Review and criticism

An earlier version of this paper was presented to the AEJ convention at Boulder, Colorado in 1973 by Dr. Milan Meeske for the authors. Dr. O'Keefe is an associate professor of communication at Florida Technological University where Mr. Sheinkopf is a student.     

Psycholinguistic Training Programs: Are There Differential Treatment Effects?

The findings of an investigation assessing the differential effects of psycholinguistic training programs are reported. Methodologically, meta‐analysis, the analysis of analyses, was used to determine whether psycholinguistic training programs differentially affect the abilities measured by the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA). When findings were integrated by ITPA subtests, ITPA constructs, and salient study features, the training programs were found to differ with respect to improving psycholinguistic abilities. Overall results, however, indicated that the Peabody Language Development Kits (PDLK) were more consistently advantageous than either ITPA related programs or other types of training activities (e.g. structured teaching and perceptual‐motor approaches). These findings were validated in a multiple regression analysis comparing the three intervention methods. It was suggested that the structured and sequential nature of the PDLK was the major factor contributing to its greater effectiveness.     

The semantics of 'truth': a counter-argument to some postmodern theories

This article reviews a number of claims made by postmodernist writers on the education of adults, who deny the existence of objective truth. It is argued here that such claims are asserted without supporting evidence and that they fail to take into account the semantic structures of language and actual linguistic usage. The article tries to show that analysis of semantic structure reveals a concept of truth embedded and presupposed in language and that truth and meaning are interrelated.     

Chips,tags and scanners: Ethical challenges for radio frequency identification

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems identify and track objects, animals and, in principle, people. The ability to gather information obtained by tracking consumer goods, government documents, monetary transactions and human beings raises a number of interesting and important privacy issues. Moreover, RFID systems pose an ensemble of other ethical challenges related to appropriate uses and users of such systems. This paper reviews a number of RFID applications with the intention of identifying the technology’s benefits and possible misuses. We offer an overview and discussion of the most important ethical issues concerning RFID, and describes and examine some methods of protecting privacy. Norman G. Einspruch serves as a consultant to several high-technology companies, one of which is in the RFID components and systems business.     

Parent Surveys for Teacher Evaluation

Parent or guardian perceptions play a specialized role in the evaluation of school teachers. Parents are important stakeholders in teacher success, they are in some instances partners in the teachers' work, parents have unique personal information about student learning, and they can report on the teacher duties to inform parents about the classroom and child progress. This study analyzed the responses of parents to 12 survey items concerning teacher performance in 201 classrooms. The surveys were used as part of an innovative teacher evaluation program in which teachers elected to include parent feedback as one objective data source for annual review. In this study three factors emerged as important concerns for parents: humane treatment of students, support for pupil learning, and effective communication and collaboration with parents. Recommendations for use of specific survey items can be based on the empirical results of this sampling. The data gathered by parent surveys define one dimension of quality which may vary in importance from one teacher to another.