Digitization and Business Models in the Spanish Publishing Industry

This paper analyzes how technological change and digitalization in the Spanish publishing sector is challenging existing business models and encouraging publishers to modify their portfolios of products and competencies. A qualitative analysis (case study) of three Spanish publishers is carried out. The practical implications of the research are that digital products and services are still considered secondary to the analog book. On the other hand, the proportion of titles available in digital formats is still small. To all this, the lack of a common dominant design for digital publication is added, which represents an uncertainty for editors, to which must be added the lack of institutional support. For the time being, Spanish publishers are simply selling digital versions of their paper books on digital distribution platforms, trying to minimize risks by betting on positively contrasted works in the traditional paper-based business model.     

The effects of morphological and syntactic knowledge on reading comprehension in spanish speaking children

Reading and Writing - Reading comprehension is a complex task requiring many underlying skills. Syntactic awareness and morphological awareness are two such skills that have been shown to be...     

Stress typicality effect in Chinese advanced and intermediate ESL learners

In English, positions of lexical stress in disyllabic words are associated with word categories; that is, nouns tend to be stressed more often on the first syllable, whereas verbs are more likely to be stressed on the second syllable (i.e. subject (noun) vs. subject (verb)). This phenomenon, which is called the stress typicality effect, has been shown to facilitate word recognition to native English speakers. However, there is little research on whether it also facilitates word recognition to non-native speakers of English, in particular, to English learners with a tonal first language. To fill this research gap, the present study investigated whether the stress typicality effect modulated word recognition in native speakers of Chinese who learned English as a second language. Both visual grammatical classification and lexical decision tasks were administered to ESL learners with intermediate and advanced English proficiency. The results revealed that Chinese intermediate ESL learners were not sensitive to stress typicality in English; however, the advanced learners were. The findings suggest that different performances in stress assignment among Chinese ESL learners were influenced by their English proficiency levels.     

A rejoinder to Jrène Rahm’s “Stories of learning,identity, navigations and boundary crossings in STEM in non-dominant communities: new imaginaries for research and action”

This article presents my rejoinder to Jrène Rahm’s response to my article “STEM learning research through a funds of knowledge lens.” I focus on four themes that emerged from my reading of her commentary: the importance of the histories of youth of immigrant origin; her comments on globality; the theoretical lens that she brings to my research; and the methodological issues she discusses. I highlight Rahm’s humanizing component and the need to understand the complexity of immigration. What are we doing in our global settings to build on the diversity of experiences and backgrounds among the youth as a resource towards STEM learning?     

An Ethic of Caring: The Fuel for High Teacher Efficacy

In this article I discuss ways of increasing teacher efficacy identified as a key belief system in the enhancement of teacher effectiveness. Teacher efficacy is defined and its impact on teacher effectiveness explored. The need to increase teacher efficacy to enhance the design, implementation and outcomes of instruction is discussed with special focus on caring and its potential as a catalyst for expanding teachers’ perception of their power to make a difference in the lives and performance of their students. Dr. Marta D. Collier is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Dr. Collier earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education from Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana and her masters and Ph.D. degrees in elementary education from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Her research interests include the impact of caring on teaching and learning, the incorporation of culturally relevant children and youth literature into literacy instruction, and the design of preschool, primary and elementary classrooms that promote active teaching and learning. Dr. Collier’s teaching interests include early childhood pedagogy and program development, classroom learning theory and children’s literature.     

Ethnographic approach to second life in education: a focus on technological difficulties

This paper moves from the data collected during an ethnographic research conducted in Second Life, which focuses on the observation of different technological difficulties in educational experiences. The main research interests focused on the social dynamics of educational experiences in Second Life and the opportunity to develop a proper research methodology. The main goal is to evaluate the educational experience in such a particular context through the stories of participants; therefore, the most appropriate methodology for researching the subject has been considered to be ethnography. As result of the research, it is observed that an appropriate use of the available tools and the adoption of innovative teaching strategies can promote the improvement of the educational experience in online worlds. This paper suggests interesting elements from the analysis of the data collected, which may help to adopt an innovative point of view on ethnographic research in an online world in education.     

The different impact of a structured peer-assessment task in relation to university undergraduates’ initial writing skills

This article presents an empirical evaluation of the validity and reliability of a peer-assessment activity to improve academic writing competences. Specifically, we explored a large group of psychology undergraduate students with different initial writing skills. Participants (n?=?365) produced two different essays, which were evaluated by their course peers and professors using a specific grading instrument (rubric). The validity of the task was demonstrated by a high inter-grader agreement and a strong degree of consistency between the ratings of the peers and professors. Although all students did not improve their writing skills between their first and second essays, the peer-assessment activity enhanced the writing abilities of low but not high-achieving participants. The pedagogical implications of these results are discussed.     

Supporting Child Welfare and Parent Involvement in Preschool Programs

This article discusses the findings from a mixed-method study examining the relationship between social resources and levels of parent involvement in state-funded preschool programs in Illinois. Using survey data from the Illinois Birth to Five Evaluation (n = 843) and interviews with ten preschool administrators who completed the survey, the study found the number of social resources provided by a program was positively associated with levels of parent involvement. The correlation analysis (r = −0.22, p = .0001) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) F(2,708) = 23.19, p = .0001 findings both demonstrated positive relationships wherein high numbers of social resources were associated with higher levels of parent involvement in programs. Administrator interviews confirmed survey findings and suggested additional influences on parent involvement levels and use of social resources in programs. Implications for supporting child welfare and policy recommendations for early childhood programs are provided.