Naming,reading, and the dyslexias: A longitudinal overview

In research in the cognitive and neurosciences, a co-occurrence between naming and reading disorders has been found in children and aphasic adults. Evidence from a completed cross-sectional study will be briefly summarized and an ongoing longitudinal study will be presented to suggest that factors disrupting specific stages of the naming process can impede the development of children’s reading in particular, perhaps predictable, ways. Based on the components of a neurolinguistic model of naming, a battery of naming and reading tests was administered to a longitudinal sample of 115 children before, during, and after reading acquisition. Preliminary trends indicate that poor readers are significantly different (p<.001) from average readers on all naming tests except those emphasizingreceptive vocabulary perception. Tests emphasizing retrieval rate are best able to predict patterns of naming performance and errors characterize specific subgroups of the dyslexias. The research was supported in part by funds from the Livingston Fellowship Foundation, Department of Social Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Biomedical Research Support Grants from Tufts University.     

International graduate students' difficulties: graduate classes as a community of practices

This study explores the factors that cause international graduate students to struggle and these students' ways of dealing with such problems in light of sociocultural theory, which views learning as a social and cultural act. The findings show that graduate classes function as communities of practices in which classmates and professors mutually engage with each other, share a repertoire and engage in joint enterprises. The practices were not always transparent to international students, which became a source of difficulty and often led them to feel excluded. Peripheral participation comprised a significant part of some students' learning process and identity formation, but it allowed them to participate in course-related activities as fully as they felt comfortable doing. This study suggests a need for more sensitive and dialogical efforts by educators in higher education to provide better learning environments for international learners.     

Mapping the Learning Styles “Jungle”: An overview of the literature based on citation analysis

Educationists and researchers who consider the use of the learning style concept to address individual differences in learning are often daunted by the multitude of definitions, models, and instruments. It is difficult to make an informed choice. The confusion with cognitive style, a term often used as a synonym, makes it even more complicated. Reviews of the literature give some direction, but there are a number of arguments why the available reviews raise new problems. In this paper, citation analysis is presented as a technique to develop an alternative organisation of the learning style and cognitive style literature. Application of this technique results in a review that clarifies dominant theoretical orientations in the literature, is helpful to identify the relative impact of different orientations, and helps to illuminate their interrelationships. As such, this alternative review of the literature can serve as a roadmap for novices to the styles field.     

Main trends in graduate study in basic sciences in Turkish universities: a quantitative overview

This paper seeks to trace the development of graduate studies in basic sciences in Turkish universities from origins to the present day. The study includes a sketch of the historical background of higher education from its start in medieval madrasahs and Istanbul Darulfunun (The House of Sciences), to the transition into present-day university education, i.e., to the beginnings of modern graduate study and the emergence of new universities. Empirical statistics are given to substantiate the rapid growth of graduate study and of the number of degrees produced since the 1980s. The mean number of Ph.D. Degrees per year has increased from a few in a single university in the 1930s to nearly a hundred in today's twenty seven universities in Turkey in the 1980s. Finally, a quantitative overview of the growth trends in graduate study in basic sciences as well as an assessment of the present degree productivity of Turkish universities are presented.     

Empowering discourse: discourse analysis as method and practice in the sociology classroom

Collaborative learning and critical pedagogy are widely recognized as ‘empowering’ pedagogies for higher education. Yet, the practical implementation of both has a mixed record. The question, then, is: How could collaborative and critical pedagogies be empowered themselves? This paper makes a primarily theoretical case for discourse analysis (DA) as a form of classroom practice that provides a structured framework for collaborative and critical pedagogies in higher education, with a special reference to sociology classroom practice. I develop a tripartite scheme for building a framework for sociological imagination that is, first, sensitive to the discursive aspects of social reality (learning about DA). Second, I illustrate the use of DA as pedagogical tool and classroom practice (learning with DA). Third, I discuss how discourse analytical ideas can be used in evaluating classroom interaction and how these reflexive insights can be used to enhance student empowerment (learning through DA).     

A description of effective college teaching in five disciplines as measured by student ratings

Student rating of teachers in five disciplines (science and math, education, social sciences, humanities, and business) were analyzed to determine which teacher attributes were important in predicting ratings of teaching effectiveness. Rating results from 1,439 courses taught at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale from 1973 to 1974 were used as data for this study. The results indicated that the instructor attributes rated as characteristic of effective instruction were highly consistent across disciplines, and the effective instructor was described as (1) knowing when students understood him, (2) increasing students' appreciation of the subject matter, (3) answering impromptu questions satisfactorily, (4) achieving the objectives of the course, and (5) giving several examples to explain complex topics.     

Practice-based Teaching: A self-study by two teacher educators at the graduate level

This article tells the story of a self-study conducted by two faculty members teaching foundational concepts in a Master of Arts in Teaching initial certification program. Our research question was: “How can we best teach foundational concepts with a practice-based approach that we consider to be critical to our teacher candidates' ability to be successful in their future teaching careers?” Gathering data over three semesters, this research required constant re-examination. Data indicated that candidates had the educational and life experiences to allow them to grasp concepts as they pertained to educational foundations. This did not necessarily mean that, as initial certification candidates, they would be more adept than their undergraduate counterparts in understanding how these concepts would influence their practice. This conclusion resulted in our understanding of the need for more purposeful scaffolding and extensive modeling. It also reaffirmed our need for having cooperating teachers who are theoretically aligned with coursework offered on campus.     

Impaired graduate students: A process model of graduate program monitoring and intervention

Psychological impairment is an area of concern in training graduate students in counseling programs. This article reviews the potentially harmful consequences of impaired graduate students to graduate programs, faculty, other graduate students, and the counseling profession. The paper provides an overview of existing trends, policies, and procedures regarding student screening, remediation, and dismissal from graduate training programs within a Western framework. A process model for monitoring and intervention is presented.     

The graduate record examination as a predictor of graduate student performance: The case of criminal justice

Research on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as a predictor of graduate student performance has been marked by much debate. Thornell and McCoy (1985) have found that the relationship between student performance and the GRE may be sensitive to the discipline being studied. While unexplained to date, this disciplinary variation may be related to the differences in means and/or relative dispersions of GRE scores among disciplines. Further, there has been only one study (McKee, Mallory, and Campbell, in press) for criminal justice, the field with the lowest mean GRE score. This paper focuses on this neglected field. Data were collected from the files of 70 criminal justice majors in a master's program at a large midwestern urban university. The results indicate that GRE scores are largely unrelated to indicators of graduate student performance (GPA, grades in specific classes, and the completion of the M.A. degree). The one exception is a strong relationship between verbal GRE and graduate GPA. This relationship may indicate a nonlinear ceiling effect wherein verbal GRE scores affect GGPA, mainly in disciplines with means at the low end of the verbal GRE score distribution.     

对外汉语本科专业基础教材参考文献的内容分析

文章以9本对外汉语本科专业基础教材中的参考文献为研究对象,对参考文献的数量、所涉学科领域、语种、类型等多方面进行系统考察与分析,探讨此类教材中使用参考文献的特点,并借此分析这些对外汉语本科教学类专业基础教材的优点和不足。研究发现,部分专业基础教材存在引文数量偏少,所涉学科较为狭窄,编者学术视野不够开阔的问题。作者据此对未来汉语国际教育本科专业基础教材的编写提出了一些建议。     

Faculty accountability and faculty workload: A preliminary cost analysis of their relationship as revealed by PhD productivity

General concerns for faculty accountability are examined in the context of faculty workload and costs. Graduating a PhD student is used as the unit for analysis. The unit is compared to instructional productivity. The data came from a 10-year interval at a major graduate university. Six liberal arts departments with a 225-member faculty provide the PhD output and workload information. Work equivalents are determined from institutional and faculty self-reports. Graduating a PhD is found to be equivalent to one-third of a full workload. Implications are given for comparisons between programs within a university and between types of institutions in the larger system of higher education. Concerns also emerge for improved personnel practices with respect to faculty work assignments.     

The sociology of education as the history of the present: fabrication,difference and abjection

The paper explores the fabrications of human kinds in pedagogical research. It examines the social and psychological sciences of education as producing independent spaces for the study of people in order to act on them and as a cultural thesis for people to act for themselves. Further, it explores the principles generated about who the child is and should be. It is argued that the making of human kinds embodies particular historically generated modes of representing the possibilities of life; and these modes function to divide, differentiate and abject particular qualities of people and populations into unlivable spaces. This comparativeness produces inequality as it strives for equality. The analysis engages educational studies in a conversation with history, philosophy, political and cultural studies that draw on particular European studies brought into the US to challenge its philosophical, analytical and social/psychological traditions.     

Project work in the graduate classroom: Teachers as students apply skills beyond the classroom

Abstract

Through the use of a long‐term project in a graduate teacher education course on the importance of play, students learned skills beyond those usually required in a graduate classroom. Students used their understanding and knowledge of play, constructive practice, and project work to develop a family play day at the university lab school. As part of the project, students helped to develop a play‐style instrument that served as a self‐study for their own classrooms as they observed the play among their own students. The project culminated with the students hosting the families of the lab school at a fun day and preparing a brochure that gave families information about the importance of play.     

Reforms of Educational Efficiency and Quality in Developing Countries: an overview

It is possible to distinguish different ‘themes’ of educational reform in developing countries. These can be categorised as planning/management and efficiency reforms, quality reforms, and curricular reforms; the first two only are discussed here. The first of these ‘themes’ has been typically dominated by the economist's agenda, the second by the educationalist's. Planning/management and efficiency reforms have been set within a context of overriding concern with educational expansion, with the consequence that insufficient attention has been paid to the quality of the educational systems being developed. Moreover, under prevailing conditions of austerity, the recent efficiency‐oriented solutions proffered by greater competition have served to exacerbate the disparities in the provision of quality education. Educational reform focused on quality has, perhaps, been the most intractable of the themes under discussion. What makes for a high quality educational system is a moving target. The pendulum swing has been away from state interventionism, but the state's role as regulator and equaliser of disparities may be on the return. The extent of the swing back will be dependent on the success of participatory strategies to involve the more marginalised stakeholders in all the different aspects of educational reform reviewed in this paper.     

研究生素质教育评估指标体系构建探析

通过关键要素调查法和专家问卷法筛选,确定了研究生素质教育评估的二级指标及其权重,从而初步建立了用以评估研究生培养单位素质教育成效的指标体系。     

Differentiation as measured by the Classroom Practices Survey: a validity study updating the original instrument

The Classroom Practices Survey assesses educators’ use of differentiated instruction with students achieving at average and high levels. The purposes of this study were to investigate if the Classroom Practices Survey (1) yields reliable and valid data from the groups for which it was originally designed and (2) can be used to evaluate teachers’ differentiation practices for students who achieve at low levels. Participants included 648 elementary teachers who completed the Classroom Practices Survey for students achieving at high, average and low levels. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the original six-factor model was not supported by the current data. Model fit was improved with a four-factor model, but did not reach the recommended values for good model fit. Further research and possibly modifications are needed before this tool is used by researchers and schools. This study highlights the importance of periodically evaluating instruments and revising them if necessary.

     

The ambivalence of ownership: nursing graduate students as collaborators in action research

Collaboration is increasingly advocated within the research community. However, there has been limited exploration of the role of graduate students as collaborators. This article describes the ambivalence of ownership that developed during our encounter with collaboration as participants in action research. As a result of the authors' experiences, they began to challenge the traditional notion of collaboration that is pervasive in nursing research, and to explore the possibilities and limitations collaboration offered for graduate students. The authors argue that the participation and collaboration that are inherent in action research provide unique learning opportunities for graduate students and enable their expertise to be more fully realised     

Reputation in the sociology of education

The present paper raises questions about the use of the concept of reputation in sociological studies of the relationship between higher education and the labour market. Sociologists of education have yet to subject the concept of reputation to sustained critique and evaluation. This situation is unsatisfactory because a number of critical scholars claim that graduates earn a premium as a consequence of attending an elite institution for no reason other than the institution has such a reputation. However, research generally does not provide unequivocal support for such an effect and neither is the source of this effect clearly theorised or identified. One result of this lack of clarity is confusion over what is driving the formation of reputation. This paper advances field theory as a way of developing a sociology of reputation.