International students: language,culture and the ‘performance of identity’

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the multiple, intersecting identities expressed by international taught-post graduate students who are studying in a culture and language that is not their own. The study presented includes the collection of data around and beyond a planned pedagogical intervention on a pre-sessional EAP programme. The data were thematically analysed. Conflicting and intersecting identities emerged around themes of: performative, representational and core identities; international, national and individual identity; troublesome and transformative knowledge; power, agency and choice. These interwove with key underlying pre-occupations: language development; disciplinary knowledge and societal structures. By focussing on identity studies alongside the language and culture of academic contexts, international students developed an understanding of, and reflexivity around, their position within UK HE contexts. I argue this focus eased transition into a new study environment and allowed students to both better access the taught and hidden curriculum, and to understand their resistance to it.     

An exploratory product evaluation of the Manchester Motor Skills Programme

This study is an exploratory product evaluation of the Manchester Motor Skills Programme (MMSP). A mixed methodology was used to explore intended, unintended, positive and negative outcomes for four Key Stage 2 (KS2) children with motor skills difficulties who participated in the MMSP. The children’s motor skills, social skills and self-esteem were assessed using standardised measures pre- and post-intervention and at follow-up. Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were used to elicit the views of pupils, the class teacher and the group leader. Results indicated positive yet variable improvements in motor skill domains which were sustained at three month follow-up. Qualitative data highlights some perceived improvement in children’s social skills, confidence and use of meta-cognitive strategies and an unexpected perceived outcome for one child with co-existing speech and language difficulties. The responses of this group highlight some individual factors which practitioner educational psychologists (EPs) should consider when planning motor skills interventions with schools.     

Changing Science Outcomes: Cognitive Acceleration in a US Setting

Inquiry is seen as an integral part of science education in the USA; however, few American science programs explicitly focus on the higher order thinking skills that are the precursors to inquiry. In this paper, Australian researchers report the result of using a version of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) program in a school district in Oregon (USA) to address teacher-identified concerns about student competence in scientific inquiry. The substantial effect of CASE on British children’s cognitive development and scholastic achievement has been demonstrated convincingly since its inception in the United Kingdom in 1981. The Oregon CASE project was not a mere replication of the original British CASE research: different instruments were employed, and both the measures of cognitive level and student achievement were Rasch-calibrated. The Oregon CASE teachers received comparatively less professional development than did their British counterparts. Neither did they deliver the entire intervention. The results of the study suggest that many of the benefits of CASE still apply when the intervention is conducted in a sub-optimal setting. Cognitive growth was apparent in participating students and high correlations were found between cognitive level and results in some state-mandated tests.     

Too Much Familiarity! The Developmental Path of the Fluency Heuristic in Children

We tested whether changes in attribution processes could account for the developmental differences observed in how children’s use fluency to guide their memory decisions. Children ranging in age from 4 to 9 years studied a list of familiar or unfamiliar cartoon characters. In Experiment 1 (n = 84), participants completed a recognition test during which the perceptual fluency of some items was enhanced using a prime. In Experiment 2 (n = 96), participants completed a source recollection judgment on their recognition decisions. Primed items were recognized at a higher rate than unprimed items. However, while young children rely on fluency for all items, older children use fluency only for unfamiliar items. This pattern came together with a reduction in familiarity-based—but not recollection-based—memory responses.     

Increasing physical literacy in youth: A two-week Sport for Development program for children aged 6-10

PROSPECTS - Regular physical activity significantly improves health outcomes, yet rates of childhood physical activity remain alarmingly low. Physical literacy has been identified as the...     

Summer sun brings ice cream fun

Conclusion When everything tastes like ice cream in the classroom, what a fantastic experience is in store for the children. The many valuable opportunities afforded in this play center help expand the child's world. Interraction between children sorting (the flavors or colors of pom poms), creative use of imaginations, and thought process opportunities are all a part of the learning that is taking place. This center naturally lends itself to role playing. The combination of props and materials encourages complex levels of dramatic play to evolve among the children. The play can range from simple dramatic play such as dipping ice cream and filling cups and cones to a more sophisticated level of dramatic play when children begin role play as ice cream attendants and customers. The ice cream parlor center is enjoyed by both boys and girls and is developmentally appropriate for children ranging in age from two to six years old. The ease in developing this center, the simple set up, the low cost, and the opportunities for child-initiated play make this center appealing to teachers who continually search for enriching experiences to offer their children. The reward the center brings the children far exceeds the efforts required by the teacher. Carolyn Bond is Director of 12 years, and Kay Gregory is Associate Director of 8 years at the children's Discovery Center in Plano, Texas.     

Injected flavor as a CS in the conditioned aversion preparation

Three experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of intravenous (IV) flavor injections in the formation of conditioned taste aversions and in the attenuation of neophobia. In Experiment 1, two groups of rats were permitted to drink either a .1% saccharin solution or tap water followed immediately by IV injections of lithium chloride (LiCl), and two more groups were given IV injections of a 2% saccharin solution followed immediately by IV injections of either LiCl or distilled water. Injected flavor did not serve as an effective CS for the conditioning of an aversion to .1% saccharin. The second experiment employed a two-bottle procedure to detect attenuation of neophobia using the injected-flavor technique. It was found that, whether saccharin had been injected intravenously (2%), injected intraperitoneally (2% IP), or orally consumed (.1%), neophobia for .5% saccharin was attenuated equally relative to controls. CS-US intervals were manipulated in the final experiment such that IP injections of 2% saccharin solution were followed 0–480 min later by IP injections of LiCl. In this case, it was shown that injected flavor (2% saccharin) could act as an effective CS if the US was delayed (optimally about 120 min) and when the test solution was .1% saccharin. The delay gradient found in Experiment 3 was interpreted as a generalization gradient where optimum conditioning was displayed at the point where the concentration of saccharin circulating in the animal at the time of illness onset most closely matched the concentration of the test solution.     

Sequential Associations Between Caregiver Talk and Child Play in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development

This study examined sequential associations between child play and caregiver talk in 98 caregiver–child dyads (M_{mental age} = 14 months). Fifty dyads included a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Analyses revealed sequential associations between child play and caregiver follow‐in (FI) utterances (utterances related to the child's attentional focus) were stronger in the ASD as compared to the typically developing (TD) group. FI utterances were more likely to elicit functional play than caregiver‐focused utterances, and more so in the ASD group. Across groups, FI directives were more likely to elicit functional play than FI comments. These findings have important implications for research involving caregiver–child play as an early intervention context for children with ASD.