Ageing and skills: The case of literacy skills

The relationship between ageing and skills is of growing policy significance due to population ageing, the changing nature of work and the importance of literacy for social and economic well‐being. This article examines the relationship between age and literacy skills in a sample of OECD countries using three internationally comparable surveys. By pooling the survey data across time we can separate birth cohort and ageing effects. In doing so, we find that literacy skills decline with age and that, in most of our sample countries, successive birth cohorts tend to have poorer literacy outcomes. Therefore, once we control for cohort effects, the rate at which literacy proficiency falls with age is much more pronounced than that which is apparent, based on the cross‐sectional relationship between age and literacy skills at a point in time. Further, in studying the literacy‐age relationship across the skill distribution in Canada we find a more pronounced decline in literacy skills with age at lower percentiles, which suggests that higher initial literacy moderates the influence of cognitive ageing.     

A skills perception inventory for evaluating postgraduate transferable skills development

This article reports on the development, application and results of a skills evaluation inventory which was specifically designed to provide quantitative feedback on the effects of a three‐day residential training course attended by PhD students early in their research careers. The course was developed at Imperial College London, partly in response to the ‘Roberts’ agenda, which has highlighted the importance of transferable skills to the future careers of researchers. The questionnaire aims to measure student perceptions of their skill levels in four key areas. In addition a scale was included to measure changes in their general attitudes towards the benefits or otherwise of training in transferable skills. The inventory was administered at the very beginning and end of the course. Statistical analysis was used to refine the inventory and as a result all five scales were found to have good reliability. The results showed that after attending the course there were statistically significant increases in the participants’ perceived levels of skill in each area and a more positive attitude to skills development courses overall was demonstrated. Furthermore, differences in skill perceptions were observed depending on the gender and residential status of researchers. For example, female researchers were found to have generally lower levels of confidence than males, specifically for pre‐course beliefs on group work and communications skills. A further benefit is that the findings have helped to win respect and support for continued investment in the residential course programme.     

英语学习中接受技能和产出技能的相关研究

利用测试手段研究了英语学习听、说、读、写四种技能，结果显示出接受技能和输出技能之间存在着统计学上的显相关，且接受技能在一定程度上能预测产出技能。但有些变量之间的相关系数偏低，尤其是阅读和说、写之间的相关性更低。研究对我国外语教学具有一定的启示。     

The skills revolution

The government, through several White and Green Papers, has promoted the ‘Skills Revolution’. This requires central direction and coordination of a wide range of policies, practices and partnerships. But there are several difficulties: the impossibility of micromanaging the complex social and economic system; the dominance of the rather limited notion of skill; and the unexamined distinction between the academic and the vocational. Strong on training; weak on education.     

Sharpen their skills

Early Childhood Education Journal - With the end of summer's carefree days, children (and parents too) are anxious for the first day of school. The projects and activities listed here will help...     

Teaching teaching skills

Abstract

The paper examines concerns about the teaching profession as expressed by students in their teacher education program. Differences are analyzed between the concerns of entry‐level (second‐year) students and students in their student teaching (fifth) year. Items students chose as interview questions to ask a practicing teacher were used as measures of concerns. Using content analysis techniques, categories of concerns were developed. Findings indicate that entry‐level students were primarily concerned with their career choice and with the impact of the profession on their own lives. Fifth‐year students were more interested in technical classroom skills and in the impact they would have on their future students. Implications of these findings for teacher education programs are discussed.     

Improving writing skills: Which approaches and what target skills?

This article presents a critical overview of recent trends in research on writing skills. Part one defines criteria for the studies reviewed here and is based on current cognitive writing models. The treatments examined were all designed to change writer activity by influencing the main constituent features of writing: knowledge and cognitive functions. The following two sections deal with the effects of treatments aimed at the acquisition of knowledge or expert skills. Part four focuses on the effects on writing skills of interaction between peers or immature and expert writers. The final section examines computer aids to writing. The conclusion stresses the need for carefully controlled studies drawing on well-defined theoretical frameworks.     

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.     

浅谈英语阅读技巧

英语阅读技巧是近年来在英语教学中被频繁涉及的一个领域。学生通过有目的，有计划的阅读训练，充分了解不同类型的章，可以提高阅读速度和阅读能力。     

Scaffolding peer-assessment skills: Risk of interference with learning domain-specific skills?

Giving students complex learning tasks combined with peer-assessment tasks can impose a high cognitive load. Scaffolding has proven to reduce cognitive load during learning and improve accuracy on domain-specific tasks. This study investigated whether scaffolding has a similar, positive effect on the learning of peer-assessment tasks. We hypothesised that: (1) domain-specific scaffolding improves domain-specific accuracy and reduces time on task and perceived mental effort, and (2) peer-assessment scaffolding improves peer-assessment accuracy and reduces time on task and perceived mental effort. Additionally, we explored whether there was an interaction between domain-specific and peer-assessment scaffolding. In a 2x2 experiment with the factors domain-specific scaffolding (present, absent) and peer-assessment scaffolding (present, absent), 236 secondary school students assessed the performance of fictitious peers in an electronic learning environment. We found that domain-specific accuracy indeed improved with domain-specific scaffolding, confirming our first hypothesis. Our tests of the second hypothesis, however, revealed surprising results: peer-assessment scaffolding significantly increased accuracy and mental effort during learning, it had no effect on peer-assessment accuracy at the test and led to reduced domain-specific accuracy, even when combined with domain-specific scaffolding. These results suggest that scaffolding students' peer assessment before they have mastered the task at hand can have disturbing effects on students’ ability to learn from the task.