Individual differences in relative metacomprehension accuracy: variation within and across task manipulations

In recent decades, increasing numbers of studies have focused on metacomprehension accuracy, or readers’ ability to distinguish between texts comprehended more vs. less well. Following early findings that suggested readers are fairly poor at doing so, a number of studies have identified specific tasks to supplement a single reading of text that have resulted in greater metacomprehension accuracy. One assumption underlying these studies is that, in the absence of such tasks, metacomprehension accuracy is uniformly poor, and given their implementation, readers uniformly improve. Here we describe the individual variation that occurs both in the absence (e.g., within a single text reading manipulation) and presence (e.g., within a rereading or selective rereading task manipulation) of these supplementary tasks (N = 214), in order to make a case for greater attention to individual differences in metacomprehension accuracy. We also introduce a new manipulation in metacomprehension research, selective rereading, and argue that certain types of tasks may be more likely to reveal individual differences in metacomprehension accuracy due to the nature of the task being more or less demanding on working memory capacity.     

Implementation fidelity of MyTeachingPartner literacy and language activities: Association with preschoolers’ language and literacy growth

There is surprisingly little empirical research examining issues of fidelity of implementation within the early childhood education literature. In the MyTeachingPartner project, 154 teachers were provided with materials to implement a supplemental classroom curriculum addressing six aspects of literacy and language development. The present study examines the degree of variability in three aspects of implementation fidelity – dosage, adherence, and quality of delivery – and whether these components of fidelity were associated with children's growth in language and literacy skills across the preschool year. Findings indicate that teachers reported using the curriculum fairly often (dosage) and that they were observed to generally follow curricular lesson plans (adherence). In contrast, the quality of delivery, defined as the use of evidence-based teacher–child interactions for teaching literacy and language, was much lower. Children in classrooms in which activities were observed to last for longer (dosage) and in which teachers exhibited higher quality of delivery of literacy lessons made significantly greater gains in early literacy skills across the preschool year. Also, teachers’ use of higher quality language interactions was associated with gains for children who did not speak English at home. Results have implications for teacher professional development and the supports provided to ensure that curricula are delivered most effectively.     

The End of Britis Pub Culture？

本刊从2010年第1期起辟专栏连载英国大使馆文化处提供的系列稿件,为读者介绍英国文化,内容涵盖了假日、饮食、酒吧和英国皇室等方面。本栏目除文章外,每期还附有趣味小练习,另外,wordoftheday板块每期为读者介绍一个俚语。读者在深入领略英国文化底蕴的同时,还可学习到原汁原味的英文。本期文章介绍的是：英国的酒吧文化源远流长,极具特色。     

Effect of Dehydration on Passing Decision Making in Soccer Athletes

It seems that dehydration may impair decision-making performance in athletes. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the influence of dehydration on passing decision-making performance in soccer players. Method: Participants were 40 male soccer players (M_age = 22.3 ± 2.3 years) who agreed to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to the following conditions: control (CON), dehydration (DEH), and euhydration (EUH). The players played in 2 games of 90 min in duration (2 45-min halves) followed by 2 15-min halves (overtime) with and without proper hydration. The Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI) was considered for the analysis of passing decision making. Results: The GPAI analysis indicated effective reduction in the decision-making index in the DEH condition compared with the EUH and CON conditions, F(2, 38) = 31.4, p < .05, ES = 0.8. Conclusions: In conclusion, dehydration may be considered a mediating factor in the passing decision-making performance of male soccer athletes.     

Supporting Veteran Transitions to the Academic Setting: VA on Campus

In this case study, we assessed academic functioning, service satisfaction, and needs of student veterans at a community college who had accessed the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Student Veteran Health Program (SVHP) (n = 36). The SVHP provides outreach and behavioral health services directly on a large community college campus to overcome common barriers to engagement in mental health care (e.g., distance from a VA medical center). Academic difficulties that were most commonly reported were in the areas of retention of information, meeting deadlines, and cooperation with other students. Overall, the majority of student veterans who received services in the SVHP were satisfied (76.5%). Services targeting attention and concentration and utilization of educational benefits were highlighted as important by student veterans. This case study of VA services delivered within the community college setting provides important insights into how to design VA services to target the needs of student veterans. Specific recommendations for supporting student veterans on a community college campus are discussed.     

Children's school readiness in the ECLS-K: Predictions to academic, health, and social outcomes in first grade

Two studies examine patterns of school readiness in children at school entry and how these patterns predict first-grade outcomes in a nationally representative sample of first-time kindergartners from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (N = 17,219). In Study 1, cluster analyses revealed four profiles at kindergarten entry: comprehensive positive development (30%), social/emotional and health strengths (34%), social/emotional risk (13%), and health risk (22.5% of the sample). Study 2 results suggested that children with one of the two “risk” profiles were more likely to be from families with multiple socioeconomic disadvantages. In addition, all four profiles differentially predicted academic and social adjustment in early elementary school. Children with a risk profile performed the worst on all outcomes; children with a comprehensive positive development profile performed the best. The authors discuss the need for early identification of children who may be at risk for entering school with few school readiness strengths.     

Proactive interference by cues presented without outcomes: Differences in context specificity of latent inhibition and conditioned inhibition

This report is part of a larger project examining associative interference as a function of the nature of the interfering and target associations. Lick suppression experiments with rats assessed the effects of context shifts on proactive outcome interference by latent inhibition (LI) and Pavlovian conditioned inhibition (CI) treatments on subsequently trained Pavlovian conditioned excitation treatment. LI and CI were trained in Context A during Phase 1, and then excitation treatment was administered in Context B during Phase 2, followed by tests for conditioned excitation in Contexts A, B, or C. Experiment 1 preliminarily established our LI and CI treatments and resulted in equally retarded acquisition of behavioral control when the target cue was subsequently trained as a conditioned excitor and tested in Context A. However, only CI treatment caused the target to pass a summation test for inhibition. Centrally, Experiment 2 consisted of LI and CI treatments in Context A followed by excitatory training in Context B. Testing found low excitatory control by both LI and CI cues in Context A relative to strong excitatory control in Context B, but CI treatment transferred to Context C more strongly than LI treatment. Experiment 3 determined that LI treatment failed to transfer to Context C even when the number of LI trials was greatly increased. Thus, first-learned LI appears to be relatively context specific, whereas first-learned CI generalizes to a neutral context. These observations add to existing evidence that LI and CI treatments result in different types of learning that diverge sharply in transfer to a novel test context.     

A new approach to evaluating the well-being of PhD research students

This study describes the development of an assessment to evaluate the well-being of PhD researchers using a clinically approved methodology that places the perceptions and experiences of the subject population at the heart of its construction. It identifies and assesses the range and relative importance of seven distinct dimensions which are shown to impact adversely on the perceived well-being of student researchers across all stages of their studies. According to the findings, the well-being of doctoral students comprises needs relating to development, facilities, home and health, research, social, supervisor and university. The instrument was found to demonstrate good content validity and internal reliability. Its use offers new insights into the experiences of early career researchers and may inform efforts to better support them. This, in turn, may have a positive impact upon retention levels and future career choices for this research population.