What is not working in working memory of children with literacy disorders? Evidence from a three-year-longitudinal study

The goals of this study were to explore the deficits in working memory associated with literacy disorders (i.e. developmental disorders of reading and/or spelling) and the developmental trajectories of these working memory deficits. The performance of 28 children with literacy disorders was compared to a non-disabled control group with the same group size at five bi-annual times of measurement in a three-year-longitudinal study beginning at the end of primary school (9.5 years of age). Storage capacity and central-executive working memory were assessed in phonological and visual-spatial modalities, the latter under static and dynamic conditions. Overall, children with literacy disorders were outperformed by their typical developing peers in all phonological and in dynamic visual-spatial storage and central-executive tasks except for the static visual-spatial storage task. Results at single times of measurement revealed that the most consistent deficit was found in the storage capacity of the phonological loop. An additional central-executive impairment is supported by low backward spans. The causes for output deficits in dynamic visual-spatial tasks and good performance under static visual-spatial condition are discussed.     

Trivializing the News? Affective Context Effects of Commercials on the Perception of Television News

This study examined whether affect induced by television commercials influences the perception of news programming. An experiment showed that viewers in positive moods generated by television commercials perceive news stories viewed both after and before watching the commercials as more entertaining, relaxing, realistic, and more credible than viewers exposed to neutral commercials do. Of interest, viewers in positive mood, as compared to neutral mood, perceived the topic presented in the news story as less important and serious.     

Instructional Leadership in Compulsory Schools in Iceland and the Role of School Principals

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a study of instructional leadership in 20 Icelandic compulsory schools. More specifically, the perceptions of staff concerning supervision of instruction, and the views of principals regarding their role as supervisors of instructional development. Data was collected with questionnaires from staff and interviews with principals. The approach was based on a mixed-methods design. The findings indicate that supervision of instruction differs between the schools. Principals provide for little direct supervision of teachers, however, they provide considerable indirect supervision. The supervision of instruction suggests that collegial supervisory emphasis is considerable in most of the schools. The collegial model, however, emphasizes systematic collection of data on what happens in classrooms, an important element that is largely neglected in the Icelandic schools.     

Does Performance in Digital Reading Relate to Computer Game Playing? A Study of Factor Structure and Gender Patterns in 15-Year-Olds' Reading Literacy Performance

Data from a Swedish PISA-sample were used (1) to identify a digital reading factor, (2) to investigate gender differences in this factor (if found), and (3) to explore how computer game playing might relate to digital reading performance and gender. The analyses were conducted with structural equation modeling techniques. In addition to an overall reading factor, the hypothesized digital reading factor was identified. When the overall reading performance was taken into account, a relative difference in favor of the boys for digital reading was indicated. This effect was mediated by a game-playing factor comprising the amount of time spent on playing computer games. Thus, the boys' better performance in digital reading was explained by the computer game-playing factor.     

The Making of the Ordinary Child in Preschool

The article examines parent–teacher conferences in Finnish and Swedish preschools. Previous research has shown that the conferences are mostly about the evaluation of the child. Based on qualitative data, the article studies how this evaluation is done. It asks how the institutional order regarding children is constructed in parent–teacher conferences and what the ordinary child is like that this order presumes. The theoretical framework is adopted from social constructionist research on childhood and institutions. The analysis applies a discourse analytic framework. The results suggest that being and becoming social is the key expectation for a child in Finnish and Swedish preschools; formal education and learning are not often mentioned. In addition, the results show that generational and gendered assumptions are important elements in the institutional order of preschool.     

The Relationship between Intelligence,Approaches to Learning and Academic Achievement

Three different tests of intelligence and the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students were administered to 89 Norwegian undergraduate psychology students. The purpose was to investigate the relationship between intelligence, approaches to learning and academic achievement. Factor analysis supported a one-factor solution of the three intelligence tests as an expression of general intelligence. No relationship between general intelligence and approaches to learning was observed. The WAIS vocabulary test of intelligence and the surface approach to learning were negatively correlated. The WAIS vocabulary test of intelligence and the surface approach to learning predicted academic achievement. A curvilinear relationship between surface approach and academic achievement was observed. Multiple regression analysis showed interaction effects between deep-strategic and surface-strategic approaches to learning as predictors of academic achievement. The findings support the construct validity of approaches to learning due to its independence of intelligence.     

FOLKSKOLEBETYGEN SOM GALLRINGSINSTRUMENT

Edelstein, Wolfgang (1971). The Social Context of Educational Planning. Scand. J. educ. Res. 15, 169‐191. Educational planning in Iceland as anywhere has to provide answers to problems of administration, development, and innovation. Practical reasoning, information seeking, and the ‘dialogue form’ of the planning process are stressed in view of the particular obstacles to educational planning in Iceland: smallness of system, tradition of government through face‐to‐face interaction, and extreme rates of change in the interrelated processes of urbanization, regional mobility, occupational shift, and socio‐cultural transformation. The change from the family‐based rural mode of growing up to modern formal education has occurred with the suddenness of a generation shift, leaving urbanized parents of city‐born children with the unapplicable child‐rearing models of their rural grandparents. The social‐psychological states connected with these modes of growing up are discussed in terms of interactionist socialization theory. Objectives for educational planning are inferred.     

Attainment in Coeducational and Segregated Schools

Kyöstiö, O. K. (1970). Attainment in Coeducational and Segregated Schools. An inquiry into the prediction of secondary school final success. Scand. J. Educ. Res. 14,113‐170. The problems of this study concerned on one hand the scholastic results of mixed versus segregated education, and on the other the predictiveness of the selection system in Finnish secondary schools. The study was a follow‐up type. The age, social status, and ability of the students were held constant by matching the different groups. The results show that an assumed null‐hypothesis, which concerned the attainment of students in the examined subjects of the matriculation examination in different types of schools, could not be approved. Girls in segregated schools showed themselves to be significantly better than the other groups in total point value. They were also best in most subjects. Only boys from mixed schools were equal to them in mathematics and in general subjects. The correlation coefficient between the sum variable of the entrance selection and the total point value of the matriculation exam variable was significant, showing that the selection had positive predictive value, as was assumed. A regression analysis showed that only the total sum variable of the selection procedure had a significantly predictive value on all success variables, except mathematics. Another regression analysis without sum variables indicated the significant influence of the single determinants too, but in both analyses the variances they could explain were very small. The influence of the continuous and strong selection (high dropout rate) may weaken the generalization of the results.