Identifying native language difficulties among foreign language learners in college: a "foreign" language learning disability?

The present study compared successful and unsuccessful college foreign language learners on measures of intelligence, foreign language aptitude, native oral and written language, and math. Unsuccessful students had received petitions to waive the foreign language requirement. No significant differences between groups were found on intelligence and reading comprehension. Significant differences were found on the Modern Language Aptitude Test, on tests of written and oral language in the syntactic and phonological domains, and on math calculation. Authors suggest that students with foreign language learning difficulties may have underlying native language problems manifested especially in the areas of syntax and phonology. Suggestions for diagnosing a foreign language disability are made.     

Generalization along the dimension of sound intensity in pigeons

Two groups of four pigeons each were trained on a discrimination between two intensities of white noise. The low-intensity group had a 60-dB intensity as the negative discriminative stimulus (S?) and a 70-dB intensity as the positive discriminative stimulus (S+): the high-intensity group had a 95-dB intensity as S? and an 85-dB intensity as S+. Generalization stimuli were all of higher intensity than S+ for the former group and all of lower intensity than S+ for the latter group. The rate of acquisition of the discrimination was faster for the Ss in the high-intensity group. In both groups, the maximum of the generalization function was shifted toward the middle values of the set of test stimuli, away from the training stimuli. Responding showed a decline at the far end of the range of test stimuli. Responding to the positive training stimulus was initially as great as it had been on the preceding training sessions, but became markedly depressed relative to responding to the other stimuli as the test progressed.     

International Comparisons of the Relationships among Educational Effectiveness, Evaluation and Improvement Variables: An Overview

This special issue of the Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education presents information from five countries related to the following constructs and/or literatures: teacher effectiveness research, school effectiveness research, teacher evaluation, staff development, teacher improvement, and school improvement. This overview article presents brief summaries of five major issues that are addressed throughout the issue. A conceptual framework is introduced that presents links among the aforementioned constructs/literatures. While these links are theoretically viable, their actual existence varies widely by country, with several countries lacking many of the links. Implications of these missing links are discussed, as well as strategies for more tightly joining these literatures/constructs. Original research from each of the countries is also introduced.     

Institutional Image and Retention

The image or `branding' issue hasbecome a strategic managerial decision forpostsecondary institutions because it impactsupon the desire of a student to persist andcomplete, or to drop out. This paper examinesthe relationship that exists between students'expectations and their lived experience asreported by students in an actual institutionalsetting. It is a case study which suggestsactionable outcomes for the particularinstitution. More importantly, the approachused here is easily replicable and may beemployed to provide useful information forimage enhancement in other university settings.     

A community development approach to the prevention of institutional and societal child maltreatment

The Community/Institutional Development (CID) system addresses the needs of children placed in out-of-home care facilities. The major purpose of the system is to prevent the occurrence of institutional and societal child maltreatment. It features community/institutional collaboration in the review of institutionalized children's care, and the development of programs to prevent child maltreatment. This would represent a genuine collaboration between institutions and their communities, assessing the contributions of both to the quality of child care. At this time the CID system is a pilot project in the state of Kansas. There are a total of eight public and private child care institutions involved. The project is endorsed by the Office of the Governor, the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and the Kansas Chapter of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse. Preliminary impressions indicate that the CID concept is practical, feasible and cost effective. It could also be adapted to the needs of other age groups. The concept is outlined.     

Academic pressures and the black adolescent

This study examined the relationships among social class, race, and academic pressure in an inner city public high school. Previous research outside the inner city on U.S. and English high school students, who were predominantly white, has yielded four major factors: parental stress, peer stress, importance of school, and fear of failure. The primary purposes of this study are (1) to measure academic stress in an inner city setting, (2) to observe differences and similarities between blacks and whites and between middle- and lower-class adolescents, and (3) to determine if the four previously observed factors would be as pertinent for this sample as they were for previous samples. Race differences were observed on 4 of 10 factors with blacks indicating significantly more pressure than whites. A race by class interaction was observed on one factor and no significant differences were observed on the five remaining factors.