Multi-method assessment of metacognitive skills in elementary school children: how you test is what you get

Third grade elementary school children solved tests on mathematical reasoning and numerical facility. Metacognitive skillfulness was assessed through think aloud protocols, prospective and retrospective child ratings, teacher questionnaires, calibration measures and EPA2000. In our dataset metacognition has a lot in common with intelligence, but planning measured with teacher ratings plays a role above and beyond IQ. Moreover, we found that skills are generally related, but that it is more appropriate to assess them separately. In addition, results show the value of an experienced teacher as actual measure of metacognitive planning skills. Our dataset suggests convergent validity for prospective and retrospective child ratings, but no significant relationship with the other metacognitive measures. Metacognitive skillfulness combined with intelligence accounts for between 52.9% and 76.5% of the mathematics performances. The choice of diagnostic instruments highly determines the predicted percentage. Consequences for the assessment of metacognitive skills are discussed.     

Vocabulary and text comprehension levels: what should be considered in assessments?

Abstract

Text comprehension comprises processes that work interactively to create a situation model of a text. Three hundred and one students from 12 Estonian schools were assessed to examine the relations between vocabulary and different text comprehension levels and to detect students’ individual profiles in these skills. Both variable- and person-oriented approaches were used to analyse overall patterns in the data as well as to make inferences regarding students’ individual differences. Vocabulary was found to have the strongest influence on inferential and literal comprehension, whereas evaluative comprehension was slightly less related to vocabulary. Person-oriented approaches revealed different patterns in students’ vocabulary and comprehension skills. Individual differences in vocabulary and comprehension levels emphasise the need to assess students’ comprehension with multidimensional tests aimed at determining the shortcomings in comprehension components and tracking students’ developmental changes.     

To answer questions from text,one has to understand what the question is asking: differential effects of question aids as a function of comprehension skill

Reading and Writing - The present study investigates the effectiveness of question paraphrases in supporting students’ understanding of a specific task. Secondary school students (i.e.,...     

How to improve argumentation comprehension in university students: experimental test of a training approach

Instructional Science - The ability to comprehend informal arguments is essential for scientific literacy but students often lack structural knowledge about these arguments, especially when the...     

English in classrooms: only write down what you need to know: annotation for what?

The annotation of texts in the school English classroom is central to the curriculum, examination and the history of English as a school subject. In this paper we explore ‘the way it is done’ across two different classrooms. We focus on the relationship between official definitions of annotation offered by national policies and examination syllabuses and its actualization in particular classrooms. The article takes a multimodal approach: attending to all modes of representation and communication in the teaching of English including image, gesture, gaze and the spatial organization of the classroom.     

Gender differences in reading: Examining text-based interest in relation to text characteristics and reading comprehension

Reading is a key competence for knowledge acquisition and learning processes. One important source of reading motivation is interest. Even though students' text-based interest often differs by gender, it remains unclear which text factors underlie these differences and whether text-based interest relates to reading comprehension among boys and girls. In a sample of 514 elementary students (47.2% girls), this study examined whether text topic, protagonists' gender, and text difficulty affect boys' and girls' text-based interest and whether interest and reading comprehension are intertwined. Based on a repeated within-subject design using fourteen narrative texts, the results indicated that boys' interest was higher in texts with male-attributed topics, male protagonists, and in more difficult texts. In contrast, girls’ interest was only affected by text difficulty. Text-based interest and reading comprehension were significantly related, albeit stronger for boys than for girls. The findings are discussed regarding future implications for research and educational practice.     

How to lose friends and turn people against you. Organisational development tools: what they are and how we use them in higher education

This paper is based on a keynote speech delivered to the AUA Annual Conference, Belfast, April 2006     

How to improve reading comprehension in high-risk students: effects of class practices in Grade 5

This study investigated the effect of class practices on students’ learning gains in reading comprehension in the 5th grade. A sample of 4,344 students in 283 classes in 176 schools was studied. Several class practices that have previously been demonstrated to be effective were tested while controlling for student characteristics and socioeconomic and ethnic class composition. Differential effects were tested to identify class practices that can contribute to narrowing the achievement gap between high- and low-risk students. Most class practices turned out to have a similar effect for both low- and high-risk students. However, “discovery learning” and “well-organised and attractive instruction” appeared to be more beneficial for low-risk than for high-risk students. Group composition in terms of social and ethnic background turned out to have no significant effect on learning gains in reading comprehension.     

The contribution of action-research to training teachers in intercultural education: A research in the field of Greek minority education

The article describes the framework, the methodology and the results of an educational research in the field of Greek minority education. The aim of the research was to explore whether action-research can help educators from the majority develop empathy for their minority pupils. The schools where the research took place are placed in Thrace, an area of North-Eastern Greece, which borders with Turkey.The research showed that the teachers’ training brought changes in their perceptions and attitudes related to their general ideological beliefs concerning otherness, their professional role and their educational work.     

Not Yet Identified: The knowledge,skills, and training needs of early years professionals in relation to children's speech and language development

This article draws on a research project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, looking at early years professionals' knowledge about speech and language development and their confidence and skills in assessing normal and delayed language development. Key findings, based on 829 questionnaires and 50 interviews, reveal very limited training in speech and language difficulties as part of initial training and low levels of post-qualification training in children's speech and language. Practitioners are aware of the need for early identification of children's communication difficulties but lack the tools with which to perform this identification. In order to provide a context for these results, a content analysis of the curricula from a variety of initial training routes explored the extent to which there was a focus explicitly on assessment and identification of children with speech and language difficulties. The role of professional journals and key texts in supporting practitioners in making judgements about children's language development was also investigated. The access to, and provision of, post-qualification training to support the assessment process is identified as a key area for development.