Exploring the reading–writing relationship in young Chinese language learners’ sentence writing

This study explored the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between reading and writing in young Chinese-as-a-second-language (CSL) learners’ sentence writing, using structural equation modeling. The participants comprised 126 Hong Kong senior primary ethnic minority students, whose literacy skills were assessed at two time points over the course of a year. In grade 5 (Time-1), they were assessed with Chinese character reading and reading comprehension measures to evaluate their reading ability. In grade 6 (Time-2), their sentence reading, sentence writing, and literacy component skills of Chinese character writing fluency and written syntactic skills were assessed. The results demonstrated that students’ reading and writing performances were substantially related both concurrently and longitudinally. Furthermore, (1) at Time-2, the component skills accounted for substantial portions of variance in sentence reading and writing skills, along with the relationship between them, while (2) Time-1 reading ability predicted Time-2 component skills and, through the mediation thereof, indirectly predicted sentence writing. Thus, in light of the linguistic characteristics of the Chinese language, literacy component skills are crucial component processes that connect reading and writing in CSL learners’ sentence writing.     

灾区大学生心理健康状况的调查与分析

目的：了解地震灾区高校学生的心理健康状况,为对这部分学生进行心理干预提供科学依据。方法：用灾后精神失调筛查自评问卷（SRQ-20）、社会支持评定量表（SSRS）、成人依恋量表（AAS）,PTSD自评量表（PCL）、事件影响量表（IES—R）对成都）晦近灾区的某高校的2165名灾区学生进行了随机问卷调查。结果：（1）学生的心理困扰严重程度可以分成不同的层次,IES—R检出率29．19％、SRQ检出为26．74％、PCL检出率为16．16％;（2）检出的学生中73％以上均是那些地震中一直在现场和大部分时间在现场,他们的创伤反应比其他灾区学生更突出;（3）在检出的学生中,不安全的依恋类型的学生比例占了大部分（均为63％以上）;（4）在三个筛查量表中阳性检出组与阴性组的学生在社会支持总分、客观支持、主观支持、对支持的利用度,以及依恋量表中的亲近因子、焦虑因子上差异均有统计学意义。结论：在心理康复工作中,（1）要根据学生的实际状况分层次干预;（2）要关注学生震前的亲子依恋关系,注意复杂型创伤的治疗;（3）要重点放在如何帮助学生构建积极的社会支持资源方面;（4）学生社会支持网络恢复要有的放矢。     

9～12岁儿童估算策略选择的发展特点

认知心理学家和数学教育工作者对于估算在人们日常生活中的作用已形成广泛共识.9～12岁儿童估算策略选择的发展特点有:在估算时能选择多种策略,且策略的使用频率不相同,取整使用最频繁,其次是先补偿,转换和分解策略的使用频次最小;随着问题难度的增加,估算策略选择的最佳击中率降低;随着年龄的增长,估算策略选择的个数增加,估算策略选择的最佳击中率上升;估算策略的选择不存在性别差异。     

Individual differences and course attendance: why do students skip class?

Individual differences are theorised as being key predictors of students’ lecture attendance. Understanding students’ (lack of) motivation for studying is an essential first step in supporting these individual differences and potentially increasing class/lecture attendance. The current study explored the role of students’ deficits in motivations (ability/effort/task value) for studying and their predictive relationship with course attendance, while controlling for prior competence and academic self-concept. Second-year students (n = 219; Female = 40) undertaking three semester-long courses in English as a foreign language participated in the year-long study. The structural model tested included prior achievement and self-concept (Time-1; 15 weeks prior), the motivational deficits for studying in the course (Time-2; ability, effort and task value), and class attendance across the two semesters of study. Self-concept negatively predicted all motivational deficits (moderate-large effects), and positively predicted attendance. Two of the motivational deficits (ability and effort) also had strongly contrasting effects (positive and negative respectively) on attendance. The implications and practical suggestions for intervention are discussed.     

Multiple True-False Items: A Study of Interitem Correlations, Scoring Alternatives, and Reliability Estimation

Intercorrelations among multiple true-false items were examined to determine to what extent each true-false option can be treated as independent. Results from 157 health science students and 170 medical students showed that correlations between true-false options associated with the same stem were from 2.6 to 7.0 times larger than those from different stems. This suggests that results from previous research indicating that each true-false option could be treated as an independent item cannot be generalized to other tests and examinee populations without supporting evidence. Four scoring methods were explored which varied chance success levels and scoring for partial knowledge. The results showed that scoring methods incorporating partial knowledge were more reliable and possessed greater concurrent and predictive validity than those minimizing chance success. Methods for computing reliability estimates were compared and suggestions were offered regarding practical use     

Retell as an Indicator of Reading Comprehension

The purpose of this narrative synthesis is to determine the reliability and validity of retell protocols for assessing reading comprehension of students in grades K–12. Fifty-four studies were systematically coded for data related to the administration protocol, scoring procedures, and technical adequacy of the retell component. Retell was moderately correlated with standardized measures of reading comprehension and, with older students, had a lower correlation with decoding and fluency. Literal information was retold more frequently than inferential, and students with learning disabilities or reading difficulties needed more supports to demonstrate adequate recall. Great variability was shown in the prompting procedures, but scoring methods were more consistent across studies. The influences of genre, background knowledge, and organizational features were often specific to particular content, texts, or students. Overall, retell has not yet demonstrated adequacy as a progress monitoring instrument.     

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION,LEARNING GOALS,ENGAGEMENT, AND ACHIEVEMENT IN A DIVERSE HIGH SCHOOL

Using structural equation models, with gender, parent education, and prior grade point average (GPA) as control variables, we examined the relationships among intrinsic motivation to learn, learning goals, behavioral engagement at school, and academic performance (measured by GPA) in 1,575 students in an ethnically and racially diverse high school. Intrinsic motivation to learn was indirectly and positively related to academic performance via classroom engagement. Seventy‐five percent of the variance in engagement and 33% of the variance in GPA were explained by variables in the study. Results were generally replicated when the model was tested separately with the 336 African American students and the 311 Latin@ students. The significant indirect effect of intrinsic motivation to learn on GPA via engagement, as well as the positive direct association between learning goals and academic performance, suggest that students will benefit from schools fostering intrinsic motivation to learn and learning goals.     

Assessing Knowledge Integration in Science: Construct,Measures, and Evidence

In response to the demand for sound science assessments, this article presents the development of a latent construct called knowledge integration as an effective measure of science inquiry. Knowledge integration assessments ask students to link, distinguish, evaluate, and organize their ideas about complex scientific topics. The article focuses on assessment topics commonly taught in 6th- through 12th-grade classes. Items from both published standardized tests and previous knowledge integration research were examined in 6 subject-area tests. Results from Rasch partial credit analyses revealed that the tests exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties with respect to internal consistency, item fit, weighted likelihood estimates, discrimination, and differential item functioning. Compared with items coded using dichotomous scoring rubrics, those coded with the knowledge integration rubrics yielded significantly higher discrimination indexes. The knowledge integration assessment tasks, analyzed using knowledge integration scoring rubrics, demonstrate strong promise as effective measures of complex science reasoning in varied science domains.     

A comparison of special education teacher and psychologist scoring of the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test

Ten learning disabilities resource room teachers were provided with inservice training in the administration of the Bender visual Motor Gestalt Test (BVMGT) and the Koppitz (1964) scoring system. Following this training the teachers administered the BVMGT to students in grades 1–6 and scored each protocol using the Koppitz scoring system. Two certified school psychologists then independently scored a random selection of teacher-administered and scored BVMGT protocols. Results of these ratings were used to analyze the interrater consistencies for the groups of raters. The reported correlations between teachers and school psychologists compared favorably to correlations between school psychologists as well as to interrater reliabilities reported in the literature. The results of this investigation indicate that the Koppitz scoring system may be reliably used by special education teachers who are provided appropriate inservice training.     

Epistemologies, conceptions of learning, and study practices in medicine and psychology

The subjects (N = 175), freshmen and fifth year students in psychology (n = 59) and medicine (n = 116), described their modes of studying by answering open-ended questions and Likert-type questions, presented to them within a task booklet. They were first asked to write down their own subjective definitions of learning. Scales to classify the answers were adopted from Lonka et al. (1990). Second, subjects were given a comprehension monitoring probe adopted from Ryan (1984). Responses were analysed to determine the specific comprehension criteria the student employed. Third, students rated a set of 71 statements concerning learning styles, regulation of learning, and conceptions of learning (Entwistle & Ramsden, 1983; Vermunt & van Rijswijk, 1988). Embedded in the last set of statements were seven items that were used to classify students as dualists or relativists (Perry, 1968; Ryan, 1984).It was found that constructivist conceptions of learning were the most typical of (advanced) psychology students, whereas learning was more often seen as intake of knowledge by the medical students. Highest dualism scores were obtained by the first year students, especially medical students. In general, dualists were more likely to report knowledge comprehension criteria to test their understanding than were relativists, and dualists' conceptions of learning were also more passive. Four principal components were identified that reflected qualitatively different approaches to learning and knowledge: externally regulated and reproduction-directed learning (PC1), self-regulated, meaning-directed, and goal-oriented learning (PC2), constructivist epistemology (PC3), and active professional orientation (PC4). Medical students scored higher on variables related to PC1 and PC4, whereas psychology students scored higher on scales associated with PC2 and PC3.     

A Comparison of Three Scoring Methods for Tests With Selected-Response and Constructed-Response Items

A number of methods for scoring tests with selected-response (SR) and constructed-response (CR) items are available. The selection of a method depends on the requirements of the program, the particular psychometric model and assumptions employed in the analysis of item and score data, and how scores are to be used. This article compares 3 methods: unweighted raw scores, Item Response Theory pattern scores, and weighted raw scores. Student score data from large-scale end-of-course high school tests in Biology and English were used in the comparisons. In the weighted raw score method evaluated in this study, the CR items were weighted so that SR and CR items contributed the same number of points toward the total score. The scoring methods were compared for the total group and for subgroups of students in terms of the resultant scaled score distributions, standard errors of measurement, and proficiency-level classifications. For most of the student ability distribution, the three scoring methods yielded similar results. Some differences in results are noted. Issues to be considered when selecting a scoring method are discussed.     

Developmental,gender, and practical considerations in scoring curriculum‐based measurement writing probes

The present study focused on CBM written language procedures by conducting an investigation of the developmental, gender, and practical considerations surrounding three categories of CBM written language scoring indices: production‐dependent, production‐independent, and accurate‐production. Students in first‐ through eighth‐grade generated a three‐minute writing sample in the fall and spring of the school year using standard CBM procedures. The writing samples were scored using all three types of scoring indices to assess the trends in scoring indices for students of varying ages and gender and of the time required to score writing samples using various scoring indices. With only one exception, older students outperformed younger students on all of the scoring indices. Although at the middle school level students' levels of writing fluency and writing accuracy were not closely associated, at the younger grade levels the CBM indices were significantly related. With regard to gender differences, girls outperformed boys on measures of writing fluency at all grade levels. The average scoring time per writing sample ranged from 1‐1/2 to 2‐1/2 minutes (depending on grade level). © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 379–390, 2003.     

Investigating rater/prompt interactions in writing assessment: Quantitative and qualitative approaches

This study investigates how experienced and inexperienced raters score essays written by ESL students on two different prompts. The quantitative analysis using multi-faceted Rasch measurement, which provides measurements of rater severity and consistency, showed that the inexperienced raters were more severe than the experienced raters on one prompt but not on the other prompt, and that differences between the two groups of raters were eliminated following rater training. The qualitative analysis, which consisted of analysis of raters' think-aloud protocols while scoring essays, provided insights into reasons for these differences. Differences were related to the ease with which the scoring rubric could be applied to the two prompts and to differences in how the two groups of raters perceived the appropriateness of the prompts.     

小学四～六年级儿童估算策略选择的干预研究

估算是一种基本的数学能力,而能否恰当选择策略是估算过程的关键.利用自编估算算式题,考察小学四～六年级儿童在有无策略指导两种条件下估算策略选择的情况.结果发现:经策略指导后,四～六年级儿童的估算策略选择的最佳策略击中率显著高于无策略指导组;估算策略选择的个数也增加了,其中四年级增加得最显著,其次是五年级.研究表明,估算策略技能的短期指导、干预对四～五年级(10岁左右)儿童的估算策略选择有更大的影响.     

Football,Recruitment, and Retention at U.S. Christian Colleges

An increasing number of Christian colleges are adding football programs as a way to boost enrollment among men and ethnic minorities. No systematic study has attempted to measure these outcomes. We tested the relationship of football to percent male, percent non-White, and first-year retention at 125 U.S. colleges and universities affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). Our findings revealed that football at Christian colleges is associated with more men on campus, but not with more ethnic diversity. In addition, Christian colleges with football retained fewer students from first-year to second-year than did Christian colleges without football. We discuss the implications of our findings and offer suggestions for further research.     

Application of Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling to Evaluate the Academic Motivation Scale

In this research, the authors examined the construct validity of scores of the Academic Motivation Scale using exploratory structural equation modeling. Study 1 and Study 2 involved 1,416 college students and 4,498 high school students, respectively. First, results of both studies indicated that the factor structure tested with exploratory structural equation modeling provides better fit to the data than the one tested with confirmatory factor analysis. Second, the factor structure was gender invariant in the exploratory structural equation modeling framework. Third, the pattern of convergent and divergent correlations among Academic Motivation Scale factors was more in line with theoretical expectations when computed with exploratory structural equation modeling rather than confirmatory factor analysis. Fourth, the configuration of convergent and divergent correlations connecting each Academic Motivation Scale factors to a validity criterion was more in line with theoretical expectations with exploratory structural equation modeling than with confirmatory factor analysis.     

Effects of examiners' prior knowledge of subjects' ethnicity and intelligence on the scoring of responses to the Stanford-Binet scale

The study examined the degree to which scoring of responses to the Stanford-Binet test items might be influenced by the examiner's prior knowledge of subjects' ethnicity and IQ. Thirty-six actual Stanford-Binet protocols of subjects ranging in age from 5 to 8 years were divided into four groups. The matched sets of protocols were then assigned to four groups of examiners for the purposes of scoring. The protocols, representing varying ability levels, were scored in a counterbalanced order. Each group of three examiners, varying in the amount of information about the subjects' ethnicity and IQ, scored the protocols. Results obtained from a 4 × 3 repeated measures analysis of variance suggested that obtained IQs by the four groups of scorers were found to be similar, indicating no bias in the process of scoring Stanford-Binet protocols.     

The effect of perceived class mean on the evaluation of instruction

A total of 232 college students in six different courses in three departments participated in a study to examine the effect of perceived course mean on course and instructor evaluations. Following a midsemester exam, students were given their actual earned exam scores and a manipulated class mean that was either ten percentage points higher or lower than the actual class average on the exam. Participants then completed an evaluation of the course and instructor. It was hypothesized that students scoring above the manipulated mean would rate the course and instructor more highly than students scoring below the manipulated mean. It was further hypothesized that students who were told that the class mean was higher would rate the course and instructor more highly than students who were told that the mean was lower. Results supported the first hypothesis. However, hypothesis two was not supported. Students receiving the lower manipulated class mean rated instructors more favorably. Results suggest the need to consider both individual exam scores and class averages in understanding the grade-teaching evaluation relationship.     

Personal best goals and academic and social functioning: A longitudinal perspective

Personal best goals (PB goals) articulate a target performance standard that matches or exceeds one’s previous best. This study examined the role of PB goals in academic and social functioning. Alongside academic and social outcome measures, PB goal items were administered to 249 high-school students at the beginning and end of their school year. Longitudinal structural equation modeling suggested, at Time 1, PB goals significantly predicted students’ deep learning, academic flow, academic buoyancy, positive teacher relationship, and favorable attitudes toward peer cooperation. Further, at Time 2, the effects of PB goals on deep learning, academic flow, and positive teacher relationship remained significant after controlling for prior variance of corresponding Time-1 factors, suggesting sustained benefits of PB goals in students’ academic and social development. These findings hold substantive, applied, and methodological implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to examine and harness PB goals in educational settings.