浅析中等职业学校英语学科教学现状及对策

在当前职业中学教学中,英语教学越来越表现出其突出的作用,如何培养出能够熟练应用英语并具有一定的专业技术技能的复合型劳动人才是当前职业教育的办学方向.本文就当前职业中学英语教学现状及对策展开论述,与各位同仁共勉.     

‘Perceived’ competition and performance in Italian secondary schools: New evidence from OECD—PISA 2006

In this paper, we investigate the effects of competition on the performance of Italian secondary schools as measured by maths achievement scores (PISA 2006 dataset). Competition is measured by an indicator of ‘perceived’ competition (generated from an answer provided by the schools’ principals). The methodology employed is a propensity score matching that is corrected to take into account heteroskedasticity and finite sample bias. The results show a positive effect of competition on school performance. Nevertheless, this effect is quite low (between 3.62% and 4.05% computed at the average score level) and is consistent with previous findings about educational systems in Italy and worldwide. This is relevant for policy‐making because competition appears to impact school performance even in a country like Italy where specific pro‐competitive policies are quite absent.     

‘I guess it scares us’ – Teachers discuss the teaching of poetry in senior secondary English

This article reports on a participant‐centred research project with English teachers in a senior secondary college in Melbourne, Australia. It builds on previous research (Weaven and Clark 2009, 2011), which showed a low take‐up of the opportunities to teach poetry in Victoria's senior secondary English curriculum. This study explores the reasons why teachers of English are unwilling to use poetry texts in their senior classes. The teachers who participated in this study discussed and documented their attitudes towards the teaching of poetry and explored with each other the pedagogical challenges associated with teaching poetry. Their discussions – an analysis of which forms the empirical core of this article – reveal a range of explanations for teachers' reservations about offering poetry to their students. Importantly, these teachers were able to use professional discussion as a means to consider what changes in teaching practice could be successfully developed to facilitate more time spent on the teaching of poetry in senior secondary classes.     

Being ‘nuff’ and ‘scudding class’: exploring girls’ and boys’ perceptions of popularity,gender and achievement in Antiguan secondary schools

This paper will report on the findings from classroom observations and focus group discussions conducted on the topic of popularity and fitting in at school with girls and boys from four government secondary schools in Antigua. The findings show that whilst boys did experience difficulties negotiating academic success and acceptable masculinities, the consensus was that popularity was associated with low achievement for both girls and boys. However, there was evidence that some girls were able to work hard and maintain better peer relations than other high achieving students, but that this ‘balancing’ required conformity to hetero‐feminine norms as well as the espousal of rigid views about what girls can and can't do. This suggests that real equality is far from being reached.     

The peculiarities of teaching information and communication technology as a subject: a study of trainee and new ICT teachers in secondary schools

Abstract

This article reports on teaching information and communication technology (ICT) as a subject. It arises out of research carried out with ICT trainee teachers during their initial training and their first years of teaching. The backgrounds of four cohorts of new ICT teachers are described along with levels of retention in teaching. The associations that trainee and new teachers make with their subject are then explored. It was found that specialist ICT teachers see ICT as a practical subject offering pupils scope for variety and control over their learning. A key, and they felt unique, feature of ICT was its ever-changing nature. The research explores the planning and teaching of ICT and features of ICT subject knowledge. The article concludes by highlighting the continuing shortages of specialist ICT teachers in school and the need to support the career development of those teaching ICT.     

‘You have to be like everyone else’: Support for students with vision impairment in mainstream secondary schools

The experiences of seven Australian senior secondary school students with vision impairment attending mainstream schools in Victoria were explored to gain an understanding of the support mechanisms operating to allow them access to an inclusive education. This qualitative study primarily used the in‐depth interviews of students, augmented by brief interviews with Heads of Education Support, parents, aides and teachers. Students attributed difficulties to time available, accessing e‐print and large format materials, assistive technology and access, and exclusion from classes of science, mathematics, and physical education in particular. In Australia, there is an expectation that legally mandated adjustments for students with disabilities will enable equitable, quality, and inclusive education. This was not evident in the experiences of the students in this study. Having aide support did not prevent exclusionary practices. Educators and support staff need to understand the perspectives of students with vision impairments to better facilitate successful teaching and learning experiences.     

Using information and communication technology (ICT) to the maximum: learning and teaching biology with limited digital technologies

Background: The ubiquity, availability and exponential growth of digital information and communication technology (ICT) creates unique opportunities for learning and teaching in the senior secondary school biology curriculum. Digital technologies make it possible for emerging disciplinary knowledge and understanding of biological processes previously too small, large, slow or fast to be taught. Indeed, much of bioscience can now be effectively taught via digital technology, since its representational and symbolic forms are in digital formats.

Purpose: This paper is part of a larger Australian study dealing with the technologies and modalities of learning biology in secondary schools.

Sample: The classroom practices of three experienced biology teachers, working in a range of NSW secondary schools, are compared and contrasted to illustrate how the challenges of limited technologies are confronted to seamlessly integrate what is available into a number of molecular genetics lessons to enhance student learning.

Design and method: The data are qualitative and the analysis is based on video classroom observations and semi-structured teacher interviews.

Results: Findings indicate that if professional development opportunities are provided where the pedagogy of learning and teaching of both the relevant biology and its digital representations are available, then teachers see the immediate pedagogic benefit to student learning. In particular, teachers use ICT for challenging genetic concepts despite limited computer hardware and software availability.

Conclusion: Experienced teachers incorporate ICT, however limited, in order to improve the quality of student learning.     

Using ‘voice’ to understand what college students with intellectual disabilities say about the teaching and learning process

There is a growing awareness of the value of using pupils’ voices in educational research. At primary and second level, the principle of pupil voice has gained in profile over the last decade. However, in higher education, the use of voice in research collaborations remains under‐theorised and under‐utilised. This paper reports on an inclusive phenomenographic study undertaken with college students with intellectual disabilities (ID). It outlines how pupil voice can be used to gain a deeper understanding of the teaching and learning process. The strategies that promoted learner engagement and autonomy include establishing a supportive learning climate or environment, and promoting self‐regulated learning strategies. These findings suggest that the use of pupil voice is fundamental to changing the way teachers think about students with ID and their learning.     

The quality of systematic reviews of effectiveness in literacy learning in English: a ‘tertiary’ review

Recent governments in the United Kingdom have introduced a number of initiatives aimed at improving the literacy levels of children. Policy and practice should be informed by rigorous evidence, and this evidence should be subjected to critical scrutiny. In the present paper the results of a ‘tertiary’ review of systematic reviews in literacy learning are presented. The methods, results and conclusions of 14 systematic reviews, containing meta‐analyses and meeting all the inclusion criteria for the tertiary review, are presented. The quality of the reviews, appraised using an adaptation of the Quality of Reporting of Meta‐analyses statement, is discussed. Overall the quality of the meta‐analyses included in this tertiary review was good; all reviews clearly stated their research question, and their methods of searching for and selecting included studies; most described their data extraction and used some form of quality assessment of included studies. However, six reviews did not make an assessment of publication bias, which is potentially a major threat to the validity of any systematic review. A number of reviews in this tertiary review are judged to be of sufficiently high quality in order to provide reliable evidence for the effectiveness of literacy interventions.     

内隐学习理论对大学英语教学的实践意义

内隐学习理论作为认知心理研究的成果,在教学领域具有实践指导意义.内隐学习的研究思路为英语教学提供了新的视角,将内隐学习与外显学习相辅相成的协同效应引入大学英语教学当中,就是要积极创造有利于内隐学习的环境,要活化课堂语法教学,重点提高学生语法应用能力并注意内隐学习和外显学习相结合;要引导学生广听、泛听,大量阅读和背诵,帮助他们了解中西文化差异并通过创造良好的英语语言环境建立正确的英语语感,从而提高大学英语教与学的效率.     

Exploring ‘learning lives’: community,identity, literacy and meaning

This article explores the term ‘learning lives’ by reporting on three research projects conducted by members of the Oslo‐based research group TransActions. By stressing the term ‘learning lives’ within a range of social ‘educational’ contexts, the article aims to look at learning within and across different learning sites exploring the positioning and repositioning of learner identity across these different ‘locations’. We emphasise how the individual learner relates to other people and objects, drawing on deeper trajectories or narratives of the self as it exists within and outside the immediate learning contexts. We pay attention to processes occurring between people which we find significant for the individual's identity, literacy and learning. By doing so we hope to make explicit the mobilisation of resources within and across specific contexts, in the ‘learning lives’ of Norwegian youngsters.     

Facilitating the learning of all students: the ‘professional positive’ of inclusive practice in Australian primary schools

This article considers the positive aspects of inclusion in Australian primary schools through a historical account of the nation's journey to adopting current policies and practices. The authors suggest that across the different states the picture is positive as there are clear attempts to make Australian schools as inclusive as possible. The importance of adequately resourcing schools to support teachers in the implementation of an inclusive environment is discussed as being second in importance to teacher attitudes to inclusion. The combination of these two factors has a direct influence on a school's ability to be effectively inclusive as it is the teacher at the ground level who must ensure inclusion is effective. As a result of improvements in teacher education programmes at universities, where inclusive education subjects are now compulsory, teaching in an inclusive environment is the ‘professional positive’ of teacher practice, which may potentially improve educational outcomes for all involved.     

Modelling the ‘learning divide’: Predicting participation in adult learning and future learning intentions 2002 to 2010

This article presents multivariate analyses of the characteristics associated with both participation in adult education and the intention to participate in future learning. It uses questionnaire data from more than 47,000 individuals collected by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) over the course of nine annual surveys administered between 2002 and 2010. It reviews both recent and historical policy in the area of ‘lifelong learning’ and considers the findings of previous empirical research in the area. The results of the current study support previous findings suggesting that participation in ‘later’ learning is most strongly associated with positive ‘learning dispositions’ and extended participation in initial, full‐time education. While other socio‐economic factors were related to participation in adult learning, the explanatory power of these variables was much weaker. Despite dramatic changes in online technologies and a ‘massification’ of Internet access over the period studied, there was no evidence that information and communications technologies were either increasing or widening access to participation.     

Promoting group talk and higher‐order thinking in pupils by ‘coaching’ secondary English trainee teachers

One hundred and eighty British secondary school pupils aged 11–12 and their six trainee teachers in five schools participated in an action research project, designed to improve the quality of children's group talk in English lessons, particularly their engagement in higher‐order thinking through ‘exploratory’ talk. The programme, supported by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), now Training and Development Agency, was devised by a team of mentors and an Initial Teacher Educator from Sussex University. It aimed to develop the trainees' skills both in planning challenging tasks for, and sustaining effective group talk, using ‘ground rules’ and varied teacher discourse strategies. The data include qualitative comparative analysis of discourse audiotaped before and after the intervention, taken from 66 pupils. Findings indicate a clear improvement in the quality of talk, in terms of pupils' collaborative engagement in higher‐order thinking. Further evidence from observations and interviews with all participants suggests confirmation of the programme's effectiveness in improving trainees' and pupils' skills in, and understanding of how to use group talk to reason.     

‘This is a school,it's not a site’: Teachers' attitudes towards Gypsy and Traveller pupils in schools in England,UK

This article examines teachers' attitudes towards Gypsy and Traveller pupils in one primary and one secondary school in an inner‐London borough in England, UK. The research is based on in‐depth interviews with 20 teachers, heads, deputies and classroom assistants. The main aims of the study were to examine examples of ‘good practice’ in schools and to explore strategies that would improve the educational outcomes for Gypsy and Traveller groups. This article will argue that despite schools implementing inclusive measures for Gypsy and Traveller pupils, this alone does not encourage positive attitudes or change attitudes towards them. In some cases, such practices work to emphasise the difference and outsider status of these groups.     

Researching early intervention and young children's perspectives – developing and using a ‘listening to children approach’

This article, by Alice Paige‐Smith and Jonathan Rix, considers the current context of early intervention in England from the perspective and experiences of two families and in particular focuses on two young children identified as having Down syndrome. This case study research has emerged from previous research conducted by the authors, both of whom are Senior Lecturers at the Open University and have a wealth of experience across all phases of education. Their previous research involved interviews with parents of children diagnosed as having Down syndrome, which raised further questions about early intervention and the pedagogical relationship between the parent and the child, and recognised that ‘early intervention’ can be more than structured activities led by professionals. The research in this article, which has been funded by the British Academy, used ethnographic methodology to understand the process of early intervention with two young children with Down syndrome and their families. The methodology developed to include narrative first‐person observation of the child and photography. In addition to this a method of reflecting on the process of early intervention developed that included the researchers, the parent and the child. The development of this research methodology is considered in detail in this article.     

‘I'm just there to ease the burden’: the parent support adviser role in English schools and the question of emotional labour

In 2005, the Department for Education and Skills announced a £40 million investment in a new school support worker role, the parent support adviser (PSA), for 20 English local authorities. A pilot project ran from 2006–2008 and resulted in the establishment of 717 PSAs in 1167 schools. The national evaluation of the project forms the evidential basis of this paper, with interviews conducted with 69 PSAs, 85 PSA line managers and 105 parents and a database recording casework with nearly 21,000 parents. This paper focuses on the nature of the PSA role as the first centrally funded parent support role in English schools. The theoretical framework provided by the concept of ‘emotional labour’ and the development of the concept represented by the 4Ps typology provides the conceptual structure. This paper argues that although the characteristics of the PSA role appear to place it within the category of work requiring emotional labour, PSAs and parents regard that aspect of the role in a positive light. For the PSAs there was little evidence that emotional labour necessary for the role of PSA led to dissonance between role and worker or alienation from the product of PSA labour.     

‘Asking how instead of why’: exploring inclusive approaches to teaching and learning through pupil and teacher responses to a school link project

The association of inclusive education with an equity discourse means that the question of ‘how’ to include is one currently faced by many teachers in the UK. Written by Eve Griffiths, who teaches English, literacy, media studies and drama in a special school in Wolverhampton, this article constructs a set of inclusive principles for teaching and learning and reports on pupil and teacher responses in mainstream and special schools to a three‐week literacy project in which these approaches were implemented. Research diaries and small group‐based interviews were used in both educational settings to access the opinions of 20 pupils with a Statement of special educational needs. The research found that the pedagogical approaches were successful in breaking down some barriers to inclusion between the two groups of pupils, but Eve Griffiths concludes that significant changes would need to be brought about for there to be any longevity in the eradication of these obstructions.     

‘No Outsiders’: Moving beyond a discourse of tolerance to challenge heteronormativity in primary schools

In this paper we describe a UK‐based participatory action research project that looks beyond the discourse of tolerance to investigate and challenge heteronormative processes in primary schools through reflective action research. This 28‐month ESRC‐funded project supports 15 primary teachers working in schools in three regions of the UK to develop action research projects that address lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in their own schools and classrooms. In this paper we will examine how the original principles on which the project design was based have manifested themselves throughout the course of the project, drawing upon examples of classroom practice and reflective discussions among project team members. We will explore how designing intentionally for collective participation has produced spaces for people to do and think in ways that have not only gone beyond what we imagined but have also challenged and sometimes contradicted our own ways of thinking.