Can the linguistic interdependence theory support a bilingual-bicultural model of literacy education for deaf students?

Drawing on Cummins' (1989) linguistic interdependence model, proponents of bilingual-bicultural models of literacy education for deaf students claim that, if ASL is well established as the L1, then literacy in English (L2) can be achieved by means of reading and writing without exposure to English through either speech or English-based sign. In our opinion, this claim is based on a false analogy: the situation of the deaf learner of English literacy does not match the conditions assumed by the linguistic interdependence model. We draw on the work of Vygotsky and Halliday to develop a conceptualization of the processes involved in becoming literate, examining the particular and unique challenges that deaf students face as they strive to become members of the linguistic community of users of written English. We argue that becoming literate involves mastering three modes of lanuage use: 'social speech,' 'inner speech,' and written text. In some respects the educational context for deaf students is analogous to that of other bilingual learners; in some crucial aspects, it is very different.     

Helping them to help themselves? An evaluation of student-led tutorials in a higher education setting

This article delivers an evaluation of a pedagogical intervention implemented within a first-year undergraduate university module. The intervention, termed the student-led tutorial (SLT), is based on the concept of the tutorless tutorial and presents a platform for student learning which was designed to increase active learning prior to their participation in more traditional and tutor-led modes of university teaching. To evaluate the efficacy of this method, a mixed-methods approach to the data collection was undertaken. The sample for the study was drawn from students enrolled on a Sport Development degree programme at a university in the North West of England. The first component of this methodological approach entailed the repeat completion of a questionnaire by 62 first-year undergraduate students on two separate occasions. The questionnaire was administered in two phases: a baseline wave at the beginning of a core module and a secondary wave 16 weeks later. In addition to this, a focus group consisting of five students was conducted within two weeks of the second round of questionnaires to gain a more in-depth understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions of the SLT model. The findings demonstrate that SLTs hold the potential to facilitate active learning and aid comprehension and understanding. Students particularly value the social aspect of the SLTs, which enables extended peer-to-peer interaction. The data suggests that students develop a sense of responsibility for and ownership of their learning, yet for the SLT mechanism to be effective, all members of the group must buy-in to the concept. Where commitment and contributions to the group process are uneven and inequitable, resentment and discord within an SLT may be fomented.     

Do deaf and hard of hearing youth need antitobacco education?

Little research has focused on tobacco use among deaf and hard of hearing youth. Findings are reported from a first-ever tobacco-related survey, completed by 226 California middle and high school students using either a written questionnaire or the Interactive Video Questionnaire, an interactive multimedia computer video technology. Rates for current smoking (3.1%), ever smoking (45.1%), and multiple types of tobacco use (10.6%) were found to be lower than among high school students generally; mainstreamed students were likelier to have ever tried smoking than their deaf school peers (57.8% vs. 31.8%). No statistically significant associations were found between ever smoking and race/ethnicity, gender, school performance, or prelingual vs. postlingual deafening; a quarter of the sample experienced occasional peer pressure to use tobacco products. Tobacco use covariates, exposure to cigarette marketing and antismoking programming, and tobacco education needs of deaf and hard of hearing youth are discussed.     

Can e-books foster child language? Meta-analysis on the effectiveness of e-book interventions in early childhood education and care

Language abilities in the early years are a strong predictor of children's success in school. However, a considerable number of children enter school with poor language skills. Therefore, one of the most important but also challenging mandates of early childhood education and care [ECEC] is to promote these skills before school enrolment. Meta-analytic evidence suggests that shared book reading is a valuable tool to narrow this gap in the early years. In the digital age, e-books might offer new opportunities to foster language development in ECEC. This meta-analysis investigates the effectiveness of e-book interventions in comparison to regular childcare and to shared print book reading in classrooms. The systematic search, examining studies from 2000 to 2018, was carried out by two independent reviewers. A random-effect model was used to aggregate findings. Altogether, 17 studies with 30 different e-book treatments were included. Children benefited significantly more from the e-book interventions compared to regular childcare (g = 0.85). Activities with e-books were also ahead of print storybook reading in ECEC (g = 0.45). The effectiveness was mainly moderated by story repetition, number of sessions, and embeddedness in the classroom. E-books were primarily researcher-developed and included congruent functions to foster language development. Implications for practice, research and app development are discussed.     

Does sign language provide deaf children with an abstraction advantage? Evidence from a categorization task

The effects of sign language use on cognitive processes of second-generation deaf children were investigated through an intensional categorization task. A forced-choice paradigm was used to examine children's selections of schematic and categorical alternatives as associations to targets that differed in their related sign language characteristics. The results obtained from 48 deaf and hearing 6-year-olds suggest some differences in the categorization abilities and cognitive flexibility between the two groups of children. These differences appear to be explainable in terms of linguistic variables underlying French Sign Language.     

Do you hear voices? Problems in assessment of mental status in deaf persons with severe language deprivation

When mental health clinicians perform mental status examinations, they examine the language patterns of patients because abnormal language patterns, sometimes referred to as language dysfluency, may indicate a thought disorder. Performing such examinations with deaf patients is a far more complex task, especially with traditionally underserved deaf people who have severe language deficits in their best language or communication modality. Many deaf patients suffer language deprivation due to late and inadequate exposure to ASL. They are also language dysfluent, but the language dysfluency is usually not due to mental illness. Others are language dysfluent due to brain disorders such as aphasia. This paper examines difficulties in performing a mental status examination with deaf patients. Issues involved in evaluating for hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking are reviewed. Guidelines are drawn for differential diagnosis of language dysfluency related to thought disorder vs. language dysfluency related to language deprivation.     

Examining evaluation system of an English language program in China

In the field of EFL, effective language evaluation is receiving more and more attention. However, in many Chinese EFL situations, the evaluation of language development is still considered to be product-oriented. It is the purpose of this article to examine an evaluation system of an English language program offered by a university in Yunnan Province of China to identify the existing problems and any points which do not conform to the current view of effective language evaluation. For the sake of possible improvements in assessment/evaluation, a method/technique of using portfolios that is not at present used in this program for evaluation/assessment is proposed, and the rationale of introducing this method is discussed.     

Sense of coherence: a relevant resource in the coping process of mothers of deaf and hard-of-hearing children?

This study examined the importance of reported sense of coherence (Antonovsky, 1987) in mothers of children with hearing impairment. Sense of coherence was explored as a factor in relation to the experience of stress and subjective life satisfaction and in the context of other relevant variables in coping (e.g., social support, additional handicaps of the child, child's hearing status, means of communication). Two hundred thirty-five mothers completed a questionnaire, and path analysis corroborated a theoretical model in which sense of coherence was delineated as a factor contributing directly to stress perception. Both sense of coherence and the experience of social support were identified as resources that reduced reported stress and improved quality of life, with sense of coherence especially important in reducing stress. Child variables, including additional handicaps and extent of hearing impairment, intensified reported stress for the mothers, but mode of communication with the deaf child did not affect stress experience. The findings are discussed within the context of socialization theory. Recommendations for further research (e.g., longitudinal data, control designs, socio-economic status, applicability to fathers) are made.     

Early educational provision – emphasised in education policy reforms in Norway? An analysis of education policy documents

The article analyses how the intentions of early provision in Norwegian schools have been expressed in the education policy reforms in Norway from the 1970s to the present day. The first area deals with the intentions that most explicitly cover early provision; prevention, early detection and intervention. The second area of analysis relates to the early provision intentions with an emphasis on the correlation between individual and environmental factors seen in light of differentiation and disability. The third area examines how significance is attached to pupils’ social background with regard to early provision in learning in schools. Finally, consideration is given to the relationship between early provision intentions and efforts to prevent pupils dropping out of upper secondary education. The analysis also shows that the policy guidelines on early provision for schools and teachers have been weak and unclear. This is due to the fact that the early provision intentions have primarily been expressed in reports to the Storting, and rarely given any kind of focus in national curricula.     

Diluting education? An ethnographic study of change in an Australian Ministry of Education

This ethnographic study captures the processes that led to change in an Australian public education system. The changes were driven by strong neo-liberal discourses which resulted in a shift from a shared understanding about leading educational change in schools by knowledge transfer to managing educational change as a process, in other words, allowing the schools to decide how to change. Inside an Australian state education bureaucracy at a time when the organisation was restructured and services decentralised, this study helps show some of the disturbing trends resulting from the further entrenchment of neo-liberal strategies. Although control was re-centralised by legitimising performance mechanisms, in the form of national testing, there are indications that the focus on national tests may have alarming consequences for the content and context of education. I argue that the complexities of learning and fundamental pedagogies are being lost in preference for an over-reliance on data systems that are based on a shallow and narrow set of standardised measures.     

Can tablet computers enhance learning in further education?

Interest in the potential benefits of providing tablet computers to students has grown in recent years, both in UK institutions, and across the world. Limited research studies have been reported in higher education (HE), and primary and secondary school settings, tentatively suggesting a range of positive impacts on learners, but little conclusive research has been published on the introduction of tablets in further education (FE). This article presents a case study of a single, mid-size English FE college, which piloted the provision of tablets to bounded groups of students and teachers in four diverse curriculum areas. The author was invited to help design the college’s evaluation of the pilot, which would inform a potential business case to extend the pilot to all students. One element was a qualitative research project, with data captured through a series of focus group interviews with all 64 students who received tablets, and separate interviews with their ten teachers. Findings are reported here, exploring the extent to which students and teachers perceived learning benefits from the tablets: for some learners, this was reported as enhancing the organisation of learning; supporting greater independence of learning and enabling more purposive learning. Barriers to learning enhancement were also identified, including institutional issues (frustration with technical infrastructure), and individual learner disengagement (distraction and surface engagement with mere ‘novelty’). Concluding that the tablets’ clear benefits were not automatically transformative, and engagement was not uniform, findings are relevant to FE managers and leaders of other institutions considering tablets as a possible learning panacea.     

The progressive and non‐formal principles of Kibbutz education in Israel

This article explores the relationship between philanthropy and education in the context of eighteenth‐century Protestant Dissent. More particularly, it examines the intersection between philanthropy, fund‐raising and educational administration as they evolved within the institutional lifecycle of the collegiate Dissenting academies. It argues that individual academies experienced at least three of four life stages, each of which had its own unique challenges. All academies went through the first two of these stages, namely ‘foundation’ and ‘maintenance’. Whether or not an academy experienced the last two stages – ‘transition’ and ‘dissolution’ – depended on factors such as the financial strength of an academy and the reliability of its principal supporters. To illustrate these stages and their philanthropic subtexts, the article focuses on three institutional ‘traditions’, those of the Northampton Academy and its successors, the Warrington Academy, and Trevecca College and its successor Cheshunt College.     

Can mission predict school performance? The case of basic education in Oman

This article reports on a study that examined the relationship between the mission statements and performance of Basic Education Schools in Oman. The process of mission statement framing was also investigated. A sample of 161 school mission statements was randomly collected from the Ministry of Education school mission portal database representing 19% of the total population. A sequential mixed method of analysis was chosen. The mission statements being classified with respect to 12 themes of which the most frequently of them appearing Academic Achievement (74.5%) and the least frequent Scientific Research Methods (26.1%).

Results show that Learning Outcomes Excellence significantly correlated with a theme around Reconstructing School Environment (r?=?0.243). Also, Islamic Values and Ethics significantly correlated with Scientific Research Methods (r?=?0.221). It was also appeared that school principals spent great efforts on designing school mission statements that directed schools towards achieving their purpose and improving their performance.     

Does deafness lead to enhancement of visual spatial cognition in children? Negative evidence from deaf nonsigners

This study investigated whether deafness contributes to enhancement of visual spatial cognition independent of knowledge of a sign language. Congenitally deaf school children in India who were born to hearing parents and were not exposed to any sign language, and matched hearing controls, were given a test of digit span and five tests that measured visual spatial skills. The deaf group showed shorter digit span than the hearing group, consistent with previous studies. Deaf and hearing children did not differ in their performance on the visual spatial skills test, suggesting that deafness per se may not be a sufficient factor for enhancement of visual spatial cognition. Early exposure to a sign language and fluent sign skills may be the critical factors that lead to differential development of visual spatial skills in deaf people.     

Why do not more prisoners participate in adult education? An analysis of barriers to education in Norwegian prisons

International Review of Education - From a lifelong learning perspective, education during incarceration is crucial for prisoners’ rehabilitation. This article describes the authors’...