Self-regulating academic learning and achievement: The emergence of a social cognitive perspective

For three decades, social cognitive researchers have studied children's development of self-regulation as an achievement of socialization processes. I recount historically the emergence of a social cognitive perspective on self-regulation and identify its unique features. Two essential characteristics of students' self-regulated academic learning have been identified — their use of strategies and perceptions of self-efficacy. A social cognitive model of academic self-regulated learning is proposed that integrates triadic determinants of self-regulated learning (personal, behavioral, and environmental) on the basis of a strategic control loop. When students monitor their responding and attribute outcomes to their strategies, their learning becomes self-regulated, and they display increased self-efficacy, greater intrinsic motivation, and higher academic achievement.     

The ‘Everyday World’ of Teachers? Deracialised discourses in the sociology of teachers and the teaching profession

This article explores the way in which the ‘everyday world’ of teachers and the teaching profession has been discoursively formulated in sociological research. In particular, it is critical of the way certain sociologists have ‘deracialised’ that world. In part, then, the argument complements Sandra Acker's (1983) feminist critique of the sociological literature on teachers. In the first part of the paper I look critically at the discourses of Schoolteacher (Lortie), Teachers’ Work (Connell) and Teachers’ Careers (Sikes, Measor and Woods) and argue that deracialisation is achieved and confirmed in these seminal studies through the processes of ‘globalisation’ and ‘commatization’. Following on from this, I look at the emergence of ‘Images of studies of ethnic minority teachers. I question the efficacy of their challenge to deracialised studies because of their tendency to articulate with the discourse of multiculturalism and, as a consequence, their implicit legitimation of ethnocentric conceptions of ‘the norm’. I conclude by discussing how concepts within the analytical frame of ‘micropolitics’ have the potential to illuminate more clearly and authentically the matrix of power relations within the ‘everyday world’ of teachers.     

Effects of modified-implement training on fast bowling in cricket

The effects of training with overweight and underweight cricket balls on fast-bowling speed and accuracy were investigated in senior club cricket bowlers randomly assigned to either a traditional (n = 9) or modified-implement training (n = 7) group. Both groups performed bowling training three times a week for 10 weeks. The traditional training group bowled only regulation cricket balls (156 g), whereas the modified-implement training group bowled a combination of overweight (161-181 g), underweight (151-131 g) and regulation cricket balls. A radar gun measured the speed of 18 consecutive deliveries for each bowler before, during and after the training period. Video recordings of the deliveries were also analysed to determine bowling accuracy in terms of first-bounce distance from the stumps. Bowling speed, which was initially 108 +/- 5 km h(-1) (mean +/- standard deviation), increased in the modified-implement training group by 4.0 km x h(-1) and in the traditional training group by 1.3 km x h(-1) (difference, 2.7 km x h(-1); 90% confidence limits, 1.2 to 4.2 km x h(-1)). For a minimum worthwhile change of 5 km x h(-1), the chances that the true effect on bowling speed was practically beneficial/trivial/harmful were 1.0/99/< 0.1%. For bowling accuracy, the chances were 1/48/51%. This modified-implement training programme is not a useful training strategy for club cricketers.     

Volunteering in libraries,museums and archives

Volunteering is very much in vogue as far as government is concerned; volunteering strengthens society through participation, whilst helping to extend and deliver services and enhance the lives of volunteers in numerous ways. This chapter of Cultural Trends offers an overview of volunteering before looking at the involvement of volunteers in museums, libraries and archives. Many volunteer‐involving organisations are examining carefully the way in which they recruit and support volunteers, as the environment in which volunteers are recruited becomes more competitive. At the same time, organisations can sometimes lose sight of why they involve volunteers.

This chapter reports on a survey of museums and libraries conducted for Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, identifying the added value of involving volunteers and the institutional structures in place to support them. A survey was conducted in which 1,500 questionnaires were sent out ‐ with 500 each going to libraries, museums and archives. It finds that volunteers are a key element in extending the services that museums and libraries can offer. It also finds that practices in involving volunteers vary widely. Volunteers are more likely to be found in libraries than museums or archives and women are more likely to be involved than men. Very few of the organisations returning the questionnaires have somebody whose job is to manage or coordinate volunteers; perhaps unsurprisingly most are to be found in museums. Where organisations do not involve volunteers, issues of time management were most often cited, although a minority argued against involving volunteers per se.

The chapter concludes that although many organisations value highly the involvement of volunteers, there is more that can be done to support volunteering in libraries, museums and archives.     

General Media and Society

Atwan, Robert, Barry Orton, and Alliam Vesterman. American Mass Media: Industries and Issues (New York: Random House, 1978—$8.95, paper)

Dennis, Everette E., Arnold H. Ismach, and Donald M. Gillmor, eds. Enduring Issues in Mass Communication (St. Paul, Minn.: West P.' _fishing Co., 1978—price not given, paper)

White, David Manning, and John Pendleton, eds. Popular Culture: Mirror of American Life (Del Mar, Calif.: Publisher's Inc., 1977—$11.95/6.25)

Charlene J. Brown, Trevor R. Brown, and William L. Rivers' The Media and the People (New York: Holt, Rinehart a Winston, 1978 —price not given, paper)

Malcolm Muggeridge's Christ and the Media (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977— $5.95)