struggle?

This article explores the expansion of feminist ideas as both a conceptual and a political issue. It focuses on two major theories of social change, world culture theory (WCT) and world system analysis (WSA), comparing and contrasting how they frame gender as a factor shaping society, how they account for the diffusion of feminist ideas and how they assess the impact of gender norms on sociocultural outcomes. Through the examination of texts and research based on these theories, this article weighs the ability of the theories to meaningfully and justly recognise the place of gender politics within the dynamics of social change. Both WCT and WSA predict isomorphism in the way gender is framed in modern society, but their explanatory accounts traverse drastically different paths. One asserts a conflict-free diffusion of values, whereas the other, decidedly based on conflict, sees gender as emerging from resistance or anti-systemic movements. The article concludes with an assessment of the contribution and missing aspects of each theoretical perspective.     

School leadership for the future: heroic or distributed? Translating international discourses in Norwegian policy documents

School leadership as a key for school reforms has become a dominant theme in education, as demonstrated by a growing body of research during the last 15 years. Still, little attention has been paid to how changing international discourses on school leadership are translated into national public policy documents during the last decade. As such, this study provides additional insight into this field by analysing how Norwegian policy documents translate international discourses and re-contextualise national constructs of school leadership. Inspired by a critical approach, the authors address this issue by identifying discursive shifts in ideas about school leadership roles and practices. Based on an examination of four recent white papers on Norwegian education and school leadership, the authors argue that the policy documents constructed a tension between an international ‘explicit’ principal and a national ‘docile’ principal in 2003–2004, while recent documents construct a consensus-oriented, distributed leadership role for principals through the term ‘facilitating school leaders’. This may lead to contested interpretations as to how to perform school leadership in practice.     

‘These religions are no good – they’re nothing but idol worship’: mis/representation of religion in Religious Education at school in Malawi and Ghana

This article draws data from two complementary studies in sub-Saharan Africa to highlight the problem of religious misrepresentation in (multi-faith) Religious Education (RE) at school in Malawi and Ghana. Employing Michael Apples’ conception of selective tradition, the article is critical of the confrontational disputation inherent in the RE in the two countries. The misrepresentation is analysed under themes related to classroom discourse and the nature of religion. It argues that RE could actually be counter-productive and thus end up misrepresenting religions instead of promoting them. Unless there is a radical shift in the areas identified, the subject will continue to present a distorted picture of religion and thus fail in its civic responsibility as a curriculum area that is perhaps best placed to inculcate pro-social values towards citizenship in a world of religious diversity.     

Basic education in China’s rural areas: a legal obligation or an individual choice?

This study takes a close look at the whole cycle of the 9-yr compulsory education in two communities in north China. It reveals that although there are nearly 100% enrolment and completion rates at the primary level, dropouts constitute a serious problem at the secondary level, thus rendering the 9-yr compulsory schooling an unfinished cycle. Through interviewing 30 dropouts’ families and using rational choice theory as a theoretical framework, the study concludes that the current landscape of rural schooling in the area studied is a result of local people’s rational choices rather than that of the compulsory educational law.     

Reading to young children: A head-start in life?

This paper investigates the importance of parents reading to their young children. Using Australian data we find that parental reading to children at age 4–5 has positive and significant effects on reading skills and cognitive skills (including numeracy skills) of these children at least up to age 10 or 11. The effects on skills more closely related to reading and language are larger than those on skills such as numeracy skills. However, all findings in relation to reading and other cognitive skills are persistent and robust to a wide range of sensitivity analyses. Although reading to children is also correlated with children's non-cognitive skills, after accounting for the endogeneity of reading to children, no causal effect remains.     

Russian Orthodox culture or Russian Orthodox teaching? Reflections on the textbooks in religious education in contemporary Russia

A new textbook in religious education is analysed, first, in comparison to earlier ones, and, second, with respect to its content and goals. The aim of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is threefold – to educate into religion, to foster the ethnic Russian identity and to make youngsters loyal to the state. Actually, the state rather than society is one of the major values (together with the faith) both for the ROC and for the respective textbooks. The new religious courses received the support of the Russian President in 2009, after which a new educational standard was elaborated and new textbooks were completed. Six courses were accepted: four on ‘traditional religions’, one as an introduction to world religions and one on secular ethics. Each of these six courses could be chosen voluntarily by pupils and their parents. The new courses were first introduced in 24 regions in the spring semester of 2010 as a pilot project. I will analyse the textbooks and show which particular courses were most popular in various regions of Russia.