The Influences of Syllable Structure and Reading Ability on the Development of Phoneme Awareness: A Longitudinal,Cross-Linguistic Study

Effects of syllable structure and of alphabetic reading skills on the development of phoneme awareness were investigated in a longitudinal study. Awareness of phonemes in syllable onsets and codas was examined in first graders speaking Czech (n = 45) and German (n = 33). Czech children showed higher awareness of phonemes in onsets than in codas, whereas the reverse was true for German children. The patterns of behavioral data largely reflected distributional differences in corpus data between these languages. The effects were present among prereaders and persisted to the end of Grade 1. In sum, children's experience with the syllable structure of their native language plays an important role in shaping phoneme awareness from early in development and predates influences of alphabetic reading skills.     

Learning to teach STEM disciplines in higher education: a critical review of the literature

ABSTRACT

Enrolments in STEM disciplines at universities are increasing globally, attributed to the greater life opportunities open to students as a result of a STEM education. But while institutional access to STEM programmes is widening, the retention and success of STEM undergraduate students remains a challenge. Pedagogies that support student success are well known; what we know less about is how university teachers acquire pedagogical competence. This is the focus of this critical review of the literature that offers a theorised critique of educational development in STEM contexts. We studied the research literature with a view to uncovering the principles that inform professional development in STEM disciplines and fields. The key finding of this critical review is how little focus there is on the STEM disciplines. The majority of studies reviewed did not address the key issue of what makes the STEM disciplines difficult to learn and challenging to teach.     

Comparability of educational achievement and learning attitudes across nations

We estimated the invariance of educational achievement (EA) and learning attitudes (LA) measures across nations. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate the invariance of educational achievement and learning attitudes across 55 nations (Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] 2006 data, N?=?354,203). The constructs had the same meaning (factor loadings) but different scales (intercepts). Our conclusion is that comparisons of the relationships between educational achievement and learning attitudes across countries need to take into consideration two sources of variability: individual differences of students and group differences of educational systems. The lack of scalar invariance in EA and LA measures means that the relationships between EA and LA may have a different meaning at the level of nations and at the student level within countries. In other words, as PISA measures are not invariant in scalar sense, the comparisons across countries with nationally aggregated scores are not justified.     

Political distrust in Hong Kong: News media use and political beliefs regarding the 1997 transition

As Hong Kong prepares for a political transition in 1997, neither the existing colonial British government nor the impending People's Republic of China (PRC) has established a strong historical foundation for political trust within the territory. In this study, we examine the level of distrust towards the existing and future political regimes, as well as attitudes towards Hong Kong's future. Based on a representative telephone survey of Hong Kong residents (N = 512), we find a high degree of political distrust among respondents, particularly towards the PRC administration. Although initial bivariate analyses establish some association between distrust and media exposure, channel preference, and demographic variables, further multivariate analyses suggest that many of these factors are highly interrelated. One central finding is that among men and those with middle to high socio‐economic status, television news exposure is associated with trust in the PRC. Conversely, women and younger people tend to distrust the PRC, regardless of their news exposure.     

Relational Uncertainty as a Consequence of Partner Jealousy Expressions

The present study examines how the relational-uncertainty levels of individuals whose partners are jealous (i.e., “jealousy targets”) are predicted by how partners express jealousy. Students and community members completed a questionnaire where they recalled an instance when they were the recipients of their romantic partners' expression of jealousy. In general, jealousy-target relational uncertainty was positively predicted by a majority of negative and general behavioral partner jealousy expressions. However, positive partner jealousy expressions were not generally associated with jealousy-target relational uncertainty. Implications for the theoretical understanding of relational uncertainty and consequences of partner jealousy expression are discussed.     

Letters to the Editor as a Forum for public deliberation: modes of publicity and democratic debate

–This paper traces, through in-depth interviews with San Francisco Bay letters editors, the criteria editors use to select letters, and examines how these criteria contribute to constructing the public by privileging certain forms of expression, and suppressing others. In constructing a theoretical framework, the paper draws on political philosophy to distinguish between three prevalent modes of publicity: Exhibitionist publicity, focused on the display of individual greatness; dialogist publicity, emphasizing democratic dialogue between groups and individuals; and activist publicity, which entails the confrontation between groups that seek to advance political goals. With this framework in mind, it is argued that editors' policies on letters selection bring about two orientations toward public debate: First, editors privilege individual expression over the expression of activist groups. Secondly, editors prefer the emotionally charged stories of individuals. These orientations challenge the ideals of rationality and deliberation that underlie the practice of dialogist publicity, as well as the contestatory nature of activist publicity. Instead, editors' principles favor an exhibitionist publicity. The paper explores the political philosophical implications of this orientation, arguing that while it does not square with democratic ideals, we must be cognizant of how such display can bring about social solidarity.     

Voices from South and North in dialogue: on diversity and education for the future

In this article texts by scholars from South Africa, Sweden and Great Britain are analysed. They contributed as invited speakers to a conference in Sweden in 2009 on changing societies, values, religions and education. Here a South–North dialogue on diversity and the future of education is constructed through the way their conference contributions are presented and analysed. Democracy and gender also appear as crucial themes. Out of the original 12 keynote contributions to the conference a selection is made, meaning that seven of them are focused on. What can be observed is (a) that the contributors from South Africa connect diversity and social justice; (b) that the gender researchers critically discuss the risks of the North imposing its theoretical framework on the South and search for ways out of that and (c) a preoccupation with a renewal of education recognising diversity but also looking for what could come beyond such an emphasis and form a common ground. The article constitutes an example of shared knowledge production where South and North meet. Conditions for that are critically reflected upon methodologically.     

Stichwort: Professionalisierung

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