Reading Place: Bodies and Spaces in Québécois Adolescent Literature

This paper examines two Canadian (Québécois) novels for young adults, translated from French to English in Canada: The Road to Chlifa by Michèle Marineau, and Pieces of Me by Charlotte Gingras. We examine the representation of adolescent bodies in space and movement, and how these coming of age narratives play out in relation to discourses about nationality and citizenship. This paper suggests that there are subtle differences in sensibilities in works published in French by Québécois writers and publishers, and that there is evidence of a lingering solitude in relation to young adult literature in Canada. We argue that we need to understand and continue to explicate the complex set of cultural readings and re-readings engendered by these and other coming of age novels that cross real and imagined boundaries of federation and language; that is, we encourage educators to examine representations of adolescent protagonists in relation to the production and reception of literary works that travel within and across our borders.     

Unfulfilled promise: radical discourses in South African educational historiography, 1970–2007

This paper examines the discourses and modes of representation embodied in educational historiography from the 1970s to the present and their implications for intellectual identity construction in SA. The paper shows how the theoretical foundations of the liberal and Afrikaner nationalist discourses, which vacillated between race and ethnicity, shifted to social class and gender in radical and neo‐Marxist discursive formations of the 1980s. It highlights how the decline of radical scholarship has resulted in a synthesis of constructivist and postmodernist discourses that privilege nation‐building, identity and cultural diversity after apartheid within a predominantly neo‐liberal paradigm. It argues that the transition to post‐apartheid education came to be thought about within a horizon of possibilities different from the rigid paradigmatic tradition of the short‐lived neo‐Marxist school of the 1970s and 1980s.     

Statistics in the speed cameras debate

This article illustrates how statistical arguments can be used to influence public policy . . . for better or for worse.     

Editorials

This article discusses historical and contemporary influences on changes in special education assessment, with emphasis on three persistent themes: accurate classification, fairness to minority students, and special education outcomes. Dunn's contributions to each of the themes are discussed, along with other influences such as legislation and litigation. Current dynamics leading to significant changes in special education assessment are discussed, particularly in the disability category of specific learning disabilities.     

Análisis comparativo de la conducta de niños autistas,deficientes y normales en una situación de interacción

Resumen

El presente articulo expone una investigación cuyo objetivo es estudiar comparativamente la conducta de los niños autistas, deficientes no autistas y normales, en una situación de interacción diádica con un adulto. La muestra estaba compuesta por 30 niños, 10 en cada grupo. Los niños de los distintos grupos diagnósticos estaban igualados uno a uno en edad mental y sexo. Los deficientes y los autistas fueron igualados además en edad cronológica. Cada sujeto fue grabado mediante video en una sesión de interacción social. La conducta de los sujetos se codificó atendiendo a 34 categorías de observación que recogían distintos tipos de conducta (conductas proxémicas, de atención, expresivas, instrumentales, estrategias de comunicación, conductas de huida, agresivas…). Se discuten tos resultados y sus implicaciones, sugiriendo nuevas lineas de investigación.     

Thinking for speaking: the expression of motion events by Russian and Chinese learners of Catalan as a second language / Pensar para hablar: la expresión de eventos de movimiento en hablantes nativos de ruso y mandarín que aprenden catalán como una segunda lengua

Abstract

In this study we provide evidence for the influence of L1 typological patterns in elicited narratives in Catalan by bilingual speakers of three different typological languages. The expression of the semantic components of Path and Manner of motion of Russian L1 speakers and Mandarin L1 speakers was compared to that of native Catalan speakers. Following the Thinking for Speaking framework, it was hypothesized that if the preferred semantic structure of L1 is transferred to the L2, then productions would be organized and structured differently according to the typological characteristics of L1. Results show different patterns of expression in L2 with regard to lexical choice and syntactic-semantic structure. We argue that the results provide empirical support for the Thinking for Speaking hypothesis.     

Season of birth and school success in the early years of primary education

Several studies have reported significant relationships between children’s season of birth and measures of their academic success (i.e., the ‘season of birth effect’). Whereas most of these studies were cross‐sectional, the current study uses growth curve modelling to analyse longitudinal data on 3,187 children in Flemish primary education. The results indicate season of birth effects on both grade retention and mathematics achievement during the first two years of primary school. Because the Flemish cut‐off date is 31 December, children born in the fourth quarter (October‐November‐December) invariably are among the youngest in their grade age group. Almost 20% of these children were found to have been retained or referred to special education by the end of Grade 2, whereas for children born in the first quarter (January‐February‐March), this was only 6.34%. First quarter‐born children also showed moderately higher mathematics achievement at the start of first grade. During the next two school years, this achievement gap between children born in the first and the fourth quarter narrowed significantly. Finally, differentiated instruction was not found to be related to the decrease of the season of birth effect.     

The School and the Reduction of Inequality∗

ABSTRACT

The need to develop reasoning skills in children through discussion is generally acknowledged by curriculum aims. There is, however, a lack of any definite teaching strategy to fulfil this need. Matthew Lipman's Philosophy for Children programme has had success in this area. As with other ‘collaborative enquiry‐based’ approaches to learning, it depends upon a teaching strategy which enhances children's self‐esteem. This seems a necessary ingredient for the development of rationality, critical awareness and autonomy in children. Inadequate teacher training is suggested as a major reason for the failure of ‘collaborative’ approaches greatly to influence educational practice. With a shift away from the ‘authority/knowledge‐based’ paradigm and the provision of effective teacher training, it is considered that our educational institutions could become more democratically organised, and we would move closer to realising the liberal ideal of developing human potential to the full.     

The Accessibility and Usability of College Websites: Is your Website Presenting Barriers to Potential Students?

Thirty community college websites were evaluated for compliance with federal web accessibility standards found in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d). Two typical sites were tested for usability by individuals with visual impairments, individuals with reading-related learning disabilities (LD), and a control group of individuals without disabilities. Ten additional sites were selected for Simulated Target Group usability testing. Testing revealed that less than 1% of pages evaluated met Section 508 web accessibility standards. Over half of the users found the online admissions application process frustrating, and less than a third of all users could complete the online application without assistance. The Simulated Target Group usability testing encountered similar usability issues across the additional 10 community college websites examined. All four evaluation techniques found that community college websites fared poorly in both accessibility and usability. However, many of the issues could be addressed without significant effort.