Improving the reading of bisyllabic words that involve context-sensitive spelling rules: focus on successes or on failures?

The effect of two training procedures on the improvement of reading accuracy in poor readers was examined in relation to their initial reading level. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 60 poor readers. Poor readers were assigned to a control group that received no training, or one of two training conditions. One training concentrated on the words the children read correctly (successes), the other on the words they read incorrectly (failures). They repeatedly read bisyllabic Dutch words, half of the training words involving context-sensitive spelling rules (vowel degemination or consonant gemination). Some children repeatedly read their successes, others their failures. The training used a computerized flashcards format. The exposure duration of the words was varied to maintain the accuracy rate at a constant level. In general, children who received training improved their reading accuracy and reading speed of trained words, and reading accuracy of untrained words, more than the control group. Which training focus is superior, depends on the reading level of the child and the type of words used. For children with a low initial reading level, to improve reading accuracy of bisyllabic words that follow context-sensitive spelling rules, a training focus on failures was superior over a training focus on successes. For children with a high initial reading level, improvement of reading speed was largest in a training on successes. Evidently, the improvement of word reading skills depends both on the children’s level of reading competence and on the type of training.     

Design of a long range nano-scale resolution mechanism

This paper presents the development of a coarse-fine dual precision positioning stage to achieve long travel range and high accuracy. The fine stage is arranged in series with a coarse stage. The key in the fine stage design is the choice of a toggle mechanism for a tight mechanical loop with high stiffness and compactness. We designed the toggle mechanism for reduction of the displacement to suppress signal noises, The performance of the coarse and fine stages was verified with an optical encoder and capacitive sensor, respectively. The measurement results show that the dual mechanism has a travel range of 1 mm and resolution of 30 nm.     

Female Administrators: A Crack in the Glass Ceiling

This experimental study investigates the effects of gender of the evaluator, gender of the applicant, and gender of the reference source at the screening stage of the selection process. Specifically, male and female principals were asked to evaluate re´sume´s and reference letters of hypothetical male and female applicants for the focal position of assistant principal. In the context of selection of an assistant principal, the authors hypothesized that male principals would prefer male applicants and female principals would prefer female applicants. This hypothesis was based on the sex similarity-attraction paradigm. The sex similarity-attraction paradigm suggests that same-sex applicants will be regarded as more similar than opposite-sex applicants (Gallois, Callan & Palmer, 1992) and that applicants who are perceived as similar will be evaluated favorably (Cardy & Dobbins, 1986). Finally, although the authors anticipated that sex similarity-attraction would support an interaction effect between gender of applicant and gender of rater, as strengthened by gender of the reference letter source, the findings did not support this interaction. In fact, the main effect for gender of applicant indicates that hypothetical female administrator candidates are evaluated significantly higher than hypothetical male administrator candidates. This is contrary to about half of past selection research that suggested female applicants are given lower evaluations than male applicants. Thus, these results may be an indication that the evaluations of female applicants for administrative positions are improving to the extent that female applicants were more likely to be offered employment interviews than male applicants.     

The prevalence of poor reading in Dutch special elementary education

The relative frequency of poor readers in Dutch general elementary education (GEE) and special elementary education (SEE) and the characteristics of their reading performance were investigated using a lexical decision procedure. According to the same norms that identified 9% of students as poor readers in GEE, no less than 73% of the students in SEE were classified as poor readers. On average, the GEE poor readers were better readers than those in SEE, but the findings do not point to substantial differences in reading processes between the two reader groups. Hypotheses about the nature of the referral process that may cause this surprisingly strong relation between poor reading ability and SEE placement are advanced.