Identification of vowel speech sounds by skilled and less skilled readers and the relation with vowel spelling

Reading and spelling errors of vowels are reported in many studies (Bryson and Werker 1989; Fowler, Liberman, and Shankweiler 1977; Fowler, Shankweiler, and Liberman 1979; Goswami 1993; Landerl, Wimmer, and Frith 1997; Shankweiler and Liberman 1972). The present study tested the hypothesis that spelling errors involving vowels are linked to difficulties in vowel perception. Second to fourth graders (total n=155) were divided into five groups according to reading skill and were tested on a variety of measures involving vowel identification, vowel discrimination, and vowel spelling. Despite little difficulty on the vowel discrimination tasks, participants made many errors on the vowel identification measures. Vowel identification errors were linearly associated with reading skill with least skilled readers having significantly more difficulty with stressed “short” vowels as in dip than with stressed “long” vowels as in deep, presented in identical contexts. Vowel identification errors were also associated with vowel spelling errors. It is hypothesized that errors in vowel spelling may relate to weak access to the phoneme at the oral language level and may indicate a lack of constancy in the representation of vowels by less skilled readers. Weaknesses in vowel perception can be detected with a simple vowel identification test in which phonological similarity of test items is used as linguistic manipulation, and where phonemes must be identified based on presentation of a single test item in a forced choice format.     

‘We want everybody’s salvage!’: Recycling,Voluntarism, and the People’s War

ABSTRACT

This article reveals the role of volunteers in the British government’s campaign to increase recycling during the Second World War. It uses their experience to deconstuct the idea of a 'people's war', showing how this concept was invoked in several different ways. The article demonstrates that voluntary recycling schemes were led from the bottom-up, shifted the balance of power between private citizens and local authorities, and highlighted difference based on age, socio-economic status, gender, and geographical location. It concludes that official appeals may have invoked the ‘people’s war’, but the way that these messages were received was of most importance.     

Relationships between exercise regulations and motivational consequences in university students

The aim of this study was to examine propositions stemming from Self-Determination Theory (SDT) that contend motivational consequences vary as a function of different regulations in the exercise domain. Participants (N = 276; n = 98 men; n = 178 women) completed inventories assessing exercise regulations, current exercise behavior, and behavioral intentions to continue exercising for the next 4 months and the effort and importance associated with exercise participation. Bivariate analyses indicated autonomous exercise regulations (identified and intrinsic) were the strongest correlates of each motivational consequence across both sexes, and introjected regulation was positively associated with exercise consequences in women. Simultaneous multiple regression analyses indicated that exercise regulations accounted for a sizeable portion of the variance across each motivational consequence in both sexes (R2adj values ranged from .20 to .53). Both regression and structure coefficients revealed that introjected regulation was a stronger motivational force in women than men, and identified regulation was the most important predictor of all three motivational consequences in both sexes. Collectively, these findings suggest that exercise regulations differentially predict motivational consequences across sexes, and future research using this theoretical framework for examining motivational issues pertinent to the exercise domain appears warranted.