Examining the linguistic coding differences hypothesis to explain individual differences in foreign language learning

In this paper, it is suggested that foreign language learning problems result from difficulties with native language learning and hypothesized that difficulties with phonological processing may be the locus of foreign language learning difficulties for some poor foreign language learners. Evidence is described that supports these positions. It is argued that conceptualizing foreign language learning problems as alanguage problem allows researchers to more clearly specify deficits related to the learning of a foreign language. Research evidence which shows that good and poor foreign language learners exhibit significantly different levels of native language skill and phonological processing is summarized. Finally, potential challenges to my hypotheses as an explanation for foreign language learning problems are reviewed.     

Understanding Pre-Service Teachers' Emerging Practices Through Their Analyses of a Multimedia Case Study of Practice

The limits inherent in field experiences and the difficulties in learning howto use student thinking in instructional practice are significant challengesin pre-service teachers' preparation. In this research, we haveinvestigated how multimedia case studies of practice can support pre-service teachers in making meaning of complex classroom experiences andin developing strategies and rationales for using student thinking to guideinstruction. In this paper, we present a brief review of the research on casestudies to situate our particular approach that builds on the notion that amultimedia case study can be a site for investigation, analysis andreflection by pre-service teachers. We then report the results of examiningthe issues that one cohort of pre-service mathematics teachers (grades 7–12) identified as meaningful for them in terms of their own emergingpractice and the ways in which they connected the case study teacher'spractice to their own practice. We found that the pre-service teachers wereable to use their perspectives on a common practice to highlight some of thedilemmas and tensions found in teaching. In particular, these pre-serviceteachers focused on the difficulties encountered when trying to usestudent thinking and to follow their own mathematical goals in a lesson.They were able to frame many of the issues that they encountered in theirown practice (such as checking for student understanding and the use ofquestioning) in terms of their analysis of the case study teachers' practice.     

Parenting a Child with a Learning Disability: A Qualitative Approach

The present study describes experiences associated with parenting children diagnosed with learning disabilities. Parents whose children were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, dyslexia/language problems, and Asperger syndrome, related to poor performance at school, took part in the study. A qualitative study design was implemented, using three focus groups. The data obtained were analysed following an inductive thematic approach. Five major themes were identified: parenting emotions, diagnosis and cause, daily experiences, social relationships and concerns about the future. The parents in this study experienced a range of emotions, and assigned different explanations to the learning disability, depending on the diagnosis (attention, verbal or non-verbal). Daily experience, both at home and at school, was influenced by the child’s specific impairment. All parents, independently of the diagnosis, believe a central role is played by social relationships and expressed concerns about their child’s future development. Emotional interventions targeting these parents should take these considerations into account and address the specific type of learning disability.     

‘Sitting alone in the staffroom contemplating my future’: communities of practice,legitimate peripheral participation and student teachers’ experiences of problematic school placements as guests

A recent Review of Teacher Education in Scotland reports that 23% of respondents (n = 2381) encountered variable or very poor school placement experiences. This paper uses Lave and Wenger’s ideas concerning Communities of Practice (1998) and Legitimate Peripheral Participation (1991) as analytical tools with which to understand the nature and impact of student teachers’ problematic experiences of school placement. A total of 14 Professional Graduate Diploma in Education students on a one-year Secondary English course were followed through the practice elements of their Initial Teacher Education programme and data were constructed from learning logs and semi-structured interviews. Analysis provided a nuanced account of the student teachers’ difficulties in attaining member status as Legitimate Peripheral Participants in communities of practising teachers, with the concepts ‘joint enterprise’, ‘mutual engagement’ and ‘shared repertoire’ being found to be useful in explaining these difficulties. Limitations in the theoretical framework were also discovered and these are highlighted and developed in the paper.     

Improving the comprehension of disabled readers

Students with learning disabilities (LD) often have difficulty comprehending what they read. Although reading comprehension problems frequently are associated with inadequate word recognition, students also have difficulties related to comprehension itself—a passive approach to the reading task, insensitivity to text structure, and poor metacognitive skills. The reading and language arts curricula that have emerged from today’s constructivist paradigm can pose problems for these students. Whereas the new curricula emphasize personal interpretations of text and relatively unstructured teaching strategies, students with LD do well with explicit, highly structured instruction. This paper introduces an instructional program designed to teach students with serious learning disabilities how to identify a story theme, and how to relate it to their own real-life experiences. The program focused on understanding a text as a whole, and integrating text meaning with concepts and experiences that are personally meaningful, goals shared by a constructivist approach. At the same time, the program incorporates the explicit, structured instruction that these students also need. A study to evaluate the program’s effectiveness is described, as are current efforts to refine the program to promote transfer of comprehension strategies.     

An Investigation of Lebanese G7-12 Students’ Misconceptions and Difficulties in Genetics and Their Genetics Literacy

Lebanese educators claim that middle and secondary school students exhibit poor understanding of genetics due to misconceptions and difficulties that hinder progression in conceptual understanding of major genetics concepts and phenomena across different grade levels. They attributed these problems to Lebanon’s ill-structured genetics curriculum which needs a thorough revision in light of curricular reform models that take into account student misconceptions, cognitive abilities, and past experiences. Despite these claims, no empirical tests were done. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate G7-12 Lebanese students’ misconceptions and difficulties in genetics in an attempt to design a curriculum that would enhance student understanding of genetics. Using quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, we obtained an in-depth understanding of the nature of the misconceptions and difficulties encountered by students in grades 7–12, determined the level of students’ genetics literacy, and explored the progression of their level of conceptual understanding of major genetics concepts across grade levels. A questionnaire was administered to 729 students (G7-12) in 6 schools and was followed by semi-structured interviews with 62 students to validate the questionnaire results, gain further understanding of students’ misconceptions, and assess their level of genetics literacy. Findings showed that patterns of inheritance, the deterministic nature of genes, and the nature of genetic information were found to be among the most difficult concepts learned. Students also showed inadequate understanding of many basic genetics concepts which persist across grade levels. Furthermore, results indicated that students across all grade levels exhibited a low level of genetics literacy. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Developmental co‐ordination disorder (DCD): more than just a movement difficulty

Developmental co‐ordination disorder (DCD) also known as dyspraxia, is characterised by severe impairment of movement that has a detrimental effect on activities of daily living. This impairment of movement can be the result of poor planning or execution during an action. An assessment for DCD usually comprises of a standardised test for movement skills and clinical observations, but an assessment may not always consider both planning and/or execution components. This study used an ecologically valid task to examine how typically developing children compared with children with DCD plan and execute their movements in response to a novel movement challenge. Children were asked to cross a ‘river’ using as few ‘stepping stones’ (carpet tiles) as possible without falling in. The study measured a number of variables in order to construct a profile of the child's ability to plan and execute movements, including pattern and consistency of movement, and distance travelled by each child, as well as the ability to formulate and correct their plan. The results of this pilot study showed both differences and similarities between the two groups, with the DCD group showing more difficulties in planning, executing and in correcting their movements, as well as being more inconsistent in their movement patterns. The results are discussed in terms of the need for multiple measures for a complete assessment of a child, the implications for educational practice and the potential of an additional clinical tool to aid intervention in children with DCD.     

Parental account of support for specific learning difficulties in Hong Kong

Parents play a significant role in the education of children with special needs. Recent national policies have aimed to improve support for students with specific learning difficulties and their families in Hong Kong. Literature on the experiences of children with specific learning difficulties in Hong Kong is scarce. This study, by Kim Fong Poon‐McBrayer of the Hong Kong Institute of Education and Philip Allen McBrayer of the University of Guam, attempts to capture a glimpse of the support for students with specific learning difficulties through their parents' account of experiences with school practices. Findings indicated parents' frustration over the use of grade retention as a remedial method, the use of expulsion as a disciplinary strategy, limited instructional support, and a lack of school‐initiated communication to inform, engage or support parents in the special education process which in turn resulted in a poor home–school relationship. Recommendations centred on policy enforcement, reducing class size and teacher workload, and improving home–school relationships.     

Internet,Multimedia and Virtual Laboratories in a 'Third World' Environment

Electronic education faces similar difficulties in low-budget institutions throughout the world (many of them in common with developed nations), including mainly rejection or disinterest from staff and students, insufficient funds, outdated hardware, incompatible software and poor Internet access. Over the past five years, with low budgets and considerable limitations in the equipment available, the Universidad Estatal a Distancia in Costa Rica has produced multimedia courses and materials for use on the Internet, as well as designing virtual laboratories that can be run on cheap computers. The authors recount their experiences in the hope that these will prove useful to others. They explain how simultaneous production of traditional materials (mainly printed textbooks) and online courses, together with simple automatic evaluation and 'outsourcing', reduce costs significantly. They conclude that HTML and JAVA are currently the choice computer languages to reach the greatest number of users without need of a specific computing platform, powerful computers or expensive software.     

Im Working Class and Proud of Itgendered experiences of non-traditional participants in higher education

This article examines the gendered experiences of a small group of working-class participants in higher education through an analysis of interview data of students’ recollected and current experiences around four themes: their school experiences; their later learning experiences; their views about higher education; and their attitudes to being working class. It is argued that how people describe their experiences reflects the ways in which they construct their feminine and masculine identities, which are not static but are historically and spatially situated and evolving. It is suggested that whilst a person's subjective position is as importantly influenced by, for example, race and age, as by class and gender, these are always key factors in interpreting lived experience. It concludes that through questioning the discourses of class and gender that frame the ways of thinking, problems and practices which are regarded as legitimate, it begins to be possible for students to open up new ways of thinking reflexively about the social construction of their experiences of education.     

学习困难儿童观看图片的眼动研究

本文探讨了学习困难儿童(学困儿童)观看图片过程的认知加工及眼动特性。要求被试观看图片后回答相关问题,并对观看过程中的眼动情况进行记录。结果发现,与学习优秀儿童、学习一般儿童相比,学困儿童提取图片信息的效率低,完成认知任务的质量差;在眼动参数上,学困儿童的注视次数多,眼跳距离小,与其他两组儿童相比差异显著。结果提示,学困儿童认知加工效率低与眼动模式差关系密切。     

Exploring foreign undergraduate students’ experiences of university

Although international students are an important source of income to universities in the UK, the emotional impact of their experiences may be ignored and unacknowledged. This study explored the personal experiences of international students studying for an undergraduate degree in the UK. Semi-structured interviews with five participants were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, which aimed to capture the personal perceptions of these participants. Two analytical themes are presented: “adaptation and identity”, which reflects the difficulties in acculturation, adaptation and development of identity in a foreign country; and “us and them”, which pays close attention to the perception of disconnectedness, unfairness and exclusion encountered in trying to integrate into a different way of life. Findings are discussed in relation to the impact that participants’ experiences have had on their self-worth, confidence and ability to engage with domestic individuals.     

Welcome to America? International student perceptions of discrimination

This research explores the experiences of international students at a research university in the U.S. Southwest. Based on interviews of a sample of 24 students from 15 countries, we consider a range of difficulties they encounter which runs from perceptions of unfairness and inhospitality to cultural intolerance and confrontation. Utilizing the conceptual framework of neo-racism to explain many of their experiences, we organize our analysis and discussion around their words and the contexts in which the difficulties they encounter emerge. We find that not all of the issues international students face can be problematized as matters of adjustment, as much research does, but that some of the more serious challenges are due to inadequacies within the host society.     

Reading strategy use between Chinese good and poor readers: a think‐aloud study

This study aimed to explore the differences between Chinese good and poor readers in their strategy use by using a think‐aloud method. Eight grade 7 students in Hong Kong, four good readers and four poor readers, received a think‐aloud task and an interview in the study. Consistent with the Western studies, findings of this study indicated that Chinese good readers used more strategies and had better ability and knowledge of strategy use than did poor readers. In addition to the cognitive deficiencies, poor readers were also found to have poorer intrinsic motivation than did good readers. The combined problems of poor reading ability and motivation made them reluctant to process the text at a deeper level and they gave up easily when they encountered reading difficulties. Implications of these findings for studying the reading problems of Chinese students and implementing effective reading instruction in Hong Kong Chinese language teaching are discussed.     

Am I That Talented? The experiences of gifted individuals from diverse educational backgrounds at the postsecondary level

The experiences of gifted students at the postsecondary level have not been studied widely. The goal of the present study was to explore and describe gifted students’ perceptions of their first year after high school regarding experiences of success and failure. Two focus groups were conducted with 12 students (8 males, 4 females) from different educational backgrounds, who had participated in a university-based enrichment program, to discuss topics related to their academic and socio-emotional experiences at a postsecondary level. Many students who attended vocational high schools experienced high levels of discomfort with their academic preparedness to face postsecondary education. Other initial problems were adapting socially to a new environment and perceiving themselves as “less” gifted than their peers. However, after these initial adjustment problems, students revealed high perseverance to face difficulties and a strong motivation for continuing the academic path they had outlined for themselves. Conducting longitudinal research and rethinking college services offered for gifted students are some of the implications discussed in this study.     

Student Performance and Attitudes in a Contingency Management Course

Grade performances in a personalized instruction course are compared with those in traditionally-taught courses for students with good, average, and poor academic records. Average and poor students perform much better in a personalized instruction course than in traditionally-taught courses, and good students perform somewhat better. Course evaluation results suggest three factors that contribute to the particular effectiveness of contingency management techniques with average to poor students. 1.) Students tend to perceive the personalized instruction course as requiring a large amount of work, relative to their other courses for the semester, and to match their work input into the course with this perception. 2.) The method appears to produce “self-generated” reinforcers such as feelings of achievement and interest in course content which are unusual experiences for these students. 3.) Aspects of the technique modify poor study habits in a direction that leads to higher grade performance.     

Ocular dominance,reading and spelling: a reassessment of a measure associated with specific reading difficulties

The association of reading disability with perceptuomotor problems has had a chequered history. This study examines the relationship between a new test of ocular dominance and reading and spelling ability in a group of 323 schoolchildren. Similar rates for unfixed ocular dominance were found for poor readers as in comparable studies. The rates of unstable ocular dominance did not differ between those with reading and spelling difficulties and controls. These findings in a ‘blind’ study question the role of this test of eye dominance as a diagnosis of ‘dyslexia’.     

Do emotion regulation difficulties explain the association between executive functions and child physical abuse risk?

This study examined the associations between executive functioning problems, emotion regulation difficulties, and risk for perpetrating child physical abuse (CPA). It was hypothesized that: (a) poor executive functions (i.e., working memory problems and inhibition/switching problems) would be associated with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties and CPA risk; (b) emotion regulation difficulties would be positively associated with CPA risk; and (c) emotion regulation difficulties would partially explain the association between executive functions (i.e., working memory problems and inhibition/switching problems) and CPA risk. To examine these predictions, a sample of 133 general population parents (31% fathers) completed self-report measures of CPA risk, emotion regulation difficulties, working memory problems, and a performance-based measure of inhibition/switching skills. Results revealed that executive functioning problems were linked with emotion regulation difficulties, which in turn were associated with CPA risk. Moreover, emotion regulation difficulties explained the relationship between executive functions (working memory, inhibition/switching) and CPA risk. The final model accounted for 41% of the variance in CPA risk. Although additional research is needed, the present findings suggest that enhancing parents’ executive functioning and teaching them effective emotion regulation skills may be important targets for CPA prevention efforts.     

The effectiveness of nurture groups: a systematic review

Children with emotional difficulties often experience problems at school in terms of academic progress and within peer relationships. They are also more likely to continue to experience emotional problems in their adult lives. Nurture groups (NGs) were developed in the 1960s by the educational psychologist Majorie Boxall and their aim is to improve the emotional well-being of children who are struggling, through providing them with reparative attachment experiences. This review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of NGs. Eleven papers examining the effectiveness of NGs were included, as well as two papers which explore the particular communication styles adopted by NG teachers. There was evidence that NGs are effective in improving the emotional well-being of children, but there is a need for higher quality and longitudinal research. There is a paucity of research into secondary school NGs. The review highlighted the NG teachers’ use of more positive verbal and non-verbal behaviour. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Using photovoice to engage orphans to explore sexual violence in and around a township secondary school in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This article examines the vulnerability of orphans to sexual violence in and around their township secondary school. Using photovoice as a methodology with which to unearth these experiences and narratives, we examine how such an approach might engage the voices of orphans to inform thinking regarding sexual violence. Our analysis was informed by our desire to engage learners as critical and creative thinkers who are capable of grounding and thinking critically about their own issues. Findings highlight the vulnerability of orphaned girls both in and outside school. The photographs they produced demonstrate the pervasive nature of sexual violence directed against them. Photovoice enabled both ourselves and our participants to investigate experiences of sexual violence among orphaned learners. In particular, as a participatory visual method, photovoice facilitated the development of a transformative pedagogy in which we created a safe space for orphaned learners, a group that is often marginalised and silenced in many spaces to speak about their experiences. While many groups, particularly poor girls and women, experience high rates of sexual violence, the vulnerability of orphaned girls and boys is further increased by their social status within their families, communities and at school.