Place-based education and pre-service teachers: a case study from India

Case studies of successful place-based education that involve international partnerships are rare. This article reports on an inclusive educational collaboration between pre-service teachers at an Australian university and primary and secondary school-aged children in a slum area of Delhi, India. Encouraged to undertake teaching that affirmed and extended the children's existing linguistic and cultural knowledge, the six teacher candidates collaboratively planned and implemented exemplary programmes geared to the children's interests and needs. This highly inclusive teaching and learning took various forms: a photographic project in the community, the collection of family portraits and stories, a dance and drama performance, and rich conversations on topics ranging from popular culture to politics. Using data drawn from observations of teaching, teacher candidate interviews and written reflections, and artefacts of student learning, this article analyses the processes and outcomes of this highly successful teaching. Essential to the success of this initiative was focused preparation that stressed cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity, a rejection of deficit notions about children and families living in slums, knowledge of Indian socio-political complexities, and a commitment to the building of equitable and ethical relationships with the Indian children and NGO staff. It is anticipated that this analysis will inform further attempts at place-based collaboration in the service of quality education.     

A Comparison of Four Measurement Models for the Watson–Barker Listening Test (WBLT)–Form C

This article compares 4 measurement models for the Watson–Barker Listening Test (WBLT)–Form C and constitutes the first confirmatory test of this listening comprehension measure. Results show that data does not conform to (a) a 5-factor correlated model, (b) a second-order model, or (c) a unidimensional model; and no model was sufficiently better than (d) the independence model. Exploratory analyses provide additional evidence that items are largely unrelated to one another. Given these findings, the use of the WBLT–Form C in assessments of listening comprehension is not recommended. The discussion explores what these findings imply for the conceptualization and measurement of listening and for potential revisions of the WBLT.     

A Difference We Can Call Our Own

The article contends that communication scholars' most influential work is often not identifiably “communication” research. This phenomenon is a result of: (a) theory, which emphasizes message effects rather than message content, and (b) method, which has failed to provide valid, detailed, and shared methods for the quantitative examination of message content. It is suggested that a stronger focus on message content is required if communication is to maintain a disciplinary identity and a unique disciplinary contribution.     

Perceptions of communication in a family relationship and the reduction of intergroup prejudice

From a contact theory perspective, links between variation in young adults' perceptions of communication with their grandparents and attitudes towards older adults are examined. The analysis pays particular attention to variation in communication with multiple grandparents, and finds links between that and perceived variability in the older adult population as a whole. More variation in perceptions of communication with grandparents is associated with perceptions of older adults as more heterogeneous. However, variation in grandparent relationships is associated with more negative attitudes towards older adults on measures of attitudinal central tendency. The results are discussed in terms of intergroup communication processes, contact theory and possible interventions to reduce prejudice in this and other contexts.     

Bordering on Empathy: The Effect of Selective Exposure and Border Residency on Immigration Attitudes

Two surveys, including an original survey and a survey containing substantial secondary data, found substantial links between party identity, selective media exposure and attitudes on immigration. Republicans were significantly more likely to segregate themselves to like-minded media and to avoid traditional objective sources like national and local newspapers, local and national broadcast television news. Border-state residency failed to moderate attitudes about immigration; differences were found between local and national media. Finally, Republican support for immigration fell between 2016 and 2018, after the election of President Trump.     

The ecology of broadcasters in the United States

Forbidden to censor, and saddled with an undefined (and perhaps undefinable) criterion of the “public interest, convenience and necessity”; for deciding among otherwise‐qualified applicants for a broadcast facility, it is little wonder that the FCC has relied upon a patchwork of precedents and rule‐of‐thumb standards. Possibly because of the uncertainty of these standards, and partly because the staff has not increased in size as greatly as has the workload, the Commission has avoided whenever possible the enlargement of license application hearings to include anyone other than the applicants themselves. Sometimes, however, the courts haven't allowed the FCC to so restrict the number of participants in a hearing, and sometimes the courts have had to remind the Commission that the laboriously accumulated body of administrative practice and precedent is not always the same as the language or purpose of the Communications Act of 1934.

“Economic injury”; is a station owner's concept. It is at the interface of theory and marketplace reality. It is the almost impossible‐to‐prove claim that the establishment of a new station in one's market will so split the available revenues that both stations will fail—or, at least, that both stations will have to operate with substandard (e.g., cheaper) programming, and thus will not serve the public interest. At first, the FCC listened to some of these claims, but soon evolved a policy of avoiding them, by whatever means and reasoning that it could. Over the years, and despite substantial prodding from the courts, the FCC's policy of avoiding this claim has become rigid . . . thus providing us with an excellent and fascinating case study of administrative policy formulation.     

Statewide Articulation Agreements between High Schools and Community College Career and Technical Programs

Recent legislation requires increased linkages between all levels of educational institutions. Articulation agreements are critical to ensure a smooth transition for students, and statewide agreements afford students more options for continuing their education. High school and community college instructors were brought together in a statewide meeting to review curricula and determine community college courses for which high-school-program-completers meeting certain criteria, including a specified score on the statewide occupation-specific assessment, could receive credit. Thirty-three high school programs were selected for statewide articulation agreements, with at least one community college program allowing articulation with approximately 50 community college courses.     

The performance environment of the England youth soccer teams

Abstract

In the present study, we examined the performance environment of the England youth soccer teams. Using a semi-structured protocol with a prospective sample, national coaches (n = 6), sport scientists (n = 3), and players (n = 4) were interviewed directly following international tournaments about the factors that positively and negatively influenced performance. Qualitative content analysis revealed the following factors as major positive influences on performance: adhering to a consistent tournament strategy, player understanding, strong team cohesion, organized entertainment activities, detailed knowledge of opposition, an effective physical rest/recovery strategy, and previous tournament experience. Major factors perceived to have negatively influenced performance included: over-coaching, player boredom, player anxiety, physical superiority of the opposition, physical fatigue over the tournament, problems sleeping, and lack of information on the opposition. Eight overall dimensions emerged to describe the performance environment: planning and organization, physical environment, tactical factors, development and performance philosophy, psychological factors, physical factors, social factors, and coaching. The findings support recent work that suggests the performance environment is multifaceted, with performance being contingent upon a broad range of interacting factors that go beyond the traditional psychosocial and physical domains.     

Needs Assessments: An Integrated Assignment in Civic Service

An undergraduate social work program developed a service‐learning experience in partnership with a local United Way organization to complete a community needs assessment project. The experience integrated the curricula of a social work research methods course and a generalist‐macro practice course with the principles and actions of experiential and service‐ learning, evidence based practice, and civic responsibility. This integrated curricula project yielded practical, “real world” outcomes for the local community and learning outcomes for the students. Needs assessments conducted by social students resulted in particular groups of community citizens receiving targeted services from agencies receiving funding from United Way. Evidence obtained from the students who participated in this experience indicates that two important learning outcomes were achieved; a heightened awareness of the local community's resource system and a sense of connection to the local community, along with the enhancement of students ‘self‐esteem and increased self‐confidence in their abilities.