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.     

Concentrating on affective feedforward in online tutoring

With considerable input from the student voice, the paper centres on a detailed account of the experiences of Western academic, tutoring Eastern students online to develop their critical thinking skills. From their online experiences together as tutor and students, the writers present a considered case for the main emphasis in facilitative online tutoring to be on building, and then building upon, congruent relationships and constructive feedforward. Initially, the Western tutor had followed as best he could the norms of a Confucian Heritage Culture, concentrating reactively on instructional feedback. He then took the considered risk of reverting to proactivity, following the advice of Rogers and Vygotsky and according to an explicit rationale. The ensuing changes in students' online discussions and their learning experiences were marked and were objectively analysed. The tutor and two of his students suggest that the nature of congruent tutor/student relationships, irrespective of culture, is more significant in effectively promoting development than the cognitive content that might feature in feedback in such interactions. For it seems possible from the reported experiences that learning dependent on technological links may benefit from meaningful tutor/student relationships. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teslTzgVBsc&feature=youtu.be     

Evaluating Corrective Feedback Self‐Efficacy Changes Among Counselor Educators and Site Supervisors

Analysis of pretest–posttest scores on the Corrective Feedback Self‐Efficacy Instrument (Page & Hulse‐Killacky, 1999 ) following a supervision workshop indicated a significant positive relationship between workshop training and supervisors' feedback self‐efficacy in giving corrective feedback. Furthermore, the association between prior supervision training, supervision experience, and feedback self‐efficacy was measured. Practical and research implications are discussed.     

Three Reasons Samples Become Separated From Their Populations in Communication Research

There are three reasons why probability samples often become separated from their putative populations in mass communication research. First, researchers sometimes believe populations must surely exist when in fact they do not exist. Yet they relentlessly pursue these phantom populations rather than heed classic warning signs that something is wrong. Second, researchers often struggle with underpowered samples. Rather than render those samples using more appropriate qualitative methods, they plow ahead using misapplied statistical methods and thus never inferentially connect to a population. Third, researchers frequently and incorrectly use random assignment rather than random selection as a sample method. This, in turn, can leave a sample unconnected to a population if the population can be drawn only through random selection. As obvious as these three errors are, researchers nonetheless stumble into them regularly. We examine why that is and what researchers can do to avoid these errors.     

The Future of Academic Journals

Academic journals have traditionally provided disciplinary forums for scholarly communication (i.e., vetting, legitimating, and disseminating new ideas). Digitization is affecting scholarly communication and academic journals. Two effects are the bundling of journals by publishers and the growing variety of formats that open up new avenues of dissemination. Both effects have disrupted the traditional roles and relationships of scholars and their institutions, publishers and libraries in the processes of scholarly communication, including the significance of academic journals as a format.     

Controversial Rap Themes,Gender Portrayals and Skin Tone Distortion: A Content Analysis of Rap Music Videos

A content analysis of rap music videos aired on BET, MTV, and VH1 examined the occurrence of controversial themes, gender differences, and skin tone distortion. The results of this study found that current rap music videos have placed an emphasis on themes of materialism and misogyny. Additionally, men and women in the videos differ in their portrayal of these themes. Specifically, female characters are significantly more likely to appear as objects of sexuality. Men and women also differ in their appearance with more African American females appearing to have Eurocentric features. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Libraries Across the Education Continuum: Relationships Between Library Services at the University of Montana and Regional High Schools

This study explores the library instructional programming and resources of high school library media centers in western Montana with the intent of documenting and understanding both the services provided to and the experiences of first-year college students at the University of Montana. Results from the survey (n = 22) and site visits (n = 10) reveal wide variation in the levels and types of library instructional programming provided at the library media centers, including media specialists’ perceptions of high school students’ information literacy skills. However, consistency was seen in the media specialists’ collection management strategies and in collection content. The results suggest implications for first-year library programming and highlight opportunities for further 9–16 collaboration and study.     

Sites unseen: Ethnographic research in a textual community

Recent writing on the subject of ethnography has sought to examine the field not only as a place where research is carried out, but also as a methodological construction. While this writing emphasizes the extent to which people's experiences of community and culture can no longer be necessarily understood in relation to geographically based locations, it often continues to assert the "legacy of the field" (Clifford, 1997, p. 88) and its accompanying expectations and practices. In this article, I draw on my experience of doing ethnographic research in the textual community of 'zines in order to challenge the assumption that ethnographic fieldwork is necessarily dependent on physical displacement, and face-to-face encounters with our research participants. Specific attention is paid to the epistemological and ethical issues that emerge when one chooses to carry out research in textual communities. Intentionally foregrounding the parallels between the textual community of 'zines and the virtual communities associated with the Internet, this article also raises important questions for ethnographers carrying out research in networked environments.     

Enhancing student self‐worth in the primary school learning environment: teachers' views and students' views

This paper reports the findings from a study of teachers and students' views regarding self‐worth in the primary school learning environment. The revised New Zealand curriculum recognises the importance of self‐worth in students' motivation and ability to learn. While the need to enhance self‐worth in the classroom has been well established in the literature, similarities and differences between teachers and students' understanding of the impact of various classroom interactions on self‐worth has not received the same attention. The purpose of the research reported on in this paper was to provide further insight for teachers, thereby enabling them to strengthen classroom relationships and their students' learning experiences in ways commensurate with enhancing students' feelings of self‐worth.