Extensive reading in English: habits and attitudes of a group of Italian university EFL students

Although extensive reading is now recognised as an important element of language instruction, it appears that EFL students specialising in business studies do little reading in English beyond course requirements. This study illustrates the findings of a survey of reading frequency and attitudes related to extensive reading in English. A questionnaire administered to 182 Italian EFL students at the University of Florence showed that even if frequency of reading in English is quite low, attitude towards it is clearly favourable. In addition, multiple regression analysis was used to determine potentially influential factors. Reading in Italian and experience abroad were significantly correlated with both reading frequency and attitude. The correlation between past access to English books and reading attitude approached the significance level. A negative correlation was found instead between the number of years of past English study and reading attitude. These findings are useful for defining appropriate instructional actions and identifying areas for further research, with the aim of more effectively promoting extensive reading in English.     

The term comorbidity is of questionable value in reference to developmental disorders: data and theory

Over the last decade, there has been an enormous increase in the number of studies evaluating the overlap of developmental syndromes or disorders in both children and adults. This overlap of symptoms is often referred to as comorbidity, a term we criticize in this article because of its unsubstantiated presumption of independent etiologies. The premise of this article is that discrete categories do not exist in real life, and that it is misleading to refer to overlapping categories or symptoms as "comorbidities." We illustrate our point by presenting data from 179 school-age children evaluated with rigorous research criteria for seven disorders: reading disability (RD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), depression, and anxiety. Fully 50% of this sample met the criteria for at least two diagnoses. The children with ADHD were at higher risk of having at least a second disorder compared to the children with RD. Overall, the high rates of overlap of these behavioral, emotional, and educational deficits in this broadly ascertained sample support the idea that the concept of comorbidity is inadequate. We discuss the concept of atypical brain development as an explanatory idea to interpret the high rate of overlap of developmental disorders.     

Gradient form and sequential effects during generalization testing in extinction

Four naive pigeons were given six generalization tests in extinction after periods of pretraining in which S+ appeared with food reinforcement and S? appeared in extinction. An analysis of sequential effects among presentations of test stimuli showed that the overall gradient was influenced differently by stimuli at the extremes of the continuum of test stimuli and by S+ and adjacent stimuli. Gradients consisting of responding in each stimulus when it was preceded by an extreme stimulus tended to peak at S+, while gradients produced when each stimulus was preceded by S+ or an adjacent stimulus tended to show a peak shift. This was true whether the overall gradient showed a peak shift or not. Two naive subjects were added and four additional tests were given after pretraining in which unequal frequencies of reinforcement accompanied both S+ and S?. Results of all 10 tests show that sequential effects occur during generalization testing in extinction and that these “local dimensional effects” are unlike local contrast. These stimulus-specific sequential effects may greatly influence overall gradient form.     

Individualized quasi instructional systems for the 70's

It is argued that fundamental changes in instructional planning, design, and implementation are required to make schools more responsive to the needs of individual learners. It is suggested that the desired changes are possible through the use of processes growing out of a four-stage teaching model operating on the total instructional climate of schools. The resulting instructional systems would make use of multidisciplinary teams of instructional agents drawing on and contributing to a growing scientific and technological base for instructional practice, and would lead to the development of a new field called instructional technology. Suggestions are outlines for changes in the roles of teachers, psychologists, and guidance personnel, as well as for the kind of technological support required for such instructional systems.

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Résumé Les auteurs soutiennent que des changements fondamentaux concernant instructionnellement la planification, les modèles, et la mise en oeuvre sont essentiels pour que les écoles répondent mieux aux besoins de chaque individu. En employant un modèle de l'enseignement qui a quatre phases et qui embrasse le milieu total de l'école, on pourra effectuer les changements desirés. Les systèmes d'instruction qui en résulteraient emploieraient des équipes multidisciplinaires d'agents instructionnels qui contribueraient à une base scientifique et technologique croissante pour la pratique instructionnelle. Une nouvelle matière-la technologie instructionnelle-en résultera. Les auteurs suggèrent des changements dans le rôle des professeurs, des psychologues, et des conseillers pédagogiques, aussi bien que dans le genre de soutien technologique sur lequel ces systèmes instructionnels dépendent.

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OISE     

Learning to teach science as inquiry in the rough and tumble of practice

This study examined the knowledge, beliefs and efforts of five prospective teachers to enact teaching science as inquiry, over the course of a one‐year high school fieldwork experience. Data sources included interviews, field notes, and artifacts, as these prospective teachers engaged in learning how to teach science. Research questions included 1) What were these prospective teachers' beliefs of teaching science? 2) To what extent did these prospective teachers articulate understandings of teaching science as inquiry? 3) In what ways, if any, did these prospective teachers endeavor to teach science as inquiry in their classrooms? 4) In what ways did the mentor teachers' views of teaching science appear to support or constrain these prospective teachers' intentions and abilities to teach science as inquiry? Despite support from a professional development school setting, the Interns' teaching strategies represented an entire spectrum of practice—from traditional, lecture‐driven lessons, to innovative, open, full‐inquiry projects. Evidence suggests one of the critical factors influencing a prospective teacher's intentions and abilities to teach science as inquiry, is the teacher's complex set of personal beliefs about teaching and of science. This paper explores the methodological issues in examining teachers' beliefs and knowledge in actual classroom practice. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 613–642, 2007.     

Second-order sexual conditioning in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)

Second-order conditioning of social approach to a female conspecific in male Japanese quail was investigated in four experiments. Subjects that received paired first- and second-order trials acquired second-order conditioning in both Experiments 1 and 2. In contrast, subjects that received paired first-order but unpaired second-order trials, and subjects that received unpaired first-order but paired second-order trials, did not acquire second-order conditioning. In Experiment 3, subjects for whom the first-order conditioned stimulus was presented in extinction showed second-order conditioning comparable to that shown by subjects in a control group that did not receive the extinction procedure. In Experiment 4, subjects approached a second-order stimulus less when sexually satiated than when sexually deprived. These findings suggest that second-order sexual conditioning in quail is mediated by an association of the second-order stimulus with a representation of the unconditioned stimulus.     

Kinematic analysis of shot-putting performed by wheelchair athletes of different medical classes

The aim of this study was to identify those kinematic characteristics that are most closely related to an athlete's medical classification and measured distance of a put. Two S-VHS camcorders (60 fields per second) were used to record the performance of 17 males of different classes. Each participant performed six trials and the best trial for each was selected for analysis. Three-dimensional kinematics of the shot and upper body segments at the instant of release and during the forward thrust (delivery) were determined. The average speeds and angles of the shot at release for different classes (5.3-7.8 m x s(-1) and 21.2 to 34.4 degrees, respectively) were smaller than those exhibited by elite male able-bodied throwers. The height of the shot at release, the angular speed of the upper arm at release, the range of motion of the shoulder girdle during the delivery, and the average angular speeds of the trunk, shoulder girdle and upper arm during the delivery, were all significantly correlated with both the classification and measured distance (P < 0.05). The results indicate the importance of achieving a high average angular speed for each upper body segment during the delivery.     

Feminist pedagogy and social change: the impact of the caribbean institute in gender and development

This paper examines the utility of a feminist pedagogical framework in establishing and organising the Caribbean Institute in Gender and Development (CIGAD), which is a biennial intensive gender and development training programme that has taken place in Barbados since 1993. To highlight the major impact that CIGAD has had in educating and empowering Caribbean men and women, the authors will first discuss the importance of feminist pedagogies in teaching, learning and activism in this programme by locating them within an intersectional postcolonial/transnational framework. Secondly, the authors consider the ways in which feminist pedagogy and praxis have been central in training women and men in the Caribbean region in gender analysis, helping them recognise the important role gender plays in development planning and policy as well as how it can be integrated into their work to improve their communities. Finally, through a feminist dialogic, participatory and experiential approach, the authors assess the impact that the CIGAD has had on participants, and community development training will be discussed based on the monitoring and evaluation of the exercise completed in 2014.