Temperament and Language Skills as Predictors of Teacher-Child Relationship Quality in Preschool

Current educational policy emphasizes "school readiness" of young children with a premium placed on preschool interventions that facilitate academic and social readiness for children who have had limited learning experiences prior to kindergarten (Rouse, Brooks-Gunn, &; McLanahan, 2005). The teacher–child relationship is viewed as a critical mechanism for the effectiveness of interventions (Girolametto, Weitzman, &; Greenberg, 2003; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2003). The purpose of this study was to determine how children's temperament and language skills predict teacher–child relationship quality. The sample consisted of 99 at-risk preschool students. Three findings emerged: (a) bolder children with lower language complexity were more likely to have higher levels of conflict in their relationships with teachers, (b) shyer children with greater language complexity were more likely to have dependent relationships with their teachers, and (c) teacher effects accounted for more of the variance in conflictual and dependent teacher-child relationships compared to children's behavioral inhibition and language complexity. This study shows that teacher-child relationships are multirelational. Individual differences in temperament and language skills affect teacher-child interactions, and ultimately, contribute to the effectiveness of classroom interventions. Such information helps to unpack the complexities of classroom quality by increasing awareness among practitioners of factors contributing to positive teacher–child relationships.     

Temperament and Language Skills as Predictors of Teacher-Child Relationship Quality in Preschool

Current educational policy emphasizes “school readiness” of young children with a premium placed on preschool interventions that facilitate academic and social readiness for children who have had limited learning experiences prior to kindergarten (Rouse, Brooks-Gunn, & McLanahan, 2005). The teacher-child relationship is viewed as a critical mechanism for the effectiveness of interventions (Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2003; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2003). The purpose of this study was to determine how children's temperament and language skills predict teacher-child relationship quality. The sample consisted of 99 at-risk preschool students. Three findings emerged: (a) bolder children with lower language complexity were more likely to have higher levels of conflict in their relationships with teachers, (b) shyer children with greater language complexity were more likely to have dependent relationships with their teachers, and (c) teacher effects accounted for more of the variance in conflictual and dependent teacher-child relationships compared to children's behavioral inhibition and language complexity. This study shows that teacher-child relationships are multirelational. Individual differences in temperament and language skills affect teacher-child interactions, and ultimately, contribute to the effectiveness of classroom interventions. Such information helps to unpack the complexities of classroom quality by increasing awareness among practitioners of factors contributing to positive teacher-child relationships.     

Higher education in a world market

Recognizing that academic, scientific and technological strengths have become increasingly important in international relations, this study hypothesizes that the flow of knowledge resources among nations is interconnected with global political, economic and cultural relationships. As a means of validating this premise, this study analyzes one component of academic interaction - international study at the level of higher education. This article outlines changes in international study patterns in the decades following World War n and explores how the postwar context affected international exchange relationships. International exchange during the 1960s and 1970s indicated strong participation by students from Third World nations and the popularity of five industrialized host nations. These relationships are explored through a statistical study of the flow of students from 18 developing nations out to the world and to the United States in particular. The findings assess the importance of key economic factors (such as involvement in global trade and concentration of trade), educational variables (including national emphasis on education and the availability of domestic opportunities) and political arenas (such as international assistance and scholarship dependency) in determining international study patterns. As current shifts in our postwar world order unfold before us, better understanding of historical factors underlying international exchange may be instrumental as we anticipate its future within the context of new geopolitical alliances.     

Overcoming cross-cultural group work tensions: mixed student perspectives on the role of social relationships

As universities worldwide rapidly internationalise, higher education classrooms have become unique spaces for collaboration between students from different countries. One common way to encourage collaboration between diverse peers is through group work. However, previous research has highlighted that cross-cultural group work can be challenging and has hinted at potential social tensions. To understand this notion better, we have used robust quantitative tools in this study to select 20 participants from a larger classroom of 860 students to take part in an in-depth qualitative interview about cross-cultural group work experiences. Participant views on social tensions in cross-cultural group work were elicited using a unique mediating artefact method to encourage reflection and in-depth discussion. In our analysis of emergent interview themes, we compared student perspectives on the role of social relationships in group work by their academic performance level. Our findings indicated that all students interviewed desired the opportunity to form social relationships with their group work members, but their motivations for doing so varied widely by academic performance level.     

The changing role of students’ unions within contemporary higher education

Despite profound changes to the higher education sector in the UK over recent years, which have tended to emphasise the role of prospective students as active choosers within a marketplace and encourage higher education institutions (HEIs) to place more emphasis on student engagement and representation as a means of improving the quality of the learning experience, the role of students’ unions has remained largely unexplored. To start to redress this gap, this paper draws on a UK-wide survey of students’ union officers and a series of focus groups with 86 students and higher education staff in 10 case study institutions. It outlines the ways in which students’ unions are believed, by those closely involved with them, to have changed over recent years, focusing on: the shift towards a much greater emphasis on representation in the role and function of the students’ union; the increasing importance of non-elected officers; and the emergence of more cooperative relationships between the students’ union and senior institutional management. The article then discusses the implications of these findings for both our understanding of the political engagement of students, and theorising student involvement in the governance of HEIs.     

Strategies for academic engagement perceived by Finnish sixth and eighth graders

This study explores strategies students use to construct their academic engagement in the social environment of school. The study is based on group interview data collected from 161 sixth (78) and eighth (83) grade students. Students reflected both engaging and disengaging episodes. Data were content analysed. The results show that students reported using only confirming strategies in teacher–student interaction. More diverse strategies were described in relation to peer interaction. The results indicated that simultaneously maintaining functional peer relations and engaging effectively in academic activities is a highly challenging task which requires strategic flexibility and self-regulative skills. In terms of the development of more engaging learning environments for students, our results suggest that more attention should be paid to creating positive opportunities to participate, in terms of both academic activities and peer interaction.     

Linkages between approaches to learning,perceived stress and expected and actual academic outcomes among first-semester psychology students

Previous research indicates that higher educational students’ perceptions of stress are in part related to the teaching and learning context, and influence academic outcomes. This study intends to deepen our understanding of these processes by examining the linkages between approaches to learning, perceived stress and expected and actual academic outcomes within a specific educational setting. First-semester psychology students (N = 191) completed a questionnaire, including short versions of ASSIST and PSS, and estimated their course grade before a written examination. Later, actual grades were added. The results suggest that surface approach to learning is positively associated with high levels of perceived stress, and reflected in lower levels of expected grades. The relationships between deep and strategic approaches to learning and perceived stress seem to be more ambivalent, despite positive associations with expected grades. Coping and motivational aspects of the concepts of surface and strategic approaches to learning seem to be crucial to understanding the linkages between the examined factors. Also, the significance of a strategic approach in relation to actual academic outcomes is highlighted.     

Ethnicity and student identity in schools: an analysis of official and unofficial talk in multiethnic classrooms

The present study shows that power relations in classrooms between Dutch and immigrant students radically shift when students move from academic talk to more open, free talk. Whereas in their interactions with immigrant students, Dutch students are able to represent the more powerful role in the official, academic discourse, they lose this position in the unofficial, nonacademic discourse. These shifts show that ethnic relationships are played out differently in different discursive domains. They also show that academic identities do not exist as such but are specific to certain minority–majority relationships. This study builds upon a tradition of studies that have argued that ethnic minorities construct academic identities depending on the social setting. However, this study shows the instability of these constructions while demonstrating their dependency on specific ethnic interactions and discursive modes. The study is based on the analysis of interaction patterns in multiethnic classrooms in the Netherlands focussing on (a)symmetries in knowledge sharing. An ethnographic approach is combined with quantitative analyses to test group differences. The results are interpreted and discussed in the light of a poststructuralist view on how ethnic minority groups construct academic identities and how these are related to minority–majority relationships.     

Homework involvement among Hong Kong primary school students

One component of the curriculum reform in Hong Kong focuses on the use of homework in consolidating learning, deepening understanding and constructing knowledge. This study examines the profile of Hong Kong primary school students' homework involvement, and investigates the relationships between time involvement and academic attributes, namely interest in homework, interest in academic subjects, academic efficacy, and efficacy for self-regulated learning. The sample comprised 2,361 primary school students representing all six grade levels in Hong Kong. Data was collected using questionnaires and homework diaries. Results showed heavy homework involvement among primary school students in Hong Kong, especially at the senior primary level. Differential patterns across levels were observed for the relationship between homework involvement and academic attributes. Specifically, junior primary students' study-related interests and efficacies were found to decline with increasing time involvement, whereas inverted U-shape relationships were observed among senior primary students. There was concern for students with high time involvement as they received more homework and they worked slower. They were less likely to perceive the positive functions of homework, and showed poorer study-related interests and efficacy beliefs. The findings of this study provide crucial information for school personnel and educators in Hong Kong in developing homework strategies and policies that enhance teaching and learning.     

Changes in college students' perceptions of use of web-based resources for academic tasks with Wikipedia projects: a preliminary exploration

Motivated by the need to facilitate Net Generation students' information literacy (IL), or more specifically, to promote student understanding of legitimate, effective use of Web-based resources, this exploratory study investigated how analyzing, writing, posting, and monitoring Wikipedia entries might help students develop critical perspectives related to the legitimacy of Wikipedia and other publicly accessible Web-based resources for academic tasks. Results of survey and interview data analyses from two undergraduate courses indicated that undergraduate students typically prefer using publicly accessible Web-based resources to traditional academic resources, such as scholarly journal articles and books both in print and digital form; furthermore, they view the former as helpful academic tools with various utilities. Results also suggest that the Wikipedia activity, integrated into regular course curriculum, led students to gain knowledge about processes of Web-based information creation, become more critical of information on the Web, and evaluate the use of publicly accessible Web-based resources for academic purposes. Such changes appear more conspicuous with first year than with upper division students. The findings suggest that experiential opportunities to grapple with the validity of publicly accessible Web-based resources may prepare students better for their college and professional careers. The study results also indicate the need for integrating multiple existing frameworks for IL into one comprehensive framework to better understand various aspects of students' knowledge, use, and production of information from cognitive and technical perspectives and for a variety of purposes.     

Investigating self-regulated study strategies among postsecondary students with and without dyslexia: a diary method study

We investigated the use of self-regulated study strategies among undergraduates with dyslexia by means of extensive web-based diary data, comparing their strategy use to that of matched students without dyslexia who completed the diary in the same period. Additionally, we examined the perceived benefits of using the recorded strategies in both groups, as well as relationships between the recorded strategies and perceived self-efficacy and academic performance. Results indicated that across lecture, individual study, and social study contexts, students with and without dyslexia recorded a comparable, broad range of strategies, yet students with dyslexia seemed to use particular visual and social strategies more consistently than did students without dyslexia. Across the three study contexts, both students with and without dyslexia also perceived the strategies they recorded in the diaries to be quite beneficial, but with particular visual and social strategies seemingly perceived as more helpful by students with dyslexia. Finally, self-regulated study strategies were positively related to perceived self-efficacy and academic performance among the students with dyslexia but not among the students without dyslexia. We discuss the possibility that the diary method used to assess strategy use among students with dyslexia in different study contexts over time was more appropriate for revealing the breadth and value of their strategy repertoire than the decontextualized, one-time questionnaire and interview approaches used in prior work.     

Educational outcomes of labor-market linking and job placement for students at public and private 2-year colleges

While much research has examined how education influences work outcomes, fewer scholars have questioned whether or how school–labor market relationships might influence educational outcomes. With their rising enrollments and growing occupational programs, 2-year colleges are an increasingly important site of the school-to-work transition. Using interview and survey data from a local sample of 14 public and private 2-year colleges, we describe the employer linkages forged at different types of 2-year colleges, how institutional contexts shape linking activities, and how college–employer links are related to students’ efforts at college and confidence about degree completion. Using national longitudinal data (BPS and IPEDS), we test whether the patterns identified in our local sample are reflected nationally, examining whether the availability of job placement services by colleges predicts students’ timely degree completion.     

Co-regulation and knowledge construction in an online synchronous problem based learning setting

Learning to monitor and regulate one’s learning in an academic setting is a task that all students must engage in. Learning in “group” situations requires both self- and co-regulation. This research examines a case study of a small group of medical student interactions during an on-line problem based learning activity (PBL) where students learn to co-regulate their performance as they construct their understanding of how best to communicate bad news to patients. This paper introduces an approach for analyzing the group discourse to understand how collective knowledge building facilitates co-regulation. A mixed method analysis was used to analyze the case study data. A qualitative data analysis of verbal interactions was conducted to examine co-regulatory episodes. Collective knowledge building was examined by analyzing the group discourse for indicators of co-regulatory processes. The study follows two quantitative analyses: a frequency count analysis of types of questions asked by facilitators and students; and a sequential pattern mining for patterns of co-occurrences of learners’ discourse and co-regulation.     

大学生学术性社团研究现状与育人功能研究

大学生学术性社团是依托专业而建立起来的学习型组织,作为高校学生社团的一个分支,在提高大学生思想道德素质、校园文化传承与创新、培养大学生社会责任感、创新精神、实践能力等方面发挥着重要的作用,改进大学生学术性社团的不足,形成固定的育人模式、发挥育人功能,将会是未来大学生学术性社团建设的重点。     

Multimodal texts in Higher Education and the implications for writing pedagogy

Although studies on writing pedagogy and academic literacies have examined changing genres in tertiary education, there has not necessarily been an emphasis on how a range of modes and media have influenced texts in various disciplines. This paper explores the influence and incorporation of the visual into student texts in Higher Education, looking at the semiotic weighting of modes, conventions and functions of images, visual / verbal linkages and visual composition. These aspects of multimodal texts have implications for the ways in which we teach ‘academic literacies’ practices and writing as multimodal composition to students.     

The Effect of Visual‐Chunking‐Representation Accommodation on Geometry Testing for Students with Math Disabilities

Students who struggle with learning mathematics often have difficulties with geometry problem solving, which requires strong visual imagery skills. These difficulties have been correlated with deficiencies in visual working memory. Cognitive psychology has shown that chunking of visual items accommodates students’ working memory deficits. This study investigated the effects of visual‐chunking representation as a testing accommodation for improving students’ geometry problem‐solving performance. Participants were four third‐graders with difficulties in mathematics. An adapted reversal design was employed to examine the students’ performance changes during standard testing conditions and accommodated testing conditions. During the accommodated condition, students were presented with visual‐chunking images. Results suggested that the visual‐chunking representation accommodation improved students’ performance on geometry problem‐solving tasks, and an interview confirmed students’ preference for the visual‐chunking representation approach.     

大学为学生提供了什么样的信息技术经历：现状及效果的探析——基于南京大学与首尔大学的问卷调查

大学生的信息技术经历是其大学就读经历中的一个重要组成部分,分析大学生信息技术经历的现状及其对学业结果的促进效果,是探究本科教育质量的重要路径。通过对中国南京大学和韩国首尔大学的问卷调查,课题组发现,南京大学样本的信息技术经历的性别差异、家庭背景差异、生源地差异、年级差异、学科差异等都非常显著,首尔大学样本除了在年级和学科等因素上存在个别指标（即信息技术使用状况）的差异之外,在其他所有背景因素上都不存在显著的差异性。回归分析则表明,中韩本科生的＂信息技术使用状况＂和＂信息技术使用的积极意向＂都会对各种学术性学习结果产生显著的正向影响,但＂信息技术使用的消极意向＂均不会对各种学术性学习结果产生显著的负向影响。在定量分析和定性访谈的基础上,课题组认为,关注对弱势群体学生的信息技术使用经历、意向和能力的支持和帮助;关注对教师信息技术能力的提升;改革刚性的教学评价制度,发挥信息技术真正支持教学的潜力;将学生的信息技术能力（特别是学术信息的搜集、整理和交流能力）纳入到培养目标和考评体系中来等四个方面,是改进本科生信息技术经历、提升学生学习结果的重要实践策略。     

An empirical study into gender differences in the relationships among academic,social and psychological adjustments of university support

There are three dimensions through which to measure university support for students’ transition to university life: academic adjustment, social adjustment and psychological adjustment. Previous research studies show that there are relationships among those adjustments. However, less is known about gender differences in these relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceived gender differences in perception of the relationships among these adjustments during the first year undergraduate transition period. The study is based on a survey of 114 first year undergraduate students from a Hong Kong local university. The findings show that (1) female students perceive social adjustment to have more influence on academic adjustment than male students, (2) female students perceive psychological adjustment to have more influence on academic adjustment than male students, and (3) there is no significant difference in the relationship between social and academic adjustments for female and male students.     

Effective Teachers for At-Risk or Highly Mobile Students: What are the Dispositions and Behaviors of Award-Winning Teachers?

What distinguishes effective teachers of at-risk or highly mobile students was the essential question addressed in this study. We conducted a cross-case analysis of US national or state award-winning teachers who taught in schools with student populations characterized as highly mobile, homeless, and/or high poverty. Six teachers meeting the criteria were selected as participants. Frameworks of effective teaching characteristics were adapted from prior research and from a review of the literature to gather on-site classroom observational and interview data from participating teachers. The data were examined in light of extant research related to teaching at-risk or highly mobile students and yielded information regarding beliefs and practices. Teachers' interview responses focused on 2 main areas of teacher effectiveness: the importance of student–teacher relationships and instructional delivery. These teachers emphasized affective and academic needs in their planning, instruction, and assessment. They had high expectations of students and were committed to ensuring that students had what they needed to succeed. Teachers maintained high student engagement and used a variety of instructional activities and a wide range of cognitive levels in the questions asked during their instruction which was primarily teacher-directed. Additional research into effective teaching and working with at-risk or highly mobile students is recommended.     

少数民族预科学生英语学习中课业求助行为研究

以中央民族大学预科教育学院2008级268名学生为调查对象,采用问卷调查和个别访谈相结合的方式,研究预科学生英语学习中课业求助行为。结果表明,预科学生英语课业求助处于中等水平;不同社会类型学生的求助行为存在差异。总体来说,男生比女生更乐于求助他人;来自农村的学生和来自城镇学生在课业求助方面的差异不明显;成绩较好学生的课业求助以工具性求助为主,成绩欠好学生在英语学习中较少求助他人。