Children’s writing of argumentative texts: Effects of indirect instruction

This study reports on grade 4 children’s (Ss) knowledge of constraints and characteristics of persuasive written requests (RQ).

1. All Ss wrote a first RQ asking money to improve their computer lab.
2. Experimental (E) and control (C) Ss evaluated 4 different RQ.
3. selected and ordered, out of 30 scrambled sentences, those appropriate for a “good” RQ.
4. A week later, E Ss had a collective “training discussion” on requests.
5. A week later, E and C Ss wrote a second RQ asking money for their science lab.

Results pertaining to different aspects of the produced RQ showed that the training did have some effects but both groups improved in their II RQ. The results were interpreted as suggesting that both groups actually learned what an appropriate request is by carefully evaluating the 4 requests and by constructing a request from a sentence list.     

Evaluating writing instruction through an investigation of students’ experiences of learning through writing

Learning through writing is a way of learning not only the appropriate written expression of disciplinary knowledge, but also the knowledge itself through reflection and revision. This study investigates the quality of a writing experience provided to university students in a first-year biology subject. The writing instruction methodology used is Genre-based literacy pedagogy, designed to help both with learning disciplinary knowledge and its appropriate written presentation. Evaluative research methodologies from Student Learning Research are used and include the use of three closed-ended questionnaires and an open-ended questionnaire. The results of the research suggest ways of improving the writing instruction by better understanding the previous writing experiences of the students, improving the instructional materials, clarifying goals of the writing tasks at key stages in the writing process, and helping students to improve their approach to the writing experience.in final form: 23 August 2004     

Development of vocabulary sophistication across genres in English children’s writing

This paper aims to advance our understanding of how children’s use of vocabulary in writing changes as they progress through their school careers. It examines the extent to which a model of lexical sophistication as use of low-frequency, register-appropriate words adequately captures development in vocabulary use across the course of compulsory education in England. We find that the received model needs elaborating in a number of important ways. Specifically: (1) the average frequency of words in the repertoire used by older children is no lower than that of younger children. However, younger children’s writing is characterized by extensive repetition of high frequency verbs and adjectives and of low frequency nouns (the latter being a product of a focus on entities which are rarely discussed in adult writing). The role of repetition in this finding implies that lexical sophistication is inseparable from lexical diversity, a construct which is usually treated as distinct. (2) Younger children’s writing shows a preference for fiction-like vocabulary over academic-like vocabulary. As they mature, children come to make greater use of academic vocabulary in both their literary and non-literary writing, though this increase is greatest in their non-literary writing. Use of fiction vocabulary remains constant across year groups but decreases sharply in non-literary writing, showing an enhanced sense of register appropriateness. This development of register appropriate word use can be captured by relatively simple frequency-based measures that could readily be employed by teachers and researchers to track writers’ development in this aspect of word use.

     

Effects of pre-service teachers�� receptive vocabulary knowledge on their interactive read-alouds with elementary school students

There are individual differences in the amount and type of vocabulary that adults produce to young children in the home environment before the children enter school. How many words a mother knows is a significant predictor of a child??s vocabulary. The current study addressed the question of whether there were individual differences in the amount and type of vocabulary that pre-service teachers produced in their first read-aloud lessons to first and second grade students. Specifically, would pre-service teachers with higher vocabulary scores differ from those with lower vocabulary scores in their choice of books to read and in the language they used to discuss the books? Results indicated that pre-service teachers with more advanced vocabulary scores chose books with more vocabulary diversity and sophistication. When they chose narrative texts, they also chose books that were more difficult in terms of their semantic cohesion. Both the receptive vocabulary of pre-service teachers and the language in the books that they chose had an effect on the ??teacher talk?? that they used in the lesson surrounding the book reading. Just as parents show individual differences in the richness of the language input provided to their children before they enter school, pre-service teachers own knowledge of language varies, and this influences the linguistic input that they provide to their students.     

Synergistic effects of instruction and affect factors on high- and low-ability disparities in elementary students’ reading literacy

Reading and Writing - This study examined the combined effects of teachers’ instructional practices and students’ reading-related affective engagement on predicting the high and low...     

Effects of the flipped classroom instructional strategy on students’ learning outcomes: a meta-analysis

Educational technology research and development - The flipped classroom instructional strategy is thought to be a good way to structure learning experiences to improve student learning outcomes....     

Grammar for writing? An investigation of the effects of contextualised grammar teaching on students’ writing

The role of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing is contested in most Anglophone countries, with several robust meta-analyses finding no evidence of any beneficial effect. However, existing research is limited in that it only considers isolated grammar instruction and offers no theorisation of an instructional relationship between grammar and writing. This study, drawing on a theorised understanding of grammar as a meaning-making resource for writing development, set out to investigate the impact of contextualised grammar instruction on students’ writing performance. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, with a randomised controlled trial and a complementary qualitative study. The statistical analyses indicate a positive effect on writing performance for the intervention group (e = 0.21; p < 0.001); but the study also indicates that the intervention impact differentially on different sub-groups, benefiting able writers more than weaker writers. The study is significant in being the first to supply rigorous, theorised evidence for the potential benefits of teaching grammar to support development in writing.     

The impact of guidance during problem-solving prior to instruction on students’ inventions and learning outcomes

Multiple studies have shown benefits of problem-solving prior to instruction (cf. Productive Failure, Invention) in comparison to direct instruction. However, students’ solutions prior to instruction are usually erroneous or incomplete. In analogy to guided discovery learning, it might therefore be fruitful to lead students towards the discovery of the canonical solution. In two quasi-experimental studies with 104 students and 175 students, respectively, we compared three conditions: problem-solving prior to instruction, guided problem-solving prior to instruction in which students were led towards the discovery of relevant solution components, and direct instruction. We replicated the beneficial effects of problem-solving prior to instruction in comparison to direct instruction on posttest items testing for conceptual knowledge. Our process analysis further revealed that guidance helped students to invent better solutions. However, the solution quality did not correlate with the posttest results in the guided condition, indicating that leading students towards the solution does not additionally promote learning. This interpretation is supported by the finding that the two conditions with problem-solving prior to instruction did not differ significantly at posttest. The second study replicated these findings with a greater sample size. The results indicate that different mechanisms underlie guided discovery learning and problem-solving prior to instruction: In guided discovery learning, the discovery of an underlying model is inherent to the method. In contrast, the effectiveness of problem-solving prior to instruction does not depend on students’ discovery of the canonical solution, but on the cognitive processes related to problem-solving, which prepare students for a deeper understanding during subsequent instruction.     

Effects of different evaluative feedback on students’ self-efficacy in learning

Two studies examined the effects of four types of teachers’ evaluative feedback on Chinese students’ self-efficacy in English vocabulary acquisition. In Study 1, a random sample of Grade 8 students (N = 79) learned prefixes and received either formative or summative feedback after failure in test. The results showed that students who received summative feedback showed a larger decrease in their self-efficacy than those who received formative feedback. In Study 2, a random sample of Grade 7 students (N = 77) went through similar procedures as in Study 1 except that students received either self-referenced or norm-referenced feedback. The results showed that self-referenced feedback was more beneficial to students’ self-efficacy than norm-referenced feedback. The influences of teachers’ evaluation and feedback on students’ self-efficacy are discussed.     

Effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of students’ science inquiry skills in grades 5 and 6 of primary education

In most primary science classes, students are taught science inquiry skills by way of learning by doing. Research shows that explicit instruction may be more effective. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of inquiry skills. Participants included 705 Dutch fifth and sixth graders. Students in an explicit instruction condition received an eight-week intervention of explicit instruction on inquiry skills. In the lessons of the implicit condition, all aspects of explicit instruction were absent. Students in the baseline condition followed their regular science curriculum. In a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test design, two paper-and-pencil tests and three performance assessments were used to examine the acquisition and transfer of inquiry skills. Additionally, questionnaires were used to measure metacognitive skills. The results of a multilevel analysis controlling for pre-tests, general cognitive ability, age, gender and grade level indicated that explicit instruction facilitates the acquisition of science inquiry skills. Specifically on the performance assessment with an unfamiliar topic, students in the explicit condition outperformed students of both the implicit and baseline condition. Therefore, this study provides a strong argument for including an explicit teaching method for developing inquiry skills in primary science education.     

Preservice elementary school teachers’ knowledge of fractions: a mirror of students’ knowledge?

This research analyses preservice teachers’ knowledge of fractions. Fractions are notoriously difficult for students to learn and for teachers to teach. Previous studies suggest that student learning of fractions may be limited by teacher understanding of fractions. If so, teacher education has a key role in solving the problem. We first reviewed literature regarding students’ knowledge of fractions. We did so because assessments of required content knowledge for teaching require review of the students’ understanding to determine the mathematics difficulties encountered by students. The preservice teachers were tested on their conceptual and procedural knowledge of fractions, and on their ability in explaining the rationale for a procedure or the conceptual meaning. The results revealed that preservice teachers’ knowledge of fractions indeed is limited and that last-year preservice teachers did not perform better than first-year preservice teachers. This research is situated within the broader domain of mathematical knowledge for teaching and suggests ways to improve instruction and student learning.     

Guests in someone else’s house? Sense of belonging among ethnic minority students in a Hong Kong university

The evolution of globalisation and ensuing internationalisation of higher education need radical reform of institutional policies and practices to promote education for diversity, equity and inclusion. Extant literature on university/college student persistence/retention witnesses a lack of research on the subjective sense of belonging on campus among ethnic minoritised students who have been historically marginalised in higher education and are now part of the emerging demographic on campus. This study attempted to fill the gap. Engaging qualitative individual interviews with 12 university students of South/Southeast Asian ethnicity in Hong Kong, the purpose of this study was to examine their perceptions and experiences of institutional affiliations and engagement in university. Findings suggested that being connected to the programme and university, and the depth and quality of intragroup dynamics, are key to a sense of belonging among ethnic minority students. Findings also elucidated a lack of cross-cultural interaction and racial/ethnic diversity within the university environment, which shaped participants’ feelings of isolation and exclusionary experiences as they sought to adjust to the campus academically and socially. The study’s findings could help inform the development and evaluation of institutional strategies that can sustain minoritised students in university transitions and promote institutional connectedness and academic success among all students on campus.     

What’s in a Name? In Pursuit of Israel Education

Naming a discipline is a key component in both the shaping and unpacking of its development. Still, little attention has been devoted to studying the ways in which this process has influenced Israel Education. Based on a long-term ethnographic study, this article presents Israel Education name choices and discusses the manner in which this naming unfolds and affects the development of this field. I claim that this process symbolizes a development beyond the classroom environment; reflects sociocultural and political changes in Israel-Diaspora relations; and exposes conceptual shifts in Israel pedagogy and transforms the place of Israel in Diaspora Jewish education.     

What’s in a score? Problematizing interpretations of observation scores

Several recent, large-scale observations of naturally occurring classroom instruction have found consistent patterns in how teaching quality systematically varies across domains of instruction, patterns not found in student survey measures. Teaching quality is highest when examining aspects of classroom management; moderately high when examining aspects of student support; and low when focusing on the quality of the instructional support provided to students. This paper problematizes this interpretation, arguing that observed data patterns could result from dilemmas inherent in measuring teaching quality through observation. In problematizing these conclusions, we highlight the complexity of trying to measure instruction at scale, arguing for the need for caution and consideration of the complexity of measurement when interpreting scores from observation systems.     

What’s growing on here? Garden-based pedagogy in a concrete jungle

This study explores experiences of a learning garden project at an urban faculty of education. The project opens a space for the theoretical and practical consideration of garden-based pedagogies and their influence on university students, educators, and the community as a whole. The learning garden was created by a small group of initial teacher education and graduate students and faculty volunteers. The group came together through shared interests in growing the theoretical, curricular, and pedagogical work carried out at the institution, through the opening of a unique and organic context for teaching and learning. This paper follows a duoethnographic approach as it traces the garden’s growth, our experiences with and in the garden, and the effects of the garden over its first year. Through dialogue, anecdotes and interactions, we explore themes that have grown from the research and garden’s growth, creating multiple, often unexpected, dimensions of praxis. We also unearth the complexities and tensions of institutional relationships as the garden interrupted norms and opened up spaces for multiplicity, alterity and difference in pedagogy, allowing us to revisit, review and renew our work in our institution’s approach to environmental education.     

Effects of explicit instruction in cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies on Iranian EFL students’ reading performance and strategy transfer

This study explored the impact of explicit teaching of reading strategies on English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students?? reading performance in Iran. The study employed a questionnaire adapted from Chamot and O??Malley??s (1994) cognitive and metacognitive strategies framework. To test the effects of explicit teaching of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies on reading performance and strategy transfer, the study has a quasi-experimental design involving a contrast group and a treatment group, with whom an intervention program was implemented. The treatment group achieved significantly better results than the contrast group after four months of strategy-based instruction. Results of paired-sample t-tests and independent t-tests and effect size showed that reading comprehension and reading strategy use improved with strategy instruction. Moreover, SPANOVA analyses showed that the participants in the treatment group performed better than those in the contrast group in reading comprehension and reading strategy transfer. Results also showed that strategy instruction contributed to autonomous reading behaviors. Recommendations for further research are discussed.     

Assessing cohesion in children’s writing: Development of a checklist

Cohesion in writing is achieved through the use of linguistic devices that tie ideas together across a text, and is an important element in the development of coherent writing. Research shows that inter- and intra-developmental differences may appear in how children learn to use these devices, but cohesion is commonly overlooked in the evaluation and instruction of writing. In this study, we developed a checklist to assess cohesion in the writing of children in Grades 4–7, with the purpose of informing instructional practices. Following the procedure outlined by Crocker and Algina (1986), we developed and evaluated a checklist designed to assess the types of cohesive devices present in the writing of children. The checklist items showed fair to good discrimination between high and low scoring writers as demonstrated by a classical item analysis. We also found good interrater reliability, and evidence for discriminative validity. As internal consistency was weak, however, further research is needed to refine the instrument. Implications for the assessment of cohesion and future research are discussed.