The academic writing process in Spanish universities: perceptions of students and faculty / El proceso de escritura académica en la universidad española: percepciones de estudiantes y profesores

Abstract

This paper is intended as an exploration of university faculty and students’ perceptions of a number of dimensions involved in the written composition of academic texts. We analysed the responses to scale 3 in the European Writing Survey (EUWRIT) (in its Spanish version: Encuesta Europea sobre la Escritura Académica, EEEA) by a group of social science and humanities students (n = 1,030) and faculty (n = 230) from nine Spanish universities. We then examined the similarities and differences in their perceptions and established a factorial structure of the different dimensions underlying the writing process. The data indicate that both groups concur in the value assigned to both changing ideas in the course of the composition process (although this process seems to be understood differently by each group) and the revision and feedback processes. The students, however, claim to be involved in more planning and previous reading activities than the teachers perceive them to be. The significance of these results for a process-oriented perspective in academic writing is discussed.     

Suprasegmental Phonology Development and Reading Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study

Previous studies implicate suprasegmental phonology in reading acquisition. However, little is known about how suprasegmental sensitivity develops or how it contributes to reading. Here, 130 Spanish primary-school children participated in this 2-year longitudinal study. Nonlinguistic rhythm, lexical-stress sensitivity and metrical-stress sensitivity, along with phonological awareness, vocabulary, nonverbal intelligence, and reading aloud, were assessed on five occasions. Results suggest that prosody abilities have different developmental trajectories and that prosody explains unique variance in reading beyond that explained by other factors. There was some evidence that the contribution of each prosody skill occurred at different phases in reading development. Nonlinguistic rhythm, lexical-stress sensitivity, and metrical-stress sensitivity assessed at the end of kindergarten, the start of Grade 1, and the end of Grade 1, respectively, predicted reading performance 6 months later. Nevertheless, sample size and reliability temper the conclusions that can be made. The implications of prosody skills for literacy development are discussed.     

Leaders learning from leaders as an emergent action learning strategy

This account of practice describes what three executive leaders in a professional association have learned about action learning and their own practices of organizational renewal. Data are approached narratively and stories are told from the perspectives of diverse educators’ experiences, agency, and expertise. Mature organizations can be revitalized and diversified through the action learning of executive leaders who integrate a new and diverse faculty body into the governance structure and decision-making process. The goal of facilitating diversity goals for established organizations has relevance for universities, schools, businesses, and other learning environments. Public conversations can strengthen the diversity-oriented outreach missions of professional organizations.     

Education as Part of the Migratory Project of Latin American Migrant Women Traveling to the United States in Undocumented Conditions

Education is an indispensable element for the development of society. In Latin America, the point of origin of most of the undocumented immigrants to the United States, equal opportunity in access to education and educational achievement is still pending. The study presented here focuses on the analysis of the expectations of female migrants via Mexico’s northern border, focusing attention on educational attainment as an important aspect of the “American Dream” of the migrant women interviewed and their dependents.     

Antiracism defined as equitable sociocultural interactions in prekindergarten: Classroom racial composition makes a difference

This study used secondary data from the My Teaching Partner-Math/Science 2013–2016 randomized control trial to explore whether equitable sociocultural classroom interactions (see Curenton et al., 2019) were associated with the skills of 105 four- and five-year-olds (52% boys; drawn from 20 unique video recordings of preschool teachers/classrooms; 43% were Black, Latine, Asian, or other racially marginalized learners). Equitable interactions predicted children's skills with effect sizes ranging from small (0.01–0.44) to large (1.00). Moderation analyses revealed that when classrooms had more racially marginalized learners, teachers’ use of equitable disciplinary and personalized learning practices were associated with higher executive functioning gains across prekindergarten. Findings illustrate how classroom composition can be a key indicator between equitable classroom interactions and young children's early skills.     

Knocking on employment’s door: internships and job attainment

Higher Education - Undergraduate internships have gained popularity among students, universities, governments and firms since the creation of the European Higher Education Area. However, empirical...