Statements of special educational needs and mainstream secondary physical education in north‐west England

This article, by Anthony Maher of the University of Central Lancashire, explores, from the perspective of SENCos and learning support assistants (LSAs) in north‐west England, the perceived adequacy of Statements of special educational needs as they relate to physical education (PE). The findings, generated via online surveys, suggest that most SENCos and some LSAs believe that Statements are appropriate for all curricular subjects, with PE being no different. Thus, two groups who play an integral role in facilitating the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream secondary schools in England do not differentiate between classroom based and more physically orientated subjects such as PE, which could have a negative impact on the experiences of pupils with special educational needs in PE because of the contextual and dynamic nature of special educational needs. Indeed, because most Statements do not provide PE‐specific information or learning targets, teachers and LSAs are often unable to collaboratively plan and deliver inclusive lessons or monitor and evaluate the progress made by Statemented pupils in PE.     

Using the Wider Pedagogical Role model to establish learning support assistants' views about facilitators and barriers to effective practice

This article reports on small‐scale research exploring the views of learning support assistants (LSAs) about facilitators and barriers to effective practice. A focus group was conveyed involving all the LSAs working in one mainstream primary school in the north‐west of England and thematic analysis was used to interrogate the resultant dataset. The Wider Pedagogical Role (WPR) model (Webster et al., 2011) was used as a deductive framework to conceptualise these findings under the headings of practice, deployment, conditions of employment, preparedness and characteristics. Findings revealed that LSAs could readily identify current facilitators and barriers under each of the five components, highlighting the usefulness of the WPR model. Possibilities for future research, including the refinement and further development of the WPR, are briefly discussed.     

The effects of rime‐ and phoneme‐based teaching delivered by Learning Support Assistants

This paper evaluates three word‐level teaching programmes delivered by trained Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) for Year 1 children ‘at risk’ of reading difficulties. Rime‐based, phoneme‐based, and ‘mixed’ (rime and phoneme‐based) interventions were contrasted with controls receiving only the National Literacy Strategy. Phonological onset‐rime and phoneme manipulation, spelling, and word and non‐word reading were measured before and after the nine‐week intervention. High rime neighbourhood (HRn) non‐words (e.g. ‘dat’– with many real word rime neighbours) and low rime neighbourhood (LRn) non‐words (e.g. ‘tav’ with few real word neighbours) were used to evaluate onset‐rime‐ or grapheme‐phoneme‐based decoding strategies. Results showed greater phonological onset‐rime skills, letter‐sound knowledge and non‐word reading skills in all LSA‐taught intervention groups. There was no difference between the HRn and LRn non‐words. The only reliable difference between the intervention groups was an advantage in phoneme blending for the rime‐taught group. It was concluded that LSAs can enhance literacy development for 6‐year‐old poor readers. There appears to be no simple association between rime‐ or phoneme‐based teaching intervention and changes in the size of unit used by children following interventions.     

To assist or not to assist? A study of teachers’ views of the roles of learning support assistants in the provision of inclusive physical education in England

This paper examines teachers’ perceptions of their working relationships with learning support assistants (LSAs) when seeking to incorporate young disabled people and pupils with special educational needs (SEN) within mainstream physical education (PE), an area that has been a largely neglected aspect of research in inclusive education. The findings indicate that teachers spoke positively of these relationships when LSAs were perceived as making a positive contribution to the development of pupils’ learning and when they supported teachers as they did in other school subjects. Conversely, when LSAs and other support staff failed to provide teachers with information that was related to pupils’ needs in PE, and when LSAs did not possess the required skills, knowledge and expertise of the subject, teachers were rather critical of their relationships with them. In this regard, LSAs were seen as placing a particularly significant constraint on teachers’ ability to meet the needs of pupils in PE lessons. It is concluded that teachers’ perceptions of the constraints they experience from working with LSAs to help support pupils, and the extent and quality of support they receive, cannot be understood adequately unless they are located within the context of the relational constraints experienced by teachers.     

Ideology influencing action: special educational needs co‐ordinator and learning support assistant role conceptualisations and experiences of special needs education in England

One outcome of England's Code of Practice’ (DfE, 1994) was an increase, first, in the number of learning support assistants (LSAs) working in mainstream schools and, second, the establishment of the role of special educational needs co‐ordinator (SENCO). Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with SENCOs and LSAs to explore: (i) why they chose their occupation; (ii) how they conceptualise their role and (iii) the decisions they make when endeavouring (or not) to cultivate an inclusive culture in schools. Many SENCOs sought the role in order to increase the educational attainment and life chances of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Inclusive concepts such as fairness, equality and social justice underpinned their rationales. LSA justification was more pragmatic and often related to how the role would help them to achieve a further career ambition, or because it was compatible with personal circumstances. Younger participants thought that they could strengthen their teacher training applications by using the role of LSA to gain more experience working in schools generally, and with pupils with SEND in particular. The role of both SENCO and LSA has been found to be extremely diverse in England, depending largely on the needs and resources of the schools in which these two groups find themselves.     

ESP理论下英语教学对大学生思辨能力的影响研究

我国大学英语教学中已暴露出令人担忧的思辨缺席现象。基于ES P理论,探索性地运用以英语为依托的教学模式开展实验教学并对学生的思辨能力变化情况进行测试,为今后的课堂教学实践活动开展做前期的实证研究。实验结果表明,以英语为依托的教学模式较好地促进了学生思辨能力的提高。     

浅谈新时期中学英语教学改革问题

自从中国加入WTO以来,英语在人们的日常工作生活中已经越来越重要,因此英语教学和教学中所出现的问题也应更为人们在教改中所重视。因而这篇文章将试图就以下问题展开探讨:(1)低效率的传统语言教学法(2)应试教育(3)教材在实际运用中的问题(4)小学、中学和高等教育之间缺乏承联。并且,作者将就这些问题给出一些建议,希望能给相关人士以参考。     

英语文化知识与大学英语听力信息障碍

本文提出英语文化知识缺乏会对学生的听力信息产生障碍，通过理论和实例论述了大学英语听力教学中应增加英语国家文化知识的内容。     

‘Interactive’ teaching in numeracy lessons: what do children have to say?

This article reports on the English National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) and, in particular, on the way in which children aged from 8‐ to 11‐years‐old view ‘interactive whole class teaching’. A qualitative, grounded study of both teachers' and children's perceptions of interactive teaching was undertaken, making use of ‘video stimulated reflective dialogue’. The focus here is on children's views about the roles of talking and of listening. Hearing what children have to say in this respect helps to illuminate the norms, expectations and practices of classroom discourse, and its implications for teaching. I argue that there is often a lack of any coherent theoretical basis for teachers' practices in relation to whole class interaction and that this can lead to a tension in which talking and listening become less effective as a vehicle for learning than they might otherwise be.     

Leadership and collaboration in implementing curriculum change in Hong Kong secondary schools

Task-based learning (TBL) was a methodological innovation in the 1999 English Language syllabus for secondary schools and the 2006 curriculum for senior secondary schools in Hong Kong, designed to replace teacher-centred, grammar-focused approaches that were identified as previously prevalent. This two-year longitudinal study analyses the implementation of TBL in three schools. It focuses on teachers’ conceptions of TBL and classroom practice, and the support provided by senior management. It finds that TBL is enacted differently by individual teachers, and that the lack of senior leadership is significant in causing the innovation either to wither or to become diffuse. In some cases, problems associated with implementing TBL were addressed through the determined commitment of pioneering teachers and the collaborative efforts by staff, but change was nonetheless hampered.     

Using Games in Teaching Children English

In recent years,people realize primary education has been become the most important part in their whole life,especially English teaching.However,the English teaching in primary school still have many problems needed to be solved.A common phenomenon is that the children lack of interest in English.     

AN INQUIRY INTO A UNIVERSITY'S “NOBLE SAVAGE” PROGRAM

You are a newly appointed teacher to 30 newly‐arrived Chinese fourth grade students and you speak no Chinese. You are to teach in English and you are to forbid the children to speak Chinese. This scenario was common in the mid‐60s. It raised many questions from parents and educators alike. If you can't communicate, can you educate? Are the children being treated fairly? How long before boredom sets in for children? How long before frustration overcomes the teacher?

The scene would be somewhat different if you spoke Chinese or if the children knew some English. Perhaps you could team up with a Chinese‐speaking co‐teacher: the co‐teacher could teach the standard fourth grade curriculum and its transferable concepts in Chinese while you worked with some of or all of the class, laying a foundation for English instruction. But obviously all‐day “English only” instruction is not enough to comply with the legal mandates and the students’ inalienable opportunity to be taught by teachers who are communicating intelligibly to them.

Kinney Kinmon Lau, his classmates, and their parents and guardians realized something was wrong with this education. They sued the San Francisco schools, relying on the 1964 civil rights equal education amendments. In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with them: “English is not enough” (Lau v. Nichols). The issues related to this decision continue to engage educators across the nation. Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) has become a compromise for Maintenance Bilingual Education, which is what parents in the 60s were pursuing. Today, some have forgotten that the 1974 landmark decision had been preceded by a dozen years of activism across the country by Latino parents with similar concerns to those of the San Francisco Chinese parents.     

Why do English Universities really Franchise Degrees to Overseas Providers?

Franchising degrees to overseas providers, normally for‐profit private companies, has become big business for English universities. The latest data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency reveal that there are now more international students registered for the awards of English higher education institutions that are studying wholly offshore than are on campus. There is an extensive economic literature exploring the role of franchising (or licensing) in the internationalisation of multinational companies. There are, however, few studies that have attempted to understand the reasons why so many English universities have moved beyond exporting (educating foreign students on campus) to franchising their degrees to overseas partners. This study uses an exploratory research methodology to get ‘inside the black box’. It investigates the motivations of decision‐makers entering and maintaining franchising operations at four English universities, revealing that financial considerations are less dominant than widely believed within the sector and are overshadowed by other, non‐commercial considerations.     

The English Language Entry Requirements of Australian Universities for Students of Non‐English Speaking Background

The English language proficiency of international students entering university has increasingly become a matter of concern for many academics and has also received considerable media attention. For this reason, a survey was conducted to ascertain what Australian universities require in terms of English language proficiency for non‐English Speaking background (NESB) students, whether international, permanent residents or Australian citizens. This article presents the findings of the survey and discusses the 61 pieces of evidence accepted by the universities as fulfilling their English language requirements. The general comparability and validity of the proficiency qualifications are examined and the conclusion is drawn that many of the pieces of evidence accepted are inadequate measures of language proficiency for academic study.     

管理策略与大学英语网络化教学的探讨研究

伴随着大学英语网络教学模式的日益普及,学生在英语网络教学模式下的种种不足显现的越来越明显。这些不足主要表现在学生学习策略的缺失、情感的缺失等。这些不足严重地影响了学生英语学习效果,所以我们要认真思考,帮助学生克服在这种教学模式下学习的各种不足,从而使大学生网络教学充分发挥自身的功能。本文针对管理策略在大学英语网络化教学中的应用,探讨大学英语网络化教学背景下大学生应用管理策略的方法。     

跨文化交际视角下大学英语教学改革探析

培养学生的跨文化交际能力已经成为英语教学的首要教学任务和目标。这个形势也给大学英语教学提出了更高的要求。本文对我国的大学英语教学中跨文化交际教育缺失的现状进行分析,并提出一些旨在提高学生跨文化交际能力的建议。     

Mentoring at Tower Hamlets

This research looks at class management in senior high schools during tutor supervised teaching practice in and around the west Norwegian port city of Stavanger. The main focus is on the management of pupil behaviour, but some attention is also given to the management of pupil learning. It is recognised, of course, that the two overlap.

The study provides tentative evidence ‐no grand claims are made ‐ that Norwegian pre‐certified teachers (this term is explained below) value a class management style which is consultative rather than authoritarian. The preferred model is ‘indulgent persuader’ rather than ‘sergeant major’.

Campus, ministry and chalkface cultures seem to support non‐combative styles of class management, which suggests that the idealism of the tutor and civil servant is not pitted against the pragmatism of the pre‐certified teacher.

When'I' is used in the article, it refers to Paul Stephens, who implemented and conducted the empirical research. Otherwise, the content reflects the joint thoughts of both writers. To avoid literary tedium, the terms ‘pre‐certified teacher’ and ‘teacher’ are sometimes used interchangeably. The context makes it clear whether ‘teacher’ refers to pre‐certified or qualified persons.

Citations from Norwegian sources (except for one published in English) have been translated from Norwegian to English. So too have replies to a questionnaire which was used in the study.     

中国英语培训产业发展现状及其转型研究

中国英语培训市场已经颇具规模,培训产业发展迅速,但依然存在着虚假广告有待治理、培训市场管理力度不够、缺乏合理科学的行业规范等诸多问题。加大师资培训经费支持力度,优化学科扶持政策;进行科学合理的整顿,促进职院形成品牌效应;加强对虚假、违规英语培训市场广告的监管和查处力度等多种方式,有助于中国英语培训产业走上可持续发展的道路,更好地为经济社会发展服务。     

Wider reading at Key Stage 3: happy accidents,bootlegging and serial readers

This paper reports a small‐scale study of wider reading at Key Stage 3 in current English classrooms in secondary schools in the south of England. Six English teachers, three of whom were relatively new to teaching, were interviewed on what they thought about wider reading. The findings indicate that because of a lack of time and absence of demand for such reading in the current English curriculum, the more experienced teachers felt ambivalent about encouraging and assessing wider reading. The less experienced teachers were uncertain about how to encourage it and whether to respond positively to students' preferred reading patterns, such as the serial reading of books by a particular author. In several of the schools concerned, it appeared that school librarians had taken over the role of encouraging wider reading, as the English teachers focused on the technical skills required by the National Literacy Strategy. Where teachers did initiate wider reading, this was sometimes against departmental practice, a semi‐illicit addition to their workload and could thus be seen almost as a form of ‘bootlegging’. In addition to wider educational effects, the lack of support for this practice has implications for students' future success in English at General Certificate of Secondary Education and Key Stage 5 (16–18) as both require students to read whole texts widely and confidently. The paper argues that it might be more productive to prepare students for this than to expect such reading to develop spontaneously as a ‘happy accident’.