Implementation of the guided reading approach with elementary school deaf students

The researchers investigated the effects of the Guided Reading approach (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996) on the reading development of elementary school deaf students over a period of 2 school years. A single-subject experimental research designed was used. Qualitative analyses of observations of instruction and interviews with the teachers were conducted to determine fidelity to the Guided Reading protocol. Visual display of graphed Running Records scores during the 2-year implementation showed that all students improved during intervention, all participants except the oldest group experienced a drop in scores from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next, and that it took months for most students to regain their previous year's scores; some had not done so even by the end of fall term.     

Validity of school history as a diagnostic criterion for reading disability

In order to assess the validity of school history information as a diagnostic criterion for reading disability, reading performance data from 304 children with a positive history for reading problems were compared to those from 319 children with a negative school history. These children are members of twin pairs who are participants in the Colorado Reading Project (DeFries 1985). A multivariate analysis of variance of Reading Recognition, Reading Comprehension, and Spelling subtest scores from the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (Dunn and Markwardt 1970) yielded a highly significant (p <0.001) difference between groups for both the multivariate and univariate comparisons. The difference between the unweighted mean scores of the school-history positive and negative groups for Reading Recognition was 2.1 standard deviations. Moreover, when discriminant weights estimated from an independent sample of 140 reading-disabled and 140 control nontwin children were used to reclassify the sample of twins, 75% of those with a positive history for reading problems were classified as being reading disabled and 95% of those with a negative history were classified as unaffected. Thus, results of this study establish the validity of school history information and suggest that such information may have considerable utility for ascertaining samples of reading-disabled children.     

A reading program for gifted high school students

Many of the basic principles of future studies are closely related to the objectives and approaches of gifted education. Including future studies as an integral part of a gifted education curriculum would give added meaning to these programs.     

The science support scale: Its appropriateness with high school students

Implementing the idea that more emphasis should be placed on student achievement in the affective domain is contingent upon the concurrent development of suitable instruments for the assessment of prescribed criteria. One such instrument, the Schwirian Science Support Scale (Tri-S scale), was reported in a recent NSTA publication as a promising tool for measuring student science support. Recent research using the Tri-S scale with high school pupils showed that scores on this instrument did not increase after the students had taken a tenth grade introductory course in biology. Further analysis indicated students of teachers scoring “high” in science support did not produce higher scores on the Tri-S scale than students studying biology from teachers “low” in science support. Reliability estimates using high school student scores were well below previous estimates using scores from college undergraduates. Factor analysis of inter-item correlations indicated that student interpretation of item meaning did not correspond to the five subtest structure of the Tri-S scale. Findings from this study demonstrate that the Tri-S scale is not an appropriate instrument for measuring attitudinal changes of tenth grade high school students. This study is suggestive of the fact that went and future instruments that purport to measure achievement in noncognitive areas should be carefully analyzed before they are recommended for use with specific populations.     

高中生的纳米碳管吸附试验

本文围绕高中生用纳米碳管吸附有机污染物的研究性学习,探讨了课堂教学与课题研究的结合问题,研 究性学习课题的选择,教师在研究各阶段中的参与方式等问题。     

聋校语文教学如何培养聋生的审美能力

聋校语文教材中呈现了多姿多彩的审美形态和审美范畴。在教学中要引领学生感受美,启迪学生鉴赏美,鼓励学生体现美。培养和提高聋生的审美能力。     

论中学生英语阅读能力的培养

英语阅读教学越来越受到重视。影响中学生英语阅读能力的因素很多。本文认为 ,中学英语教学中培养阅读能力的主要途径是精读和泛读。培养阅读能力应以语言知识为基础 ,背景知识为前提 ,语篇知识为手段 ,完形填空、短文改错、写作等训练为必要的补充     

Costs of carrying students to a criterion level of competency in physics

Data are presented which display the performance of students in an introductory physics course that was conducted in a competency-based, multiple-opportunity format. These data reveal features of student behavior that are reproducible. The specific costs, measured in instructor's time per student produced are shown to be related to the character of the examination questions and to the comprehensional modes of the students. Specific costs for single-trial and multiple-trial formats are compared and the evidence clearly shows that the multiple-trial opportunity has lower specific costs and a much higher yield of students at the full competency level.     

Validity of indirect assessment of writing competency for deaf and hard-of-hearing college students

Indirect tests of writing competency are often used at the college level for a variety of educational, programmatic, and research purposes. Although such tests may have been validated on hearing populations, it cannot be assumed that they validly assess the writing competency of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. This study used a direct criterion measure of writing competency to determine the criterion validity of two indirect measures of writing competency. Results suggest that the validity of indirect writing tests for deaf and hard-of-hearing baccalaureate-level students is weak. We recommend that direct writing tests be used with this population to ensure fair and accurage assessment of writing competency.     

以学生为主体的高中英语阅读有效教学研究

高中英语教学的过程当中,阅读教学是一个主要的教学内容。本文尝试从高中英语阅读教学的要求、现状入手,探讨以学生为主体的高中英语阅读有效教学的策略与具体的实施方案。     

A survey of the appropriateness of instructional language materials used with deaf students.

A questionnaire survey was conducted of the instructional language materials used by educators in programs for deaf and hard of hearing students. The results indicated that over half (51%) of the materials used are not developed specifically for use with deaf students. The majority of the respondents (67%) cited problems finding age- and interest-appropriate materials. Dissatisfaction with current language materials was one reason many educators (60%) made their own materials. Their comments emphasized the need to develop language materials and assessment tools specifically for deaf and hard of hearing students.     

The relationships between reading processes and English skills of deaf college students

This research project investigated the relationships between various working memory (WM) recoding processes and English language skills in a sample of 86 prelingually deaf college students from varied educational backgrounds. Part 1 reports the results of a short-term memory (STM) experiment and a Recoding Strategies questionnaire. The STM results suggested that, for most deaf students, neither the speech, sign, or visual codes are as efficient as the speech code of hearing persons for the purpose of maintaining English linguistic information in WM. However, the ability to use speech-based recoding processes was positively correlated with WM capacity, and the use of sign recoding was found to decrease as the ability to make efficient use of a speech recoding strategy increased. In addition, the questionnaire data suggested that neither the speech nor sign recoding systems provide the majority of students with a complete internal representation of English surface structure grammatical information in WM. There was no evidence that the use of sign language in education interfered with the ability to develop a speech recoding strategy, or that knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) negatively influenced the acquisition of English skills. The overall pattern of results suggested that WM processes and recoding strategies may be influencing grammatical processes, and the acquisition of English skills, in distinctive ways.     

The interaction of syntactic competence and vocabulary during reading by deaf students

This research studied whether deaf students' component reading processes may interact with other in a competitive manner. Vocabulary and syntax, two processes known to directly and adversely affect the comprehension of many deaf readers, were studied to determine if they may influence each other, affecting the contribution that each one makes separately to reading comprehension. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on predictor variables that included measures of vocabulary and syntactic competence, as well as a variable summarizing the interaction of vocabulary and syntax. The criterion variable was a composite of comprehension performance on a cloze procedure and on a more traditional reading test. Results were cross-validated by separate regressions on data samples from three populations of profoundly deaf readers: 100 adolescents from oral school programs, 113 adolescents from total communication programs, and 211 students entering a postsecondary institution that used total communication. In each regression, the Vocabulary × Syntax interaction variable emerged as the most critical of the three predictors. Further analyses of the interaction revealed that among subjects in the highest quartile of syntactic competence, the correlation between vocabulary competence and reading was significantly greater than it was in the lower three syntax quartiles. In contrast, the relationship between syntax and comprehension remained stable across all four quartiles of vocabulary competence. This suggests that unless deaf readers have achieved a reasonable level of syntactic competence it may be difficult for them to capitalize fully on their vocabulary knowledge. The finding that limitations in one reading process can interfere with the application of another is consistent with the theory of Capacity Constrained Comprehension of M. Just and P. Carpenter (1992). Because syntax can exert both a direct and an indirect influence on comprehension, it should be an important focus in instructional programs.