Reflections on international comparative education survey methodology: a case study of the European Survey on Language Competences

This paper reflects on the methodology used in international comparative education surveys by conducting a systematic review of the European Survey on Language Competences (ESLC). The ESLC was administered from February to March 2011, with final results released in June 2012. The survey tested approximately 55,000 students across 14 European countries with the goals of (1) providing comparative data on foreign language competence and (2) informing policy on language learning and teaching. The paper argues that there is a gap between the purpose of international comparative education surveys such as the ESLC and the methodology used, and thus also the ability of the data to feed into and inform policy. It is suggested that further methodological advances and improvements are needed if surveys are to produce data that give a clearer and more in-depth understanding of what actually goes on in classrooms and positively impact on learning and teaching.     

The effects of reading practice with compressed speech on reading rate and listening comprehension

Conclusions Reading practice with accompanying compressed speech as a pacer resulted in a significantly greater increase in reading rate without an accompanying loss in comprehension for the experimental group when compared with the control group. Scores on the delayed posttest seemed to indicate that the increase in reading rate was more than temporary. The significant increase in reading rate was accomplished with only 10 practice sessions. The number of sessions in earlier studies using pacers ranged from 16 (Marvel, 1959) to 50 (Wilson & Leavell, 1956). The present study suggests that a smaller number of sessions using compressed speech as a pacer can be effective in increasing reading rate. Since there was no significant difference between gain scores for the experimental and control groups for listening, this study provided no evidence to support the use of practice with compressed speech to improve listening ability. It might be noted however that the training sessions consisted of reading short storieswhile listening to the compressed speech. Thus, subjects did not receive practice in which listening to compressed speech was the sole activity. It is perhaps for this reason that the experimental group did not improve more in listening than did the control group. This article is based in part on Thameśs masteŕs thesis which was completed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.     

《素问》"生而勿杀、予而勿夺、赏而勿罚"语义辨析

《素问·四气调神大论》是古代医家在“天人相应”观指导下,根据四季气候变化对人体的影响,提出如何顺应四时阴阳变化规律而养生防病的一篇极为重要的文献。正确地译释该文,对继承、发掘前人的学术思想,拓展与丰富养生保健的方法与措施十分重要。但对原文中“生而勿杀、予而勿夺、赏而勿罚”句的语义,自唐、明、清代至今,历代注家见解不一。或言其意指应“顺时待物”;或言其意为“勿伐天时”;或言其意是指人不同的“神志活动”;或言其意仅为春生之气的“形容词”等等。本文从原文的主旨、语言逻辑、语法规律、词义注释、中医理论等方面提出了自己全新的看法。认为“生、予、赏”三句是古人对如何顺应春生之气养生防病的具体要求;并由此提出春季养生防病应重在调肝护肝和顺时序治疗肝病的新观点。     

Item and testlet position effects in computer-based alternate assessments for students with disabilities

Item positions in educational assessments are often randomized across students to prevent cheating. However, if altering item positions results in any significant impact on students’ performance, it may threaten the validity of test scores. Two widely used approaches for detecting position effects – logistic regression and hierarchical generalized linear modelling – are often inconvenient for researchers and practitioners due to some technical and practical limitations. Therefore, this study introduced a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach for examining item and testlet position effects. The SEM approach was demonstrated using data from a computer-based alternate assessment designed for students with cognitive disabilities from three grade bands (3–5, 6–8, and high school). Item and testlet position effects were investigated in the field-test (FT) items that were received by each student at different positions. Results indicated that the difficulty of some FT items in grade bands 3–5 and 6–8 differed depending on the positions of the items on the test. Also, the overall difficulty of the field-test task in grade bands 6–8 increased as students responded to the field-test task in later positions. The SEM approach provides a flexible method for examining different types of position effects.     

欧洲大学生化学学科特定能力的界定

介绍了欧洲最新提出的大学生化学学科特定能力界定的主要背景，分析了化学学科特定能力的基础，提出了化学学科特定能力的分类，强调了根据化学学科特定能力课程与教学应如何开展，并且概括出化学学科特定能力的四个特点。     

The effect of visual imagery training on the reading and listening comprehension of low listening comprehenders in Year 2

A study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of a representational visual imagery training programme on the reading and listening comprehension of a group of poor listening comprehenders in Year 2 (mean age: 7 years 8 months). Results indicated that relative to a matched control group, the experimental group improved significantly on a curriculum-based test of listening comprehension, a standardised test of reading comprehension and a measure of story event structure, with results approaching significance on an adapted test of listening comprehension. The implications of the results for early institution of visual imagery training in the context of listening comprehension instruction are discussed.     

论孔子立“言”而不执于“言”的智慧

孔子作为儒家学说的创立者,较为深入地探讨了语言问题。他一方面确立了语言在治世、教化以及达“道”等方面的重要地位,另一方面也看到了语言的不足,以“礼”、“德”、“行”、“象”补“言”,孔子立“言”并不执于“言”,坚持“有言”与“无言”的统一,其意图直指“道”的生生不已。     

听说读写突破双重难点--《氧化还原反应》双语教学设计

《氧化还原反应》双语教学的过程设计如下(1)回顾复习,根据已有的知识自然过渡到今天要学习的内容。【导入】Class is beginning.Good morning!Boys and girls.In last lesson,we leant the basictypes of chemical reactions.We classify thereactions into four basic types.     

Kindergarten reading and writing curricula in the European Union

The aim of this study was to examine whether the current literacy programmes in European Union kindergarten curricula support and enhance young children's reading and writing development. This study investigated whether the kindergarten curricula of 10 European countries: Britain, Belgium, France, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden set appropriate goals for young children's acquisition of literacy, provide methodological guidelines that support children's active engagement in reading and writing activities, provide a print‐rich classroom environment, emphasise the communicative nature of reading and writing and use play in the learning process. The comparative data analysis showed that European kindergarten curricula seem to support and enhance young children's reading and writing development, and that early literacy acquisition is based on the principles of the new perspective of the emergence of literacy.     

Training reading fluency in dysfluent readers with high reading accuracy: Word specific effects but low transfer to untrained words

The outcome of a training study attempting to increase German speaking poor readers’ reading fluency is reported. The aim of the training was to help children establish orthographic representations for a limited set of training words as well as for high-frequency onset clusters. A sample of 20 dysfluent readers (8 to 11 years) received a computerized training of repeated reading of a limited set of 32 training words over a period of up to 25 days. Each day, training words were presented up to six times with a special emphasis on the onset segment. Post-tests were carried out one and five weeks after the last training day. A considerable decrease in reading times could be achieved for the trained words that remained stable for both post-tests. However, even for the limited set of training words, a remarkable amount of repetitions did not lead to age adequate word recognition speed. Generalization to untrained words starting with a trained onset cluster (transfer words) was statistically reliable but small. The current study was funded by the Jubilee Fund of the Austrian National Bank (grant no. 8501). Karin Landerl is currently supported by an APART-grant of the Austrian Academy of Science.     

Language proficiency and lateral position in the classroom

This paper not only makes a contribution to the mosaic of scientific knowledge of the brain and nervous system, but suggests implications of practical value. Observant, experienced teachers know empirically that some youngsters learn best, and perhaps only, when seated front-center, right before the teacher’s desk. Such children need to have the eye contact, or to be in quick arm’s reach, or to have distractions screened out. Drs. Bakker and Van Rijnsoever give evidence here that, for many children, taking in and remembering the message is dependent on their physical placement to catch most effectively the stream of sound. This is important to consider in the popular open classroom. Although many children can adapt readily to less-than-perfect physical learning conditions, for some we must “re-invent the wall,” not to climb, but to provide a place to call “home.” The theoretical re-inforcement presented in this paper proves that such boundaries can also provide source and direction for sound as part of some children’s currently needed sensory security and enhance the efficiency of their auditory intake. Editor     

外语教学中的信息素养培养问题探索

章运用信息素养理论，参照建构主义观点，通过课程整合和建构语境这两种途径，对外语教学中实施信息素养的培养问题进行了探索。     

Whitehead's Benedictine Ideal in Education: Rhythms of listening,reading and work

The article attempts to clarify the appeal to the Benedictine ideal that Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) makes in The Aims of Education and Other Essays as a way to renew the life of the spirit in education. In particular, the essay will consider St. Benedict's three central themes of Whitehead's philosophy: freedom and discipline, the teacher as artist and the art of life, and universities as workshops or homes of creative energy. The aim is to bring about a harmony of thought and action, the mind to the feelings of the heart, to subordinate scientific or critical pedagogy to aesthetic‐spiritual instruction. This deserves our attention because today's educational theories and practices emphasize the technical, the critical, and the social sides to the neglect of the aesthetic‐spiritual side. On both its practical and theoretical side, the educational theory of Whitehead falls within the Benedictine tradition of ora (meditative reading) and labora (work).     

英语专业学生兴趣阅读频率和态度调查研究

运用定量和定性研究的方法调查了英语专业学生兴趣阅读的习惯和态度。151名在校大学生接受了问卷调查。结果表明：英语专业学生总体课外兴趣阅读的频率较高,他们对待兴趣阅读的态度也是积极肯定的。多元回归分析进一步表明,调查对象过去接触过的英丈课外书与其阅读频率和态度均显著相关,其母语阅读频率与英语兴趣阅读频率之间的相关也达到了显著水平。此研究结果对二语阅读教学和实践有着重要启示。     

Developing Generic Competences in the European Higher Education Area: a proposal for teaching the principles of economics

The participation of Spain in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) involves a number of important challenges for academics. Adapting to an educational model that is characterised by competence-based teaching is a difficult task, yet it is of paramount importance in the context of current reforms. In an educational system in which the traditional lecture prevails, learning-centred teaching represents a major cultural change with significant consequences. The objective of this study is to offer economics lecturers some practical techniques for use in the classroom. Specifically, it includes suggestions for the planning, preparation and teaching of lectures, seminars, tutorials, case studies, debates, and computer-based learning. It also provides practical advice on student assessment.     

Language specific speech perception and the onset of reading

In two studies the relationship between theonset of reading and language specific speechperception, the degree to which native speechperception is superior to non-native speechperception, was investigated. In Experiment 1with children of 4, 6, and 8 years, languagespecific speech perception occurred maximallyat 6 years and was positively related toreading ability for age and languagecomprehension level. In Experiment 2, with anexpanded range of ages and various stimulus andtask changes, the relationship between readingand language specific speech perception stillheld, and maximal language specific speechperception occurred around the onset of readinginstruction for three different sets of speechcontrasts, but not for a control set ofnon-speech contrasts. The results show thatlanguage specific speech perception is alinguistic rather than an acoustic phenomenon.Results are discussed in terms of early speechperception abilities, experience with oralcommunication, cognitive ability, readingability, alphabetic versus logographiclanguages, phonics versus whole word readinginstruction, and the effect of age versusinstruction.     

Role of reading engagement in mediating effects of reading comprehension instruction on reading outcomes

The engagement model of reading development suggests that instruction improves students' reading comprehension to the extent that it increases students' engagement processes in reading. We compared how Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) (support for cognitive and motivational processes in reading), strategy instruction (support for cognitive strategies in reading), and traditional instruction in fourth‐grade classrooms differentially influenced students' reading comprehension, strategy use, and engagement in reading. Students experiencing CORI were significantly higher than both comparison groups on reading comprehension, reading strategies, and reading engagement. When students' level of reading engagement was statistically controlled, the differences between the treatment groups were not significant. We infer that the level of students' reading engagement during classroom work mediated the instructional effects on reading outcomes. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

如何提高英语听力教学效果

传统的英语听力教学形式比较单调。由此而产生的不良教学效果一直影响着学生学习英语的兴趣及学习成绩的提高。如何打破这一模式,取得理想的英语听力教学效果,是广大师生一直探求而渴望得到解决的课题。笔者在从事英语教学中感到,要想提高英语听力的教学效果,就必须采取有效的教学措施和办法,以提高学生的理解能力。