Age-related changes in reading attitudes of young children: a cross-cultural study

The Preschool Reading Attitudes Scale (PRAS) was administered to 2201 young children, from three to five years of age, in early childhood programs from several regions of the United States. The scale is categorized into four areas related to children's reading environment. School Reading Activities, Non-school Reading Activities, Library Reading Activities and General Reading Activities. A validation sample revealed highly significant differences at all age levels between students receiving positive and negative teacher ratings of reading attitudes. The basic design involved three factors, age, sex, and ethnicity, and an analysis of variance was applied to total scores and subscores. The results showed significant outcomes for age and ethnicity, in addition to an age X ethnicity interaction. The results suggest that there are significant attitudinal differences between three-year-olds as opposed to four- and five-year-olds as well as age dependent differences among the ethnic groups.     

Inserted post-questions and learning from slide-tape presentations: Implications of the mathemagenic hypothesis

Summary From this review it appears that the insertion of factual postquestions into written instructional materials can result in increased learning of both intentional and incidental information. The intentional learning effect is attributed to the reinforcement resulting from review or practice. It is unclear, however, as to whether the incidental learning effect is backward (attributed to review), forward (results in the shaping of mathemagenic behaviors), or motivational. An analysis of intervening variables suggests that postquestions are generally facilitative for mature readers only, result in an increased study time, and are more effective for learners who are not highly motivated. Additional evidence suggests that the effect can be increased by using higher order questions requiring comprehension, application, or analysis. It appears that knowledge of the correct responses to the post-questions will increase intentional learning. No conclusions are drawn concerning the interaction between the use of inserted questions and ability level or passage length. This article is the second AVCR/ERIC Young Scholar Paper, an annual series initiated to stimulate writing by young professionals in the field of instructional technology. Preparation of the paper was supported by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearinghouse on Information Resources, Stanford University, Stanford, California. The material in this article was prepared pursuant to a contract with the National Institute of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters. Points of view or opinions do not necessarily represent the official view or opinions of the NIE.     

Effects of postquestions on learning and learning efficiency from fixed-pace,fixed-sequence media

Nearly 400 junior high school and college students participated in 3 experiments that explored the effects of postquestion treatments on learning from slide/tape presentations. It appears that inserted postquestions can increase the learning of question-relevant information without impairing learning efficiency. The effects of grouped postquestions are unclear, but apparently such questions can impair learning efficiency. The learning of information not directly related to the postquestions was not enhanced by inserted or grouped postquestions and the efficiency of that learning was significantly reduced. No evidence of interac tions with individual differences was found.     

A bibliography of debating

ROGER WILLIAMS. By Perry Miller. Indianapolis: The Bobbs‐Merrill Company, Inc., 1953; pp. xiii+373. $3.00.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. By I. Bernard Cohen. Indianpolis: The Bobbs‐Merrill Company, Inc., 1953; pp. xix+320. $3.00.

ANDREW JACKSON. By Harold C. Syrett. Indianapolis: The Bobbs‐Merrill Company, Inc., 1953; pp. 298. $3.00.

THE STATESMANSHIP OF THE CIVIL WAR. By Allan Nevins. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953; pp. 82. $2.25.

HORACE GREELEY: NINETEENTH‐CENTURY CRUSADER. By Glyndon G. Van Deusen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1953; pp. 445. $5.00.

COUNSEL FOR THE DAMNED. By Lowell S. Hawley and Ralph Bushnell Potts. New York: The J. B. Lippincott Company, 1953; pp. 320. $3.75.

PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE. Edited by Harry Elmer Barnes. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1953; pp. 679. $6.00.

A FAITH TO PROCLAIM. By James S. Stewart. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953: pp. 160. $2.50.

BEYOND CRITICISM. By Karl Shapiro. Lincoln: The University of Nebraska Press, 1953; pp. 73. $3.00.

THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALPHABET. By Alfred C. Moorhouse. New York: Henry Schuman, 1953; pp. 223. $3.50.

ONEIDA VERB MORPHOLOGY. By Floyd G. Lounsbury. Yale University Publications in Anthropology 48. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953. pp. 111. $1.50.

WORDS AND SOUNDS IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH. By John Orr. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953; pp. viii+279, 2 maps. $4.25.

FLAMING MINISTER: A STUDY OF OTHELLO AS TRAGEDY OF LOVE AND HATE. By G. R. Elliott. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1953; pp. xxxvi+245. $4.50.

MACBETH. Edited by Kenneth Muir. (Eighth edition, revised). Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953; pp. lxxiv+200. $2.75.

CURTAIN TIME. By Lloyd Morris. New York: Random House, 1953; pp. xvi+380. $5.00.

PLAYS AS LITERATURE FOR AN AUDIENCE. By George F. Reynolds. Boulder, Colorado: The University of Colorado Press, 1953; pp. 51. $1.50.

SCENERY DESIGN FOR THE AMATEUR STAGE. By Willard J. Friederich and John H. Frazer. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1950; pp. 264. $3.75.

FILM FORM. By Sergei Eisenstein. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1953; pp. 279. $4.50.

TEEN THEATRE: A GUIDE TO PLAY PRODUCTION. By Edwin and Natalie Gross. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Co., 1953; pp. 245. $3.25.

TELEVISION IN SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY. By Jennie Waugh Callahan. New York: The McGraw‐Hill Book Company, 1953; pp. xvi+389. $4.75.

PRODUCING AND DIRECTING FOR TELEVISION. By Charles Adams. New York: Henry Holt &; Co., 1953; pp. 282. $3.95.

TELEVISION ADVERTISING AND PRODUCTION HANDBOOK. Edited by Irving Settel and Norman Glenn. New York: The Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1953; pp. xv+480. $6.00.

RADIO AND TELEVISION ANNOUNCING. By Lyle D. Barnhart. New York: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1953; pp. 283. $5.00.

SPEECH THERAPY: A BOOK OF READINGS. By Charles Van Riper. New York: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1953; pp. xiii+319. $3.95.

SPEECH AND HEARING THERAPY. By Ruth Beckey Irwin. New York: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1953; pp. 243. $3.50.

KEEP YOUR VOICE HEALTHY. By Friedrich S. Brodnitz. New York: Harper &; Brothers, 1953; pp. xiv+234. $3.50.

CLINICIAN'S HANDBOOK FOR AUDITORY TRAINING. By J. C. Kelly. Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown Co., 1953; pp. iv+155. $2.00.

SPEECH: A HANDBOOK OF VOICE TRAINING, DICTION, AND PUBLIC SPEAKING. By Dorothy Mulgrave. With Chapters by Wilbur E. Gilman and Wilbert L. Pronovost. (College Outline Series, No. 89). New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1954; pp. xvii+270. $1.50.

TEACHING SPEECH IN HIGH SCHOOLS. By Willard J. Friederich and Ruth A. Wilcox. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953; pp. xi+487. $4.75.

LEARNING PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE. By Alice Sturgis. New York: The McGraw‐Hill Company, Inc., 1953; pp. xvi+ 358. $4.00.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING IN INTERGROUP EDUCATION: EVALUATION OF WORKSHOPS. Washington, D. C.: American Council on Education, 1953; pp. 243. $2.50.

GROUP DYNAMICS: RESEARCH AND THEORY. By Dorwin Cartwright and Alvin Zander. Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson and Company, 1953; pp. xiii+642. $6.00.

PEOPLE IN LIVINGSTON: A READER FOR ADULTS LEARNING ENGLISH. By Virginia French Allen. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1953; pp. vi+122. $1.25.     

Teaching under Lockdown: the experiences of London English teachers

ABSTRACT

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, on 18 March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the immediate closure of schools in England. (The closure was not absolute: schools would remain open for vulnerable children and the children of key workers. In practice, though, very few children have continued to attend.) In what follows, nine English teachers reflect on their experience of teaching under lockdown.     

Improved estimation of academic cheating behavior using the randomized response technique

Academic cheating behavior by university students was surveyed using the randomized response technique (RRT) and by conventional anonymous questionnaire methods. RRT is a survey method that permits sensitive information to be collected but that precludes associating the respondent with a particular response to a survey item. The estimated proportions of students who have engaged in cheating behaviors were, in general, larger using RRT. Moreover, this result is consistent with earlier findings for other sensitive behaviors. That underreporting is a serious problem with anonymous questionnaires is supported by the fact that the anonymous questionnaire estimates ranged from 39% to 83% below the RRT estimates. Furthermore, using a covariate modification of RRT, there was a distinct inverse relation between students' estimated grade-point average and the tendency to engage in cheating behavior. While these results have direct implications for estimating cheating behavior in higher education, more broadly, they raise serious concerns about the use of anonymous questionnaires when survey topics are sensitive.     

Eastern public speaking conference

Sound, A Textbook. By Arthur Tabor Jones. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1937; pp. xi + 450. $3.75.

How to Win Friends and Influence People. By Dale Carnegie. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1936; pp. vii + 341. $2.00.

Actor in the Making. By William H. Bridge. Boston: Expression Company, 1936; pp. 115.

Public Discussion and Debate. (Revised Edition.) By A. Craig Baird. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1937; pp. iv + 400. $2.00.

Seeing and Hearing America. By Vida Ravenscroft Sutton. Boston: Expression Company, 1936; pp. 111. $1.75.

How to Improve Your Voice; Modern Theory and Practice for Singers and Speakers. By Gregory Krasnoff. New York: The Dial Press, 1936; pp. vii‐x + 181. $2.25.

Dos and Don'ts of Radio Writing. By Ralph Rogers. Boston: Associated Radio Writers, Inc., 1937; pp. 104. $1.00.

How to Speak in Public: a Natural Method. By Frank Home Kirkpatrick. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1937; pp. v‐xxiii + 199. $1.75.

Tournament Plays. Thirteen hitherto unpublished one‐act plays. New York: Samuel French, 1937; pp. 232. $1.50.

A History of Modern Colloquial English, 3rd ed. By Henry Cecil Wyld. New York: E. P. Dutton &; Co., 1937; pp. xviii + 433. $3.00.

20,000 Words Often Mispronounced. By W. H. P. Phyfe. New edition compiled by Fred A. Sweet and Maud D. Williams. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1937; pp. xvii + 791. $2.00.

You Don't Say! By Alfred H. Holt. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1937; pp. xvii + 165. $1.50.

The Call of the Dead (Totenmal). By Albert Talhoff. Boston: Expression Company, n.d.; pp. 25.

Simplified Lip Reading. New York: Supplementary School for Lip Reading and Speech Correction, 1937; pp. 80. $1.50.

Practical Methods in Choral Speaking. By Marguerite E. DeWitt and Others. Boston: Expression Company, 1936; pp. 253.

European and Asiatic Plays. Edited by Joseph Richard Taylor. Boston: Expression Co., 1936; pp. 730 + x.

Pitch and Intensity Characteristics of Stage Speech. By Milton Cowan. Iowa City: Supplement to Archives of Speech, 1936; pp. 92.

An American Phonetic Reader. By Sarah T. Barrows and Alta B. Hall. Boston: Expression Co., 1936; pp. xvi + 58. $1.25.

An English Pronouncing Dictionary, 4th ed. By Daniel Jones. New York: E. P. Dutton &; Co., 1937; pp. xxviii + 495. $2.00.

Animal Marionettes, Handbook X. By Paul McPharlin. Birmingham, Michigan: Puppetry Imprints, 1937; pp. 31. $1.50.

Puppetry, 1936. Edited by Paul McPharlin, Birmingham, Michigan: Puppetry Imprints, 1936; pp. 158. $2.50.

Speech Composition. By William Norwood Brigance. New York: F. S. Crofts and Co., 1937; pp. 385. $2.25.

Day by Day with American Playwrights. Compiled and edited with an introduction by Irene Childrey Hoch. Visalia, California: Published by the author, 1936; pp. 84. $1.00.

Catholic Evidence Training Outlines. (Third Edition, revised and enlarged.) Compiled by Maisie Ward and F. J. Sheed. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1935; pp. 330. $1.50.

Reading for Skill. By Angela M. Broening, Frederick H. Law, Mary S. Wilkinson, and Caroline L. Ziegler. New York: Noble and Noble, 1936; pp. xiii + 399. $1.30.

A Guide to Pronunciation. By Paul W. Carhart. Entirely rewritten by John S. Kenyon. Springfield: The G. &; C. Merriam Co., 1934.

Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, fifth edition. Springfield: The G. &; C. Merriam Co., 1936; pp. xxvi + 1274.

Poetry Arranged for the Speaking Choir. By Marion Parsons Robinson and Rozetta Lura Thurston. Boston: Expression Co., 1936; pp. 405. $2.50.

Psychometric Methods. By J. P. Guilford. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Co., 1936; pp. xvi + 566. $4.50.

One Hundred New Declamations. Compiled and edited by Lestee C. Boone. New York: Noble and Noble, Inc., 1936; pp. xxxiii + 434. $2.50.

Film and Theatre. By Allandyce Nicoll. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1936; pp. ix + 255. $2.50.

Principles of Shakespearean Production. By G. Wilson Knight. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1936; pp. 246. $3.50.

Modern Rules of Parliamentary Procedure. By Robert D. Leigh. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1937; pp. 106. $1.00.

Scenery Then and Now. By Donald Oenslager, New York: W. W. Norton Co., 1936; pp. 265. $5.00.

Stage Management for the Amateur Theatre. By William Perdue Halstead. New York: F. S. Crofts &; Co., 1937; pp. xviii + 265. $2.50.

Let's Give A Play. By Gertrude Smith Buckland. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1937; pp. 197. $1.50.

Adult Education. By Lyman Bryson. New York: The American Book Co., 1936; pp. 208.