“It takes two”: The added value of structured peer-assisted writing in explicit writing instruction

High-quality writing instruction is vital to supporting developing writers as they learn to plan, compose, and revise text. It is equally important that such instruction enhances students’ self-efficacy for writing as well as their motivation to write. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the incremental effect of peer-assisted writing in an explicit writing instruction program on Flemish upper-elementary students’ writing performance, self-efficacy for writing, and writing motivation. A randomized control design, using multilevel analyses, was conducted to determine the differential effectiveness of two experimental writing treatments (EI+PA and EI+IND) compared to a business as usual control condition (BAU). Both experimental writing treatments involved explicit instruction in writing, with students in one condition writing with a peer (EI+PA) and students in the other condition writing individually (EI+IND). Participating classes (N = 431 students, N = 20 teachers) were randomly assigned to the three conditions and students were assessed before and after instruction. EI+PA students outperformed both EI+IND and BAU students on the writing measure in the instructed genre but not in the uninstructed genre. Additionally, although EI+PA students were more confident as to their capability (self-efficacy) to generate ideas when compared to their EI+IND counterparts, EI+PA students’ writing motivation, characterized by internal or external motives, was significantly lower than EI+IND students. The findings of the present study corroborate and extend the limited number of prior studies illustrating the surplus value of peer-assisted writing in explicit writing instruction programs.     

The work of scholars: an institutional ethnography of a McNair scholars’ class

The McNair Scholars Program continues to be pivotal towards increasing diversity within graduate schools in the USA, particularly within doctoral programmes. The programme provides underrepresented undergraduate students with opportunities to learn about research and applying to graduate schools, which otherwise might not be available for these students. Every academic year, students who come from various socially marginalised backgrounds such as low-income, Black, Latino/a, among other social categories, work on learning research skills in the McNair programme to become attractive prospective graduate students. The purpose of this study was to understand students’ work within McNair programs, particularly when it came to completing McNair assignments. Based off an institutional ethnographic methodology, this study highlights how students lived the discourse of being McNair scholars.     

The quality of writing 7–13

This article examines the implications of the Primary Strategy for primary school teachers. It focuses on the framework for learning and teaching across the curriculum (DfES, 2003, Chapter 3 ‘Excellent primary teaching’) and questions whether the new framework is in fact a return to a ‘whole’ curriculum approach. The key issues explored are: curriculum and assessment; and sharing practice; all of which present challenges for primary teachers. The downward impact of curriculum and assessment issues on the early years is considered.     

The role of the teaching headteacher: A question of support?

This article reports findings from a study of 100 headteachers of very small Scottish primary schools. The main aim of the research was to follow up a sample of those schools that had participated in a larger study of all small schools in Scotland in 1996 to explore the role of the teaching headteacher. Evidence for this follow up study was collected from a postal survey and from interviews in nine case study schools. The research found that although the dual role of the teaching headteacher remained largely unchanged, pressures have increased while the available support is still perceived to be inadequate.     

The question of dissection in medical training: Not just “if,” but “when”? A student perspective

While debate about the use of—and alternatives to—human cadaveric dissection in medical training is robust, little attention has been paid to questions about timing. This study explores the perspectives of medical students and recent graduates with regard to two key questions: when in the degree program do students prefer dissection opportunities and what are the students getting out of participating in dissection? Self-report survey data from students in preclinical years (n = 105), clinical years (n = 57), and graduates (n = 13) were analyzed. Most (89%) preferred dissection during the preclinical years, with no effect by training year (χ² = 1.98, p = 0.16), previous anatomy (χ² = 3.64, p = 0.31), or dissection (χ² = 3.84, p = 0.26) experience. Three key findings emerged. First, the majority of students prefer to dissect in the preclinical years because they view dissection as important for developing foundation knowledge and delivering an opportunity for consolidation prior to transitioning to primarily clinical studies. In addition, students recognize that it is a time-consuming activity requiring specialized facilities. Second, three main understandings of the purpose of dissection were reported: depth of learning, learning experience, and real-world equivalence. Third, these student perspectives of the purpose of dissection are associated with timing preferences for dissection opportunities. The results identify the preclinical phase as the optimal time to strategically integrate dissection into medical training in order to maximize the benefits of this unique learning opportunity for students and minimize its impact upon curricular time.     

The “biographical question” as a challenge to adult education

In the present age we are experiencing profound changes in the traditional patterns and phases that used to mark the course of a human life. Living a life has become a more problematic and unpredictable undertaking, a laboratory for developing skills whose usefulness is uncertain. This situation represents a challenge for adult education. In this article, the author argues the case for a biographical approach to learning, which has the capacity to change both the individual and the context in which learning takes place. He contrasts this with conventional education, where learning takes place within a stable context. Through the biological approach, learning processes can become voyages of discovery for both learners and teachers.

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Zusammenfassung Gegenwärtig erleben wir tiefgreifende Veränderungen der traditionellen Lebensmuster und Phasen, die den Verlauf des menschlichen Lebens bis dahin prägten. Das Leben zu leben ist ein problematischeres und nicht voraussagbares Unternehmen geworden, ein Labor zur Entwicklung von Fähigkeiten, deren Nutzen unsicher ist. Diese Situation bedeutet eine Herausforderung für die Erwachsenenbildung. In diesem Artikel tritt der Autor für einen biographischen Lernansatz ein, der sowohl den Einzelnen als auch die Lernumgebung zu ändern vermag. Er stellt dies der konventionellen Bildung gegenüber, bei der in einem festen Zusammenhang gelernt wird. Durch den biographischen Ansatz können Lernprozesse sowohl für den Lernenden als auch für den Lehrer zu Entdeckungsreisen werden.

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Résumé Nous vivons actuellement une transformation profonde des périodes et des modèles établis qui formaient traditionnellement les points de repère d'une vie humaine. Vivre sa vie est devenu une entreprise plus compliquée et imprévisible, un laboratoire pour acquérir des compétences dont l'utilité est incertaine. Cette situation jette un défi à la formation des adultes. L'auteur livre dans cet article les arguments pour une approche biographique de l'apprentissage, celle-ci étant à même de modifier à la fois l'individu et le contexte dans lequel l'apprentissage a lieu, l'opposant à l'éducation conventionnelle où le contexte de l'apprentissage est plus rigide. Grâce à l'approche biographique, l'apprentissage peut devenir un voyage de découverte à la fois pour l'apprenant et pour l'enseignant.

     

The effect of culture and belief systems on students’ academic buoyancy

Increasingly, learner motivation is implicated in student failure at universities. This has led to intense research into internal or external variables that might buoy resilience to failure. This research investigates the impact of strong cultural connectedness and strong belief systems on the academic buoyancy of international students studying at an Australian University. For this purpose, we surveyed 102 tertiary students at a Sydney university. Results demonstrate that, in the event of academic failure, students’ academic buoyancy remains high if they have support through strong cultural connections and from their belief systems. We further endeavored to identify if academic buoyancy was fed by intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. This research contributes to the understanding of the sources of strengths available to international students from primarily collective cultures studying overseas. There are implications for educational practice in terms of identifying students ‘at high risk’ if they are unable to draw strengths from cultural connections and belief systems.     

The Surveillance of Women on Reality Television: Watching “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette”

BRITISH CULTURAL STUDIES: AN INTRODUCTION. By Graeme Turner. New York: Routledge, 1992; pp. 246. $39.95; paper $14.95.

CRUSOE'S FOOTPRINTS: CULTURAL STUDIES IN BRITAIN AND AMERICA. By Patrick Brantlinger. New York: Routledge, 1990; xi, pp. 212. $39.50; paper $13.95.

CULTURE STUDIES AS CRITICAL THEORY. By Ben Agger. Bristol, PA: The Falmer Press, 1992; vii, pp. 217. $77.00; paper $26.50.

TELEVISION, AUDIENCES AND CULTURAL STUDIES. By David Morley. New York: Routledge, 1992; viii, pp. 325. $69.95; paper $16.95.

THE POLITICS OF PICTURES: THE CREATION OF THE PUBLIC IN THE AGE OF POPULAR MEDIA. By John Hartley. New York: Routledge, 1992; xiii, pp. 247. $69.95; paper $16.95.     

The psychology of writing development—And its implications for assessment

This article reviews key developmental theories that have been adopted by writing development researchers over the last fifty years. It describes how researchers have translated these theories into definitions of writing development capable of influencing curricular design and interpretations of student writing and explores the implications for assessment extended by each theory. This piece examines both the variations in assessment practices/emphases suggested by different developmental theories as well as the shared assumptions about growth to which they lead, arguing that these commonalities should guide efforts to foreground development in the assessment of writing.     

The Intertextual Interpretation of “The Hours”

文章从互文性在文本中的具体表现手法入手,探讨迈克尔·坎宁安的《时时刻刻》与弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫的《达洛维夫人》、多丽丝·莱辛的《到十九号房间》、夏洛特·波金斯·吉尔曼的《黄壁纸》以及诸多神话故事、历史故事和民间传说之间的互文关系,试图＂澄清＂它并非某一文本的被动戏仿,而是作者迈克尔·坎宁安将他人的不同文本精心融合成一个包罗万象的＂大熔炉＂。     

The impact of formative peer feedback on higher education students’ academic writing: a Meta-Analysis

Peer feedback is frequently implemented with academic writing tasks in higher education. However, a quantitative synthesis is still lacking for the impact that peer feedback has on students’ writing performance. The current study conveyed two types of observations. First, regarding the impact of peer feedback on writing performance, this study synthesized the results of 24 quantitative studies reporting on higher education students’ academic writing performance after peer feedback. Engagement in peer feedback resulted in larger writing improvements compared to (no-feedback) controls (g?=?0.91 [0.41, 1.42]) and compared to self-assessment (g?=?0.33 [0.01, 0.64]). Peer feedback and teacher feedback resulted in similar writing improvements (g?=?0.46 [-0.44, 1.36]). The nature of the peer feedback significantly moderated the impact that peer feedback had on students’ writing improvement, whereas only a theoretically plausible, though non-significant moderating pattern was found for the number of peers that students engaged with. Second, this study shows that the number of well-controlled studies into the effects of peer feedback on writing is still low, indicating the need for more quantitative, methodologically sound research in this field. Findings and implications are discussed both for higher education teaching practice and future research approaches and directions.     

Lifelong learning: The dialectics of “lifelong educations”

This article examines the emergence of different patterns of lifelong education and at the same time gives an overall view of how the various contributions to this special issue add to our understanding of the process of change that is taking place in the educational arena. The article is structured around three main themes. First, it addresses the changing relationship between initial education, adult education and the general learning environments. As the author shows, these three elements form a complex and interacting web of influences, which can be fully understood only as a totality. Secondly, under the heading of The Dialectics at work behind and in education, the article discusses such factors as the changing patterns of employment and non-working time and the disparity between social demand for education and the institutional response. Thirdly, the author deals with the economy of lifelong learning and the changing role of the state in education. Overall, the author presents a picture of profound and widespread transition, in which many different types of learning society are emerging.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel untersucht das Auftreten unterschiedlicher Bildungsmuster im Bereich lebenslanger Bildung und gibt zugleich einen Gesamtüberblick darüber, wie verschiedene Beiträge zu diesem Thema unser Verständnis für den gegenwärtig im Erziehungsbereich stattfindenden Veränderungsprozess erhöhen. Dieser Artikel gliedert sich in drei Hauptthemen. Erstens geht er auf die sich ändernden Beziehungen zwischen einer Erstausbildung, Erwachsenenbildung und allgemeinen Lernumgebungen ein. Der Autor zeigt auf, daß diese drei Elemente ein komplexes und interagierendes Netz von Einflüssen bilden, das nur in seiner Gesamtheit vollständig erfaßt werden kann. Zweitens diskutiert der Artikel unter der Überschrift die angewandte Dialektik vor dem Hintergrund der Bildung und in der Bildung selbst Faktoren wie Veränderungen von Arbeitsplatz und arbeitsfreier Zeit und die Diskrepanz zwischen dem sozialem Bedarf an Bildung und der institutionellen Antwort darauf. Drittens behandelt der Autor die wirtschaftliche Seite des lebenslangen Lernens und die sich ändernde Rolle des Staates in der Bildung. Insgesamt präsentiert der Autor das Bild einer tiefgehenden und weitreichenden Übergangsphase, in deren Verlauf viele unterschiedliche Arten von Lerngesellschaften auftreten.

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Résumé Cet article examine l'apparition de différents modèles d'éducation permanente et explique également en quoi ce numéro spécial nous permet de comprendre les processus de transformation qui ont lieu sur la scène éducative. L'article est structuré autour de trois thèmes principaux. Il aborde en premier lieu l'evolution des liens existant entre éducation initiale, éducation des adultes et environments éducatifs. L'auteur démontre que ces trois éléments forment un édifice complexe d'interactions réciproques qui n'est vraiment compréhensible que considéré dans sa totalité. Il discute ensuite sous le titre Processus dialectiques en éducation divers facteurs tels que la mutation des modèles d'emploi et de temps hors travail, ainsi que la disparité entre la demande sociale en éducation et la réponse des institutions. Enfin, il se penche sur l'éducation permanente d'un point de vue économique et sur le nouveau rôle de l'Etat en matière d'éducation. L'auteur brosse avant tout le tableau d'une transformation profonde et générale qui donne naissance aux formes de société éducative les plus variées.

     

由Out of question和Out of the question想开去

“out of question”和“out of the question”，一词之差，意义却大相径庭，前者是“毫无问题“，后者则是“绝不可能”、“很成问题”。一个小小的“the”，作用却如此之大，而我们却经常忽略了它的作用。其实，在英语中，还有许多词和词组，由于“the”的存在与否，使词或词组的意义发生很大变化。现列数例以作说明，     

The (im)possibility of poststructuralist ethnography – researching identities in borrowed spaces

The notion of site is critical to ethnography and provides a sense of spatial stability – somewhere the researcher enters in order to research what is contained within. Using contemporary understandings of space, the author reflects on two studies to explore the (im)possibility of poststructuralist ethnography. The first study was undertaken in a ‘real’ school utilising a multi-method approach over a long period of time. The other was conducted in community-based schools where minority language and culture are taught. Such schools operate on a part-time basis and are often referred to as ‘after hours’ schools. These operate, as if by stealth, in borrowed spaces – schools not in use by their normal classes, during normal school times. The nature of these schools necessitated utilising different research approaches. The almost transient nature of ‘after hours’ schools reinforce temporal–spatial instabilities as critical to understanding site as social rather than fixed.     

The present situation and the countermeasure of belief education of vocational college students——Analysis based on the belief of higher vocational students in Hainan Province

本文根据对海南省高职院校信仰状况的调查,在总结高职学生当前信仰教育现状的基础上,分析了影响高职学生信仰教育的因素,并有针对性地提出了加强高职学生信仰教育的对策.     

由out of question 和out of the question想开去

“out of question"和“out ofthe question”,一词之差,意义却大相径庭,前者是“亳无问题”,后者则是“绝不可能”、“很成问题”。一个小小的“the”,作用却如此之大,而我们却经常忽略了它的作用。其实,在英语中,还有许多词和词组,由于“the”的存在与否,使词或词组的意义发生很大变化。现列数例以作说明,并提醒大