Use of a mnemonic technique to teach young children foreign language vocabulary

Children 3 to 6 years of age learned simple Spanish vocabulary items using an adaptation of the keyword method of foreign language vocabulary learning. Using this version of the keyword method, the learner remembered a picture of the translation referent of the vocabulary item interacting with the referent of a concrete English word which sounded like part of the foreign word (the keyword). Children who used the keyword method remembered more vocabulary translations than children who were not instructed in keyword method usage.     

Word-reading and word-spelling styles of French beginners: Do all children learn to read and spell in the same way?

This article explores the styles of word reading and word spelling used by beginning readers in the French language. The aim of the study was to find out whether sub-lexical and lexical styles of reliance, which has been observed in children learning to read and spell in English, exists in French, a language with a more transparent orthography. A sample of 159 subjects were assessed on their reading and spelling of regular words, irregular words and nonwords. Cluster analyses on reading/spelling performances led us to identify various profiles, among which sub-lexical and lexical styles could be discerned. These profiles were then compared across a set of linguistic tasks in order to look for factors that might be related to individual differences in reading/spelling styles. Overall, our findings suggest that quantitative level differences explain most individual variation in literacy. These results are discussed in relation to developmental models of reading and spelling in different orthographic systems.     

The Changing Debate on Internationalisation of Higher Education

Internationalisation, the growing border-crossing activities between national systems of higher education is losing ground to globalisation, increasing border-crossing activities of blurred national systems which is often employed to depict world-wide trends and growing global competition. This article addresses recent issues of knowledge transfer. It points out tensions between increasing diversity in higher education and efforts to facilitate recognition of prior studies on student mobility. It shows the diversity of steering and management policies with respect to internationalisation and globalisation. Finally, it asks whether globalisation of higher education has to be viewed as a manifestation of turbo-capitalism or could be viewed instead as a move towards global understanding.     

Common logical errors in English and Chinese

A test of logic using implicational and disjunctive sentences was given in English to first-language English speakers, in Chinese to first-language Chinese speakers, and in English to Chinese students in an English language university. No differences in overall performance were found on the if...then sentences. Differences among groups on or sentences were not attributable to Whorfian differences in logical thinking. It was deemed likely that poor command of English, or perhaps low confidence in English, led to slightly lower scores among the bilingual group.     

Using problem solving teaching styles to prepare candidates for the CXC basic proficiency examinations

Two Grade 10 classes in an urban Jamaican High School were taught over a period of one academic year in two problem solving styles: an Explicit Style derived from Charles, and an Implicit Style derived from Isaacs. At the end of the academic year there was no significant difference in their performance on a problem solving test, or on the Problem Solving Profile of the Caribbean Examinations Council's Basic Proficiency papers. The two classes performed much better than the population who sat the Basic papers on the tasks measuring Recall and Algorithmic Thinking but only moderately better than the population on tasks measuring Problem Solving.The teaching project described in this paper was supported in part by grants from the Research and Publications Fund Committee of the University of the West Indies (Mona), and the Wolmers Trust, Kingston. The author wishes to thank the Registrar and the Pro-Registrar of the Caribbean Examinations Council for permission to use the CXC papers and data in this study. A modified version of this paper was presented at the 63rd Annual Conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics held in San Antonio, Texas in 1985.     

Infusing humanistic activities into cognitively oriented curriculum

In our current quest for excellence, we often miss the essential nature of it. It is trendy to use such terms as back-to-basics, gifted education, and excellence to describe a new teaching strategy or innovative educational program. It is also true that many of these programs designed for children are really intended to benefit others.Harry Morgan is Chairman of Early Childhood Education at West Georgia College in Carrollton. He is author ofThe Learning Community (Charles Merrill).     

The Language and Metaphor of Jean Piaget

The English translations of Piaget's work often miss qualities of his writing that distinguish his organismic model of psychology from more mechanistic models. This paper is a comparison of the English translations of Piaget's The Origins of Intelligence in Children and The Construction of the Real in the Child with the French originals. Three substantial differences between the French originals and the English translations are discussed: (a) many of Piaget's biological metaphors are altered in favor of more mechanistic ones, (b) some of Piaget's metaphors are entirely eliminated, and (c) Piaget uses metaphors to construct links between similar ideas. I conclude that the French originals offer more support for the assertion of Piaget's organismic model, and that the reader's understanding of Piaget is hindered by the exclusion of Piaget's metaphors from the English language texts.     

Linguistic and pedagogical factors affecting children's understanding of arithmetic word problems: A comparative study

2493 children aged from 5 to 15 years in 114 classes in 25 primary schools were asked to do a similar set of 22 arithmetic word problems. 1195 of the children were in Grades K through 6 in Victorian schools (Australia) and 1298 were in Grades 4 through 6 in Papua New Guinea (PNG) schools. For both samples the questions were posed in English. This was the first language for most children in the Victorian sample but, for the PNG sample, English was usually the second, third, or even fourth language (even though it is the language of instruction in PNG schools). While the test instrument was based on widely accepted information processing models of how children solve arithmetic word problems, the data obtained were not so much in accord with these models as with psycholinguistic theories on children's acquisition of polarised comparative pairs (like more and less). The data also indicate that children from the two samples used similar strategies and made similar errors, with the order of relative difficulty being the same for both samples, the main factor determining difficulty being the semantic structure of the questions. Differences in performance between corresponding grades from the two samples can be attributed to differences in the degree of English language competence rather than to numerical facility.     

“It's Easier to Be Yourself When You Are Invisible”: Female College Students Discuss Their Online Classroom Experiences

There has been considerable scholarly interest in issues related to gender in the classroom, especially in terms of finding ways in which classrooms might be configured to be more welcoming--and less chilly--to female students. There is some evidence to suggest that the online learning environment may provide educators with opportunities to achieve a more female-friendly classroom, and this study was designed to gather information about that question. 125 female college students who had completed at least one online, college-level class were invited to discuss their experiences learning online. These data show that female college students respond to the online environment in a variety of ways. A small group of students indicated that they did not enjoy learning online, while others expressed mixed feelings. The majority, however, had positive things to say about their online classroom experiences; and of these, a large number identified anonymity as the most important positive aspect of the online learning environment.     

Processing inflected morphology in second language word recognition: Russian-speakers and English-speakers read Hebrew

This paper reports on an investigation into the morphosyntactic processing of second language (L2) learners who differ in terms of language learning experience. The chief area of interest was the relationship of L2 learning patterns and experience to the acquisition of automatized processing skills in the morphological domain. English- and Russian-native speakers of Hebrew as L2 were assessed on their sensitivity to complex morphological structures which do not exist in their respective native languages (L1). The Hebrew word formation rule which was the focus of investigation was the affixation of prepositions to nouns, resulting in single words which are also full prepositional phrases. In both English and Russian, prepositions and nouns in prepositional phrases must be autonomous. Participants named high frequency words of one (e.g., /parah/ cow) and three morphemes (e.g., /bakis/ in the pocket), which were presented in a control condition and also presented in conditions which either preserved or disrupted the natural morpheme boundaries through the manipulation of font-size. In addition to the experimental measure, participants were also asked to read an expositional passage from a popular Israeli newspaper. Results showed that the Russians, although significantly more accurate than the English speakers at text reading, were significantly less accurate and slower than the English at the naming task, and less impaired by the experimental manipulations. The results are discussed in terms of automaticity, print exposure and age of L2 acquisition.     

The reverse transfer student: A growing factor in higher education

Study purposes were (a) to identify factors associated with academic performance of students enrolled at a four-year university and a two-year community college; and (b) to determine if students who (1) dropped out of a four-year university, (2) entered a two-year community college, and then (3) returned to the same four-year institution improved in academic performance. The 195 undergraduate subjects began their college careers at a large university and subsequently transferred to a community college, a type of student mobility referred to as reverse transfer student. Following a poor academic performance at the university, the students achieved satisfactorily at the two-year college. Students who later returned to the university improved their grades with each quarter's course work. Factors associated with academic performance at the two institutions were identified.     

The intention to both memorise and understand: Another approach to learning?

In distinguishing deep and surface approaches, an important determinant is the intentions to understand and memorise respectively. A student adopting a surface approach does not seek understanding and, therefore, relies upon memorisation. Understanding and memorising are, then, seen as almost mutually exclusive as far as intent is concerned, although those seeking understanding may make some strategic use of memorisation for particular tasks. This paper reviews emerging evidence of an approach which combines memorising and understanding. The research has been conducted in the Asian region, and so provides part of the explanation for the paradox of the Asian student. There has been widespread anecdotal evidence of rote-learning and yet Asian students are often high achievers. Several plausible explanations for the occurrence of the approach are advanced. These include limited ability in the language of study leading to a narrow systematic pattern of study, cultural traditions respecting order and diligent study, and the need for children to learn the language characters.     

论李白诗歌中文化词汇的翻译——以《长干行》英译为例

文化词汇是语言词汇体系中的精华,是一个民族的物质文化和精神文化的真实载体,是了解该民族文化的镜子。试以李白的乐府诗《长干行》为例,对比分析国内外五位学者对此诗中文化词汇"竹马""抱柱信"和"望夫台"的英译,着重分析不同译者在处理时所采用的不同译法及原因。     

Student Outcomes: The Impact of Varying Living-Learning Community Models

This study explores the effect of three distinct living-learning community models on a variety of student experience and academic performance outcomes. Central to the analysis is an investigation of whether there are differences in outcomes for learning communities with different missions and structures, all three of which fall into the Linked Course learning community design. Even in the least coordinated, most basic, learning community model, students show more positive outcomes (first semester GPA, retention, first-year experience) than nonlearning community students. The fact that simple structures that facilitate student interaction around academic work (even without coordinated faculty involvement) have a positive effect for students of all preparation levels provides encouragement to campus leaders with limited resources who are working to develop methods for improving the undergraduate educational experience on their campuses.     

Institutional goals: Their impact on adult learners

A research study of Sinclair's College Without Walls program for adult students was recently conducted through the University of Cincinnati using the Educational Testing Service's Community College Goals Inventory. A control group of approximately 100 students enrolled in a traditional program (randomly selected) was compared with an experimental group of approximately 100 College Without Walls students. Statistically, College Without Walls students expressed significantly greater satisfaction with the accomplishment of numerous institutional goals than did their traditional student counterparts. There were no other statistically significant differences in this comparison of two groups on a myriad of other factors from career preparation to institutional environment.     

Show and Tell: Making museums... making meaning!

I have something for the museum. Our day begins with these words most days. Participation inShow and Tell is inviting and valued in our classroom. Using the museum as a framework, each child's contribution reflects his or her choice and sparks daily enthusiasm in an exhibit children are building.Rose C. Merenda is Associate Professor, Henry Barnard School, Rhode Island College, Providence, R.I.     

Language factor: Does it affect children's performance on word problems?

48 children from primary 4 in private and public schools (24 from each) were asked to solve 10 arithmetic word problems (involving more or less as the cue word) presented in English and in their native language. Retrospective clinical interviews were also conducted to find out how each child analyzed the meaning of each problem, before deciding which operation to use to solve it. The results revealed that both public and private school children performed better both in skills and in strategies when problems were presented in their native language than when presented in English, but only public school had the result to be significant (P<.025). Also data obtained from the interviews are in accord with psycholinguistic theories concerning the polarized comparative pair of less and more.     

Psychological bases of programmed instruction

This paper puts forward an argument for using a cybernetic approach to programmed instruction in order to make the control of the teaching process more efficient. It argues the need for a micro-approach to program construction which takes into account not only the correctness of response but also the psychological activity of the learner.The author presents a summary of Prof. P. Galperin's theory of stage by stage formation of mental actions as well as presenting a method for putting the theory into practice in the construction of teaching programs.Finally, there is a presentation of the methodology and results of various teaching programs in which control over the cognitive activity of the learner was carried out.This article is based on Professor Talyzina's work up to 1971. Ed.     

Some theories of college instruction

On the assumption that colleges need a theory which specifies what they should be trying to do and how they should do it, two popular theories of this sort are described. Bundle of knowledge theory rests on the idea that education should impart pieces of knowledge which can be assessed by behavioral criteria with methods based on established principles of learning. Developmental stage theory holds that education should help students move through a sequence of general stages towards maturity. A third theory called component theory, is then sketched, in which the idea of general stages is disputed and the idea of component abilities of intellectual processes substituted. This theory has implications which are similar to those of stage theory if it is combined with certain moral assumptions about the goals of college education, namely that its purpose is to help students form and pursue life plans which are both rational and just.     

Expertise in Counseling Psychology: A Concept in Search of Support

Despite the documented efficacy of counseling, evidence supporting a claim of expertise among counseling practitioners is found to be lacking. A review of selected literature finds that counselors frequently hold inacurate or biased cognitive schemata concerning clients and engage in faulty reasoning regarding clients' concerns—producing clinical judgments that appear no better than those of less experienced individuals (novices). The concept of expertise in counseling may be justified if clinical judgment is viewed as an ill-structured problem and the criterion for judging expertise is changed from enhanced clinical accuracy to one of enhanced clinical certainty.