Measuring standards in primary English: issues of validity and accountability with respect to PIRLS and National Curriculum test scores

This article revisits the important issue raised by Peter Tymms where he challenges the official government reports of an impressive rise in standards in mathematics and English in primary schools in England since 1995, suggesting that the rise in scores, particularly since 2000, does not indicate rising standards. In order to substantiate its claim the Government has repeatedly referred to the results of an international study which put England in the top three of the 35 participating countries for achievement in reading, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (2001). Firstly, the nature of an international comparison which uses a single indicator of achievement is critically examined in terms of the fair comparison and resulting commensurability of very different national school populations. Here issues of cultural bias are raised in relation to the unidimensionality of the reading test items and the contrasting wealth, representational sizes, and varied geographic dispersals of the target populations. Secondly, the PIRLS study is analysed for its potential for linguistic bias. Finally, the PIRLS data for England are examined, where it is shown, in comparison with other countries, the sampling and the test itself to have been advantageously organised. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the validity of known results with regard to the testing of English primary‐aged children in literacy.     

小学英语教学如何贯彻新课程标准

不久前 ,国家教育部颁布了英语新课程标准 ,它强调课程从学生的学习兴趣、生活经验和认知水平出发 ,倡导体验、实践、参与、合作与交流的学习方式和任务型教学途径 ,发展学生语言的综合运用能力 ,使学习语言的过程成为学生形成积极的情感态度 ,主动思维、大胆实践、提高跨文化意识和形成自主学习能力的过程。那么 ,如何把枯燥的机械性语言训练转变为学生们乐于接受、乐于参与甚至向往参与的生动活泼的现代课堂呢 ?笔者认为素质教育是要把培养学生的综合素质作为教学目标和重点 ,课堂活动是学生参与语言学习与实践的主要途径 ,用丰富多彩的活…     

如何提高小学英语词汇教学的有效性

词汇教学既是小学英语教学的一个重点,难点。因此,在小学英语词汇教学中,如何加强词汇教学的直观性、增强词汇教学的趣味性、利用语境,突出词汇教学的整体性显得尤为重要。     

The humanities in English primary schools: struggling to survive

ABSTRACT

This article surveys the state of the humanities in English primary schools drawing on evidence from serving head teachers, current literature and policy documents. The findings suggest that whilst the humanities are highly valued in schools, there are serious challenges which threaten the ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum. It is suggested that a greater focus on spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) education and engagement with subject associations and alternative learning environments can help to rectify this imbalance. Such an approach recognises looming social, cultural and environmental threats, which have the potential to support children’s psychological health and well-being.     

Critical realism and statistical methods—a response to Nash

This article offers a defence of critical realism in the face of objections Nash (2005) makes to it in a recent edition of this journal. It is argued that critical and scientific realisms are closely related and that both are opposed to statistical positivism. However, the suggestion is made that scientific realism retains (from statistical positivism) a number of elements that result in misleading accounts of social processes and events: indicators are used which do not reflect the close relationship between structure and agency; indicators refer to reified and not real properties of both structures and agents; and indicators do not refer to causal properties of objects and entities. In order to develop a narrative of causal processes, as Nash argues researchers should, then some adjustments need to be made to the principles that underpin scientific realism.     

Measuring ESL readers’ ability to apply reasoning in reading: a validity study of the TOEFL reading comprehension subtest

This paper reports the results of an attempt to measure English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ability to apply reasoning in reading. The elicitation instrument was an experimental test which was developed from a model of reading comprehension based upon cognitive activities which Piaget referred to as concrete operations. The experimental test delineated Piaget's concrete operations in prose text and set them against difficulty criteria. The experimental test which measured the ability to apply reasoning in reading and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) were administered to a pool of adult ESL subjects. The results indicated that the TOEFL reading comprehension subtest does not measure the ability to apply reasoning in reading; thus, its validity as a measure of reading is in doubt. Significant effects were also shown for the paragraph types and the item types in the experimental test. The items based on the classification paragraphs were significantly more difficult than the items based on the serial paragraphs. In like manner, the items based on the multiplication paragraphs were significantly more difficult than the items based on the addition paragraphs. And finally, the intension questions which concerned the properties of a class were significantly more difficult than the extension questions which dealt with the members of classes. The results of this study indicate a need for further, increased attention to the measurement of reading to solve problems in ESL reading assessment and to the effects of the different structural organizations of ideas (e.g., addition, classification, multiplication, and series) and the interrelations of ideas on the comprehension process. The motivation for this line of research derives from the pragmatic interest of those researchers concerned with the communicative aspects of a text and the manner in which authors organize their ideas. Current research is beginning to explain the complex interaction between text structure and the reader's processing of such structure which further explicates the comprehension process.     

Pupils' perceptions of setting and beyond—a response to Hallam and Ireson

This article examines the important data on pupils' perceptions of setting and mixed‐ability classes in 45 comprehensive schools in England collected by Hallam and Ireson. It is argued that the finding that most pupils prefer setting to mixed‐ability classes requires closer scrutiny and more careful interpretation. The conclusion that such preferences are because setting matches pupils' needs to their abilities is not compelling. Pupils' perceptions may be a product of transmitted ideology and wider cultural and organisational factors inside and outside school. Moreover, it is not clear what the implications of Hallam and Ireson's data on mixed‐ability classes are for mixed‐ability teaching. While, Hallam and Ireson propose more differentiated teaching and learning in mixed‐ability classes, this article contends that their data could be interpreted to imply just the opposite. Finally, the implications of their data for the debate about the nature of comprehensive education in Britain are considered.     

交际英语口语测试的结构效度

口语测试是交际测试的重要组成部分,其目的是为了测试出受试者的口语语用能力。交际英语口语测试的结构概念是受试者在真实语境下口语交际能力。根据有效的交际理论设计口语测试,并保证口语测试能体现结构效度是口语测试设计者要完成的首要课题。本文通过分析交际英语口语测试的理论基础,提出了一些基本的实现口语测试结构效度的途径。     

Measuring the quality of teaching practices in primary schools: Assessing the validity of the Teach observation tool in Punjab,Pakistan

Monitoring the quality of teaching practices of primary school teachers in low-and-middle-income countries is often hampered by the lack of freely available classroom observation tools that are feasible to administer, validated in their own setting, and can be used as part of national monitoring systems. To address this discrepancy, Teach, an open-access classroom observation tool, was developed to measure the quality of teaching practices of primary school teachers in low-and-middle-income countries. This paper uses data from Punjab, Pakistan to evaluate the validity of Teach. Results show that Teach scores were internally consistent, presented good inter-rater reliability, and provided sufficient information to differentiate low from high-quality teaching practices. Further, higher Teach scores were associated with higher student outcomes.     

Professional competences to teach English at primary schools in Turkey: a Delphi study

This research aimed to uncover the teacher competences that are necessary to provide age-appropriate English language teaching to primary school students in Turkey. The Delphi technique was implemented to propose a list of competences created through consensus among a panel of experts that consisted of 15 teachers and 16 teacher educators. The data were collected by administering three questionnaires in three rounds. Central tendency and consensus were measured through median and inter-quartile range, respectively. The findings led to a list of 29 teacher competences which were categorised into five groups: ‘theoretical and practical knowledge’, ‘knowing the young learner’, ‘planning and organising teaching’, ‘managing teaching’, and ‘competence in English’. Implications were made for improving the effectiveness of English language teaching to young learners: these included the design of pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes to equip teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to teach English to young learners.     

Headteachers’ readings of and responses to disadvantaged contexts: evidence from English primary schools

Existing research demonstrates the impact of context on school organisation and management, curriculum and pedagogy and on student peer relations. New developments in English education policy will devolve more responsibility for dealing with these issues to headteachers. Headteachers' readings of their contexts and the responses that they make are thus of increasing interest. This paper draws on interviews with eight headteachers of less advantaged English primary schools to explore how they understand and articulate the contexts in which their schools operate and how this knowledge is translated into strategies for organising curriculum, pedagogy and other school processes. These headteachers observed context through the lens of the behaviour of parents and children in relation to school, contrasting it with an assumed middle‐class normality. More critical perspectives on families' social and economic position or on the contribution of school practice to educational exclusion were largely absent. School responses were many and varied but, given the constraints of budgets, market and performative pressures, were unlikely to substantially transform the educational experiences and outcomes of disadvantaged students. We point to the continuing need for more contextualised funding mechanisms and policies to improve schools in disadvantaged areas and also, in the light of devolution to schools, to the need to develop mechanisms of support to headteachers to help them to develop critical understandings of context and to reflect on school process and practices in the light of these understandings.     

Don't ask; don't tell: a flawed approach to technology standards in higher education

Abstract

This discussion explores challenges that college of education faculty members in the United States encountered when developing and implementing technology standards for students. The goal of this research project was to gain an understanding of faculty members' experience with technology, particularly in the context of implementing standards in response to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education requirements for teacher education academic programs. Findings of this qualitative, naturalistic research project revealed a number of faculty concerns regarding technology in teaching and standards for students, including technology's impacts on communication and relationships in teaching, and anxiety around technology use. The discussion concludes with implications for practice and suggestions for further research     

The standards agenda: reflections of a special educational needs co‐ordinator

This study is a life history account of Bev, a special educational needs co‐ordinator who works in a primary school in England. The research examines how, within Bev's experiences, the discourses of integration and inclusion have affected learners with special educational needs. Additionally, the study examines the impact of the ‘performativity’ agenda on a mainstream school with a high proportion of learners with special educational needs. The account illustrates how, in Bev's experiences, inclusion operates within a powerful othering framework which marginalises children with special educational needs and their teachers. Additionally, the account raises questions about the risks of choosing to work in schools with high proportions of children with special educational needs within a discourse of performativity. It raises questions about whether the inclusion agenda has resulted in limited forms of inclusion and whether it was easier to meet children's holistic needs under the integration agenda.     

全国翻译专业资格(水平)考试英语二级笔译试题效度分析

全国翻译专业资格(水平)考试(CATTI)是为加强我国外语翻译专业人才建设于2003年形成的一项新兴考试。本文选取2010年下半年至2011年下半年三次二级笔译试题为研究对象,从内在效度、外在效度、使用效度这三个方面对该试题进行效度分析,以期对提高试卷质量有一些帮助。     

The impact of various creative initiatives on wellbeing: a study of children in English primary schools

The following paper builds uon a survey of primary students’ wellbeing in an attempt to assess the impact of various creative initiatives on this aspect of their lives. Three case studies were conducted in schools with some of the highest aggregate wellbeing scores, all three schools having also been engaged in various extended Creative Partnership programmes. Teachers, Creative Practitioners and students were interviewed and observed during both normal lessons and Creative Partnership activities. It is posited that the implementation of creative activities under the framework adopted by Creative Partnership enhances both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of wellbeing and accords with theories of motivation which stress the value of promoting student competencies and autonomy and creating classroom climates which promote connectedness.     

对英汉度量形容词对子的认知分析

本文用认知语言学的理论对英汉语中的度量形容词对子进行了异同分析,认为对子中的一词是无标记词,一词是有标记词。文章还分析了无标记词可以包括有标记词或者说二者出现对立中和的条件,并提出有标记词是无标记词的次范畴;分析了对立中和出现的认知原因即认知经济性、经验观、突显观和注意观。这些分析有利于我们解释一些语言现象和加深对这些词的认识。