The impact of a dialogic reading program on deaf and hard-of-hearing kindergarten and early primary school-aged students in Hong Kong

The present study investigated the effects of a special interactive dialogic reading method developed by Whitehurst et al. (1988) on deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Hong Kong. Twenty-eight deaf and hard-of-hearing children in kindergarten, first, or second grade were pretested on a receptive vocabulary test and assigned to one of three conditions, dialogic reading, typical reading, and control, with age and degree of hearing loss matched. After an 8-week intervention, the children were re-tested. The dialogic reading group had a significantly greater improvement in vocabulary scores than did the other two groups. Parent-child interactions of high quality and the use of pictorial materials are likely the key successful factors in the program. The educational value of this intervention is discussed.     

A comparison of verbal output and receptivity in relation to attraction and communication satisfaction in interpersonal relationships

This study tested relationships among verbal output, behavioral receptivity, attraction, and communication satisfaction in a variety of longer and shorter term relationships of differing levels of liking. Two behaviorally referenced reports on others were developed to measure perceived behavioral output and perceived behavioral receptivity. The study tested hypotheses within the attraction paradigm. Results generally supported the notion of an important reinforcement value of high behavioral receptivity and moderate verbal output. Substantial proportions of highly verbal people appeared to be below average in receptivity.     

Diverse socio-technical aspects of a digital archive of Aboriginal languages

ABSTRACT

A socio-technical approach is taken to explore a digital archive of Australian Indigenous cultural heritage. The Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages is considered in terms of what it is currently doing and what it was intended to do. Two ethnographic stories focusing on user interactions and the outcomes of an online survey serve to evaluate the effectiveness of the Archive from the perspective of different users. This is then juxtaposed with a consideration of the original grant application, outlining what was envisaged for the project. This analysis serves to highlight some of the contingent relations and diverse socio-technical aspects of a specific knowledge infrastructure, as it allows multiple forms of interaction, new connections and generative activities as people discover, access and interact with the content now and into the future.     

Strategic Capacity and Organisational Capabilities: A Challenge for Universities

Are universities able to operate as strategic actors? An organisational sociology based approach supported by a comparative field research project identifies three types of social, cultural and cognitive processes that play a decisive role in building and implementing local capabilities required to mobilise a strategic capacity. The paper identifies how much these processes are present in the four ideal-types of universities defined by crossing their reputation and their metrics-based performance. Such a meso deterministic perspective suggests that universities may position themselves as proactive actors or principals, and not just as agents of national reforms and political demands. Nevertheless, their ability to do it varies according to their type. The paper also explores the implications of such findings for institutional leadership and steering policymakers.     

‘We do not wish to be sofa cushions,or even props to men,but we wish to work by their side’: celebrating women as popular educators at the Anglican Church congresses 1881–1913

ABSTRACT

The Anglican Church congresses sought to foster relations between clergy and lay people. They promoted the Church as part of the social fabric of the nation with parades, civic receptions, services and public talks. Women were a presence at the congresses as platform speakers, organisers, hostesses and members of the audience. Congresses provided opportunities for informal collaborations and networking between organisations including the National Union of Women Workers, Mothers’ Union and Girls’ Friendly Society. Dedicated women’s sections from 1881 provided a space that was exploited by women activists seeking a voice in the public sphere. The congresses reflected a context of increasing professionalisation amongst women. This article celebrates the contribution made by women in the role of popular educators via congress platforms between 1882 and 1913. In addition, the article seeks to commemorate the unvoiced presence of working class women who engaged with the congresses as members of the audience.     

Steps to abstract reasoning: An interdisciplinary program for cognitive development

A learning cycle approach to undergraduate instruction was implemented in a variety of subjects in the liberal arts and sciences. The students in the experimental program were typical representatives of an institution with liberal admissions policies. Significant gains were made in critical thinking and cognitive skill development by the experimental group. Additionally, retention of the experimental group was improved. Gains of this sort have the potential to rekindle hope in college faculties that some of the traditional goals of higher education that center on critical thinking and cognitive skill development need not be abandoned in institutions with liberal admissions policies.     

Who are Rural Students? How Definitions of Rurality Affect Research on College Completion

Research in Higher Education - Given a revived national discourse about rural populations, more educational research on rural students is necessary, including ways that rural students transition to...     

Perceptions of the learning environment and associations with cognitive achievement among gifted biology students

This study assessed the perceptions of 146 gifted and 115 non-gifted high school biology students and investigated associations between student perceptions and cognitive achievement. The What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) was used to assess perceptions of actual and preferred learning environments. Data indicated that all students preferred a more favourable environment than the one that they were currently experiencing, but gifted students perceived their actual environment more positively than non-gifted students. Statistically significant associations between the actual learning environment and achievement on a standardised biology test were found for the majority of scales. Teacher Support, Investigation and Equity were all statistically significant independent predictors of student achievement, while Student Cohesiveness had a negative association with achievement. Interviews revealed that students interpreted some WIHIC items differently from how the developers had intended.     

White Privilege,Oppression, and Racial Identity Development: Implications for Supervision

Although the U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse, the race of individuals entering the counseling profession remains predominantly White (S. P. Pack‐Brown, 1999). The authors define and explore the connection between White privilege and oppression and encourage the use of racial identity models to address these constructs with counselor trainees in supervision.     

Poverty Power and Partnerships in Educational Development: A post-victimology perspective

An end-of-century critique of the political and economic assumptions underlying five decades of international development assistance conceives it as a system of structural violence that prevented the people of Africa from realising post-colonial self-reliance. New impoverishment through neo-liberal democratisation and the conditionalities attached to structural adjustment, is reducing the quality of life through cuts in hard won economic, social and educational opportunity and their liberatory potential. Moving beyond schooling for sub-ordinate roles in the new society is the current conceptualisation of humans as depoliticised resources interfacing the machines of capitalist enterprise. This links to aid inspired capacity-building initiatives, which undermine the abilities of organisations and states to sustain essential routines and initiate indigenous innovation. At the same time, the victims of colonial and neo-colonial oppression, particularly women and peasants, as victims of other people's progess and mal-development, have unparalled holistic and ecological knowledge of what the production and protection of life is all about. From a post-victimology perspective, theirs are the new voices for liberation and transformation.