Group‐Difference Effect Sizes: Gauging the Practical Importance of Findings from Group‐Experimental Research

Effect sizes are powerful tools for evaluating the practical importance of study findings that should be considered in the context of study characteristics such as participants, dependent variables, and comparison condition. In this article, we discuss how group‐difference effect sizes are used to gauge the practical importance of group experimental studies. We first define different types of group‐difference effect sizes and discuss how they can provide valuable information for research consumers. Second, we present guidelines for interpreting group‐difference effect sizes. Third, we discuss important contextual variables that should be taken into account when interpreting group‐difference effect sizes reported in the literature. Last, we provide two examples of how group‐difference effect sizes have been used in the learning disabilities research base.     

'I'd Like to Read Fluorescently'— Year 7 Pupils' Developing Views of Reading and Their Progress

Previous research has suggested that children making transitions from one setting into another have to adjust to new sets of expectations and different cultural contexts for teaching and learning. In particular, they have to redefine for themselves 'what counts as literacy'. In this article, Sue Pearson, a past President of NASEN, an experienced teacher and currently a lecturer at Leeds University, reports on her investigations into whether similar adjustments may be required of some pupils as they start secondary school.
The recommendations at the end of this article are based on interviews with 24 11 to 12 year-olds and are of direct relevance to practitioners in primary and secondary schools and to parents and family members. Sue Pearson uses pupils' perceptions to raise important issues about the nature of the support that pupils experiencing difficulties in literacy require as they make the transfer from Year 6 to Year 7.     

小学生诵读经典的意义及方法

诵读经典对于促进小学生心智健康、弘扬传统文化都有重要意义。科学的态度、恰当的选材、有效的激励是小学生诵读经典的正确方法。     

聋校小学生课外阅读现状及指导策略

课外阅读是语文教学的重要组成部分,是当今语文教育界的最热门话题,它对聋生语言和思维的发展起着重要作用。但聋校教材的内容又不能满足我们听障孩子的沟通交流的需要。因此在切实完成课本知识教学的基础上,应扩大听障学生的阅读量,加强对听障学生的阅读指导,激发听障学生的阅读兴趣,为培养听障学生阅读能力和表达能力奠定基础。笔者通过观察,描述了聋生在课外阅读过程中存在的不良现象,做出了原因分析,并根据自己的教学实践经验给出了有效的指导策略。     

英语阅读策略训练对阅读动机的影响

采用实验法、调查法、文献法等多种教育科研方法,对大专班学生研究了阅读策略训练对阅读动机的影响,结果显示:学生的阅读策略水平、阅读动机水平、阅读成绩之间存在极为显著的正相关;阅读策略训练不仅是可行的,而且能有效地激发学生的阅读动机,提高阅读成绩。     

Raising Pupils' Self‐Esteem through Leadership Activities in Art

This article is about the ways in which young people who have disengaged from learning in school can find a way back through leadership activities in art. It is based on a project which was funded by a small grant from the Wallenberg Foundation. The project explored the potential of an approach to developing positive leadership qualities in pupils who were not consistently committed to the school's learning purposes. This account describes and comments upon two pupils' guided attempts at peer teaching in art and its subsequent effect upon their selfesteem and attitude towards school. It was found that pupils who taught art to other pupils had an increased sense of self‐worth and were more positively affected towards learning. However, broader issues, such as the negative nature of some school systems and their role in de‐motivating pupils were highlighted.     

后现代阅读方式对学术研究的影响

后现代阅读方式是当今兴盛的一种阅读方式,通过对后现代阅读方式的特点的分析,以及其与学术研究的比较,说明这种阅读方式对学术研究的影响,并提出消除影响的措施。     

小学生读经的生命道德意义

自上世纪90年代中期,王财贵先生在台湾提出了儿童读经活动以来,全国各地的许多小学也开展了形式多样的读经活动,针对儿童读经的现状,国内的许多学者之间也展开了激烈的辩论,就其意义、阅读方式等问题展开了深入的探讨。这些     

“做中学”对小学生同感能力发展的影响

在科学活动中培养学生的社会情绪能力已成为科学教育的重要目标之一。采用自编儿童同感能力自评问卷,以是否参与做中学和性别为自变量,对小学三、四年级学生的同感能力水平进行对比研究。结果发现,实验组学生的同感能力显著高于控制组学生。分析表明,做中学有利于培养学生的同感能力,尤其是对于男生而言,其促进作用更为显著。     

The Effect of Increasing Conceptual Challenge in Primary Science Lessons on Pupils' Achievement and Engagement

This paper reports research into the effect on 11‐year‐old pupils of introducing more cognitively challenging, practical, and interactive science lessons. Our hypothesis was that such lessons would increase the children's enthusiasm for science and their engagement with the scientific process, thereby improving educational performance. Schools in England are under pressure to raise achievement, as measured by the results of national tests. This has an impact on teaching, where revision of subject knowledge often dominates and can be particularly detrimental to more able pupils. The research was a controlled trial which took place in thirty‐two English primary schools as part of a project “Conceptual Challenge in Primary Science”. Teachers from 16 intervention schools participated in continuing professional development (CPD) and developed science lessons that had more practical work, more discussion, more thinking and less (but more focused) writing. The proportion of pupils achieving the highest level (level 5) in the national science tests at age 11 was compared in the matched‐school pairs before and after the intervention. Focus group interviews were also held with a group of pupils in each intervention school. There was a 10% (95% Confidence Interval 2–17%) increase in the proportion of children achieving the top score in the intervention schools. The pupils and teachers reported greater engagement and motivation. These findings suggest that moving from rote revision to cognitively challenging, interactive science could help improve science education. They merit replication in other international settings to test their generalisability.     

Minimal Groups Increase Young Children's Motivation and Learning on Group‐Relevant Tasks

Three experiments (N = 130) used a minimal group manipulation to show that just perceived membership in a social group boosts young children's motivation for and learning from group‐relevant tasks. In Experiment 1, 4‐year‐old children assigned to a minimal “puzzles group” persisted longer on a challenging puzzle than children identified as the “puzzles child” or children in a control condition. Experiment 2 showed that this boost in motivation occurred only when the group was associated with the task. In Experiment 3, children assigned to a minimal group associated with word learning learned more words than children assigned an analogous individual identity. The studies demonstrate that fostering shared motivations may be a powerful means by which to shape young children's academic outcomes.     

The Teaching Focus of Adult‐Reading Teachers When Developing Word Reading Skills

Despite widescale literacy interventions, reading difficulties persist in the adult population. Results from international surveys report that millions of adults around the world remain unable to read the texts they require for daily life and work. Adult reading difficulties are diverse and under‐researched, and adult‐reading teachers are generally underprepared to build reading skills, particularly at word level reading where many adults report difficulties. This study examined (i) the teaching foci that 60 adult‐reading teachers prioritised in determining how to teach a hypothetical adult reader with difficulties at the word level and (ii) the teacher attributes by which these decisions varied. Around 40% of teachers indicated that they would prioritise non‐word level components in deciding how to teach the hypothetical reader with word level difficulties, and these decisions varied with teachers' training/qualifications. To make sense of the persistence of low reading levels in the adult population, it is necessary to understand more about what teachers teach and why they teach the way they do. The findings of this study may provide an important step towards this goal.     

国内科学阅读的研究进展

科学教育与语言教育关系密切,在传统阅读教学之上增加科学阅读是必要的。科学阅读的目的不限于科学普及,更重要的是通过阅读科学文本来开展科学学习的全过程,有助于学生建构科学概念、提升科学素养等。本文综述了我国科学阅读在阅读对象、阅读意义、阅读策略、阅读成效等方面的研究成果,分析了科学阅读与传统语文阅读的异同,介绍了科学阅读的方法,并从跨学科学习、跨学科教师交流、科学阅读与科学写作相融合等方面提出发展科学阅读的若干建议。     

小学语文阅读教学中学生语感培养方法的探析

对学生语感的培养是语文学科的一项重要任务,但是长期以来语文教学偏重知识,轻视乃至根本忽视语感的培养,造成了语文教学的高耗低效。小学是培养学生语言能力的黄金时期,研究培养学生语感的途径与方法,提高学生对语言的感悟能力有着重要意义。     

Creating a Progress‐Monitoring System in Reading for Middle‐School Students: Tracking Progress Toward Meeting High‐Stakes Standards

In this study, we examined the reliability and validity of curriculum‐based measures (CBM) in reading for indexing the performance of secondary‐school students. Participants were 236 eighth‐grade students (134 females and 102 males) in the classrooms of 17 English teachers. Students completed 1‐, 2‐, and 3‐minute reading aloud and 2‐, 3‐, and 4‐minute maze selection tasks. The relation between performance on the CBMs and the state reading test were examined. Results revealed that both reading aloud and maze selection were reliable and valid predictors of performance on the state standards tests, with validity coefficients above .70. An exploratory follow‐up study was conducted in which the growth curves produced by the reading‐aloud and maze‐selection measures were compared for a subset of 31 students from the original study. For these 31 students, maze selection reflected change over time whereas reading aloud did not. This pattern of results was found for both lower‐ and higher‐performing students. Results suggest that it is important to consider both performance and progress when examining the technical adequacy of CBMs. Implications for the use of measures with secondary‐level students for progress monitoring are discussed.     

Using a Group‐Centered Approach to Observe Interactions in Early Childhood Education

This study examined the value of using a group‐centered approach to evaluate process quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC). Is observed support of group processes a different aspect of classroom quality, and does it predict children's collaborative play in ECEC in the Netherlands? In two play situations, 37 teachers and 120 two‐ to four‐year‐old children were observed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Toddler and two new measures. In a two‐level structural equation model, teachers’ support of group processes was positively related to the CLASS domains and to children's collaborative play, over and above the effect of children's cognitive ability and social competence. These findings suggest that ECEC quality evaluation could be enriched by adding group‐centered indicators of classroom quality.     

图式理论对英语阅读理解和翻译的影响

源于认知心理学的图式理论早已被创立为一种颇有影响的阅读理论。近年来该理论被引入我国的阅读教学中并产生了好的效果。本文概述了图式理论的一些基本概念，着重阐明了图式理论在英语教学中对阅读理解和翻译的影响。     

读写观念的嬗变及其影响

传统的语文读写观念受到不同时代、社会和语文教育思想的影响 ,其价值取向因时而异各有其不同的成效性和局限性。新走向的读写观念强调以“素质”为目标 ,形成“以表现 (说、写 )为本位”的“创作发展”型语文教育规范 ,是一种前瞻性的建构。     

Pupils' views on equity in schools

This paper presents student perspectives on what they consider to be a fair and equitable national education system, based on their own experiences of primary and secondary level schooling by the age of 13 or 14. A survey of 5432 students in five countries involved a questionnaire administered as part of an EU‐funded project to develop indicators of equity in European school systems. Overall, the UK students reported favouring an egalitarian system where all students were treated in the same way, and this was largely what they felt that they experienced. In this respect, they differed from their peers in the other EU countries, a substantial proportion of whom thought that the least able should receive more support and attention in class, but who found that more attention was actually given to the more able. The UK students also appeared to be more self‐confident about their ability to succeed in school. We discuss these results in terms of policies for school allocation, student assessment and the formation of personal notions of justice. In particular, we argue that equity in structure and procedure is important for the effective teaching of notions of justice in citizenship studies.     

文化背景对英语阅读的影响

文化背景知识是外语学习中的一个不可或缺的部分,因为语言与文化密不可分。文章通过对文化背景理论的探讨以及在英语阅读课堂上的实践活动,阐述了文化背景的重要性,分析了文化背景知识对阅读能力的影响,探索了加深学生对文化背景的理解的有效途径：通过文化背景的解码提高阅读能力,通过有趣的课堂活动丰富学生的文化背景知识,选取真实的阅读材料加深学生的文化背景知识。