Relationships among L1 print exposure and early L1 literacy skills, L2 aptitude, and L2 proficiency

Authors examined the relationship between individual differences in L1 print exposure and differences in early L1 skills and later L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L2 classroom achievement. Participants were administered measures of L1 word decoding, spelling, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, receptive vocabulary, and listening comprehension in 1?C5th grades, and then followed into 9?C10th grades where measures of L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L1 print exposure were administered. Students?? responses on the L1 print exposure measure were used to divide them into High, Average, and Low Print groups. Findings showed significant differences between the High versus Low Print groups on all L1 skill measures, L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency tests, and L2 classroom achievement after controlling for IQ. L1 skill differences between the groups emerged as early as 1st grade. L1 phonemic awareness, L1 word decoding, and L1 spelling measures were the best discriminators of L1 print exposure among the three groups. Results suggest that early success in L1 reading and reading volume prior to L2 study may be related to differences in L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L2 achievement several years later.     

Engaging young students in scientific investigations: prompting for meaningful reflection

This study examined the verbal prompts a tutor used to promote reflection and young students’ responses to these prompts. Seven children (ages 8–12) participated in 260 min of one-on-one tutoring to learn scientific concepts related to gear movement; the tutor spontaneously provided these students with 763 prompts for reflection. Prompts reliably induced reflection: Students responded verbally 87% of the time. Turn-by-turn discourse analysis revealed seven distinct types of prompts and 11 distinct types of verbal responses. High-level prompts were strongly associated with high-level responses. A log-multiplicative association model with two dimensions (temporality and certainty) represented the relationships between prompt and response types; from this model, odds ratios estimated the strength of association between specific pairs of prompt and response types. Findings are discussed in terms of the effects that reflection may have on students’ developing understanding of scientific concepts.     

Power dynamics with international students: from the perspective of domestic students in Korean higher education

This paper explored the power dynamics between domestic and international students in the context of higher education in an Asian non-English speaking country, Korea. Despite increased international student mobility in recent years, little is known about the relationship dynamics among students from different countries, especially related to power issues. The findings in this study suggested that international students’ countries of origin and language of communication created different power statuses compared to Korean students by their empowerment and discrimination. Power differentials also existed among Korean students due to variations in their English ability to interact with international students. Conversely, international students’ attitudes and acceptance influenced Korean students’ attitudes toward them, irrespective of power differentials created by countries and language, as perceived by Korean students. The implications related to the recent trend of international student mobility are discussed.     

Positive Effects of Converting a Food and Bioprocessing Analysis Course to an Inquiry‐Guided Approach

Abstract: Food science laboratory courses are traditionally taught as a series of preplanned laboratories with known endpoints. In contrast, inquiry‐guided (IG) laboratories allow students to ask questions, think through problems, design experiments, then adapt and learn in response to unexpected results. This study examined the effects of converting the course, “Analytical Techniques in Food and Bioprocessing Sciences” from a traditional approach (2008 to 2010 data) to an IG approach (2011 data) by assigning teams of 2–3 students a food and a set of 5 analyses to conduct over the course of the semester. Students were required to choose and justify the use of specific methods for each analysis, as well as to develop a supply list and a budget for the semester‐long project. During the semester, students were required to post and discuss their weekly progress with the instructor, teaching assistants, and the rest of the class using an online discussion forum. At the end of the semester, students were required to present the results of their analysis in both oral and written formats. Overall course grades were significantly higher (P≤ 0.05) using IG in 2011 compared to 2010 and 2009, but not to 2008 grades. Numerical course evaluations for the instructor, overall course, and lab, as well as written course evaluations all significantly (P≤ 0.05) improved. This suggests that an IG approach may measurably improve student performance in terms of course grades and the ability to complete semester long projects. It may also increase student satisfaction with the course, as measured by numerical and written end of semester surveys.     

Text interpretation and educational design in Norwegian textbooks of religious education

Drawing on sociocultural perspectives on educational design, this article presents a qualitative study investigating how religious texts emerge as educational objects and mediating artefacts in Norwegian textbooks of religious and moral education. The article describes how the distribution of text references in textbooks influences the formation of religious traditions as objects. It also describes how religious texts are given various roles and how textbook assignments use various means to facilitate the interpretation of religious texts in a response to the demands posed by Norwegian syllabuses of religious and moral education.     

Canadian Communications

MASS MEDIA AND THE CONSTITUTION: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SUPREME COURT DECISIONS by Richard F. Hixon (New York: Garland Publishing, 1989—$85.00, ISBN 0-8240-7947-7)

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY edited by Derick Unwin and Ray McAleese (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988—price not given, ISBN 0-313-23996-7)

KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRY 200: 1987 EDITION edited by Ira Mayer (White Plains, NY: Knowledge Industry Publications, with library distribution by Gale Research, Detroit, 1987—price for latter is $250, ISBN 0-8103-4254-5)

RADIO AND TELEVISION: A SELECTED, ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, SUPPLEMENT TWO: 1982-1986 by Peter Pringle and Helen Clinton (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989—$27.50, ISBN 0-8108-2158-3)

THE BROADCAST COMMUNICATIONS DICTIONARY edited by Lincoln Diamant (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1989—$35.00, ISBN 0-313-26502-X)

THE LIBRARIAN'S COMPANION: A HANDBOOK OF THOUSANDS OF FACTS AND FIGURES ON LIBRARIES/LIBRARIANS, BOOKS/NEWSPAPERS, PUBLISHERS/BOOKSELLERS by Vladimir F. Wertsman (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987—$35.00, ISBN 0-313-25500-8)

INDEX TO JOURNALS IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES THROUGH 1985 edited by Ronald J. Matlon (Speech Communication Association, 5105 Backlick Rd., Bldg. E, Annandale, VA 22003—$40.00, paper, ISBN not provided)

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND SERVICES edited by Amy Lucas (Detroit: Gale Research, 1988—$420 for a three volume set, ISBN for the set: 0-8103-2646-9)

COMMUNICATIONS GLOSSARY (Canadian Law Information Council, 5th Floor, 161 Laurier Ave. West, Ottawa, Ontario KIP 5J2—$30 each in Canadian funds, no ISBN provided)     

Toward Practical Procedures for Predicting and Promoting Success in Virtual School Students

Abstract

Two lines of research have emerged to study the causes and prevention of student failure in virtual (K–12) schools: studies of learner characteristics and studies of learning environment characteristics. To develop a useful model for predicting failure and promoting success in virtual school environments, a study was designed to measure the relation between a combination of student and environmental factors derived from previous research and successful course completion during one semester at a large (N =?4,100) virtual school. Study findings yielded a model that can discriminate between successful and unsuccessful online school students and is especially effective at identifying those likely to succeed.     

A causal framework for analysing alternative conceptions

A model for the analysis of subjects’ causal reasoning is proposed, drawing on de Kleer and Brown's ‘mechanistic mental models’. The purpose of the model is to provide a framework for understanding the possible causal structure of children's and adults’ spontaneous reasoning about the physical world. The model is used to analyse data on students’ understanding of aspects of forces and motion; to reanalyse a protocol of Driver's; and to compare and criticize the models of Andersson and of Rozier. We show how the model can provide a language for describing common‐sense causal thinking.     

Rhetorical imperialism and Sun‐Tzu's art of war: A response to combs’ rhetoric of parsimony

This essay discusses how Wesker conveys his central intuition about the limitations of language by employing verbal and visual games and rituals that function as narrative, analogue, symbol, and subtext in The Trilogy. These games take the form of playfulness to indicate emotional solidarity, of everyday rituals with archetypal or religious undertones, or of games about the acquisition of language itself.