Decoding and sight-word naming: Are they independent components of word recognition skill?

Word recognition skill is the foundation of the reading process. Word recognition could be accomplished by two major strategies: phonological decoding and sight-word reading, the latter being a marker for proficient reading. There is, however, a controversy regarding the relationship between decoding and sight-word reading, whether the two are independent or the latter is built on the foundations of the former. A related controversy about instructional strategy could be whether to use whole-word method to improve word recognition skills, or to first build decoding skills and then introduce sight words. Five goals were set up to address these issues: (a) developing a criterion that can be used easily by classroom teachers to assess sight-word reading ability, (b) examining this relationship between decoding and sight-word reading, (c) identifying the mechanism that can explain the relationship, (d) examining factors that facilitate sight-word reading, and (e) discussing potential instructional implications of these findings. In order to accomplish these goals, naming time and word-naming accuracy of three groups of subjects (elementary school children, children identified as having reading disability, and college students) were studied by using a variety of verbal materials. The over-all conclusions are that the difference in naming time of letters and words can be used as a metric for assessing sight-word reading skill. Sight-word reading appears to be intimately related to decoding. Sight-word reading is accomplished by parallel processing of constituent letters of words and is influenced also by the semantic nature of words. It is conjectured that sight-word reading instruction is likely to be successful if decoding skills are firmly established first.     

寒假:Happy or study?

寒假,正是“读书卷书,行万里路”的大好时光,那么,在这辞旧迎新,春意盎然的欢庆时刻,我们是选择happy还是选择study呢?还是让我们一起来听听北京大学的李菡教授怎么说吧。——记者手记     

Levinas: Ethics or Mystification?

The metaphysical ethics of Levinas appeals to many philosophers of education because it seems to promise ethics and social justice without recourse to moral norms, ‘totalising’ political systems or religious belief. However, the notion that the subject can be detached from its worldly being—that one can posit a primordial metaphysical pre‐conscious pre‐phenomenal self which stands in ethical relation to a primordial metaphysical pre‐conscious pre‐phenomenal Other—is highly questionable. From an empirical perspective, our experience of the world and of ourselves can only be conceived in social, cultural and linguistic terms; the self‐referential lexicon Levinas employs to depict the relation between the transcendental subject and the Other ‘in his alterity’ renders his metaphysical assertions impossible to evaluate or give determinate form. From a transcendental perspective, Levinas's metaphysical abstractions simply do not have the power to motivate people to behave ethically. Instead of contributing toward the transformation of education and society envisaged by many philosophers of education, the ‘ethics of the Other’ merely generates an esoteric discourse.     

Cyberbullying: sanctions or sensitivity?

This paper explores the phenomenon of cyberbullying. The argument here is that, although there is a case for sanctions, schools also have a critical role to play in preventing and reducing cyberbullying through a process of awareness‐raising, the education of the emotions and active participation of children and young people themselves.     

Evaluation: judgemental or developmental?

An increasing number of studies are concerned with the international comparison of the results that different education systems achieve. For example, TIMSS, PIRLS and PISA publish the results from different countries in mathematics, science and literacy. The European Commission has also published indicators and benchmarks relating to the quality of school education. This type of external evaluation is often perceived by teachers as judgemental and controlling. In contrast, internal school‐based evaluation aims to be seen as a developmental process contributing to improved teacher and student learning, where ownership of the evaluation processes remains with the school stakeholders. This paper examines the possible tensions and conflicts that may arise between these two types of evaluation and asks the question ‘How can we overcome the negative attitudes that may have resulted from external evaluation in order to encourage schools to undertake internal school‐based evaluation?’ The paper explores, using Scottish case studies, ways in which schools through their internal self‐evaluation processes may use the data in different ways to meet some, if not all, of the external demands placed on them. This strategy, it is argued, ensures that evaluation is largely done for school purposes and as an aid to the learning process, rather than as an external assessment designed to hold schools accountable for the learning achieved to date.

Il y a un nombre grandissant d'études qui s'occupent de la comparaison internationale des résultats atteints par de différents systèmes éducatifs. Par exemple, TIMSS, PERLS et PISA publient les résultats de différents pays en maths, en sciences et en alphabétisation. La Communauté européenne publie aussi des indicateurs et des standards qui se rapportent à la qualité d'éducation dans les écoles. Ce genre d'évaluation externe est souvent perçu par les enseignants comme un moyen de jugement et de contrôle. Par contraste, les évaluations internes, basées et créés dans les écoles essaient d'établir un processus de développement qui contribue à améliorer l'apprentissage des enseignants et des étudiants et qui es la copropriété des preneurs de l'école. Cet article examine les tensions et les conflits qui peuvent se présenter entre les deux genres d'évaluation et pose la question: “Comment peut‐on combattre les attitudes negatives qui résulteraient après des évaluations externes et comment peut‐on par la suite encourager les écoles à entreprendre leur propre évaluation externe?”Plus particulièrement, en utilisant des études de cas de quelques écoles en Ecosse, l'article explore aussi les moyens par lesquels les écoles peuvent utiliser les données obtenues par les processus d'auto‐évaluations internes afin d'adresser au moins quelques‐unes des exigences externes qui s'imposent à l'école. Cette strategie, l'on soutient, garantit que l'évaluation bénéficit en grande partie aux méthodes d'enseignement à l'école au contraire des évaluations externes qui généralement poussent les écoles à rendre des comptes.

Eine zunehmende Anzahl von Untersuchungen befaßt sich mit dem internationalen Vergleich der Leistung, die in verschiedenen Ausbildungssystemen erzielt wird. Zum Beispiel veröffentlichen TIMSS, PIRLR und PISA die Ergebnisse von verschiedenen Ländern in den Bereichen Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften und Lesen/Schreiben. In Bezug auf die Qualität schulischer Ausbildung hat die Europäische Kommission auch Indikatoren und Anforderungsmaßstäbe veröffentlicht. Diese Art von externer Evaluation wird von Lehrern oft als bewertend und als ein Element von Steuerungsmaßnahmen angesehen. Im Gegensatz dazu sollte die interne schulbezogene Evaluation, deren Kontrolle bei den Betroffenen in der Schule verbleibt, als Teil eines Entwicklungsprozesses aufgefaßt werden, der auf die Verbesserung des Lernens von Lehrern und Schülern abzielt. Dieser Beitrag untersucht die möglichen Spannungen und Konflikte, die sich aus den beiden verschieden Evaluationsansätzen ergeben. Es wird die Frage aufgeworfen: “Wie können wir die negativen Einstellungen, die mit externer Evaluationen leicht verbunden sind, überwinden, um damit die Schulen bereit zu machen, interne schulbezogene Evaluationen durchzuführen?” Auf der Grundlage von schottischen Fallstudien zeigt der Beitrag Möglichkeiten auf, wie Schulen im Rahmen von internen Selbstevaluationsprozessen Daten verschiedenster Art nutzen können, um zumindest einigen Anforderungen, die an sie von außen gestellt werden, genügen zu können. Die Verfasser gehen davon aus, daß eine solche Strategie sicherstellt, daß die Evaluation im wesentlichen für schulische Zwecke durchgeführt wird: Daß sie vor allem den weiteren Lernprozeß unterstützt und weniger einer externen Beurteilung dient, die darauf ausgerichtet ist, Schulen für ihre bisherigen Lernleistungen zur Verantwortung zu ziehen.

Ultimamente ha habido un incremento importante de estudios sobre los resultados que han obtenido diversos sistemas educativos en comparaciones internacionales. Por ejemplo, TIMSS, PERLS y PISA publican los resultados de diversos países en matemáticas, ciencias y alfabetización. La Comisión Europea también ha publicado indicadores y bases de datos, referidos a la calidad de la educación de las escuelas. Este tipo de evaluación externa a menudo es percibido por los profesores como un control y una crítica a su labor. En contraste, la evaluación interna realizada desde la escuela, apunta a ser considerada como un proceso de desarrollo profesional que contribuye a la mejora del profesorado y al aprendizaje de los alumnos, y donde el propietario del proceso de evaluación es el mismo centro educativo. Este documento examina las posibles tensiones y los conflictos que pueden darse entre estos dos tipos de evaluación y se pregunta, “¿cómo podemos superar las actitudes negativas que pudieron originar la evaluación externa de manera que se pueda animar a las escuelas a emprender una evaluación interna desde la escuela? El documento explora, usando estudio de casos escoceses, las maneras en las cuales las escuelas a través de sus procesos de autoevaluación interna pueden utilizar los datos de diversas maneras y dar respuesta a algunas, sino a todas, las demandas que reciben del exterior. Esta estrategia, se dice, que asegura que la evaluación esté hecha en gran parte para el propósito de la escuela y como ayuda al proceso de aprendizaje más que un examen externo diseñado para que las escuelas rindan cuentas sobre los resultados que han obtenido.     

Laboratory materials: Affordances or constraints?

Laboratory instruction is critical to the understanding of biology and is a central piece of biological sciences instruction. Although much investigation has focused on the content of biology laboratory exercises, we contend that understanding the extent to which the laboratory materials can aid or limit experimental investigation is of equal importance. In this study, therefore, we investigate the role of timing and availability of laboratory equipment in the context of two different laboratory exercises. We use both case study and an experimental approach to investigate how laboratory materials guide the planning, context, creativity, and timing of ideas shared among students. Our data support the notion that providing students with laboratory equipment before students plan and consider different experimental approaches can constrain students' ideas and encourage tool‐focused solutions to experimental design tasks. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 1010–1025, 2011     

Mentoring: A Convenience or Convergence?

The 27th Delphine Hanna Lecture presented at the 2018 NAKHE Annual Conference.     

Gender Roles: Biases or Differences?

This paper aims to probe into the two distinct gender roles—males and females—in several ways,and further answers the question"what on earth cause the salient differentiation in gender roles,biases or differences?"In conclusion,the author holds that it is the physiological and psychological differences in the two sexes that result in the differed distribution of such vari ous duties which males and females are supposed to fulfill as the current society has expected.     

Global English:gift or curse?

The status of the English language as the lingua franca of the global information society is beyond dispute, but what is not so clear is whether it is capable of fulfilling that role efficiently. In the following article Ross Smith responds to the supporters of Global English by examining the qualities that an ideal international auxiliary language would possess and then discussing the extent to which those qualities are to be found in modern English.     

再造大学:创新or全球化?

"你有什么坚信不疑的想法吗?这个想法很重要,但大多数人都会反对。"在求职时,如果面试官提出这个问题,你会怎么回答?这可是一道真实的求职面试题。回到支付宝还没诞生,Paypal还在招人的年代,你有幸过关斩将,获得跟Paypal创始人皮特?泰尔(Peter Thiel)面谈的机会,他一定会用这道题来决定你的去留。情景一,你脱口而出:"上帝并不存在!"或者"教育系统糟糕透了!"还没等你暗自庆幸这个答案有多安全,Peter会示意你该离开了。因为早有一百、一千、一万的人曾这样说过。