Disciplinary knowledge of K-3 teachers and their knowledge calibration in the domain of early literacy

Recently, investigators have begun to pay increasing attention to the role of teachers’ domain-specific knowledge in the area of reading, and its implications for both classroom practice and student learning. The aims of the present study were to assess kindergarten to third grade teachers’ actual and perceived reading related subject matter knowledge, and to investigate the extent to which teachers calibrate their reading related subject matter knowledge by examining relationships between actual and perceived knowledge. Results indicated that while teachers demonstrated limited knowledge of children’s literature, phoneme awareness, and phonics, the majority of these same teachers evaluated their knowledge levels quite positively. Teachers demonstrated some ability to calibrate their own knowledge levels in the area of children’s literature, yet they were poorly calibrated in the domains of phoneme awareness and phonics. These findings suggest that teachers tend to overestimate their reading related subject matter knowledge, and are often unaware of what they know and do not know. Implications for the design of teacher education at both the preservice and inservice levels are discussed. Note: This research was funded through the National Science Foundation IERI 00-74 Initiative to Anne E. Cunningham, University of California, Berkeley. acunning@uclink.berkeley.edu     

语言学习策略训练与英语阅读教学

语言学习策略在英语教学中越来越重要。为了提高学生的阅读能力,在阅读教学中教师要尽量强化学生对学习策略的意识,利用课堂活动进行学习策略的教学和训练,使学生真正了解和掌握一些学习策略,并成为他们学习技能的一部分。     

高职英语专业学生阅读元认知策略培训的实证研究

本文以O’Malley和Chamot等人的学习策略理论为依据,对高职英语专业学生进行元认知策略培训实证研究,旨在提高英语学习者的策略意识和运用学习策略的自觉性和主动性。实践证明,对英语专业学生进行元认知策略培训有助于提高其自主学习的能力。     

Seeing,grasping and constructing: pre-service teachers’ metaphors for ‘understanding’ in religious education

ABSTRACT

Despite its centrality to most, if not all educational endeavours, what is meant by understanding is highly contested. Using Religious Education (RE) in England as a case subject this paper examines pre-service secondary school teachers’ construals of understanding. It does so by employing conceptual metaphor theory to analyse their linguistic discourse. Specifically, it examines the metaphors employed by participants in a series of focus group discussions (FGD) and provides important insights into how understanding is conceptualised by these pre-service teachers who are preparing to enter the RE profession. The metaphors employed by these pre-service teachers (‘understanding is SEEING’; ‘understanding is CONSTRUCTING’; ‘understanding is GRASPING’), focus on the dynamic and developmental nature of understanding (rather than on the outcomes) and reveal subject specific ways of thinking and practicing. This paper argues that each of the three conceptual metaphors employed by participants suggest particular ways of acting towards understanding with significant implications for teaching and learning in RE.     

What characterises the competent RE teacher? Finnish student teachers’ perceptions at the beginning of their pedagogical training

This study is part of a research project concerning perceptions of competence among RE student teachers at different stages of their pedagogical studies. This article focuses on the perceptions of RE teachers’ competence at the beginning of their training. According to the qualitative data the RE student teachers discerned various areas of competence. Both task competencies (content knowledge and good practice) and person competencies (experience, professional awareness, motivation and pro-social orientation) were identified. In addition, the student teachers placed more emphasis on theories of teaching than theories of learning. They also seemed to view RE teaching as a general educational profession.     

思维导图在高中英语阅读教学中的应用探研

思维导图是一种将知识结构、思维模式发散化、图像化、可视化的思维工具,常用于文本阅读、文本学习、文本研究等方面。教师在高中英语阅读教学中应通过流程式思维导图、结构式思维导图、互动式思维导图、对比式思维导图,将知识碎片加工整合,帮助学生理解、推理和学习,提高学生的阅读理解能力,培养学生的英语思维和英语素养。     

大学英语教学中快速阅读能力的培养

传统的教学方法、学生已有的知识结构、学生的非智力因素以及阅读过程中常见的不良习惯等都会影响学生快速阅读能力的提高。在快速阅读教学中,英语教师要帮助学生提高他们的策略意识,指导和培训他们使用各种学习策略,帮助他们改善已有的知识结构并养成良好的阅读习惯,使其能够快速、准确地理解文章大意并获取有效信息,从而提高快速阅读能力。     

基于新课标的语文阅读教学策略探赜

阅读是学生积累知识、提高语文学习能力的重要途径。因此,在语文教学中,教师要加强阅读教学,引导学生深入解读文本内容,不断提升感受、理解、欣赏和评价的能力,并把这种能力运用到语文学习中,以此提升其语文学科核心素养。文章探究基于新课标的语文阅读教学策略。     

Beginning literacy: links among teacher knowledge, teacher practice, and student learning

Although the importance of phonological awareness has been discussed widely in the research literature, the concept is not well understood by many classroom teachers. In the study described here, we worked with groups of kindergarten and first-grade teachers (the experimental group) during a 2-week summer institute and throughout the school year. We shared with them research about learning disabilities and effective instruction, stressing the importance of explicit instruction in phonological and orthographic awareness. We followed the experimental group and a control group into their classrooms for a year, assessing teachers' classroom practices and their students' (n = 779) learning. The study yielded three major findings: We can deepen teachers' own knowledge of the role of phonological and orthographic information in literacy instruction; teachers can use that knowledge to change classroom practice; and changes in teacher knowledge and classroom practice can improve student learning.     

Teachers’ scaffolding science reading comprehension in low-income schools: how to improve achievement in science

ABSTRACT

Reading is a tool that promotes the learning of science across schooling. Scientific texts are conceptually and linguistically complex, especially for students from low-income contexts because they have neither the experience with the language nor the literacy skills to face the challenges of scientific knowledge. This study used a mix method approach to compare the cognitive scaffolding practiced by teachers during science reading activities in high- and low-performing schools. Three teachers and 141 fourth grade students from low socioeconomic background schools participated in 48 class sessions. Classes were video-recorded and transcribed. The data were analyzed using Sanchez’ Pedagogic Practice Analysis System. The results show that teachers from both types of schools continuously use reading as a tool for learning. The effective teacher uses reading with non-invasive scaffolding and varied verbal participation to elaborate knowledge, promoting literal and inferential comprehension and more opportunities for the students to construct knowledge. By contrast, less effective teachers use reading with invasive scaffolding and little verbal participation of the students to consolidate knowledge, promoting mainly literal comprehension. This study shed light on different approaches teachers use to foster reading comprehension for science learning.     

Inspiration: a thought-provoking concept for RE teachers

While the present individualistic and religio-culturally pluralistic scene requires RE teachers to re-evaluate their educational orientation, research shows that they find it difficult. How do RE teachers carry out their task when dealing with an individualistic, pluralistic population? It is argued that communication in the RE classroom is not only about learning to understand the other, but also about learning to relate to larger contexts like the community or society. Such an approach calls for a particular kind of communication to be effective. Teachers could make their communication regarding larger contexts more effective by inspiring students. Inspiration refers to the stimulating influence that teachers have on students. A study was designed to establish whether teachers are in fact credited with an inspiring influence, and whether certain effects ascribed to students are the result of teachers’ inspiring influence. The research permits certain conclusions that are pertinent to teachers’ inspiration as a positive influence on students. Inspiring teachers are credited with such qualities as proficiency in their subject, the ability to motivate students to achieve, devoting special attention to weaker students and finally with demonstrating the meaning of things. The study also shows that the teacher’s inspiring influence is regarded to help students to develop social virtues, knowledge and insight as well as spirituality and a sense of transcendence. Thirdly, qualities ascribed to teachers significantly influence the virtues attributed to students, while the various parties’ cultural, social or religious background has limited influence. Remarkably, imparting the meaning of things is a key factor in explaining the inspiration emanating from teachers. Findings are discussed with a view to RE teachers. It is recommended that RE teachers explicitly demonstrate how their actions convey meaning, whether these entail teaching, modelling, feedback or whatever. They should not only communicate with students by questioning aspects such as otherness and sameness, but also by asking whether things are meaningful: ‘What is this good for?’     

历史学科的研究性学习探索

研究性学习是学生自主生成、跨学科、合作式的学习活动。在研究性学习的过程中,学生的主动性得到充分发挥,既拓展了视野,也加深了对学科知识的渗透,使学生的各种能力都得到锻炼;对教师教学设计及管理、组织教学的能力提出了更高的要求。     

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INQUIRY-BASED INSTRUCTION ON STUDENTS WITH DIFFERENT PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND READING ABILITIES

This study examined the differential impacts of an inquiry-based instruction on conceptual changes across levels of prior knowledge and reading ability. The instrument emphasized four simultaneously important components: conceptual knowledge, reading ability, attitude toward science, and learning environment. Although the learning patterns and effect size analyses indicated that students from all subgroups demonstrated substantial gains on weather concepts, students from the low prior conceptual knowledge group demonstrated greater gains in conceptual knowledge than subgroups with more prior knowledge; and these gains remained stable 3 weeks after the instruction ceased. However, students from the low language proficiency group showed the least gains in conceptual knowledge. Students’ prior knowledge and reading ability were found to be positively and significantly associated to conceptual development. Recent perspectives on the role of language in science education and suggestions that support learning during instruction are briefly described.     

小学高年级学生资料查阅能力培养策略探究

在小学语文阅读教学中,引导学生查阅与课文内容相关的资料可以丰富教材的课程资源,提高学生的阅读能力和识字量,培养学生主动学习、探究新知的好习惯。对于小学高年级学生来说,教师在培养他们的资料查阅能力时可以从三方面入手:一是课前为学生指明方向,由"扶"到"放";二是课中鼓励学生发散思维,彰显个性;三是课后要丰富形式,促进学生学习的融会贯通。同时,教师要努力培养学生质疑探究的能力,鼓励学生记忆感兴趣的内容;要拓宽学生处理信息的深度与广度,为学生搭建展示信息的平台。     

High Possibility Classrooms as a pedagogical framework for technology integration in classrooms: an inquiry in two Australian secondary schools*

Understanding how well teachers integrate digital technology in learning is the subject of considerable debate in education. High Possibility Classrooms (HPC) is a pedagogical framework drawn from research on exemplary teachers’ knowledge of technology integration in Australian school classrooms. The framework is being used to support teachers who teach various stages of schooling to take ‘pedagogical steps’ in their practice with technology. This article focuses on the use of the HPC conceptual framework in a study of seven teachers and their students at two secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia. Analysis confirms the practicality of this conceptual framework for technology integration in secondary school classrooms. This inquiry has implications for addressing the reluctance of teachers to integrate technology in curriculum. The article concludes by suggesting that more schools might consider using conceptual frameworks like HPC to support secondary school teachers to enhance student learning with technology.     

仅仅是粗心吗？——学生反思意识缺失的分析及对策

在数学教学中,教师较为注重学习结果的评价,缺少培养学生反思能力的主动、有效的训练,造成了学生数学反思意识缺失。反思是一种内隐的思维活动,需要借助外部条件的有效刺激才能逐步形成,教师要恰当利用时机,寻找合适的反思点,培养学生的反思意识,从而使学生巩固知识,拓宽思路,激活智慧,学会学习。     

Morphological awareness and learning to read Chinese

This study investigated the nature of morphological awareness and its relation to learning to read Chinese characters among 46 Chinese-speaking preschool children. The children took a morphological awareness task, which varied in semantic transparency and morpheme position. Children’s vocabulary knowledge and extant character reading ability were measured. Additionally, a character learning task was administered. Results showed that children’s performances on morphological awareness were affected by semantic transparency but not by morpheme position. Morphological awareness was related to vocabulary knowledge when partialling out character reading ability but not to character reading ability after partialling out vocabulary knowledge. The results of the character learning task further revealed that morphological awareness was related to character identification in the words that were just taught but not to character identification in the words that were not taught or in pseudowords. The relation between morphological awareness and character identification ceased to be significant when partialling out the variance in children’s prior knowledge of the characters to be learnt. Taken together, the findings suggested that vocabulary knowledge may play a more important role than reading ability in the initial development of morphological awareness and that the facilitative effect of morphological knowledge in reading does not seem to be significant in the very initial stages of reading acquisition.     

Student primary teachers improving their mathematics subject knowledge: cognition and affect intertwined

This paper describes a study conducted with a random sample of 80 student primary teachers drawn from all four years of the Bachelor of Education (BEd) programme at a teacher education institution in Scotland, with a view to determining why there were such differing levels of engagement with an online maths assessment. The assessment was created in an attempt to address deficiencies in subject knowledge in order to reduce the amount of time spent on mathematics remediation, and to raise awareness of the levels of mathematics competence required in the primary classroom. Study of the reasons behind the differing patterns of engagement with the assessment revealed that two thirds of the group were able to reach a competence threshold and often to improve upon it by some way; a worrying third of the students, however, made little attempt to use the tool to improve their subject knowledge. A further finding indicated that students who engaged with the online assessment reported improving levels of confidence in mathematics.     

A REPLY Listening to How You're Heard: On translations,mistranslations, and really bad mistranslations

This study explored the use of video cases to teach literacy instruction to special education pre‐service teachers. One class of pre‐service teachers was examined for knowledge gains and attitudes towards video cases as an instructional medium. Results suggest that video cases did not result in greater learning of phonemic awareness or reading comprehension topics than traditional lectures with discussion teaching. They also provided comparative data on student teachers’ responses to video versus traditional face‐to‐face instruction. Further implications for special education teacher preparation and future research directions are discussed.     

How do Teachers Prepare for and Respond to Students’ Evoked Emotions when Addressing Real Social Inequalities Through Engineering Activities?

Making engineering and science culturally and socially relevant requires teachers to have broader content knowledge and an increased repertoire of pedagogical skills. One aspect of being an effective and culturally inclusive teacher that is seldom discussed is the ability to engage with the emotions associated with working for social justice. In other words, teachers need to be prepared to address the mixed emotions and desire to effect social change that students (children or adults) often experience when exposed to the very real social inequalities present in their own communities or in the world. This issue is particularly important now that the Next Generation Science Education Standards, and its emphasis on engineering practices, calls for students to engage in more problem solving of real world issues. This article seeks to raise awareness about critical emotional pedagogy and critical emotional literacy as 2 additional tools that are likely to augment teachers and researchers’ professional tool kit when interested in building a culturally inclusive and socially relevant learning environment.