Contributions of phonological processing skills to reading skills in Arabic speaking children

This cross-sectional study investigated contributions of phonological awareness (Elision and blending), rapid naming (object, color, letter, and digit), and phonological memory (nonword repetition and Digit Span) to basic decoding and fluency skills in Arabic. Participants were 237 Arabic speaking children from Grades K-3. Dependent measures included word decoding, oral passage reading fluency, nonword reading fluency, and retell fluency. Within-grade analyses indicated that phonological awareness accounted for more variance than rapid naming regardless of the nature of the outcome measure and grade. Rapid naming’s capacity to predict variance, while less than that of phonological awareness, tended to rise steadily and was highest in Grade 3. Phonological memory, as measured by this study’s tasks, showed almost no relationship to reading performance. The findings are discussed with respect to changing the requirements of Arabic reading in Grades K-3 and suggestions are made for future research.     

Teaching domain-specific skills before peer assessment skills is superior to teaching them simultaneously

Instruction in peer assessment of complex task performance may cause high cognitive load, impairing learning. A stepwise instructional strategy aimed at reducing cognitive load was investigated by comparing it with a combined instructional strategy in an experiment with 128 secondary school students (mean age 14.0?years; 45.2% male) with the between-subjects factor instruction (stepwise, combined). In the stepwise condition, study tasks in Phase 1 were domain-specific and study tasks in Phase 2 had both domain-specific and peer assessment components. In the combined condition, these two components were present in all tasks in both phases. Final performance (i.e. speed and accuracy in domain-specific skills and peer assessment skills) showed no significant differences, but performance improved more from Phase 1 to Phase 2 in the stepwise condition than in the combined condition. The results suggest that, with complex study tasks, it might be beneficial to teach domain-specific skills before peer assessment skills.     

Beyond phonological skills: broader language skills contribute to the development of reading

This paper reports a study that followed the development of reading skills in 72 children from the age of 8.5 to 13 years. Each child was administered tests of reading, oral language, phonological skills and nonverbal ability at time 1 and their performance on tests of reading comprehension, word recognition, nonword decoding and exception word reading was assessed at time 2. In addition to phonological skills, three measures of non‐phonological oral language tapping vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension were unique concurrent predictors of both reading comprehension and word recognition at time 1. Importantly, all three measures of oral language skill also contributed unique variance to individual differences in reading comprehension, word recognition and exception word reading four and a half years later, even when the autoregressive effects of early reading skill were controlled. Moreover, the extent to which a child's word recognition departed from the level predicted from their decoding ability correlated with their oral language skills. These findings suggest that children's oral language proficiency, as well as their phonological skills, influences the course of reading development.     

学生听力技巧提高的途径初探

提高学生听力技巧，首先要使学生保持良好平和的心态，其次要事先进行阅读预测，还要注意捕捉重要信息，训练英语思维，培养速记能力。     

Teaching conversation skills to behaviorally disordered children

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an instructional package designed to teach conversation skills to behaviorally disordered children. A multiple baseline design with a reversal was employed to assess the effectiveness of this package. Six children were taught in two groups of three. The teachers were taught to use the package prior to implementation to insure standardization across both groups. Data were collected in a contrived setting with a peer trained as a conversant. Observation also took place in the school cafeteria to assess generalization of the training to a naturalistic setting. Social validation data were collected from teachers and children to evaluate their impressions of the instructional package. Results indicated that the instructional package was effective in increasing conversational skills above baseline levels in all children and in both settings.     

Core skills assessment to improve mathematical competency

Many engineering undergraduates begin third-level education with significant deficiencies in their core mathematical skills. Every year, in the Dublin Institute of Technology, a diagnostic test is given to incoming first-year students, consistently revealing problems in basic mathematics. It is difficult to motivate students to address these problems; instead, they struggle through their degree, carrying a serious handicap of poor core mathematical skills, as confirmed by exploratory testing of final year students. In order to improve these skills, a pilot project was set up in which a ‘module’ in core mathematics was developed. The course material was basic, but 90% or higher was required to pass. Students were allowed to repeat this module throughout the year by completing an automated examination on WebCT populated by a question bank. Subsequent to the success of this pilot with third-year mechanical engineering students, the project was extended to five different engineering programmes, across three different year-groups. Full results and analysis of this project are presented, including responses to interviews carried out with a selection of the students involved.     

如何进行大学英语听力教学

听力是大学英语教学中一个非常重要的环节，但目前的教学方式中存在着一些值得讨论和改进的问题。本文从实际出发，根据心理学和教育学的一些理论提出了自己的看法：改变听力教学“对答案 讲解”的教学模式；听力材料的选择应以学生的实际状况和现实需求为依据；培养学生的听力技能。     

Reviewing to ensure quality and build skills

The author wishes to thank Stuart Reeds, Martine Foerg, Garth Julius, and Joan James for reviewing this article prior to submission.     

Teaching problem-solving skills to nuclear engineering students

Problem solving is an essential skill for nuclear engineering graduates entering the workforce. Training in qualitative and quantitative aspects of problem solving allows students to conceptualise and execute solutions to complex problems. Solutions to problems in high consequence fields of study such as nuclear engineering require rapid and accurate analysis of the problems, design of solutions (focusing on public safety, environmental stewardship and ethics), solution execution and monitoring results. A three-month course in problem solving, modelling and simulation was designed and a collaborative approach was undertaken with instructors from both industry and academia. Training was optimised for the laptop-based pedagogy, which provided unique advantages for a course that includes modelling and simulation components. The concepts and tools learned as part of the training were observed to be utilised throughout the duration of student university studies and interviews with students who have entered the workforce indicate that the approaches learned and practised are retained long term.     

浅谈如何进行英语听力技能训练

通过科学的听力训练,使学生提高了对听力材料的推断、概括能力,掌握了听力理解技巧和听力解题技能,使其在各类英语考试中取得较好的成绩,提高了学生学好英语的信心和兴趣.     

浅谈护理技能大赛的体会

目的回顾我校高职学生参加护理技能大赛,现就参加护理技能指导进行经验探讨。方法认真研究大赛评分标准及要求,采用多种方法指导选手进行护理操作。结果此次省赛,我院获得二等奖2名,三等奖1名。结论学校领导的重视,优秀参赛选手的选拔,正确的培训方法,是取得大赛优异成绩的关键。     

Using clickers to facilitate development of problem-solving skills

Classroom response systems, or clickers, have become pedagogical staples of the undergraduate science curriculum at many universities. In this study, the effectiveness of clickers in promoting problem-solving skills in a genetics class was investigated. Students were presented with problems requiring application of concepts covered in lecture and were polled for the correct answer. A histogram of class responses was displayed, and students were encouraged to discuss the problem, which enabled them to better understand the correct answer. Students were then presented with a similar problem and were again polled. My results indicate that those students who were initially unable to solve the problem were then able to figure out how to solve similar types of problems through a combination of trial and error and class discussion. This was reflected in student performance on exams, where there was a statistically significant positive correlation between grades and the percentage of clicker questions answered. Interestingly, there was no clear correlation between exam grades and the percentage of clicker questions answered correctly. These results suggest that students who attempt to solve problems in class are better equipped to solve problems on exams.     

在英语教学中提高学生的交际能力

随着社会的发展，英语的教学目的也有所改变。教师除了要教会学生单词和语法外，还应该注重培养学生实际应用语言、进行口头语言交际的能力，这种能力就是语言的交际能力。