Letter processing in dyslexic subgroups

Hypothesized cognitive strengths and weaknesses of three dyslexic subgroups (Boder and Jarrico 1982) were examined in two reading related experiments. The first experiment tested the prediction that auditorily presented letter sets should be processed better by dyseidetic than by dysphonetic readers. The prediction was not confirmed. The results did not show any modality of presentation-specific recall differences between the three dyslexic subgroups. Overall, dyslexic children’s scores were significantly lower than those of age-matched control groups. The second experiment tested predictions of differential performance of dyseidetic and dysphonetic readers in a task in which the name identity of letters in pairs had to be indicated. Predicted patterns were not confirmed. Compared to the control groups all three dyslexic subgroups (whose means did not differ significantly) made significantly more errors in the condition in which it was essential to activate phonetic representations of the letters. The experimental results of this study suggest a greater similarity in the nature of letter processing problems in dyslexic children than is assumed in Boder and Jarrico’s (1982) subtyping test. This research was supported by grant 634301 from the Department of Special Education, State University of Groningen, and a travel grant from the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z.W.O.). Based on a presentation at the 32nd Annual Conference of The Orton Dyslexia Society, Baltimore, Maryland, November 1982.     

From Informal Strategies to Structured Procedures: mind the gap!

This paper explores written calculation methods for division used by pupils in England (n = 276) and the Netherlands (n = 259) at two points in the same school year. Informal strategies are analysed and progression identified towards more structured procedures that result from different teaching approaches. Comparison of the methods used by year 5 (Group 6) pupils in the two countries shows greater success in the Dutch approach, which is based on careful progression from informal strategies to more structured and efficient procedures. This success is particularly not able for the girls in the sample. For the English pupils, whose written solutions largely involved the traditional algorithm, the discontinuity between the formal computation procedure and informal solution strategies presents difficulties.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Implementing strategy in higher education

Conclusion From the profit sector we may learn that strategy is a great challenge, but also a difficult job. There are good reasons to assume that for a large-complex non-profit organisation such as a university, with organisational features of both the nonprofit and the professional organisation, the process will be even more difficult. The implementation of the strategy process in particular may cause a lot of trouble. The model presented here can be used as a simple but proven method to control this implementation process and may serve as a good guiding principle for real strategic management in a university.     

Text comprehension strategy instruction with poor readers

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of teachingtext comprehension strategies to children with decoding andreading comprehension problems and with a poor or normallistening ability. Two experiments are reported. Four textcomprehension strategies, viz., question generation, summarizing,clarification, and predicting were taught through directinstruction and reciprocal teaching. In both experiments, effectswere measured according to a pretest – posttest – retentiontest – control group design. Dependent variables wereexperimenter-developed strategic reading and listening tests, andstandardized reading and listening comprehension tests. In thefirst experiment the subjects were 9 to 11-year-old poor readersfrom special schools for children with learning disabilities. Inthis experiment, the intervention program's texts and strategyinstructions were presented in listening settings only. Thesubjects in the second experiment were 10-year-old children fromregular elementary schools and 9 to 11-year-old children fromspecial schools. They were also poor readers but their decodingperformance was not as poor as in the subjects in experiment 1.In experiment 2, the intervention program involved textpresentations in alternating reading and listening lessons.Although in general, normal listeners performed better on allcomprehension tests than poor listeners, there were nodifferential program effects for the two listening levels. Cleareffects of both programs were found on strategic reading andlistening tests administered directly after the interventions. Inthe first experiment, maintenance test performance showedprolonged program benefits, whereas in the second experimentthese maintenance effects were blurred by unexpected gains of thecontrol groups of students, especially from regular schools.Finally, apart from some local successes, neither of the twoexperiments offered stable evidence of transfer of comprehensionstrategy training to standardized general listening and readingcomprehension tests.     

PUBLIC EDUCATION ABOUT NORMAL FORGETFULNESS AND DEMENTIA: EFFECTIVENESS OF A SYSTEMATICALLY DEVELOPED INFORMATION BROCHURE

Earlier research revealed that many elderly people in The Netherlands are worried about their forgetfulness and are afraid of incipient dementia. Until now, no systematic research has been conducted on the effects of public education about normal forgetfulness and dementia, and therefore an information brochure was developed and evaluated. The main function of this brochure was to reassure people who were unnecessarily worrying about possible dementia. A second function was to motivate people to seek professional help when this seemed advisable. Sixty‐two percent of all respondents (307 of 400) who had been worried about dementia before reading the brochure said that their anxiety decreased or disappeared after reading it; approximately 3% became more worried after reading the brochure. A cognitive test battery was administered to 104 people to determine whether their increased or decreased anxiety was justified. Thirty subjects had low test scores, yet 16 of these subjects had been reassured by the brochure that their forgetfulness was nothing to worry about. This group was characterized as experiencing fewer problems in daily life as a result of their forgetfulness and as having a higher internal locus of control. Seventy‐four subjects performed well on the cognitive tests, yet 18 of them had remained worried about their forgetfulness after reading the brochure. Anxiety for heredity of dementia could be a possible explanation for their persistent concern. Although many people were reassured by the brochure, the results also show that it is important to evaluate information brochures used as intervention instruments—in one third of the present sample, the effects of the brochure were not in accordance with its goal.     

When the home team is not featured: Comparison of two television network commentaries during broadcasts of the 2006 FIFA World Football Cup

Broadcast commentary of sport contests is often seen as biased or “one-eyed” for the “home team”. This study sought to determine if this labelling was correct. Two different broadcasts of the national Dutch team's games during the 2006 Federation Internationale de Football Association's (FIFA) World Cup in Germany were compared. Both the Dutch Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) and Australian Special Broadcast Services (SBS) networks each televised this team's matches, together providing eight matches for analysis. First, the framing strategies used by each broadcaster were identified through a fourteen category thematic scale derived from the data. Secondly, a Chi-square analysis of the results revealed significant associations for the types of themes employed by the home network (NOS) and those of a neutral broadcaster (SBS). Results also revealed associations for the use of nationalistic themes in the commentary. These results have salience for sport management and sport media studies as audience size and therefore revenue generation is of import.     

The Relation Between Information-Processing Variables and Test-Retest Stability for Questionnaire Items

Recently developed cognitive theories explain why some questionnaire items can be answered in a reliable and valid manner and others cannot. Those theories distinguish two components: (a) the interpretation or understanding of a question and (b) the role of memory. The present study investigates the ability of these two components to forecast the test-retest association coefficients of 207 pilot questionnaire items used in an international study of reading literacy in which 2 populations were involved: Grade 5 and Grade 2 of primary and secondary education, respectively. The analysis of the data showed that for both populations, both components forecast the relative sizes of the test-retest correlation coefficients. The results strongly suggest that if one wishes to use questionnaire items in research about relationships, then the items should be as unambiguous as possible. Moreover, the information needed to formulate an answer must be easily accessible in the respondent's memory.