Coordination of reading and spelling in early literacy development: An examination of the discrepancy hypothesis

The Discrepancy Hypothesis posits that childrenearly in the acquisition process read visually(holistically) and spell phonologically. Thisclaim was examined and rejected. Weinvestigated reading and spelling in Grade 1and Grade 2 children using controlled nonwordand word materials with a variety oforthographic patterns. While reading andspelling were strongly correlated even amongthe younger readers, discrepancies betweenperformance levels occurred in both directions. Children's responses were affected by wordcharacteristics and whether or not theyreceived school phonics instruction. Phonologically complex words, such as thosecontaining consonant clusters, wereparticularly difficult for Grade 1 children toread, while words that were difficult to spellcorrectly but not to read tended to havemultivalent mappings from sound to spelling.The generation of reading responses tospecially selected nonwords was affected byboth implicit and explicit phonological sourcesof knowledge. Orthographic knowledge gained inspelling did not always transfer to reading,and vice versa.     

How New is New Labour? The Quasi-market and English Schools 1997 to 2001

This paper focuses on the reforms made to the quasi-market in school-based education in England that occurred between May 1997 and May 2001. It discusses the changes that have taken place in relation to parental choice, admissions to schools, school diversity, fund-ing and examination 'league tables'. The Labour Government can be seen as having embraced the quasi-market with a similar enthusiasm to that of its Conservative predecessors although it has tended to emphasise social inclusion as opposed to competition. While it has attempted to soften the edges of the quasi-market it has not tackled some of its major deficiencies such as the power that schools that are their own admission authorities have to distort the admissions process.     

Effective methods for institutional research: How important is institutional type?

Despite the view that institutional research is most successful when it is an extension of the administrators who need its products, most institutional research offices are centralized. In this paper a newly-organized, small college model that is both decentralized and integrated is described. Evaluation of the model is reported. Goals and activities are related to recently identified external and organizational factors that seem to contribute to the proliferation of institutional research.Susan H. Frost is director of institutional planning and research and adjunct assistant professor of education at Emory University. She holds degrees from Agnes Scott College and the University of Georgia. Since 1990 she has organized the first offices of institutional research at both a comprehensive college and at a research university. Currently she is investigating patterns of institutional decision making on university campuses.     

Food Fights: Cookbook Rhetorics,Monolithic Constructions of Womanhood,and Field Narratives in Technical Communication

Field narratives that (re)classify technical genres as liberating for women risk supporting the notion that feminism is a completed project in technical communication scholarship. This article suggests that technical communicators reexamine the impact of past approaches to critical engagement at the intersections of gender studies and technical communication; cookbooks provide a material example. The authors illustrate how a feminist approach to cookbooks as technical/cultural artifacts can productively revise field narratives in technical communication.     

School Admissions: Increasing Equity, Accountability and Transparency

This paper examines the impact of education reforms on school admissions policies and practices. It discusses the changes that are needed to improve the current system, especially in areas where the market is highly developed. It is concluded that the new legislation to be enacted by the current Labour Government should be beneficial, but that more far-reaching changes are needed for the admissions process to be equitable, transparent and accountable.     

The identification of a value-based pedagogical pattern promoting ‘development of the person’ in higher education

The promotion of student development through engagement with a course of study in higher education (HE) is an area in need of urgent research. This study of college-based HE identified that teachers working with development in mind possessed a nexus of core values which were expressed in practice through an integrated pedagogical pattern (i) the development of trust, (ii) developing roles, relationships and a sense of community (iii) active confrontation and challenge and (iv) using pedagogical time and space. A naturalistic, ethnographic methodology and case study approach was used to answer the question ‘what is going on here?’ in contexts where ‘development of the person’ was a key aim. A sociocultural perspective on learning and development was adopted which supported an integrated approach to research design, analysis and interpretation.     

Will Undergraduate Students Play Games to Learn How to Conduct Library Research?

This exploratory study examines whether undergraduate students will play games to learn how to conduct library research. Results indicate that students will play games that are an integral component of the course curriculum and enable them to accomplish overall course goals at the same time they learn about library research.