Laboring in 'borderless' world: The threat of globalization

This essay explores the meaning of ''globalization'' and places the current setting of the Mexico-U.S. border in historical context with reference to the process of ''globalization.'' It argues that if the current phase of capitalism merits the new label of ''globalization,'' it does so for reasons related to the new magnitude of corporate power. Transnational corporations have the power to undermine national sovereignty and the legitimacy of political systems even in the democratic republics of the West. The essay highlights aspects of the maquiladora industry in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and the economy of El Paso, Texas, and suggests that the experience of this border region heralds changes in store for other regions of the United States and Western Europe: ''globalization'' is bringing about a convergence between the ''First'' and ''Third'' worlds.     

No science today—the demise of primary science

In this second article on the theory of ‘ground rules for talk’ I extend a debate between myself and Professor Neil Mercer over the introduction of ‘ground rules’ into classrooms. I critique ground rules through the use of sociological theory and argue that advocates of the ground rules perspective need to recognise the ideological nature of their theoretical position. In making this article a clear extension of my previous argument I introduce the work of Bernstein and Fairclough to support my new arguments. I use Bernstein's theory of pedagogy as cultural relay and Fairclough's appropriateness model of language variation to critique ‘ground rules perspectives’. In doing so, I draw out the political nature of educational theory and curriculum within the context of a specific socio-economic society.     

Innovations in Doctoral Education: Distance Education Methodology Applied

This study evaluated the impact of a distance education program to meet the practice learning needs of first‐year doctoral students. The program, a six‐session case‐based telephonic seminar, was taught to 19 first‐year doctoral students. Evaluation of the program included self‐report quantitative and qualitative data gathered pre‐ and postseminar, as well as qualitative data gathered three months postseminar. Quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed increased reports of practice competencies by the conclusion of the seminar. Analysis also illustrated the importance of continued evaluation given the small sample size and pilot nature of this unique distance education program.     

Partnerships in Social Work Education

Historically, society has associated a visit from a child protection worker with the removal of children. In Canada in the 1960s, Aboriginal children were removed from their communities in alarming numbers and were referred to as the “sixties scoop.” This may in part explain the difficulty in recruiting Aboriginal social workers into child welfare practice. This reality prompted the development of a post–bachelor degree certificate aimed at increasing the number of Aboriginal child welfare social workers in northern British Columbia. The results discussed in this article stem from three certificate cohorts and highlight the development of new partnerships and students’ experiences. Two years following the completion of the third cohort, nearly 80% of the students recruited were still employed in the North.     

Storyline and Associations Pyramid as methods of creativity enhancement: Comparison of effectiveness in 5-year-old children

This article presents the results of a study comparing the originality, the length, the number of neologisms and the syntactic complexity of fairy tales created with “Storyline” and “Associations Pyramid.” Both methods were developed to enhance children's language abilities and their creative thinking. One hundred twenty eight 5-year-old children were asked to tell stories using either the “Storyline” (SL) or the “Associations Pyramid” (AP) method during four routine class activities. Participants worked in 14 groups, five participants per group. The results showed that stories developed with SL and AP methods are comparably original, however more original than stories developed individually.     

The invented spellings of non-Spanish phonemes by Spanish–English bilingual and English monolingual kindergarteners

This study compared the English spelling of native Spanish-speaking children receiving English-only instruction with monolingual native English speaking children at the end of kindergarten. In invented spelling, young bilingual children can show us how they perceive the unique sounds of English by the way they map English letters onto non-Spanish sounds. The spelling of non-Spanish phonemes and English and Spanish stop consonants differing in voice onset time were examined. The relationship of plausible English spelling with English vocabulary knowledge was also investigated. The bilingual kindergarteners had significantly fewer correct spellings of ending stop consonants, which differ phonetically in English and Spanish, than did the monolingual group. No significant difference between the two groups at the end of kindergarten was found when spelling non-Spanish phonemes however. The lexical restructuring model was applied to explain a positive correlation between vocabulary and plausible English spellings.     

教师 四季

A teacher is like Spring,
Who nurtures new green sprouts,
Encourages and leads them,
Whenever they have doubts.     

记忆的脚步

踏上起程的列车,过半的还是不解的踌躇,心底的那份狂热早已刻进我的灵魂,伴随这深秋的风雨,消失在昨天的昨天。