Specificity and overlap in skills underpinning reading and arithmetical fluency

The aim of this study was to examine unique and common causes of problems in reading and arithmetic fluency. 13- to 14-year-old students were placed into one of five groups: reading disabled (RD, n = 16), arithmetic disabled (AD, n = 34), reading and arithmetic disabled (RAD, n = 17), reading, arithmetic, and listening comprehension disabled (TRIPLE, n = 9), and typically developing students (NON-LD, n = 40). Multivariate analyses of covariance and variance component analyses showed that reading problems are characterised by difficulties with phonological processing and with rapid automatic naming. Problems with executive functioning and with digit span were typical for students with arithmetical fluency difficulties. RAD students had problems with phonological processing, rapid naming, executive functioning, and digit span. Impairments in number fact fluency, digit span, loudness perception, speeded sound manipulation, and coding, which all share a fluency component were common to problems with reading and arithmetical fluency.     

“To err is human”

The Emergence Of Youth Societies ... A Cross Cultural Approach. David Gottlieb, John Reeves, and Warren D. TenHouten. (New York: The Free Press, 1966. Pp. 416. $7.95.)

University Choice. Klaus Boehm, editor. (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1966. Pp. 400. $1.95.)

Pickets At The Gates. Estelle Fuchs. (New York: The Free Press, 1966. Pp. 205. $2.95.)

Democracy and Education. John Dewey. (New York: The Free Press, 1966. Pp. 378. $2.45.)

Reading in the Elementary School. Jeanette Veatch. (New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1966. Pp. 535. $7.00.)

Chinese Intellectuals and the West 1872–1949. Y. C. Wang. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1966. Pp. 557 $10.00.)

Learning in the Schools. Robert A. Davis. (Belmont, Calif. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1966. Pp. 231. $3.95.)

Setting Conditions for Creative Teaching in the Elementary School. James A. Smith, (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1966. Pp. 207. Text Ed. $4.95.)     

Reading comprehension of deaf children with cochlear implants

The reading comprehension and visual word recognition in 50 deaf children and adolescents with at least 3 years of cochlear implant (CI) use were evaluated. Their skills were contrasted with reference data of 500 deaf children without CIs. The reading comprehension level in children with CIs was expected to surpass that in deaf children without implants, partly via improved visual word recognition. Reading comprehension scores of children with implants were significantly better than those of deaf children without implants, although the performance in implant users was substantially lagging behind that in hearing children. Visual word recognition was better in children with CIs than in children without implants, in secondary education only. No difference in visual word recognition was found between the children with CIs and the hearing children, whereas the deaf children without implants showed a slightly poorer performance. The difference in reading comprehension performance of the deaf children with and without CIs remained present when visual word recognition was controlled for. This indicates that other reading-related skills were also contributing to the improved reading comprehension skills of deaf children with CIs.     

Implications for academic workload of the changing role of distance educators

The changing work roles and resulting workloads of distance educators hold significant implications for the wellbeing and mental health of academics. New work roles include redesigning curricula for online delivery, increasing staff-student ratios and demands for student-support, management of part-time staff, and 24-h availability. This research was conducted to investigate the perceived importance of various job roles constituting the quantitative and qualitative workload of distance educators at an open and distance learning university in South Africa. A quantitative, cross-sectional self-report survey design was employed. A stratified random sampling technique was used to ensure generalisability. The questionnaires were completed online, and the results were statistically analysed. The findings include a priority list of 40 distance educators’ work roles that may impact on their perceived workload. The article offers recommendations for policy development to facilitate a healthy workload allocation for distance educators.     

Can undergraduate biology students learn to ask higher level questions?

Our goals in this study were to explore the type of written questions students ask after reading one or more chapters from their textbook, and to investigate the ability of students to improve their questions during the course of a single semester. In order to classify student's questions we used a taxonomy that we have developed specifically for this purpose. Two comparable populations were examined: Undergraduate students in a large, introductory biology class who were taught in traditional lecture format, and students in a similar class who were taught in cooperative/active learning style. After the taxonomy was presented to the active learning class, more students were able to pose better, written questions. Their questions became more insightful, thoughtful, and content‐related, and were not easily answered by consulting the textbook or another readily available source. The best questions could be recast as scientific research questions (i.e., hypotheses). In contrast, when the taxonomy was presented to students in the traditionally taught class, the quality of student‐posed questions was largely unchanged. Various explanations for the difference in outcomes are discussed, and methods are suggested about how generally to encourage students' questions and to improve their question‐asking skills regardless of overall teaching style. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 854–870, 2000     

Destination unknown? Study choices and graduate destinations of Hungarian youth in Slovakia

Focusing on Hungarian minority youth in a rural Slovakian setting, this article analyses their higher education aspirations and choices amidst significant economic, political and educational reforms. Relying on mixed methods and a longitudinal design, the research follows a cohort of high school students from their last year of secondary school through university up to their graduate destinations several years onwards. The data reveal three main study-work trajectories reflecting different trade-offs in terms of higher education studies, graduate careers and ethnic identity maintenance that affect life-chances and the future of the Hungarian community in Slovakia.     

Education matters: continuity and change in attitudes to education and social mobility among the offspring of Turkish guest workers in the Netherlands and Austria

By comparing the educational situation of second-generation Turks in the Netherlands and Austria, the paper investigates the reasons behind the differential higher educational gains of the descendants of guest workers in the two countries. By relying on in-depth interviews with second-generation Turks, the paper illustrates how ethnic discrimination in the labour market lead to maintaining a ‘sojourn-perspective’ among Turks in the Austrian setting, who disapprove of long-term educational investments in favour of material resources enabling a potential return to Turkey. At the same time, the sojourn-orientation is giving way to a more long-term perspective in the case of the Netherlands, where Turkish families see investments in Dutch qualifications as worthwhile channels of upward mobility.