What is orthographic processing skill and how does it relate to word identification in reading?

The role of orthographic processing skill (OPS) in reading has aroused the interest of many developmental researchers. Despite observations by Vellutino that current measures of OPS primarily are indicators of reading (and spelling) achievement, OPS commonly is distinguished from both reading achievement and phonological skills. An analysis of the reading literature indicates that there is no theory in which OPS meaningfully plays a role as an independent skill or causal factor in reading acquisition. Rather, OPS indexes fluent word identification and spelling knowledge, and there is no evidence to refute the hypothesis that its development relies heavily on phonological processes. Results of correlational studies and reader group comparisons (a) cannot inform about on‐line processes and (b) may be parsimoniously explained in terms of phonological skills, reading experience, unmeasured language abilities and methodological factors, without implying that OPS is an aetiologically separable skill. Future research would profit from the investigation in experimental studies of the nature and development of orthographic representations.     

The hidden depths of new word knowledge: Using graded measures of orthographic and semantic learning to measure vocabulary acquisition

We investigated whether the presence of orthography promotes new word learning (orthographic facilitation). In Study 1 (N = 41) and Study 2 (N = 74), children were taught 16 unknown polysyllabic words. Half of the words appeared with orthography present and half without orthography. Learning assessments captured the degree of semantic and orthographic learning; they were administered one week after teaching (Studies 1 and 2), and, unusually, eight months later (Study 1 only). Bayesian analyses indicated that the presence of orthography was associated with more word learning, though this effect was estimated with more certainty for orthographic than semantic learning. Newly learned word knowledge was well retained over time, indicating that our paradigm was sufficient to support long-term learning. Our approach provides an example of how word learning studies can look beyond simple accuracy measures to reveal the cumulative nature of lexical learning.     

Writing like writers in the classroom: free writing and formal constraint

This paper considers how ‘free writing’, derived from the automatic writing of the surrealists, can be used with students in writing poetry in order to emulate the successful practice of established writers. The paper considers how form can be taught, specifically line breaks and stanza breaks, both in relation to free writing and in relation to drafting, and argues that drafting should be considered an extension of the creative act of writing rather than as something which is done afterwards ‘to’ preexisting work.     

浅谈新形势下如何认识和改进高职院校的应用写作课程

应用写作,高等职业教育中的一门公共基础课,也可以归结为一门职业技能课。提高学生的书面表达能力和应用文体的实际应用能力是该门课程的目标。但近年来,由于多种因素的影响,从事应用写作教学的教师普遍感到这门课程越来越难教。在高职教育发展的新形势下,如何认识和改进高职院校的应用写作课程,本文就此作了浅谈。     

Referencing: the cohesive use of pronouns in the written narrative of college underprepared writers, nondisabled writers, and writers with learning disabilities

The purpose of this study was to explore whether college normally achieving writers (n = 35), writers with learning disabilities (n = 35), and underprepared writers (n = 35) demonstrated any differences in their ability to utilize the semantic roles and syntactic rules needed to apply cohesive referencing in written text. Cohesive referencing (the ability to assign roles to the speaker and addressee in written communication) is a critical aspect of written language. In addition, the study explored the relation between referential cohesion and the quality and coherence of a written text.     

Strengthening vocabulary for literacy: an analysis of the use of explicit instruction techniques to improve word learning from story book read-alouds

Vocabulary knowledge is an important predictor of literacy and broader academic outcomes, and children's literature is a rich source of sophisticated vocabulary. This study investigated the effect of providing instruction in word meanings as an adjunct to story-book read-aloud sessions in Grade One classrooms. The main intervention programme ran for 18 weeks over three terms in low socio-economic status (SES) schools. Two intervention models incorporating explicit instruction components were compared with existing classroom practice. Teaching a greater number of word meanings more briefly was contrasted with teaching fewer words in greater depth. Pre- and post-instruction vocabulary knowledge was assessed using curriculum-based assessments. Both explicit approaches were more effective in improving word learning than a traditional constructivist approach. Increased intensity of instruction resulted in better learning for individual words. There was no discernible carryover to scores on standardised vocabulary tests.     

Information literacy in science writing: how students find,identify, and use scientific literature

For undergraduate students to achieve science literacy, they must first develop information literacy skils. These skills align with Information Literacy Standards and include determining appropriate databases, distinguishing among resource types, and citing resources ethically. To effectively improve information literacy and science literacy, we must identify how students interact with authentic scientific texts. In this case study, we addressed this aim by embedding a science librarian into a science writing course, where students wrote a literature review on a research topic of their choice. Library instruction was further integrated through the use of an online guide and outside assistance. To evaluate the evolution of information literacy in our students and provide evidence of student practices, we used task-scaffolded writing assessments, a reflection, and surveys. We found that students improved their ability and confidence in finding research articles using discipline-specific databases as well as their ability to distinguish primary from secondary research articles. We also identified ways students improperly used and cited resources in their writing assignments. While our results reveal a better understanding of how students find and approach scientific research articles, additional research is needed to develop effective strategies to improve long-term information literacy in the sciences.     

Inclusive education in the Netherlands: how funding arrangements and demographic trends relate to dropout and participation rates

There is a global trend towards including children with special needs in mainstream schools instead of placing them in special schools. However, the numbers of students in special schools varies greatly among regions due to variations in educational systems, funding arrangements – and the incentives that are associated with these arrangements – and demographic trends. In the Netherlands, a new policy aimed at inclusive education was introduced in 2014, together with financial measures to equalise funding for students with special needs across the country. The present study explored the effects of this equalisation policy, as well as the demographic trend of population decline, on dropout rates and participation rates in special education (namely, special schools for mainstream education and schools for special education). The data were retrieved from nation-wide registration systems. The results showed that population decline did not affect participation rates in special education, whereas decreases in funding did result in greater declines in participation rates in special education. Moreover, decreases in funding also resulted in higher dropout rates in areas with growing student populations. Although the reform of funding arrangements resulted in lower participation in special education, higher dropout rates might be a cost of this shift towards inclusive education.     

Boys as writers: perspectives on the learning and teaching of writing in three primary schools

Boys' attitude to writing is widely perceived as an issue in English primary and secondary schools. Prior research has identified a link between negative attitudes to writing and lower achievement and raised the issue of the stereotyping of boys as underachievers in literacy. The study reported here suggests that if we are to understand the problems associated with the underachievement of boys, we should take into account boys' perspectives on their experiences as literacy learners. In this study, boys aged 8–11 drawn from three London schools in the UK, were interviewed in small groups annually over 3 years of their primary schooling. The boys' teachers were also interviewed separately. These interviews generated insights into the teachers' views of the boys and the boys' views of themselves as literacy learners, especially as writers. The data indicated the boys were highly sensitive to the social situation in the classroom. The boys responded best to their literacy learning when their teachers treated them as individuals, valued their ideas and incorporated strategies for developing learner agency into their daily classroom practice. This article concludes that a teaching approach that includes consulting children about what helps or hinders their learning and a fresh teacher focus on gender issues would increase gender awareness.     

Exploring the litblog: how literary blogging can be used to guide readers in the selection of new books

Examining how readers choose books when reading for pleasure is an important step towards understanding literacy practices that occur outside of the traditional domain of the education system. This article explores the possibilities that literary blogs offer as a form of reader guidance. It analyzes the content of seven literary blogs and three library‐run blogs (all focusing on adult fiction), and identifies features of these blogs that may be valuable to avid readers and to those who serve as advisors to readers, such as librarians and educators.     

Exploring learner acceptance of the use of virtual reality in medical education: a case study of desktop and projection-based display systems

Advanced technologies have been widely applied in medical education, including human-patient simulators, immersive virtual reality Cave Automatic Virtual Environment systems, and video conferencing. Evaluating learner acceptance of such virtual reality (VR) learning environments is a critical issue for ensuring that such technologies are used to greatest effect. This research describes the use of high performance real-time interactive software (VR4MAX) to build a prototype 3D VR learning system. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 167 university students to investigate learner attitudes toward learning via VR applications. Experimental results show that immersion and imagination features of VR-mediated course contents have a positive impact on perceived usefulness, and can also predict perceived ease of use, both of which contributors to behavioral intention of learners to use VR learning systems. Overall, this research validates the relationship between three features of VR and learners' behavioral intention to use VR learning. The results could prove helpful in guiding future research related to VR learning.     

The development of word retrieval abilities in the second year and its relation to early vocabulary growth

The present research investigated the development of word retrieval abilities late in the second year when most children display a marked increase in word production. When asked what was hidden in a given box, children with still quite limited productive vocabularies were reliably less likely to produce the labels of the hidden objects than were children with larger productive vocabularies even though (1) all children could name those objects and (2) all children did well when asked to find those same hidden objects. Additionally, the provision of pictorial cues facilitated word retrieval, especially in the early stage of lexical development. Naming errors during a naturalistic book-reading session peaked in children whose productive vocabularies had recently begun to expand, further suggesting that word retrieval processes undergo significant changes at this time.     

Modeling achievement in mathematics: the role of learner and learning environment characteristics

This study examined a structural model of mathematics achievement among Druze 8th graders in Israel. The model integrates 2 psychosocial theories: goal theory and social learning theory. Variables in the model included gender, father's and mother's education, classroom mastery and performance goal orientation, mathematics self-efficacy and self-regulated learning, mastery and performance goals, and mathematics achievement. Data on learner and learning environment variables and achievement in mathematics were collected from 273 boys and girls. Results indicate appropriate fit of the model for the entire sample. Invariance analysis across gender indicated that only 2 of the 11 path coefficients, mother's education on mathematics achievement and classroom mastery goal orientation on self-regulation, were not invariant across gender. The same pattern of relationships accounted for different amounts of variance in mathematics achievement for boys and girls.     

Evidence of alphabetic knowledge in writing: connections to letter and word identification skills in preschool and kindergarten

The writing skills of 286 children (157 female and 129 male) were studied by comparing name writing and letter writing scores from preschool to kindergarten with letter and word reading scores over the same time period. Two rubrics for scoring writing were compared to determine if scores based on multiple components (i.e., letter formation, orientation on the vertical axis, left–right orientation, and correct letter sequencing) would better reflect differences in children’s writing knowledge in preschool and kindergarten than rubrics composed of one component (i.e., letter formation only). While developmental changes in writing scores were found, little additional information was provided by multiple component scoring rubrics compared to the single component rubric. Letter writing scores were more strongly related to letter and word reading scores than name writing scores but neither writing score was predictive of growth. Implications of the findings for intentional/systematic writing instruction in preschool curricula are discussed.     

Reading and writing from multiple source documents in history: Effects of strategy instruction with low to average high school writers

This study examined the effects of historical reasoning strategy instruction on 11th-grade students. Students learned historical inquiry strategies using 20th Century American history topics ranging from the Spanish-American war to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. In addition, students learned a pre-writing strategy for composing argumentative essays related to each historical event. Results indicate that in comparison to a control group (N = 79), essays written by students who received instruction (N = 81) were longer, were rated as having significantly greater historical accuracy, were significantly more persuasive, and claims and rebuttals within each argument became more elaborated. Importantly, students in the control group read the same primary and secondary source document sets, and received feedback on written essays on the same topics.     

Exploring the use of technology among newly arrived children in Hong Kong: from an e-sports and cultural capital perspective

Educational technology research and development - Based on Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory, our study examined the engagement of newly arrived children (NAC) with ICT and e-sports both at...     

Listening to the boys again: an exploration of what boys want to learn in sex education classes and how they want to be taught

This article describes the preferences expressed by 16‐year‐old and 17‐year‐old boys when they were asked what they want to learn from sex and relationship education classes and how they want to be taught. Research was carried out in eight secondary schools with boys in year 12. Qualitative responses from questionnaires issued to 307 boys were analysed together with the results from three focus groups carried out in three of the schools. The research found that in most areas boys are not being taught what they want to know. The areas of feelings and emotions, sexuality, sexual techniques, sexually transmitted infections, pornography and the effects of the ‘boy culture’ are not being addressed sufficiently, or in some cases at all. Boys also called for smaller class groups, and for more active methods of teaching and some of them asked for time away from girls to express themselves without censure. They called for more education at an earlier age and that their desire for a safe, non‐critical environment should be met.     

Understanding science teaching effectiveness: examining how science-specific and generic instructional practices relate to student achievement in secondary science classrooms

ABSTRACT

In order to create conditions for students’ meaningful and rigorous intellectual engagement in science classrooms, it is critically important to help science teachers learn which strategies and approaches can be used best to develop students’ scientific literacy. Better understanding how science teachers’ instructional practices relate to student achievement can provide teachers with beneficial information about how to best engage their students in meaningful science learning. To address this need, this study examined the instructional practices that 99 secondary biology teachers used in their classrooms and employed regression to determine which instructional practices are predictive of students’ science achievement. Results revealed that the secondary science teachers who had well-managed classroom environments and who provided opportunities for their students to engage in student-directed investigation-related experiences were more likely to have increased student outcomes, as determined by teachers’ value-added measures. These findings suggest that attending to both generic and subject-specific aspects of science teachers’ instructional practice is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms that result in more effective science instruction in secondary classrooms. Implications about the use of these observational measures within teacher evaluation systems are discussed.