Flexibility in Bilingual Infants' Word Learning

The present experiments tested bilingual infants' developmental narrowing for the interpretation of sounds that form words. These studies addressed how language specialization proceeds when the environment provides varied and divergent input. Experiment 1 (N = 32) demonstrated that bilingual 14‐ and 19‐month‐olds learned a pair of object labels consisting of the same syllable produced with distinct pitch contours (rising and falling). Infants' native languages did not use pitch contour to differentiate words. In Experiment 2 (N = 16), 22‐month‐old bilinguals failed to learn the labels. These results conflict with the developmental trajectory of monolinguals, who fail to learn pitch contour contrasts as labels at 17–19 months (Hay, Graf Estes, Wang, & Saffran, 2015). Bilingual infants exhibited a prolonged period of flexibility in their interpretation of potential word forms.     

Database trial impact on graduate nursing comprehensive exams

While the authors were doing a test period of databases, the question of whether or not databases affect outcomes of graduate nursing comprehensive examinations came up. This study explored that question through using citation analysis of exams that were taken during a database trial and exams that were not. The findings showed no difference in examination pass/fail rates. While the pass/fail rates did not change, a great deal was learned in terms of citation accuracy and types of materials that students used, leading to discussions about changing how citation and plagiarism awareness were taught.     

Pandemic,a catalyst for change: Strategic planning for digital education in English secondary schools,before during and post Covid

Following lockdowns in 2020 owing to Covid-19, schools needed to find a way to ensure the education of their pupils. In order to do this, they engaged in digital learning, to varying extents. Innovations emanated from all school staff including, for example, teachers, leaders and teaching assistants. Some were already innovating in this area and brought forward and implemented digital strategies, while others engaged with digital learning for the first time. While research is emerging about the effects of the pandemic restrictions on pupils and staff in relation to key issues such as mental health and educational attainment, very little is known about the impact on school leaders' strategic planning processes. To address this gap, this paper draws on a UK Research and Innovation funded study adopting a strategy as learning approach to report on 50 qualitative interviews with school leaders to examine digital strategy in English secondary schools, before, during and after July 2021, when restrictions were lifted in England. It draws on strategy as learning literature to evaluate if schools have changed their strategic planning for digital learning, as a direct response to having learned and innovated during the pandemic. The paper concludes that there is evidence that digital innovations during the pandemic have changed the ways in which leaders think about their digital strategy, thus supporting a strategy as learning approach. However it also concludes that although there is ample evidence that the pandemic has changed the way many schools view digital learning, for some schools, there remain persistent barriers to digital integration and planning. These emanate both from material and cultural considerations, as well as leader vision and belief in digital learning.     

Student experiences of NAPLAN: sharing insights from two school sites

This paper provides insight into middle school students’ perceptions and reactions to their participation in the Australian National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). A case study was conducted over 10 months at two Queensland schools with different approaches to NAPLAN implementation. Student voice was elicited via focus groups and 35 students provided drawings and words describing their experience in four stages: preparing, sitting, completing and receiving their results. Thematic content analysis of the textual data and trait and holistic coding of the visual data revealed five themes and suggests that the approach adopted by the school may impact on students’ NAPLAN experiences. This study privileges student voice and enables access to student experiences as they participate in a testing regime which is now a feature of the Australian school assessment landscape.     

Assessing the progress and the underlying nature of the flows of doctoral and master degree candidates using absorbing Markov chains

In this paper, absorbing markov chains are used to analyse the flows of higher degree by research candidates (doctoral and master) within an Australian faculty of business. The candidates are analysed according to whether they are full time or part time. The need for such analysis stemmed from what appeared to be a rather poor completion rate (as reported by the University concerned). However, this reported completion rate was a ‘macro’ figure that aggregated PhD and Master (by full time and part time) completions together. If there really was a problem, then the Faculty needed to know where in the system it was and what potentially might then be done to remedy the problem. The assembling of data into an appropriate database was difficult and required considerable care, but an adequate database was developed. The application of the absorbing markov chains to the problem resulted in an increase in the level of understanding associated with the long term underlying probabilities of completion and also expected durations of candidature. This information highlighted one area of concern. With the information gained from this study, appropriate strategies can subsequently be put in place for the rectification of some of the areas of concern discovered in the analysis. Areas for further research are also highlighted in this paper. Based on an earlier version of a paper delivered at the Western Decisions Sciences Institute 34th Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, 2005.     

Dyslexia as a limitation in the ability to process information

In an earlier paper (Miles and Wheeler 1975) it was reported that dyslexic subjects, aged over 13, were less able than suitably matched non-dyslexic subjects to respond correctly to arrays of tachistoscopically presented digits. A further experiment is now reported involving a younger age-group: 15 dyslexic subjects, average age twelve and one-half, were matched for spelling age with 15 non-dyslexic subjects, average age eight and one-half; and since the dyslexic subjects were appreciably less successful it is argued that “maturational lag” does not, on its own, fully account for the difference in performance between the two groups. A similar procedure was repeated with 41 dyslexic and 41 non-dyslexic subjects, all aged between 10.4 and 14.4, both with and without the introduction of a visual masking stimulus immediately after the test stimulus. Twenty undergraduate “fast-readers,” 20 undergraduate “slow-readers,” and four undergraduate dyslexic subjects were also compared both on their responses to tachistoscopically presented digits and on their performance in a visual search task. The results, taken in conjunction, suggest that dyslexia can be regarded as some kind of limitation in the ability to process information, perhaps affecting in particular the “visual code store” postulated by Posner et al. (1969). This paper was prepared for deliveryin absentia at the 27th Annual Conference of The Orton Society, in New York City, November 1976.