Technologies of disciplinary power in action: The norm of the ‘Good student’

We have completed a piece of research into the process of production of speech on the part of students as regards their idea of ‘the good student’, taking social postmodern theories as a conceptual reference and within the university context. The study tries to show how disciplinary technologies are a major influence in the make-up of particular types of students. It is an exploration of the discourses used by students reflecting their vision of university, teaching and learning. The aim is to understand their reasoning by means of the view they have of academic activity and life. Starting from Michael Foucault’s thoughts on power relations in the context of educational practices we present a plan of discourse analysis based on accounts made by the students themselves.     

Higher Education in a Global Market: The Case of British Overseas Provision in Israel

In recent years there has been a major expansion by higher education institutions in setting up ‘for-profit’, offshore programmes and campuses. It has been claimed that for-profit provision in a free, or unregulated market, responds to student demand and acts as a catalyst for innovation, thus fuelling arguments for a global ‘free market’ in higher education. There are few opportunities to test these claims since higher education is overwhelmingly provided within national systems of education and is generally subject to strong local regulation. Israel, in the 1990s, offered a rare case of an unregulated market in higher education for foreign providers, albeit one which contained significant distortions: British institutions took the leading part in developments. This article examines that experience in the light of documentation in the public domain and of practitioner research and argues, contrary to unsubstantiated claims, that provision fell below acceptable standards. The article concludes that, in this field, consumer demand did not operate on the basis of quality and that the market-place cannot assure standards of higher education in overseas provision. Furthermore, until international standards are agreed, governments have a responsibility to regulate provision which directly affects the lives of their citizens.     

The relationship between home literacy practices and developmental trajectories of emergent literacy and conventional literacy skills for Korean children

Previous studies with English-speaking families in the North American context demonstrated that home literacy practices have positive influences on children’s literacy acquisition. The present study expands previous studies by examining how home literacy practices are related to growth trajectories of emergent literacy skills (i.e., vocabulary, letter-name knowledge, and phonological awareness) and conventional literacy skills (i.e., word reading, pseudoword reading, and spelling), and by using data from Korean children and families (N = 192). The study revealed two dimensions of home literacy practices, home reading and parent teaching. Frequent reading at home was positively associated with children’s emergent literacy skills as well as conventional literacy skills in Korean. However, children whose parents reported more frequent teaching tended to have low scores in their phonological awareness, vocabulary, word reading and pseudoword reading after accounting for home reading. These results suggest a bidirectional relationship between home literacy practices, parent teaching in particular, and children’s literacy skills such that parents adjust their teaching in response to their child’s literacy acquisition. Furthermore, cultural variation in views on parent teaching may explain these results.

The impact of teachers' beliefs on the literacy experiences of young children: a New Zealand perspective

There has been a growing focus in New Zealand on the early literacy learning of young children. This emphasis has challenged early childhood teachers to ensure there are appropriate literacy events within their programme. The aim of this study was to identify early childhood teachers' knowledge and beliefs about literacy learning and examine how these translated into literacy practices. Four early childhood settings were chosen—two sessional kindergartens and two full‐day early learning centres. Eight early childhood teachers from four different centres were interviewed. All teachers held a recognized early childhood qualification and were working within the framework of Te Whaariki, the New Zealand early childhood curriculum. Five children in each setting were observed using narrative observations. All teachers were committed to providing meaningful and purposeful literacy experiences within a play‐based programme. However, although teachers had created rich early literacy environments, there was some tendency toward formal skills‐based interactions. The children themselves created many opportunities for authentic and rich literacy events.     

Current conceptions of literacy – insights from work with children and older learners with sensory needs

There have been many efforts to conceptualise literacy, both in terms of its essence and component parts, but it has proved difficult to define. This paper considers work that is undertaken with children and older learners with sensory needs in order to promote the early stages of literacy. Recent government initiatives aimed at fostering literacy development have caused teachers of children with sensory needs to re-examine their practice. The paper discusses early literacy as part of children's attempts to communicate and describes children with sensory needs engaging in a range of activities that are termed 'literacy' by those working with them. By taking into account these activities, the authors endeavour to throw light on the broader questions around concepts of literacy.     

The influence of early linguistic skills and family factors on literacy acquisition in Chinese children: Follow-up from age 3 to age 11

The present longitudinal study investigated the predictive power of preschool linguistic skills and early family factors on children's comprehensive literacy skills at the end of primary school in 262 Chinese children. The results indicated that a substantial (20–34%) share of variance of 5th grade (age 11) literacy skills in Chinese could be explained by early family factors (age 3) and linguistic skills (age 3–age 5). Family socioeconomic status and parent-child reading tuition were associated with different literacy measures. A differential pattern of prediction was also observed among different literacy skills. Furthermore, path analyses indicated that the relationships between early family factors and literacy skills at age 11 were mediated by specific linguistic and cognitive skills at preschool.     

The comparative ethnography of educational projects: youth and adult literacy programmes in Brazil

This article elaborates the concept of educational projects, a term that signifies consistent constellations of institutions, financial resources, social actors, ideologies, theories of knowledge and attendant pedagogies that shape local cultural practices of schooling. The article demonstrates the utility of the concept of educational projects for comparative and international educational studies by examining competing educational projects in Brazilian literacy programmes for youth and adults. In conclusion, the article argues that the concept of educational projects provides a theoretically rich comparative tool for the field of comparative and international education.     

The Tutor’s Approach in Base Groups (PBL)

In this article, the concept of approach related to tutor functioning in problem-based learning (PBL) is explored and the significance of a phenomenological perspective of the body in relation to learning and tutoring is investigated. The aim has been to understand the concept of approach in a context where the individual, thoughts, emotions and body are regarded as a whole in a learning process – a non-dualistic entity. The analysis is primarily based on Merleau-Ponty (Phenomenologie de la Perception. Editions Gallimard, Kroppens fenomenologi. Oslo: Pax) and Leder (1990). The outcome of the analysis is related to the pedagogical view that characterises PBL and tutoring in base groups. An earlier study (Silén Licentiate thesis n 3/1996. Linköping University) about tutor functioning in PBL was the starting-point for the exploration. On the basis of the phenomenological analysis, I assign approach the following meaning: - the total message expressed by ‘the lived body’ in interaction with its life world. The analysis indicates that the tutor’s approach influences group work in different ways. One of phenomenology’s most important messages implies that the tutor’s approach should be characterised by ‘presence’, attention on the students and what is happening in the group, and not on the tutor’s own actions and thoughts. The ability to be ‘present’ is possible when the knowing is rooted in the lived body. This conclusion brings to the fore the necessity of the tutor’s own understanding of the ideas of PBL and the underlying theories, and also highlights the importance of regarding tutor training as an ongoing learning process. The focus of the exploration has been on the tutor in PBL. In principle, I would argue that a corresponding line of reasoning is applicable to tutoring and learning in general.     

Health and well-being outcomes of women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa: Examining the role of formal schooling,literacy, and health knowledge

Health is related to individual educational attainment and literacy status; yet education and literacy do not guarantee health knowledge. Prior research studies health knowledge, formal schooling, and literacy as one entity, neglecting crucial differences. Using Demographic and Health Surveys from 27 sub-Saharan African countries, we examine these three pathways to gaining information, acknowledging each is distinct in target population, content, and delivery method, and uniquely contributes to health outcomes for women and children. Overall, all three pathways increase health outcomes, though health-specific knowledge could address the cultural and financial barriers that often come between women and formal schooling.     

A historical reflection on literacy,gender and opportunity: implications for the teaching of literacy in early childhood education

This paper presents a historical reflection on gender and literacy, with a view to informing the present teaching of literacy in early childhood. The relationship between gender, literacy and opportunity in the labour market is examined, given that despite girls’ achievement in literacy, in comparison with boys’, women continue to earn substantially less than men. In order to understand this relationship, this paper reflects on literacy as a socio-historical construct as well as examining the ways in which the past is constitutive in forming enduring notions of gender that penetrate all elements of society, including the literacy classroom. This critical analysis of what is learned about and through the medium of literacy in the early childhood classroom has major implications for the teaching of literacy today. It is argued that in order to address this issue, early childhood educators need to value and nurture children’s digital literacies as well as create learning environments that allow all children genuine opportunities to question, challenge and explore dominant discourses that are embedded in text.     

Teacher identity in the context of literacy teaching: Three explorations of classroom positioning and interaction in secondary schools

This article presents the results of three separate studies of literacy teaching and learning in the U.S. that explore the social functions of language, specifically focused on the identity development of literacy learners and teachers. Each study offers a detailed account of how literate identities are constructed and enacted and the positive and negative consequences that occur for teachers and students when they are enacted. Taken together, these three studies demonstrate how teachers' and students' understandings of identity can promote or inhibit literacy teaching and learning.     

Salvadoran campesinos/as’ literacy practices and perceptions of the benefits of literacy: A longitudinal study with former literacy participants

This article uses data from longitudinal, ethnographic research to examine how, six years after attending literacy classes, 12 adults in rural El Salvador used literacy, their perceptions of the temporary and longer-term psychosocial and economic benefits of literacy education, and their memories of literacy classes. The findings support prior research highlighting the unpredictable consequences of literacy education. Although some personal changes were ephemeral, learners nevertheless identified long-term psychosocial and interpersonal benefits, which they attributed mainly to the rituals of social interaction they practiced in literacy classes. These findings underscore the social dimensions of literacy education.     

Understanding and enabling marketplace literacy in subsistence contexts: The development of a consumer and entrepreneurial literacy educational program in South India

To function in the economic realm, two important resources that individuals need are finances and know-how. Whereas there has been considerable attention on microfinancing, we describe an educational program that focuses on enabling generic skills about the marketplace and complements these important efforts. We conducted research aimed at understanding lives and marketplaces in subsistence contexts in urban and rural parts of a state in South India. We used the research as a basis for developing a consumer and entrepreneurial literacy educational program. This program uses the “know-why”, or an understanding of marketplaces, as a basis for the know-how of being an informed buyer or seller. Despite the difficulties with abstract thinking that low-literate individuals experience, we enable deeper understanding of marketplaces by leveraging the social skills that participants bring to the program and relating educational content back to their lived experiences. Such understanding can enable individuals to place themselves on a path to lifelong learning. Implications of this work for research and practice in non-formal education are discussed.     

Exploring the underlying factor structure of the home literacy environment (HLE) in the English and Spanish versions of the Familia Inventory: A cautionary tale

Few research-based measures of the family literacy environment are commercially available, especially in Spanish. One exception is the Familia Inventory (Taylor, 1995). The present study investigated the 10 subscales of this instrument and the factor structure they imply, using data from a low-socioeconomic (SES), largely Hispanic population. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the structure of the instrument as well as whether it is invariant across English and Spanish language versions. The scale was administered to 232 parents of preschoolers. Results of the CFA revealed that the a priori dimensions of the Familia Inventory were not supported for this sample. Follow-up analyses suggested poor fit both within and between subscales. The scale fit poorly within both English and Spanish, precluding testing of invariance across language. Supplemental analyses using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on a subset of the items that had adequate variance suggested that a four-factor solution accounting for 53% of the variance best represented the English data and that a two-factor solution accounting for 43% of the variance best represented the Spanish data. Implications are discussed.     

Backing the right horse: Teacher education,sociocultural analysis and literacy in rural education

This paper is a reflection on the way that a background in sociocultural theory and research actually saved my teaching career by allowing me to shift from being a dispenser of knowledge to a cultural neophyte attempting to understand where he is. Teaching then is understood as a reading exercise which is undertaken in a particular place which itself needs to be read by the effective teacher. This is a narrative inquiry into practice which represents an attempt to understand my own teaching career in the light of Frank Smith's (1984) provocative essay “How education backed the wrong horse” in which he argues that anthropology would have made a better choice for a foundational discipline for education than psychology. I conclude with some thoughts on what this perspective implies for literacy instruction.     

PISA阅读素养子能力对数学与科学表现的影响--以PISA2018中国四省市样本数据为例

以PISA2018中国四省市样本数据为例,应用结构方程方法,研究信息定位、文本理解、评价与反思三个PISA2018阅读素养子能力对数学与科学表现的影响。结果表明,阅读素养的子能力之间高度相关,对科学表现和数学表现有较大的影响;信息定位对文本理解具有决定性的影响,文本理解在阅读对数学与科学的影响中起承上启下的关键作用,评价与反思对数学、科学的影响中很大一部分是通过文本理解间接影响的,阅读三个子能力对科学的影响中,很大一部分可以通过数学路径来解释。     

The Sense of the Worthy as a Motivation for Studying: The Case of the Yeshiva

This paper describes a type of motivation for studying that has not been accorded sufficient psychological consideration - namely, motivation based on belief in the worthiness of the subject matter. This sort of motivation is distinguished from both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It is exemplified by the motivation for studying at the Yeshiva, an institution in which the sense of the worthy is explicitly highlighted. Interviews with highly motivated Yeshiva students reveal that the sense of the worthy is central to them and also constitutes an anchor to other types of motivations for studying. We point out two factors that enhance the effect of the sense of the worthy at the Yeshiva - its ethical orientation and its being a total institution. The interviews suggest that being motivated by the sense of the worthy does not lessen the students’ feelings of autonomy or their intrinsic motivation. We suggest two intervening variables between having a sense of the worthy and acting accordingly - the associated feelings and the individual’s sense of identity. By examining two important motivations for studying - the needs for achievement and self-actualization - we point out the influence of culture on the expression of these needs. Finally, we suggest that the sense of the worthy can and should serve as an important motivational factor in liberal education as well.     

The functions of consonance and dissonance in the dialogue of secondary-level literacy coaching

This multiple case study of literacy coaching with two secondary-level teachers of English language learners (ELLs) explored dialogical factors leading to changes in teachers’ thinking and practices. During coaching sessions, the coach and teacher engaged in video self-reflection and planning. Analysis centred on dialogue in one focal session for each teacher that led to changes associated with improved achievement for ELLs. By the end of the study, teachers included increased opportunities for student talk, relied more on evidence of student learning to inform instructional decisions and showed more nuanced self-evaluation. Two responsive conversational moves by the coach, revoicing and reconceptualising, led most directly to changes. Analysis showed that revoicing built consonance while reconceptualising introduced dissonance. These moves, informed by listening and context, capitalised upon the tension between consonance and dissonance and encouraged teachers to listen to themselves and make changes in thinking and practices.     

Measures of preschool children's interest and engagement in literacy activities: Examining gender differences and construct dimensions

Multiple approaches to measuring preschool children's literacy interest and engagement (i.e., parent-, teacher-, child-reported child literacy interest and observer-reported child literacy engagement) were examined in a sample of 167 four- and five-year-old children (M = 56.62 months, SD = 6.01) enrolled in Head Start. Associations among measures as well as gender differences and dimensions of preschooler's literacy interest and engagement were examined across measures. Measures were not strongly associated. There were small, but significant correlations between parents’ and teachers’ reports of children's literacy interest, and teachers’ reports of children's literacy interest and observers’ reports of children's literacy engagement. Gender differences were found for parent- and teacher-report measures, with teachers and parents rating girls higher on interest. Patterns of factor loadings differed between adult and child measures. Implications of findings are discussed.