What counts as successful school subject literacy: differing views from students,teachers, and parents

Research into literacy and school subject performance focuses overwhelmingly on identifying and addressing risk factors associated with underachievement. Strenuous efforts are devoted to diagnosing the causes of literacy failure that are patterned by ethnicity, social class, and gender. This study explores the possibility that equal, or even greater insights, may be achieved by investigating instances of successful school literacy practices. The purpose is to develop contextualized theories to explain the phenomena of success in children from working-class families to identify social and pedagogical factors associated with success. Six case studies of successful students in English, general science, physics, catering, mathematics, and economics are presented. Each case is composed of a triad including the student, teacher, and parent. Data includes interviews with all triad members, classroom observations, and student journals. This paper reports the findings of the present study and comments on how they compare with those international studies of scholastic success in contexts of school and home factors.     

Literacy,Black self‐representation,and cultural practice in an elementary classroom: implications for teaching children of African‐Caribbean heritage

This study examines literacy strategies used by Black teachers who aimed to create an environment in which African‐Canadian pupils could develop literacy skills as well as learn their social histories and personal identities as children of African heritage. The study site, located in a low‐income area of Ontario, Canada, was a school with a student population that was 80% Black. The data for the study were drawn from interviews with teachers about their pedagogy and from participant observations in their classrooms. Based on the findings, some implications for teacher education as well as for culturally supportive pedagogies for children of African heritage are considered.     

University staff mental health literacy,stigma and their experience of students with mental health problems

Despite high rates of mental disorders in university students, very few seek professional help. University teaching staff are well placed to connect students with mental health care. However, little is known about university staff attitudes to and knowledge about mental health problems, or whether these factors influence their experience with and assistance of students with these problems. A total of 224 teaching staff members at the Australian National University, Canberra completed an anonymous online survey via an email link (16.4% response rate from N ~ 1370). Measures included demographic and professional information, experiences with student mental health, knowledge of depression (literacy) and attitudes to depression (stigma). Strength of stigmatising attitude did not predict whether a teaching staff member would approach a student to assist with mental health problems. Teaching staff with higher levels of depression literacy (OR = 1.14, p = 0.007) were more likely to feel sufficiently informed to help students with mental health problems. Ensuring staff complete mental health literacy training and have adequate skills to respond appropriately to students with mental health problems may help in connecting young people to appropriate care in a university context.     

Home Literacy Environment and Head Start Children's Language Development: The Role of Approaches to Learning

Research Findings: This study examined whether approaches to learning moderate the association between home literacy environment and English receptive vocabulary development. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (2003 cohort) was used for analysis. Latent growth curve modeling was utilized to test a quadratic model of English receptive vocabulary development. Results showed that children's approaches to learning significantly moderated the influence of home literacy environment on English receptive vocabulary development. Post hoc probing of the simple slopes demonstrated that children with more positive approaches to learning and lower levels of home literacy environment had a higher English receptive vocabulary trajectory. The implications of the study results for early literacy interventions are discussed. Practice or Policy: Findings from this study may have implications for early educators who aim to improve Head Start children's language competencies by targeting home literacy environment and approaches to learning. At a preliminary level, the study findings suggest that positive approaches to learning may compensate for a limited home literacy environment. Because positive approaches to learning can facilitate learning in other domains, for instance, language learning, this information may be useful for early educators in terms of promoting positive learning attitudes and predispositions toward learning.     

MOTIVATIONAL BELIEFS AND LEARNING STRATEGIES IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Students enter college chemistry courses with different sources of motivation, appropriate or inappropriate assumptions about their probability of success and how to study. This study is theoretically aligned with self-regulated learning research. Clearly, academic performance is closely related to student motivational beliefs and learning strategies. This study investigated the motivational beliefs and learning strategies of 2 years of college students in the second semester of organic chemistry. Responses to the Motivational Beliefs and Learning Strategies Questionnaire indicated that student self-efficacy was highly correlated with academic performance (semester grades). Gender differences were quite pronounced. Male academic performance was associated with intrinsic motivation as well as the importance placed on the learning task. Test anxiety was negatively associated with male grades. Extrinsic motivation was negatively correlated with female grades. Responses to students’ sense of control over learning, the value of the learning task, and self-efficacy were significantly higher for males compared to females. Faculty who attend to these different patterns may influence beliefs as well as learning strategies. Correcting erroneous assumptions about how to learn chemistry may help students shift both their attitudes and their learning practices. The notable gender difference suggests that female chemistry students may especially profit from focused faculty intervention.     

What PISA and ASPIRES studies tell us about the nuanced influence of cultural capital on student learning: Construct complexity,student outcomes and contexts

This article juxtaposes the evolving scholarship investigating the influence of cultural capital on student learning and the developing trajectory of sociologists employing quantitative research methods. It critically reviews results from 34 studies analysing PISA or ASPIRES data to generate three key insights demonstrating complexities in relationships between cultural capital and student outcomes. First, cultural capital is a complex construct with many variables (different forms of cultural capital, highbrow/non-highbrow cultural capital) varying in their association with student literacy and parents’ cultural capital affecting student literacy both directly and indirectly. Second, the influence of cultural capital may vary with types of student outcomes measured. Specifically, there are cultural variables associated with student literacy in different subjects, some cultural capital variables are more important for student literacy for a subject, and cultural capital influences student aspirations in addition to their literacy. Third, the influence of cultural capital on student literacy may vary with educational and social contexts. Cultural capital is more important in decentralised education systems, in low-achieving schools within differentiated education systems, in higher-quality schools and in more unequal, developed societies. In contrast, it matters less in high-achieving and standardised education systems, and in societies valuing education. Given the complexity in cultural capital, future research can ascertain how each cultural capital variable contributes to student learning and compare their effectiveness. It is also important to identify which cultural capital variables matter for specific student outcomes. Lastly, these insights highlight the need to recognise contextual differences in studies of social inequality.     

Individual and Social Influences on Students’ Attitudes to Debt: a Cross‐National Path Analysis Using Data from England and New Zealand

This study examines the construction of debt attitudes among 439 first‐year undergraduates in England and New Zealand. It works from a conceptual model that predicts that attitudes will be partly determined by a range of social factors, mediated through personality and ‘financial literacy’. Path analysis is used to explore this model. The proposed model was found to be basically sound, with some notable negative findings. Socio‐economic status was found to have a negligible role in determining debt attitudes, while the role of financial literacy was limited to reducing the likelihood of seeing debt as useful for lifestyle expenditure. Debt anxiety was found to be higher among students with a general predisposition to anxiety and inversely related to viewing student debt as a form of educational investment. It is concluded that student debt attitudes are multidimensional and individualised, challenging simplistic ideas of debt aversion in earlier literature.     

A REPLY Listening to How You're Heard: On translations,mistranslations, and really bad mistranslations

This study explored the use of video cases to teach literacy instruction to special education pre‐service teachers. One class of pre‐service teachers was examined for knowledge gains and attitudes towards video cases as an instructional medium. Results suggest that video cases did not result in greater learning of phonemic awareness or reading comprehension topics than traditional lectures with discussion teaching. They also provided comparative data on student teachers’ responses to video versus traditional face‐to‐face instruction. Further implications for special education teacher preparation and future research directions are discussed.     

Simply a Speech Impairment? Literacy Challenges for Individuals with Severe Congenital Speech Impairments

Individuals with severe congenital speech impairments frequently experience significant difficulties acquiring even basic literacy skills. It is likely that many factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic to the individuals, co-occur to influence success in literacy acquisition. This paper focuses on the extent to which a severe congenital speech impairment may affect the acquisition of phonological processing skills traditionally considered to be implicated in literacy success. Results on a lexical decision task are presented and discussed in terms of their implications for our understanding of the relationship between severe speech impairments, phonological working memory, and specification of phonological representations.     

EXPLORING INDIVIDUAL AND SCHOOL-RELATED FACTORS AND ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY: COMPARING U.S. AND CANADA USING PISA 2006

Questions remain about how to best prepare students to be environmentally literate. Although Canada and U.S. share similarities in education systems, diversity in student population, and historical roots in formalizing environmental education, Canada is one of the top performing countries in international science assessments while U.S. matches average performing countries. This study examined the relationship of individual and school-related factors to environmental literacy by comparing students’ performances in knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and behavior about environmental issues between U.S. and Canada using PISA 2006. Findings suggest that knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and behavior are inter-related, and development of certain domains of environmental literacy may be enhanced by classroom student investigations. Prior explanations for U.S. lower performance in environmental literacy cannot be attributed only to low socio-economic status and student diversity.     

An analysis of the programme for international student assessment 2000 (PISA 2000) mathematical literacy data for brazilian, japanese and norwegian students

A linear structural model was studied to investigate the factors affecting reading literacy and mathematical literacy skills of 15-year-old students in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 data across different cultural settings. Brazil, Japan, and Norway were selected for the purpose of comparison on the basis of their rankings in the PISA 2000 study. The factors studied were attitudes towards reading, student-teacher relations, classroom climate, communication with parents, use of technology, attitudes towards mathematics, and reading literacy. The results indicated that the latent independent variable with the strongest effect on mathematical literacy is the use of technology in Brazil, communication with parents in Japan, and attitudes towards reading in Norway. In all the three countries, reading literacy has the strongest effect on mathematical literacy skills; mathematical literacy has a stronger relation to attitudes towards mathematics; attitudes towards reading is negatively related to mathematical literacy measures but positively related to reading literacy measures, and finally, communication with parents has a positive relation with reading literacy skills. A disciplined classroom environment fosters more success in PISA tests in Japan; on the other hand, in Brazil a reversed result is found for this particular variable. The use of technology has a strong influence on reading skills in Brazil; however, no and negative effects of this variable are observed in Norway and Japan respectively. These findings are discussed with reference to cultural context.     

‘It has a purpose beyond justifying a mark’: examining the alignment between the purpose and practice of feedback

Abstract

Research has shown that written feedback is important for student learning and development. However, the messages embedded in feedback may lead to students being misled about what they need to learn or how they need to develop. This article reports on a small-scale investigation into the messages embedded in feedback. Legitimation Code Theory was used to first conceptualise the often-hidden purpose of a discipline (English Studies), and concomitantly of feedback within the discipline, and second to analyse actual comments given to first-year students on their assignments. It was found that there is a clear misalignment between the purpose and practice of feedback, thereby suggesting that students are receiving misleading messages about what they need for success within the discipline. This may have implications beyond merely passing the module. A suggestion is made to actively consider, and develop, feedback as a discipline-specific literacy.     

Research into literacy and technology in primary classrooms: an exploration of understandings generated by recent studies

While much has been written about the implications for ‘literacy’ of practices surrounding digital technologies, there has been surprisingly little research investigating new literacies in primary classrooms. This review examines the kinds of understandings that have been generated through studies of primary literacy and technology reported during the period 2000–2006. It uses Green's distinction between ‘operational’, ‘cultural’ and ‘critical’ dimensions of primary literacy to investigate the focus and methodology of 38 empirical studies. It explores ways in which research may be informed by assumptions and practices associated with print literacy, but also highlights the kinds of studies which are beginning to investigate the implications of digital texts for primary education. The paper concludes by arguing for further ethnographic and phenomenological studies of classroom literacy practices in order to explore the complex contexts which surround and are mediated by digital texts.     

Toward harmonious East–West educational partnerships: a study of cultural differences between Taiwanese and Norwegian engineering students

The collaboration activities between educational institutions in the East and the West are on the increase as an increasingly globalized economy requires graduates to have the skills to work across cultural divides. Such collaborations are difficult and require patience. One challenge is that students or teachers may have misconceptions about aspects of the other culture that may cause problems. This study sets out to identify what values students in typical Eastern and Western societies associate with a good student, good student behavior, good teachers and good lectures with the purpose to identify discrepancies. This study is based on the results of a pair-wise ranking questionnaire completed by 233 Taiwanese and Norwegian students of both engineering and non-technical subjects. The results confirm some established beliefs regarding culturally related differences. However, several issues were found to be culturally neutral, and cultural differences were identified for several issues that were predicted to be culturally neutral. The results of this study may be useful to educators involved in East–West internationalization.     

Author Index to Chinese Education and Society

This article aims to explore the impact of the new curriculum reform launched in 2001 urban-rural achievement disparities. It documents a pilot study on teachers' experiences in teaching literacy to children in primary one in a poverty-stricken county in western China. Interviews with teachers in various types of schools indicate that the curriculum load of Grade 1 literacy is too high in all schools, in both cities and villages, for teachers to complete within the designated curriculum schedule. Teachers in all schools under study have to extend student literacy learning time in various ways. The study also reveals that, under the same constraints of an overloaded curriculum and insufficient teaching time, student achievements vary significantly between city and rural schools. Although family support may be an important reason for the variation, the study suggests that teacher attitudes toward and initiative to cope with the new curriculum challenges also play a critical role in deciding student learning effectiveness.     

Differences between Students' and Lecturers' Perceptions of Factors Influencing Students' Academic Success at University

Qualitative data from 46 lecturers and 72 students were used to identify factors that were perceived as making the most important contributions to students' academic success at university and factors that were perceived as most likely to lead to student failure at university. A questionnaire based on this information was administered to a further 112 lecturers and 392 students. The resulting data highlighted some similarities and many differences in the perceptions of lecturers and students about student success and failure. Some possible reasons for these differences in perceptions are explored, and some of the consequences of the different views are discussed. Particular reference is made to the different views that lecturers and students have about the student effort required for success at university.     

Secondary school renewal: the effect of classroom learning culture on educational outcomes

The study was grounded on theoretical propositions and empirical research concerning school effectiveness, classroom effectiveness, school improvement and school renewal. In particular, improving student learning outcomes through improving and renewing schools is dependent on changing classroom cultures of learning and teaching. A model of classroom culture consisting of student educational values (dependent variable), formal learning outcomes (dependent variable), and the attitudes and behaviours of students, teachers and parents (independent variables) was proposed. Hypothesised relationships between the dependent and independent variables were tested by multiple regression analysis of data from 988 students obtained from administration of a Rasch-model instrument assessing classroom culture. The classroom learning attitudes and behaviours of students were found to relate directly to educational outcomes, as were teacher expectations and parent attitudes and behaviours. The attitudes and behaviours of students and teachers towards classroom collaboration and caring were not confirmed to relate directly to learning outcomes. The findings of the investigation are discussed in the light of the theoretical assumptions upon which the study was based, including identification of the implications of the empirical results for understanding and facilitating renewal of secondary schools with the intention of improving educational outcomes in classrooms.     

Relationship Between Language and Concept Science Notebook Scores of English Language Learners and/or Economically Disadvantaged Students

Despite research interest in testing the effects of literacy-infused science interventions in different contexts, research exploring the relationship, if any, between academic language and conceptual understanding is scant. What little research exists does not include English language learners (ELLs) and/or economically disadvantaged (ED) student samples—students most at risk academically. This study quantitatively determined if there exists a relationship, and if so, how strong of a relationship, between ELL and ED students’ academic language and conceptual understanding based on science notebook scores used in a larger science and literacy-infused intervention with a sample of culturally diverse students. The study also considered strengths of relationships between language and concept science notebook scores within student language status groups (ELL, former ELL, and English speaking). Correlational analyses noted positive, large, and significant correlations between students’ language and concept scores overall, with the largest correlations for science notebook entries using more academic language. Large correlations also existed for ELL student entries at the end of the school year. Implications of the findings for future research and practice in science classrooms including literacy interventions, such as science notebooks, with populations of culturally diverse students are discussed.

     

Relationship Between Language and Concept Science Notebook Scores of English Language Learners and/or Economically Disadvantaged Students

Despite research interest in testing the effects of literacy-infused science interventions in different contexts, research exploring the relationship, if any, between academic language and conceptual understanding is scant. What little research exists does not include English language learners (ELLs) and/or economically disadvantaged (ED) student samples—students most at risk academically. This study quantitatively determined if there exists a relationship, and if so, how strong of a relationship, between ELL and ED students’ academic language and conceptual understanding based on science notebook scores used in a larger science and literacy-infused intervention with a sample of culturally diverse students. The study also considered strengths of relationships between language and concept science notebook scores within student language status groups (ELL, former ELL, and English speaking). Correlational analyses noted positive, large, and significant correlations between students’ language and concept scores overall, with the largest correlations for science notebook entries using more academic language. Large correlations also existed for ELL student entries at the end of the school year. Implications of the findings for future research and practice in science classrooms including literacy interventions, such as science notebooks, with populations of culturally diverse students are discussed.