Gender and textbooks: Women writers of elementary readers, 1880–1950

Between 1880 and 1950, the role of women as authors of elementary readers flowered and faded. From 1880 to 1915, female authorship dominated. Over the next fifteen years female authorship withstood the challenge of the scientific movement in education. Women’s role as solo authors declined, however, during the Depression, World War II and the postwar years. These changes are explained by the deteriorating environment for female professionalism, changes in the concept of reading expertise, the expanded role of publishers in textbook development, and the differences between men and women in opportunities for graduate study. E. Jennifer is Monaghan a professor in the Department of Educational Services, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She is the founder of the History of Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association and author ofA Common Heritage: Noah Webster’s Blue-Back Speller.     

From the Editor

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability -     

International Early Childhood Resources from Educational Research Abstracts (ERA)

The aim was to examine cross-cultural variation in linguistic responsiveness to young children in 10 English-speaking mother–child dyads and 10 Italian-speaking mother– child dyads. All 20 children were late talkers who possessed delays in expressive vocabulary development but age-appropriate cognitive and receptive language skills. Dyads were filmed in 15 minute free play contexts, which were transcribed and coded for measures of maternal linguistic input (e.g. rate, MLU, labels, expansions) and child language productivity (e.g. utterances, different words used). The results revealed that the Italian mothers used more utterances, spoke more quickly and used a more diverse vocabulary than the Canadian mothers. The Italian children mirrored their mothers and also used more utterances and a more diverse vocabulary than the Canadian children. Mothers in both groups used similar percentages of responsive labels and expansions. However, Italian mothers responded to fewer of their children's vocalisations, using a smaller percentage of imitations and interpretations than the Canadian mothers. Correlations between maternal input and children's language productivity revealed that contingent language measures (e.g. imitations, interpretations, expansions) were related to high levels of productivity in children in both cultural groups. The results support the use of language interventions based on increasing maternal responsiveness for these children at the one-word stage of language development. They also point to differences that may be culturally based. For example, Italian mothers use faster rates of interaction and appear to have higher expectations for their children's verbal participation in interaction. This is reflected in higher rates of language production from their children, even though children in both cultural groups have similar vocabulary sizes.     

普通高校高水平跳远运动员训练的方法学问题

依据现代跳技术的主要特点与发展趋势，结合大学生跳远运动员绝对速度水平相对较低，助跑准确性与稳定性不高的实际情况，对普通高校高水平跳远运动员训练的方法学中的训练指导思想、训练状态目标、训练系统调控方法，一般训练与专项训练的关系、专项素质和专项技术特征及其训练手段等六个主要问题做了尝试性的探讨。     

管理出奇迹--学习《星光为何这般灿烂?》一文的启示

因学习《星光为何这般灿烂？》一的启发，深入研究中国乒乓球队科学管理的经验，提出以为本、系统理念、乒乓化、创新出效、竞争求胜等规律。     

Exporting the American (information) revolution: the international impact of the National Library of Medicine

The National Library of Medicine has had an enormous impact on health information services all over the world. Although NLM is primarily a national institution, it has become an important international resource by responding to requests from the international community. NLM has been influential in three major ways. First, NLM has provided a model for other national and regional health information services. Second, it has been a catalyst, in that MEDLARS and other services it provides formed the nucleus of many regional networks. NLM helped such networks get started by giving advice on how to set up services and build collections and by "training the trainers" on the MEDLARS system. Third, NLM has supported national and regional operations by providing the additional training and materials needed for day-to-day service.