When I was at school – differences in stories about school told by parents of home-schooled and regular-schooled children

Home schooling has become increasingly widespread over recent decades in the western world. Since the choice to educate children at home in effect signifies abandonment of the educational system, one may assume that parents’ childhood experiences within the educational system play a significant part in their decision to opt for home schooling. The present study takes a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to investigating the choice in favour of home schooling and compares the childhood memories of school reported by 28 mothers of home-schooled and regular-schooled children. Data were analysed in three stages – determining the nature of the experience; performing a thematic analysis; and arranging the themes into groups of meta-themes. Six interviewees reported an entirely positive experience; 6 reported an entirely negative experience; and 16 reported a mixed experience. Analysis of the text revealed 30 themes, which were grouped into five meta-themes: treatment, attributes, teachers, studies and social relations.     

An analysis of sociocultural miscommunication: english, spanish and german

Nowadays, the significance of linguistic analysis applied to cross-cultural communication is enormous due to the heterogeneity of societies and the increasingly cross-cultural nature of commerce, politics, education etc. The application of linguistic theory, therefore, means the study of sociocultural communication since analysing the pragmatics of intercultural communication is the analysis of language itself. By observing the range of aspects of communication that can vary from culture to culture, we will exemplify levels of difference in habits and expectations in signalling how speakers mean what they say.     

A model of metacognition,achievement goal orientation,learning style and self-efficacy

Structural equation modelling was used to test a model integrating achievement goal orientation, learning style, self-efficacy and metacognition into a single framework that explained and predicted variation in performance. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of performance. Metacognition was a weak predictor of performance. Deep processing had a weak, negative relationship with performance. Mastery-approach goals were related to deep-processing and surface-processing learning styles. Mastery-approach and performance-approach goals were positive predictors of self-efficacy. Mastery-avoidance and performance-avoidance goals were related to self-efficacy.     

The use of modern standard and spoken Arabic in mathematics lessons: the case of a diglossic language / El uso del árabe estándar moderno y del árabe hablado en las clases de matemáticas: el caso de una lengua diglósica

Abstract

Researchers have shown an increased interest in the way teachers use their knowledge about language (KAL) to enhance student understanding and learning. This qualitative case study investigated first- and second-grade teachers’ use of KAL in Arabic. We investigated the linguistic transitions from standard Arabic to spoken Arabic made by the teachers during mathematics lessons. The results suggested that Arab-speaking mathematics teachers were aware of the gap between home language (Spoken Arabic) and school language (Modern Standard Arabic) and used linguistic transition as a teaching strategy to develop academic thinking and behaviour among their students. The results suggested that Arab teachers built a non-formal bilingual education programme where the two languages were used to teach mathematics. Despite the requirement to use Modern Standard Arabic, participants bridged the gap between the languages, which suggests an inherent understanding that ‘language and identity are ultimately inseparable’.     

Physical Fitness in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder

The protective effects of physical activity and fitness on cardiovascular health have clearly been shown among normally developed children. However, data are currently lacking pertaining to children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The purpose of this study was to examine differences in fitness measures, body composition, and physical activity among children with and without DCD. A cross-sectional design was implemented examining 261 children (118 girls, 143 boys) ages 4–12 years (mean age 7.8 ± 1.9 years). Children were categorized as having DCD if they scored less than or equal to the 5th percentile (n = 71) or between the 6th and the 15th percentile (n = 52) on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC; Henderson & Sugden, 1992). The typically developing children had scores between the 16th and the 50th percentile (n = 106) or above the 50th percentile (n = 32) on the MABC. The age-related body mass index was used to characterize body composition. Physical fitness was assessed with a 6-min run, 20-m sprint, jump-and-reach test, medicine ball throw, curl-ups, and sit-and-reach test. Physical activity was estimated with a questionnaire. The percentage of overweight and obese children ages 10–12 years were significantly higher in the DCD groups (severe: 50%, moderate: 23.1%) than in the typically developing groups (medium: 5.6%, high: 0%; p < .05). Significant interactions (MABC x Age Group) were found for the fitness tests (p values < .05), except flexibility; whereby specifically, compared to the children in the typically developing groups children in the DCD groups ages 4–6 years achieved significantly worse results for the 20-m sprint, and children of the DCD groups ages 10–12 years achieved significantly worse results for the 6-min run, jump-and-reach test, and medicine ball throw. The study demonstrates poorer performance in fitness tests with high demands on coordination in children with DCD compared to their typically developing peers. Furthermore, the differences in fitness increased with age between children in the DCD groups versus the typically developing groups.