A comparison of PPVT and SIT scores of young children

Eighty-four children from rural, urban, and suburban families were tested with the PPVT during a parent intervention program and with the SIT three years later as part of program evaluation. Results indicated the mean IQ on the SIT was substantially higher than expected based on the earlier PPVT scores. Sampling error and examiner error were excluded as explanations for the difference. These results suggest that the PPVT and SIT yield different scores and lack comparability.     

Classroom Management Issues for Teaching Assistants

For many graduate teaching assistants, the task of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling classroom environments can be overwhelming. Empirical research pertaining to major classroom management problems experienced by TAs is scarce. This article is a report of a survey study regarding TA classroom management at a large, land-grant Research 1 University. The study provides specific information about TAs' perceptions of classroom management experiences and concerns based on TA type, gender, teaching experience, and academic discipline. The results of the study indicate that international and U.S. TAs experienced many common problems, but each of the two types of TAs also had unique problems. More U.S. TAs than international TAs reported experiencing classroom management problems. The years of TA teaching experience were significantly related to the number of classroom management problems and concerns TAs reported. Regression analysis revealed that TA type, teaching experience, and academic discipline, but not gender, were significant predictors of classroom problems and concerns. Discussion of the results, implications, and suggestions for further research are included.     

Notes from a practitioner: A response to Julie Laible's loving epistemology

This article explains how Julie Laible's "loving epistemology" has implications for practitioners' research-based activities. Laible's view of the Other provides guidance for the research of those striving to be both feminist in approach and respectful toward research subjects.     

What Paves the Way to Conventional Language? The Predictive Value of Babble,Pointing, and Socioeconomic Status

A child's first words mark the emergence of a uniquely human ability. Theories of the developmental steps that pave the way for word production have proposed that either vocal or gestural precursors are key. These accounts were tested by assessing the developmental synchrony in the onset of babbling, pointing, and word production for 46 infants observed monthly between the ages of 9 and 18 months. Babbling and pointing did not develop in tight synchrony and babble onset alone predicted first words. Pointing and maternal education emerged as predictors of lexical knowledge only in relation to a measure taken at 18 months. This suggests a far more important role for early phonological development in the creation of the lexicon than previously thought.