Developing Preschoolers’ Social Skills: The Effectiveness of Two Educational Methods

This study tested whether and how methods called ‘Play Time/Social Time’ and ‘I Can Problem Solve’ contribute to the improvement of social skills and the development of theory of mind (ToM) in children. The participants in the experiment were nearly 200 (N = 196) preschool children with low social functioning, with and without disabilities. The study showed that social skills and the level of ToM in children attending the lessons improved more than those of children from the control group. Both methods turned out to be effective in the case of social skills and ToM development among children with and without disabilities. It is worthwhile to popularise these methods among preschool teachers.     

Teachers’ Perceptions of the Use of Computer Assisted Language Learning to Develop Children’s Reading Skills in English as a Second Language in the United Arab Emirates

This study investigated ESL teachers’ perceptions regarding the use of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in teaching reading to children. A random sample of 145 teachers participated in the study by completing a survey developed by the researchers. To explore the situation in depth, 16 teachers were later interviewed. Results indicated that the main purpose of using CALL with children is to help them develop reading strategies and increase their motivation. The most common strategies teachers reported using were computers to: enhance children's reading skills, support children's reading, listen to stories read aloud, recognize letter/sound relationships, and identify letters and beginning sounds of words. Teachers reported that CALL has some benefits, such as providing opportunities for active interaction and differentiated instruction. The main barriers of using CALL are the lack of resources and suitable software and hardware. The study ended with recommendations for further research and instructional improvements.     

Turkish‐speaking First Graders in Norway Acquiring Second Language Vocabulary,Listening Comprehension and Literacy Skills

This study explored relationships between characteristics of classroom talk exposure and immigrant first graders' acquisition of second language oral skills (vocabulary and listening comprehension) and literacy skills. Twenty‐six children (mean age = 6.10 years) with Turkish as their first language and Norwegian as their second, attending various multilingual and ethnically diverse classrooms in Norway, were videotaped during classroom conversations. Classroom talk was coded for vocabulary richness, discursive complexity and emergent phonics talk and the children's oral language and literacy skills were assessed. Classroom vocabulary richness and discursive complexity predicted the children's second language vocabulary skills and listening comprehension after controlling for maternal education, but did not predict their literacy skills. The density of emergent phonics talk did not predict target children's code‐related skills in this sample. Applied perspectives related to second language learning in multiparty settings are discussed.     

Developing Sixth Graders’ Inquiry Skills to Construct Explanations in Inquiry‐based Learning Environments

The purpose of this study is to investigate how sixth graders develop inquiry skills to construct explanations in an inquiry‐based learning environment. We designed a series of inquiry‐based learning activities and identified four inquiry skills that are relevant to students’ construction of explanation. These skills include skills to identify causal relationships, to describe the reasoning process, to use data as evidence, and to evaluate explanations. Multiple sources of data (e.g., video recordings of learning activities, interviews, students’ artifacts, and pre/post tests) were collected from two science classes with 58 sixth graders. The statistical results show that overall the students’ inquiry skills were significantly improved after they participated in the series of the learning activities. Yet the level of competency in these skills varied. While students made significant progress in identifying causal relationships, describing the reasoning process, and using data as evidence, they showed slight improvement in evaluating explanations. Additionally, the analyses suggest that phases of inquiry provide different kinds of learning opportunities and interact with students’ development of inquiry skills.     

Effective Classroom Instruction: Implications of Child Characteristics by Reading Instruction Interactions on First Graders’ Word Reading Achievement

Abstract

Too many children fail to learn how to read proficiently with serious consequences for their overall well-being and long-term success in school. This may be because providing effective instruction is more complex than many of the current models of reading instruction portray; there are Child Characteristic × Instruction (CXI) interactions. Here we present efficacy results for a randomized control field trial of the Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI) intervention, which relies on dynamic system forecasting intervention models to recommend amounts of reading instruction for each student, taking into account CXI interactions that consider his or her vocabulary and reading skills. The study, conducted in seven schools with 25 teachers and 396 first graders, revealed that students in the ISI intervention classrooms demonstrated significantly greater reading skill gains by spring than did students in control classrooms. Plus, they were more likely to receive differentiated reading instruction based on CXI interaction guided recommended amounts than were students in control classrooms. The precision with which students received the recommended amounts of each type of literacy instruction, the distance from recommendation, also predicted reading outcomes.     

Media Resources on the Internet:for Developing Reading and Listening Skills

该文提供了多个与教学资源密切相关的网站及搜寻资料的方法。在互联网飞速发展的今天,网上的资源还有待我们深度挖掘哦。     

The Principles of Developing Speaking Skills in Classrooms

Introduction Speaking is intuitively the most important of all the four skills inforeign language learning.However,speaking is regarded as the mostdifficult micro-skill of the four.Classroom-based speaking practicenormally focuses on mechanically practisi…     

The Role of the First Language in Mongolian Learner''''s Learning of English

1 .ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＩｎＩｎｎｅｒＭｏｎｇｏｌｉａＡｕｔｏｎｏｍｏｕｓＲｅｇｉｏｎ ,ｍｏｒｅａｎｄｍｏｒｅＭｏｎｇｏｌｉａｎｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓｂｅｇｉｎｔｏｌｅａｒｎＥｎ ｇｌｉｓｈｉｎｔｈｅｒｅｃｅｎｔｙｅａｒｓａｓａｆｏｒｅｉｇｎｌａｎｇｕａｇｅ (ｏｒａｓａｔｈｉｒｄｌａｎｇｕａｇｅ)ａｔｃｏｌｌｅｇｅｓａｎｄｕｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｉｅｓ.Ｂｅｆｏｒｅｔｈｅｙｇｏｔｏｃｏｌｌｅｇｅ,ｍｏｓｔｏｆｔｈｅｍｈａｖｅｎ’ｔｌｅａｒｎｅｄＥｎｇｌｉｓｈｂｙｒｅｓｔｒｉｃｔｉｏｎｓｏｆｖａｒｉｏｕｓｃｏ…     

On Developing College Students’ Ability of Reading Comprehension

Reading has become one of the four essential skills in English study,without reading,it is difficult for the students to support independent and self-directed learning.With the arrival of the Information Age,our reading materials gradually change from paper materials to electronic ones.So it becomes more and more important for college students to speed up their reading and develop a good reading habit in order to acquire as much information as possible.     

Is the Whole Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts? Modeling the Contributions of Language Comprehension Skills to Reading Comprehension in the Upper Elementary Grades

Language comprehension is crucial to reading. However, theoretical models and recent research raise questions about what constitutes this multifaceted domain. We present two related studies examining the dimensionality of language comprehension and relations to reading comprehension in the upper elementary grades. Studies 1 (Grade 6; N = 148) and 2 (Grade 3–5; N = 311) contrasted factor models of language comprehension using item level indicators of morphological awareness and vocabulary (Studies 1 and 2) and syntactic awareness (Study 2). In both studies, a bifactor model—including general language comprehension and specific factors for each language component—best fit the data, and general language comprehension was the strongest predictor of reading comprehension. In Study 2, the morphology-specific factor also uniquely predicted reading comprehension above and beyond general language comprehension. Results suggest the value of modeling the common proficiency underlying performance on tasks designed to tap theoretically distinct language comprehension skills.     

The Relationship of Self-Concept and Reading Achievement in First Grade Children’

Abstract

This investigation of 133 first grade Ss (25 percent Ilispano-75 percent Anglo and 50 percent male-50 percent female), found no significant correlations between objective scores of young children’s self-concept (SC) and their first or second grade reading achievement (RA). Moreover, SC correlations with other predictor variables, ethnic background (E), intelligence (IQ), and reading readiness (RR), were essentially zero. Only IQ, RR, and E were related to RA in a highly significant manner. At this age, RA, and possibly school in general, may not greatly influence the SC. Future investigation might profitably examine the change of SC as a function of age, mood, and stress.     

Context Effects on Students’ Gains in Reading Comprehension in Reading First Schools in Michigan

Reading First, Part B of Title 1 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, provides support for states with approved programs to improve the reading achievement of early elementary students in high poverty, chronically low achieving schools. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which the Reading First program in the state of Michigan is making progress in meeting this goal after five years of implementation. The study design makes use of the reading comprehension achievement test results for cohorts of students who entered the program in different years and who took the test two or three times while attending a Reading First school in Michigan between 2002 and 2006. The results indicate that overall the students showed significant gains in reading comprehension; further, students with three years in Reading First tended to score higher than those with two years in Reading First. However, students whose socio-demographic characteristics place them at an educational disadvantage (e.g., eligibility for subsidized lunch) made relatively modest gains in reading comprehension. In addition, any negative effects attributable to such student characteristics are compounded when the student body in the school is composed of a large percentage of students with the same characteristic. These results suggest that while a successful program overall, Reading First is not comprehensive enough to counteract the socio-demographic problems of extremely high poverty schools.      

Principles of Developing Normal College Students＇ Teaching Language Skill in Ideological and Political Education Program

语言技能是师范生必须掌握的一项教师职业技能。我们在培养思政专业师范生教学语言技能过程中应该遵循以下原则：1.与初中思想品德新课程标准相衔接的原则;2.体现政治课学科特征的原则;3.政治课教学语言是口头语言、书面语言、体态语言三者有机结合的原则;4.＂三步走＂的实践教学原则;5.教学语言技能训练评价原则。     

Conjunction and Teaching Reading Skills in English

Conjunction contributes to organizing and managing stretches of discourse, indicating the way the information is arranged. Successfully identifying these discourse markers is of great benefit to the reader to extract the required information from what he/she reads, especially for the candidates who are tested for their reading abilities in a given time, for these markers give clues to the reader and make the perception easier and save a lot of time. To teach students to explore reading skills and read successfully all by themselves, language teachers had better keep in mind the significance of conjunction and get students to share and apply it.     

Reading in the View of Pragmatics

阅读是获取信息的重要途径之一,也是外语考试的主要考查项目。阅读能力的好坏直接决定了外语学习者的外语水平,因此,如何提高阅读能力是外语学习和教学的重点和难点之一。本文从阅读理解的本质着手,根据意思理解的三个层次,即抽象意义、话语意义、和语势,提出了一些应对方法。本文提出提高阅读能力需要扩大词汇量,掌握基础的语法知识,宏观地通读全文把握上下文,了解文化通俗常识,把领会作者写作意图作为阅读目标。     

A ‘New’ Music Education Program Field Experiments in the First and Fourth Grade of the Norwegian Comprehensive School

Abstract: Lillemyr, O. F. 1980. A ‘New’ Music Education Program. Field Experiments in the First and Fourth Grade of the Norwegian Comprehensive School. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 24,133‐156. Through two field experiments, pupils’ musical achievements resulting from a ‘new’ and the traditional music education program were investigated. The ‘new’ program was founded on a combination of the basic ideas of Carl Orff and Zoltan Kodaly. In first grade, 34 girls and 38 boys were taught by this program and 27 girls and 33 boys by the traditional type. In fourth grade, 15 girls and 29 boys were given the ‘new’ program and 12 girls and 26 boys the traditional type of program. A posttest‐only control group design was used as a general basis, supplemented by a factorial design for some of the problems and hypotheses. The analyses indicated significantly better musical achievements for pupils taught by the ‘new’ program than for pupils taught by a traditional type of program.