Sensitivity to rime unit frequency and children's early word‐reading strategies

The current work examines children's sensitivity to rime unit spelling–sound correspondences within the context of early word reading as a way of assessing word‐specific influences on early word‐reading strategies. Sixty 6–7‐year‐olds participated in an experimental reading task that comprised word items that shared either frequent or infrequent rime unit correspondences. Retrospective self‐reports were taken as measures of strategy choice. The results showed that the children were more accurate in identifying word items that shared a common rime unit (consistent items) when compared with those containing infrequent rime units (unique and exception items). Moreover, while nonlexical (phonological) attempts were most frequently applied across all word types, these resulted in lower levels of accuracy, especially for the exception word items. The current data support the argument that children are increasingly sensitive to rime unit sound–spelling correspondences during the early stages of their word reading and the nature of these word‐specific orthographic representations shape their reliance on using particular lexical or non‐lexical‐based word‐reading strategies.     

Sex differences in the missing-letter effect: A question of reading or visual–spatial skills?

When readers must search for a target letter while reading a continuous text, they are more likely to miss targets in frequent function words than in less frequent content words. This missing-letter effect has been found across many languages, methodologies, and types of reading materials. Despite the ubiquity of the missing-letter effect, sex differences have been reported, but their pattern is conflicting and no clear interpretation has been offered so far. In two experiments, sex differences were examined in the letter search task, while also measuring spatial and reading skills. In both experiments, the missing-letter effect was found for both genders and a larger missing-letter effect was found for faster readers. It is concluded that when sex differences are observed in the missing-letter effect, they are likely due to reading speed and not to spatial skills as previously hypothesized. Results are interpreted in light of the Attentional Disengagement model of the missing-letter effect.     

Evaluating web usability

Web usability focuses on design elements and processes that make web pages easy to use. A website for college students was evaluated for underutilization. One‐on‐one testing, focus groups, web analytics, peer university review and marketing focus group and demographic data were utilized to conduct usability evaluation. The results indicated that an organization's mission, policies, user capabilities, and competitive environment all affect usability. The recommended interventions included interface redesign and update.     

Helping Eastern students to master Western critical thinking

It is possible that some of the problems that confront Eastern learners when they are asked to engage in critical thinking come from the misleading association of the title with criticising negatively and even with disagreeing. In some other educational situations, careful choice of first language titles for concepts so that they do not introduce difficulties for learners has proved fruitful in easing acquaintance with a new concept. Since the definitions of critical thinking emphasise the central role of reasoning in this process and make no explicit mention of disagreement or fault finding, there seems potential in a pedagogical approach to the development of the ability for critical thinking which focuses on identifying, considering and presenting reasons—and perhaps renaming the process, even if only temporarily, accordingly. Such an approach has been devised, in response to the difficulties that Taiwanese students have met when engaging with critical thinking. It has been piloted on one class in an online discussion forum in English as a Foreign Language. The outcomes of this pilot are encouraging and are presented at this stage for that reason.     

Ciencia en Nepantla: the journey of Nepantler@s in science learning and teaching

This paper presents a new approach to science education that takes a path through sociocultural theory and into the ideas of Gloria Anzaldúa. We apply Anzaldúan theory to science education by illustrating it in action through various examples which explore the multidimensionality of teaching science with Latin@ students in various contexts including dual language settings. We present what it is to journey through transformation using examples from educators at various levels of science within the world of teaching science with Latin@ students in the U.S. Our examples illustrate how Latin@ students cross many cultural borders in Spanish, English, Latin@ home culture, school culture, and the world of scientific dialogue and content, and in doing so, go through tensions and transformations between dominant and non-dominant worlds, which should be acknowledged and better understood through Anzaldúan theory. Fundamentally, we present a transformative notion of Latin@ science learning as “living on the bridges” of many dialogic and cultural practices, and having to negotiate these in-between spaces, or “nepantla” (Anzaldu´a and Keating in Interviews, Psychology Press, London, 2000), where Latin@ students must contend with the fragmented and sometimes painful struggle of living in racialized reality amidst the demands of a dominant culture, and where transformation and healing are possible through the path of conocimiento. We advocate for teachers to become science teacher nepantler@s, who guide their students through nepantla, and into a new mestiz@ consciousness of science education.     

British Media Works

DYNAMICS OF THE BRITISH PRESS, 1961–1984: PATTERNS OF CIRCULATION AND COVER PRICES by Harry Henry (NTC Publications, Symot House, 22 Reading Rd., Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1AG, 1986, 178 pp.—L40, paper, no ISBN)

STRIKES AND THE MEDIA: COMMUNICATION AND CONFLICT by Nicholas Jones (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986, 220 pp.—L17.50, ISBN 0-631-14697-0)

LEARNING THE MEDIA: AN INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA TEACHING by Manuel Alvarado, et al. (Basingstoke: Macmillan Educational, 1987, 306 pp.—L25, ISBN 0-333-30522-1)

POWER WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY: THE PRESS AND BROADCASTING IN BRITAIN by James Curran and Jean Season (London: Routledge, 1988, 372 pp. price not given, paper, ISBN 0-415-00653-8)

IMAGES INCORPORATED: ADVERTISING AS INDUSTRY AND IDEOLOGY by John Sinclair (London: Croom Helm, 1987, 214 pp.—L9, paper, no ISBN given)

NOISE: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MUSIC by Jacques Attali (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985, 180 pp.—L7.50, paper, no ISBN given)

POLICING DESIRE: PORNOGRAPHY, AIDS AND THE MEDIA by Simon Watney (London: Comedia, 1987, 160 pp—L7, paper, no ISBN given)

BEHIND AND IN FRONT OF THE SCREEN: TELEVISION'S INVOLVEMENT WITH FAMILY LIFE by Barrie Gunter and Michael Svennevig (London: John Libbey, 1987, 98 pp.—L9.50, paper, no ISBN given)

TELEVISION AND SOCIAL CONTROL by Mallory Wober and Barrie Gunter (Aldershot: Gower, 1988, 274 pp.—L25, ISBN 0-566-00764-9)

VIOLENCE ON TELEVISION: WHAT THE VIEWERS THINK by Barrie Gunter and Mallory Wober (London: John Libbey & Co. Ltd., 1988, 74 pp.—L9.50, paper, ISBN 0-86196-172-2)

SEX, CLASS AND REALISM: BRITISH CINEMA, 1956–1963 by John Hill (London: British Film Institute, 1986, 228 pp.—L7.95, paper, ISBN 0-85170-133-7)

BOND AND BEYOND: THE POLITICAL CAREER OF A POPULAR HERO by Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott (Basingstoke: Macmillan Educational, 1987, 316 pp.—L6.95, paper, ISBN 0-333-28621-9)

CINEMA, LITERATURE & SOCIETY: ELITE AND MASS CULTURE IN INTERWAR BRITAIN by Peter Miles and Malcolm Smith (London: Croom Helm, 1987, 271 pp.—L25, no ISBN given)

NATIONAL BROADCASTING UNDER SEIGE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AUSTRALIA, BRITAIN, ISRAEL, AND WEST GERMANY by Eva Etzioni-Halevy (Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 1987, 228 pp. price and ISBN not given)

THE UN, UNESCO, AND THE POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE by Clare Wells (London: Macmillan, 1987, 282 pp., L29.50, no ISBN given)

WORLD NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY by Peter J.S. Dunnett (Beckenham: Croom Helm, 1988, 276 pp.—L30, ISBN 0-07099-0834-2)

TRUTH BETRAYED by W. J. West (London: Gerald Duckworth, 1987, 262 pp.—L13, ISBN 0-7156-2182-3)

COMMUNICATIONS SATELITES: THE TECHNOLOGY OF SPACE COMMUNICATIONS by Larry Blonstein (London: Wm. Heinemann, 1987, 162 pp.—L12.95, paper, ISBN 0-434-90153-9)

EDUCATION ON DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITES IN EUROPE: REPORT TO THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY by George Wedell, et al. (Manchester: The European Institute for the Media, 1987, 148 pp. price and ISBN not given, paper)

THE QUESTION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE edited by Brian P. Bloomfield (Beckenham: Croom Helm, 1987, 286 pp.—L25, no ISBN given)

COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND APLICATIONS by Dennis Harris (New York and London: Chapman & Hall, 1984, 174 pp.—L21.00, paper, no ISBN given)

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS: STUDIES IN MELODRAMA AND THE WOMEN'S FILM edited by Christine Gledhill (London: British Film Insitute, 1987, 366 pp.—L7, paper, no ISBN given)

BOXED IN: WOMEN AND TELEVISION by Helen Baehr and Gillian Dyer (London and New York: Pandora Press, 1987, 234 pp.—L8, paper, no ISBN given)

A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO JOBS IN FILM AND TELEVISION by Ann Ross Muir (London and New York: Pandora Press, 1987, 342 pp.—L7, paper, no ISBN given)

G.C.H.Q.: THE SECRET WIRELESS WAR, 1900–1986 by Nigel West (London: Coronet Books, 1987, 400 pp. L3.95, paper, ISBN 0-340-41197-X)

2MT WRITTLE: THE BIRTH OF BRITISH BROADCASTING by Tim Wander (Capella Publications, Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK, 1988, 179 pp.—L12.95, ISBN 0-946443-10-6)

THE LAST DAYS OF THE BEEB by Michael Leapman (London: Coronet Books, 1987, 381 pp.—L3.50, paper, ISBN 0-340-41107-4)

THE ECONOMICS OF TELEVISION: THE UK CASE by Richard Collins, et al. (London/Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1988, 136 pp.—$29.95, ISBN 0-8039-8112-0)