In the eyes of the beholder: students’ and teachers’ judgments of students’ motivation

This study was designed to examine the nature and accuracy of teachers’ judgments about students’ motivation related to mathematics. Seventeen fourth- through sixth-grade teachers and 100 of their students participated in this study. Teachers were asked to rate six target students’ motivation four times during the school year. At each of these times students also rated their own motivation. Teachers’ ratings were more stable over time and across mathematics topics and were less differentiated across motivation dimensions than were students’ ratings. The findings suggest that teachers need to pay careful attention to evidence related to children's motivation that might contradict their perceptions and therefore support more effective interventions.     

Mexican parents’ and teachers’ literacy perspectives and practices: construction of cultural capital

This article examines the relationships among the literacy practices engaged in by first-grade children and parents at home and the ways in which these practices are communicated, shaped, and fostered by teachers and administrators in two different sociocultural environments in urban Mexico. The differences observed between the home literacy experiences of children in a working-class and a middle-class community included transgenerational communication of assumptions regarding literacy and schooling, as well as attitudes associated with the parents’ own school experiences. Class-based expectations on the part of teachers not only shaped interactions with parents, but were also reflected in the way the national curriculum was delivered, with a greater emphasis on rote skills and traditional reading instruction in the working-class community. The authors argue that the school plays a role in the co-production of cultural capital in the home through its shaping of some of the literacy practices that children and families undertake.     

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Autonomy-Supportive and Controlling Behaviors: An Analysis of Interparental Contributions

Objective. The goal of this study was to examine how mothers and fathers contribute to each other’s autonomy supportive and controlling behaviors toward their child. Design. The participants were heterosexual parental dyads from two prospective studies (Study 1, n = 289; Study 2, n = 202). Mothers and fathers completed questionnaires assessing their autonomy supportive and controlling behaviors toward their adolescent child. Results. In both studies, results from structural equation modeling revealed reciprocal partner effects where mothers’ autonomy support at Time 1 predicted fathers’ autonomy support at Time 2, and fathers’ autonomy support at Time 1 predicted mothers’ autonomy support at Time 2. Reciprocal partner effects were also observed for controlling behaviors. These reciprocal relations were not statistically different across mothers and fathers. Conclusions. These results provide support for interparental contributions regarding autonomy supportive and controlling parenting behaviors. Mothers and fathers should thus be aware that their parenting behaviors can be influenced by each other, including both positive and negative parenting behaviors.     

Teachers’ and teacher educators’ lives: the role of emotion

This paper reports research which focuses on ways of enhancing understandings by teachers of the key role that emotions play in their personal professional growth. It combines the narrative, autobiographical accounts of teachers attending part-time masters degree programmes in England (Continuing Professional Development and School Improvement) and Northern Ireland (Personal and Social Development) with an interrogation of the underlying values which affect the practices of their tutors. It reveals the effects of powerful and often unacknowledged interaction between personal biography and professional and social contexts upon teachers in schools and higher education.     

Kindergarten students’ and parents’ perceptions of science classroom environments: Achievement and attitudes

This study, involving the modification, validation and use of a learning environment questionnaire for both kindergarten students and their parents, is significant because prior learning environment research has normally involved neither parents nor such young students. A questionnaire, which was based on the What Is Happening In this Class? and assessed actual and preferred teacher support, involvement, cooperation and equity, exhibited sound factorial validity, internal consistency reliability and the ability to differentiate between classrooms. Parents perceived a more favourable actual classroom environment than students, but students preferred a more favourable environment than parents. Associations were found between kindergarten students’ achievement and attitudes and the nature of the learning environment.     

Challenges and Changes: Developing Teachers’ and Initial Teacher Education Students’ Understandings of the Nature of Science

Teachers need an understanding of the nature of science (NOS) to enable them to incorporate NOS into their teaching of science. The current study examines the usefulness of a strategy for challenging or changing teachers’ understandings of NOS. The teachers who participated in this study were 10 initial teacher education chemistry students and six experienced teachers from secondary and primary schools who were introduced to an explicit and reflective activity, a dramatic reading about a historical scientific development. Concept maps were used before and after the activity to assess teachers’ knowledge of NOS. The participants also took part in a focus group interview to establish whether they perceived the activity as useful in developing their own understanding of NOS. Initial analysis led us to ask another group, comprising seven initial teacher education chemistry students, to take part in a modified study. These participants not only completed the same tasks as the previous participants but also completed a written reflection commenting on whether the activity and focus group discussion enhanced their understanding of NOS. Both Lederman et al.’s (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(6), 497–521, 2002) concepts of NOS and notions of “naive” and “informed” understandings of NOS and Hay’s (Studies in Higher Education, 32(1), 39–57, 2007) notions of “surface” and “deep” learning were used as frameworks to examine the participants’ specific understandings of NOS and the depth of their learning. The ways in which participants’ understandings of NOS were broadened or changed by taking part in the dramatic reading are presented. The impact of the data-gathering tools on the participants’ professional learning is also discussed.     

Addressing the discontinuity of students’ and teachers’ diversity: a preliminary study of preservice teachers’ beliefs and perceived skills

The authors of the present investigation provide baseline data regarding preservice teachers’ beliefs about addressing the needs of students whose backgrounds and abilities differ from their own. These data provide the guidance for subsequent in-depth longitudinal investigations about the ways in which preservice teachers’ beliefs inform their classroom behaviors toward the aforementioned students, as well as suggestions for teacher educators about program improvements.     

Cultural content of three EFL textbooks: teachers’ and learners’ cultural preferences and cultural themes of textbooks

Cultural content analysis of EFL textbooks has received considerable attention in ELT pedagogy in recent decades. The current study investigated the representation of big “C” and small “c” cultural themes in three common EFL textbooks: Top Notch, Summit and Passages. The frequency analysis indicated that in Top Notch series, small “c” cultural themes of daily life, food, customs/norms and big “C” theme of geography were the most frequent cultural themes; while, in Summit and Passages, the most frequent small “c” cultural theme was values and beliefs. This study also investigated the correspondence between EFL teachers’ and learners’ cultural preferences on the one hand, and the match between their preferences and the cultural content of the books in question. 135 EFL learners and 36 EFL teachers responded to adapted questionnaires. The findings revealed that there were areas of match (mainly in small “c” themes) and cases of mismatch (primarily in big “C” themes) between learners’ and teachers’ preferred cultural themes and the cultural content of the textbooks analysed.     

‘Hardworking,determined and happy’: first-year students’ understanding and experience of success

While all agree student success in higher education is important, there is less agreement on what it means to be a successful student. Student success is often measured by institutional reports of grades, student retention and qualification completion. More recently, broader definitions have emerged; however, these do not incorporate student perceptions of success. The current study addresses this gap by exploring how first-year students talk about their success. Drawing from weekly interviews of students at an Australian regional university, the data are analysed through the lens of a conceptual framework of student engagement. The findings demonstrate that success is inextricably linked with student engagement as well as other dimensions of the student experience. As expected, students assess their success extrinsically with institutional measures such as grades and feedback. In addition, their behavioural engagement was seen as a more immediate measure of their success, while happiness and satisfaction were necessary for some students to feel successful. Perceptions of success have important consequences for students in terms of increased positive emotions, self-efficacy and course belonging. Success for these students has multiple dimensions. These findings give rise to suggestions for a staged approach to supporting first-year student success. However, the student experience is complex and multifaceted and further research is needed with different student cohorts who may define and experience success in other ways.     

‘Quicksand of Hate’: Experiences of Islamophobia and Poetic Resistance

How might English classrooms be spaces where Muslim students are empowered to recognise and resist Islamophobia? This qualitative study draws on theories of critical consciousness and Islamophobia to show how Bassim, a Muslim student, makes sense of Islamophobic encounters through the poetic and analytic writing he creates in his public high school English classroom. When examined intertextually, Bassim’s words offer a glimpse of what Islamophobic experiences are like for some contemporary Muslim students. The findings suggest that through his English class, Bassim is able to use poetic and analytic writing as the means by which he recognises and resists Islamophobia. Further, this study indicates that more work should take up the implications of students’ religious beliefs and the ways those beliefs shape their writing – particularly when they are members of a marginalised religion.     

Elementary teachers’ needs: issues of retention and recruitment

The retention and recruitment of elementary teachers is an increasingly serious problem in many countries. This paper examines literature on work in general, and teaching in particular, in the light of data gathered from teachers who enjoy their jobs. It concludes that there is scope to improve the quality of elementary teachers’ professional lives and hence enhance recruitment and retention possibilities. A further implication would be the greater involvement of teachers in curriculum innovation and inspection.     

Feminist philosophy of science: ‘standpoint’ and knowledge

Feminist philosophy of science has been criticized on several counts. On the one hand, it is claimed that it results in relativism of the worst sort since the political commitment to feminism is prima facie incompatible with scientific objectivity. On the other hand, when critics acknowledge that there may be some value in work that feminists have done, they comment that there is nothing particularly feminist about their accounts. I argue that both criticisms can be addressed through a better understanding of the current work in feminist epistemology. I offer an examination of standpoint theory as an illustration. Harding and Wylie have suggested ways in which the objectivity question can be addressed. These two accounts together with a third approach, ‘model-based objectivity’, indicate there is a clear sense in which we can understand how a standpoint theory both contributes to a better understanding of scientific knowledge and can provide a feminist epistemology.

Leadership and students’ academic success: mediating effects of self-efficacy and self-determination

When exploring the effects of leadership on students, most studies have focused on either how leadership affects the students’ academic outcomes or how it contributes to their personal development. This study merged both approaches and aimed to measure the mediating effects of self-efficacy and self-determination among leadership, students’ intentions to persist and GPA. A Structural Equation Analysis was applied to a data-set of 1009 students from 39 countries to examine these relationships. The results showed a full mediating effect of academic self-efficacy between leadership and students’ intentions to persist and between leadership and GPA, and revealed a full mediating effect of self-determination through autonomy and relatedness constructs between leadership and intention to persist. This result implies that even though leadership does not directly affect students’ academic outcomes, it enhances their confidence and motivation, which provides them with the inner drive to aim high, persevere and achieve their goals. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are also discussed.     

Parenting and adolescents’ values and behaviour: the moderating role of temperament

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of parenting and adolescent fearfulness on adolescents’ pro‐social values and pro‐social and antisocial behaviour. A total of 134 adolescents (M age = 16.22, 72 girls, 62 boys) responded to questions regarding their own fearfulness, pro‐social values and pro‐social and antisocial behaviour, as well as their perceptions of maternal attachment and maternal appropriateness. Results revealed few main‐effect findings, most notably a negative relation between attachment and antisocial behaviour. However, findings pointed to several multiplicative relations as a function of parenting, adolescent fearfulness, and child gender, including: (1) maternal appropriateness was more important for boys than for girls, (2) maternal attachment was related to greater importance of pro‐social values and higher pro‐social behaviour for boys low on fear and (3) maternal appropriateness was related to lower antisocial behaviour for boys low on fear. The discussion focuses on the importance of examining the multiplicative relations between parenting and adolescent temperament and the implications of this for both educators and parents.     

Adults’ spelling and understanding of possession and plurality: an intervention study

In English, some words sound the same but are distinguished by silent written markers of their morphological status, as in plurals (e.g., cities), singular possessives (e.g., city’s) and plural possessives (e.g., cities’). We examined undergraduates’ ability to correctly omit or position apostrophes in these three word types before and after a 3-week intervention that focused on the conceptual bases for plurality and possession, as well as their associated spelling rules. Pre-test spelling was imperfect for plurals and poor for possessives, especially plural possessives. Abstract understanding of plurality and possession, measured in a morphological awareness task, was also relatively poor. The intervention resulted in significant but imperfect improvement on all tasks, with post-test morphological awareness predicting post-test spelling of plurals and possessives, even after controls for general spelling ability. Control participants showed no change. We suggest that adults’ difficulty in spelling possessives stems from a shaky grasp of the underlying morphological concepts, and we discuss possibilities for future intervention.